Tracey Grace with IBEX IT, Tim Fulton with Small Business Matters and Phillip Blume with Blume Photography

Posted on March 14, 2016March 15, 2016

Seated L to R – Tim Fulton, Phillip Blum, Tracey Grace and Ryan Redhawk

Tracey Grace / IBEX IT Business Experts
President & CEO

Tracey Grace is President and CEO of IBEX IT Business Experts, a National IT Best Practice, Recruiting and Training Firm. Tracey founded IBEX after seizing the opportunity to work on an Electronic Healthcare Record integration project.
After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics & Spanish at the University of Pittsburgh, Tracey was awarded a Graduate Fellowship to attend the Katz Graduate School of Business where she earned her MBA in less than a year. Tracey went on to hold various management and executive positions at companies such as the FedEx Corporation, Learning Tree International and Quint Wellington Redwood, a Dutch IT Consulting firm where she received numerous awards.

Tracey and IBEX IT Business Experts are the recipients of the 2015 On the Rise Government Contractor of the Year award from American Express OPEN.

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Tim Fulton / Small Business Matters
President

Tim Fulton is a nationally recognized small business consultant and advocate. He has been involved in the field of Entrepreneurship for the past thirty-five years as a successful business owner, a small business coach, and as an adjunct university professor. In 1994, he started TCF Business Development, an independent management consulting and training practice. During this time he has worked with companies such as Lucent Technologies, Carlson Companies, Insignia ESG, and Georgia Power.
Tims past work experience also includes serving as the assistant director of the Small Business Development Center at Clayton State University and the Director of the Family Business Institute at Florida International University. He has worked with thousands of business start-ups and existing business entities as a catalyst for starting and growing their business enterprise.

Tim currently is a Vistage Group Chair in Atlanta, Georgia. Vistage is an international membership organization for company CEOs and Presidents started in 1957. Over the past twelve years, Tim has facilitated over 600 executive group meetings, participated in over 4000 face-to face discussions with chief executives, and trained over 2000 small business owners.

Tim Fulton is the author of a very popular award-winning book on small business titled Small Business Matters. He has also been published and featured in numerous magazines and newspapers including the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Catalyst Magazine. Tim also publishes his own award-winning electronic monthly newsletter, SMALL BUSINESS MATTERS, for small business owners.

In 2013, Tim Fulton hosted his first Small Business Matters Conference in Atlanta. The event features twelve different speakers and over 200 small business owners and key executives in attendance.

A popular public speaker to both private and public audiences Tim has spoken to groups from the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC), the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA), and the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). He has also appeared on television and radio programs as an advocate for small business and entrepreneurship. Tim earned both his MBA and BA in Economics at Tulane University.

www.smallbusinessmattersonline.com

Phillip Blume / Blume Photography
Founder

Phillip Blume is an award-winning, socially conscious photographer just crazy enough to believe art can change the world. Together he and his wife, Eileen, transformed their small home studio in Athens, GA, into a top brand. Blume Photography was named a Bulldog 100 fastest-growing company, and Phillip and Eileen now work with wedding and portrait clients worldwide.

Charitable projects are a top priority for the Blumes, including their 2011 documentary film “Lost Boys of Paradise,” which screened in 30 U.S. states to benefit children surviving in third-world slums. They speak at many of the photo industry’s leading conventions, including WPPI in Las Vegas, ShutterFest in St. Louis, and have been featured on CreativeLIVE worldwide. Phillip is a writer for Shutter Magazine, the top photo magazine available at Barnes & Noble. He and Eileen are founders of Come-Unity Workshops for photographers, and live with their children near Athens, Georgia.

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Dr. Alvin S. Perry with PV designs, Inc. and Brent Leary with ExCom 2016

Posted on March 11, 2016

Podcast: Download

Dr. Alvin Perry, Ryan Redhawk and Brent Leary

Dr. Alvin S. Perry/PV designs, Inc.
Founder

Alvin S. Perry, DBA is a proven leader with over 20 years of experience in the consumer products and consulting industries. His corporate experience consists of management positions with IRI, Colgate-Palmolive, NCR Corporation, the Pepsi-Cola Company, M&M/Mars and Wal-Mart. Dr. Perry has Higher Education faculty experience with Saint Leo University, William Paterson University, Montclair State University, Pillar College, and Essex County College. Dr. Perry also has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur launching six startup companies. Dr. Perry is also an inventor, professional speaker, songwriter, author (7 Publications), filmmaker, and fashion designer (PV designs, Inc.). Dr. Perry possesses a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Degree in Entrepreneurship from Walden University, a MBA from Centenary College and dual Bachelors of Business Administration Degrees in both Marketing and Management, from Valdosta State University.

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Brent Leary/EXcom 2016
Event Co-organizer

Brent Leary is a CRM industry analyst, advisor, author, speaker and award winning blogger. He is co-founder and Partner of CRM Essentials LLC, an Atlanta based CRM advisory firm covering tools and strategies for improving business relationships. Current and past clients include Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce.com, SAP and other major technology companies. Leary sits on the advisory board of Social Media Today, and the editorial advisory board of The Atlanta Tribune Magazine, and writes regularly for CRM magazine.

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Exclusive Interview with Ryan “Redhawk” McPherson

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016

Podcast: Download

Ryan “Redhawk” McPherson/Producer & Host

Ryan is a graduate of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and also a United States Army Veteran where he served as a Combat Infantryman and is a Purple Heart recipient from Operation Iraqi Freedom 09/06/08.

When Ryan retired from the Army in 2010 he ventured into the entrepreneurial world and became a small business leader and franchise owner/operator of a home dog training business from 2010-2015.

Ryan has been with Business RadioX since September of 2014. He began as a producer and engineer and now he has conducted HUNDREDS of interviews with business leaders from different types of industries and from all levels of success. Both on the road at Trade Shows, expos, conference rooms, on the street and in the studio. His interviewing style and technique is engaging and is very conversational. He is widely known on the streets of Atlanta and he is involved with many outreach and volunteer programs.

Ryan also adds to his skill set; canine behavioral consultant, promoting safety and responsible pet ownership. He has also earned certificates from the National Personal Training Institute, Crossfit Level 1 Trainer, Crossfit Defense, CPR/First Aid, North American Sports Medicine CPT, American Home Inspector Institute, National Outdoor Leadership School.

Currently Ryan is also on staff at Sharp Shooters USA in Roswell, GA where his responsibilities include firearm instructions, sales, and he is a a certified NRA range safety officer and Instructor.

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On Air

Ben Hamilton with ImagineAir

Posted on February 25, 2016

Podcast: Download

Ben Hamilton and Ryan Redhawk

Ben Hamilton/ImagineAir
Co-Founder and CEO

Prior to serving in his role as CEO, Ben Hamilton was heavily involved with the operational development of ImagineAir, and has served as the company’s Part 135 Director of Operations. As a co-founder ImagineAir, Ben has led the company through more than 30% growth year over year in his mission to offer on-demand air travel at the lowest price point in the industry. Prior to ImagineAir, Ben served as President of Georgia Tech’s Yellow Jacket Flying Club of more than 200 members, and a flight instructor for students, faculty and alumni. Ben is a licensed commercial pilot and CFI with multiengine, single-engine, and instrument ratings. Ben Hamilton holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech and an M.B.A from Emory University.

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Exclusive Interview with Dean Erika James of Emory University Goizueta Business School

Posted on February 15, 2016February 23, 2016

Podcast: Download

– Special Episode of Atlanta Business Radio –

Sandy Welfare Executive Director of WIT Atlanta and Ryan “Redhawk” McPherson talk with Dean Erika James of Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Sandy Welfare, Dean Erika James and Ryan McPherson

This Episode Brought To You By

Goizueta has been ranked No. 1 in the world for MBA employment and among the world’s best for career opportunities. Additionally, graduates are positively impacting the marketplace and our alumni, as they advance in their careers, continue to increase their influence worldwide.

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Erika James was appointed Dean of Goizueta Business School on May 19, 2014. Prior to this prestigious appointment, James served as Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education at the Darden Graduate School of Business (Virginia). She introduced the Women’s Leadership Program at Darden, which has the top-ranked faculty for open enrollment programs (Financial Times, 2014). Open enrollment programs at Darden are currently ranked No. 3 in the world (Financial Times, 2014). James is a published researcher, award-winning educator, admired administrator, regarded speaker and proven consultant. Her expertise in workplace diversity and crisis leadership has led to recognition in scholarly journals and mainstream media. She has also taught and consulted on topics including decision making under pressure, trust and change management. James grew up in Texas and completed her undergraduate work at Pomona College (Calif.). While fulfilling coursework James started in the field of organizational psychology and pursued an M.A. and Ph.D. in the subject at the University of Michigan. She served as an assistant professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business and Emory before joining the faculty at Darden. James also spent a year as visiting professor at Harvard Business School. In more than a decade of service at Virginia, James worked in various roles including Associate Dean of Diversity — the first to hold the position. She was also course head for the MBA core organizational behavior course and served as area coordinator for the Leadership and Organization Behavior unit at Darden. For the university, James was a member of the executive council of the Faculty Senate.

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Sandy D. Welfare is the Executive Director of Women In Technology (WIT). Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of Cool Girls Inc, an award-winning early intervention after-school program dedicated to the empowerment of girls (2009-2015).

Sandy’s career began in 1989 in Greenwich, Connecticut where she joined Rand Insurance as the Controller. Six years later, she accepted a position with Lucent Technologies, an international telecommunications leader, holding a number of positions including serving as Accounting and Treasury Manager in Singapore (1999-2000) and then as Senior Manager in Australia and New Zealand (2000-2002). Sandy returned to Atlanta in 2002 as Senior Manager of Global Financial Services.

In 2003, Sandy accepted a position as Director of Operations for Xchanging, a business processing outsourcing company. In 2006, her career took her to London, England as Managing Director for professional services, where she managed global business processing services for bank financial transactions, insurance and retail.

Sandy received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in New York, and a Master of Business Administration from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. She serves on the board of several non-profits, including Kiwanis Club of Atlanta. Sandy resides in Marietta, Georgia with her husband, Cliff and son, Soloman.

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JDog Junk Removal and Hauling

Posted on February 5, 2016

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On the program today we spoke with founder and CEO of JDog Junk Removal and Hauling Jerry Flanagan, Owner/Operator of JDog Junk Removal and Hauling in Lawrenceville, Ga. Forrest Woodland and Owner/Operator of JDog Junk Removal and Hauling in Woodstock, Ga. Jason Meadows.

JDog Junk Removal – we are the U.S. Military Veteran Brand! Our local business operators are veterans and veteran family members who understand the notion of service to country, hard work, and dedication. Our junk removal services are delivered the military way – with Respect, Integrity, Trust

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Gerald “Jerry” Flanagan is the creator of the JDog brand and founder of the JDog Junk Removal system and serves as our President and CEO. Jerry’s business career has been focused primarily in the retail sales industry, where he has held various positions and founded, owned and operated a number of businesses. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Army. He did basic training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina and then went to Ft. Gordon, GA for Advanced Individual Training. He was later stationed at Ft. Stewart Georgia and achieved the rank of E-4 Specialist. Jerry is based at our corporate office in Berwyn, PA.

LinkedIn JDog Twitter JDog Facebook JDog You Tube

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Forrest Woodland/JDog Lawrenceville
Owner/Operator

Jason Meadows/JDog Woodstock
Owner/Operator

Atlanta’s Most Trusted Advisors: Why HIPAA Is Important To You

Posted on January 21, 2016January 28, 2016

Podcast: Download

Atlanta’s Most Trusted Advisors interviews industry experts from in and around the Metro Atlanta Area. Our goal is to provide valuable information that all business owners and managers can use in their day-to-day work to help them succeed.

What Do You Mean I Have to Be HIPAA Compliant?

While most of us are familiar with the term, HIPAA, that knowledge typically doesn’t extend past our signature on a form when we visit the doctor. Most people certainly don’t realize that being “HIPAA-compliant” stretches far beyond medical practices to anyone who has access to patient information. These companies are called “business associates” and include accountants, attorneys, HR professionals and more. On this show Donna Grindle of Kardon Compliance shares her expertise about what HIPAA is, how one can get, and remain, compliant. She is joined by Sean Joyce of Patientco who talks about his experience as a business associate as well.

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Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk (Host)/ bbr Marketing

Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk has been a member of the creative and marketing services community for over 20 years and does not appear to be leaving it anytime soon. As president of bbr marketing, she has relished the challenges of entrepreneurship as she worked to grow and nurture a new business. Since the firm’s inception in 2009, Bonnie has led the young company to become widely recognized and respected within the professional services marketing niche, with award-winning client websites and an outstanding history of business success having worked with clients in 23 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

She is excited about the publication of her first book earlier this year, Take Your Marketing Online! Proven Ways to Grow Your Firm in the Digital Age. She was recognized in 2012 and 2013 as one of AccountingToday’s Top 100 Most Influential People and is in great demand as a consultant, speaker and leader at various industry events. She is a founding member of the Atlanta Independent Women’s Network and is the Atlanta chapter president of the Association for Accounting Marketing. She is also a regular contributor to a variety of websites, including Social Media Today, Accounting Today and other industry-related publications and has been quoted in Entrepreneur, U.S. News & World Report, CPA Practice Advisor, and others. She was recently invited to join the CPA Consultants’ Alliance and is excited about being a part of this influential group.

Dr. Cailen Wells The XfitDoc and Alex Browning with Crossfit Johns Creek

Posted on January 15, 2016

Podcast: Download

World-Class Fitness
in 100 Words:

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.”

~Greg Glassman

Alex Browning and Dr. Cailen Wells

Dr. Cailen Wells

Dr. Cailen Wells is a native of Michigan. Before deciding to bring her passion for helping others heal through Chiropractic to the Alpharetta area, Dr. Wells practiced on the coast of Georgia in the small town of St. Mary’s Georgia the home of Kings Bay Naval Base. Dr. Wells completed her undergraduate degree in Dietetics/Nutrition at Eastern Michigan University in 2005. It has been a part of her lifestyle to maintain her health with good nutrition and Chiropractic since she lost her mother from Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 16.

At Eastern Michigan she received a scholarship to pole vault on the Eastern Michigan’s Track and Field team with her previous experience as a competitive gymnast. Dr. Wells is a pole vaulting coach for Pole Vault-ATL. She also enjoys competitions in Crossfit and won her first competition in Jan 2014 at the Central Florida Games and placed 3rd at a Weightlifting competition in Gwinnett in May 2015. Dr. Wells is a Level 1 Crossfit trainer and enjoys coaching at Crossfit Remnant in Johns Creek, Georgia.

REM•NANT: (noun) the part of something that is left when the other parts are gone. The body’s ability to heal is far greater then what they have permitted you to believe. Crossfit Remnant symbolizes the perfect fit for Dr. Wells as she views health in the same way. Dr. Wells often times see’s the last resort patients, those who have tried everything, and everything has failed them. She believes there is still hope, there is still healing that will take place, there is still a remnant!

Her passion for health, nutrition and sports soared her to new heights as she pursued a further degree in Chiropractic at Life University in Marietta, Georgia. During Chiropractic school she became Advanced certified in Upper Cervical Specific as well as attended world mission trips to Guatemala and El Salvador.

Dr Wells is a published author in the JCCR, (Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research). She was published in 2011 with regards to research in an advanced type of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Dr. Wells is part of The Specific Chiropractic Center and currently operates the Atlanta office. Dr. Wells wants to help you realize the importance to having proper care of the spine and nervous system. She also wants children to understand the importance of having a healthy spine and nervous system as it becomes “the first choice in health care for future generations”.

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Alex Browning/Crossfit Johns Creek
Coach and Mentor

I started CrossFit in 2009 as a program to supplement my distance running program. Trained with my normal run schedule and added CrossFit three days a week. 4 months later I ran a PR 10 mile race at 70 minutes and then switched to CrossFit as my fulltime fitness program.

In 2010 I received my Level 1 Cert followed by my Level 2 in 2011. I was an affiliate manager for about two and a half years in Washington, DC. Since coming out of full time gym management I have kept up as a coach and athlete.

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Santa Business with Santa Claus Atlanta

Posted on December 9, 2015

Podcast: Download

An in depth and behind the scenes conversation with Santa Claus Atlanta, Santa David

Santa David Doerrier

About Santa David

To David, Santa is much more than a big red suit.

From the first time he put on the suit, he loved it! David would be Santa all year long if he could!

He has a passion for bringing authentic engagement and hope to everyone in the room, whatever their age. There’s nothing artificial or make-believe about a great Santa; Santa is always all heart.

For more than 25 years, David has been perfecting his Santa presentation and technique, not just in the Atlanta area, but the world.

If you are lucky enough to have been tasked the assignment of locating a great Santa for your next event and you discovered this site, then consider it an early Christmas present from Santa, because you and your guest are in for a great holiday treat..

www.santahohoho.com Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Santa David and Ryan Redhawk

Click Here to view show photos!!

Tom Kuczmarski President & Founder, Kuczmarski Innovation; Co-founder, Chicago Innovation Awards

Posted on December 8, 2015December 8, 2015

Podcast: Download

Thomas D. Kuczmarski, president and founder of Kuczmarski Innovation, is a nationally recognized expert in the innovation of new products and services.

Over the course of his career he has helped hundreds of clients, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations, learn to systematically unlock the value of innovation. Mr. Kuczmarski teaches product and service innovation at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management where he is Senior Lecturer and Visiting Scholar in the Center for Innovation and Technology. For more than three decades, his executive education courses at the Kellogg School have attracted students from around the world.

Mr. Kuczmarski is also founder, along with journalist Dan Miller, of the Chicago Innovation Awards, which annually celebrates, educates, and connects innovators in the Chicago region. The awards are endorsed by every major business association in the Chicago region and showcase the creative spirit of America’s heartland. In 2013, the Awards expanded to include a new venture, The Innovators Connection, designed to help expand the local economy by creating business connections among the region’s innovators, large and small.

Mr. Kuczmarski is the author of six books on innovation and leadership. Innovating Chicago Style: How Local Innovators are Building the National Economy (Book Ends Publishing), written with Dan Miller and Luke Tanen and published in 2012, profiles the first decade of winners of the Chicago Innovation Awards and the lessons of innovation that they reveal. Apples are Square: Thinking Differently about Leadership (Kaplan), co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski and published in 2007, explores the qualities of the ideal leader and how to build those qualities into one’s own career. Innovating the Corporation (NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group) reveals the seven steps for achieving growth through innovation. Managing New Products (Book Ends Publishing), now in its third edition, is endorsed by the American Marketing Association and widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive treatises on the development of new products. Values-Based Leadership: Rebuilding Employee Commitment, Productivity and Performance (Prentice-Hall) was also co-authored with Dr. Susan Smith Kuczmarski. His book Innovation was co-published by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group and the American Marketing Association.

He is extensively published and cited on radio, television, and in national periodicals including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Newsweek, Bloomberg Business Week, The Today Show, Planning Review, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Marketing News, Advertising Age, Crain’s Chicago Business, Business Marketing, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and many more. He has a chapter published on new products and services in the Marketing Encyclopedia, a publication of the American Marketing Association, and serves on the editorial review boards for The Journal of Product Innovation Management and The Journal of Consumer Marketing. In addition, Mr. Kuczmarski is a highly regarded speaker on innovation management and leadership, and lectures nationally and internationally to a broad range of corporations and associations. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and an appointed member of the Illinois Innovation Council.

Before founding Kuczmarski Innovation, he was a Principal at Booz · Allen & Hamilton. While there, Mr. Kuczmarski assisted more than 100 U.S. consumer and industrial goods companies in the areas of marketing, new product development, strategic business analysis and organizational planning. In addition, he led the firm’s in-depth research of the best practices employed by more than 700 U.S. firms in their new product management processes. His prior experience as a brand manager at Quaker Oats Company also provided a solid and broad-based foundation unique to his consulting specialty.

He earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s Graduate School of International Affairs, where he was named an International Fellow of the University. He received a B.A. in French from the College of the Holy Cross.

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Tracey Grace with IBEX IT, Tim Fulton with Small Business Matters and Phillip Blume with Blume Photography

Dr. Alvin S. Perry with PV designs, Inc. and Brent Leary with ExCom 2016