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KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Al Meyers with TiE Atlanta

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KSUEntrepreneurship

Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

Al Meyers / TiE Atlanta
Executive Director

Al Meyers Al Meyers, the Executive Director of TiE Atlanta, is an entrepreneur and media executive with more than 25 years of experience across Fortune 500 companies, for-profit and nonprofit startups.  Meyers has launched two award-winning, sustainable, Atlanta-based nonprofit organizations: TEDxPeachtree and the Atlanta Music Project.  Both are successful community assets that have made a significant social impact in Metro Atlanta.  TEDxPeachtree has become the premier TEDx event in Georgia and one of the leading TEDx events in the world, with several talks garnering millions of views.  The Atlanta Music Project is the first music program in the state of Georgia inspired by the globally acclaimed Venezuelan youth music program, El Sistema. AMP is an intensive music program for at-risk youth right in their neighborhood, and now serves hundreds of at-risk youth across several locations in Metro Atlanta who are now on a path to college and career.

Previously, Meyers ran his own boutique consulting practice, Saisei Consulting, a provider of strategy and corporate development advisory services to early-stage, growth-stage and mature digital media companies around the world. Al has advised several startups in the areas of digital media, 3D technology, online games and games for K-12 education.  Al has spoken to external audiences on such topics as disruptive innovation in education, and the role of online games outside of the “purely entertainment” arena.

Meyers accumulated more than two decades of experience in the media and entertainment industry with several Fortune 100 companies.  Meyers served as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Turner Broadcasting  where he was a founding member of GameTap, and facilitated the sale of GameTap to a French company in 2008.  Meyers spent nearly 13 years at the company (1995-2008), and spent considerable time on M&A transactions and strategy development for Turner (and across Time Warner) and its portfolio of businesses, with an emphasis on Cartoon Network.

Al received his Bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and his Masters in Business Administration from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University.

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Veterans Connect Radio Episode 013

Veterans Connect Radio

A spotlight episode of Atlanta Business Radio and powered by Business RadioX. Co-Hosted by Ryan “Redhawk” McPherson and Brandon Skolnick with Gathering Of Angels. Featuring veteran entrepreneurs, support organizations, outreach groups and more in the Atlanta area continuing to serve our families, our communities and our country. 

#VetsConnect
@VetConnectRadio

VCR Guys

Ryan Redhawk and Brandon Skolnick

 

 

 

IMG_1632Mike Brennen /  Disgruntled Vets
Editor

Mission Statement

We are a group of American loving patriots and Veterans who are Disgruntled with the status quo. We aim to create a high standard for our products through  motivation determination and a little bit of  whiskey.

 Who are we

After coming home from Afghanistan, a group of three friends decided to create a Facebook page to help vent our frustrations and problems with living a civilian life again. After a year of being home, we went from three friends venting, to a disgruntled community.

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KSU Entrepreneurship Center Presents The Shrimp Tank

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KSUEntrepreneurship

 Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks and Ted Jenkin.

 

 

Kevin Peak / CaJa Popcorn
Chief Popper

Kevin Peak is the Chief Popper at CaJa Popcorn, a gourmet popcorn store in the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center in Buckhead. Prior to founding CaJa Popcorn he spent almost twenty years in the financial services industry working with corporate treasurers and CFOs as a strategy consultant and as a sales leader in the financial technology space.  Kevin’s work history includes time at Bank of America, Bearing Point, Wachovia, Thomson Financial, and Kyriba Corporation. Kevin obtained his undergraduate degree in international economics from Georgetown University and his MBA from Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management.

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Kyle Valencia founder of Valencia Productions and Ryan Prior Journalist and Documentarian

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Ryan Prior, Alex Gossett Shifflet and Kyle Valencia

 

 

 

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Kyle Valencia / Valencia Productions
Founder

Naturally passionate about creating and building, and connecting. A dynamic high-energy leader driven for business development and innovation. Specialties: Marketing, Sales, Company Branding, Management, Recruiting, Product Development, and SaaS development.

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Twitter

Phone  770-365-1738

 

 

 

 

 

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Ryan Prior

Ryan Prior / Blue Ribbon Foundation/Forgotten Plague

Co-Director, Producer, Writer

Ryan is a multimedia journalist and social entrepreneur. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Georgia Political Review and went on to jobs writing for The Daily Beast and USA Today. His reporting and commentary have also appeared in The American Conservative, Real Clear Politics, and several other publications. Currently working at CNN, he was selected as a 2014 Stanford Medicine X ePatient Scholar and was recognized as ProHealths 2014 ME/CFS Advocate of the Year. He is president of the Blue Ribbon Foundation and serves on the Board of Directors for #ME Action Network. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Georgia.

Facebook

Twitter

Phone 478-542-1463

 

Ryan Prior

Ryan and Alex

The Blue Ribbon Foundation

 

 

 

 

 

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KSU Entrepreneurship Center Presents The Shrimp Tank

KSUEntrepreneurship

Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks and Ted Jenkin.

 

 

 

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Ted Jenkin, Jeff Woolverton, Alexandra Woolverton and Lee Heisman

 

 

 

 

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Alexandra Woolverton  / www.GetSparkedATL.com

Alexandra attended the University of Florida’s Pre-Veterinary program and graduated with a Bachelors degree in Animal Science.  After much thought she decided that she found herself getting too emotionally attached to sick animals and going straight into the workforce after graduation would better suit her.  And through her career choices she fell in love with entrepreneurship.  Always a dream big kind of girl, her first job out of college was in Marketing and Sales for a little start-up by her sister’s best friend, Sara Blakely.  She saw Blakely take Spanx from the back of her apartment to a booming billion dollar pantyhose empire.  That was Alexandra’s first glimpse that big vision and hard work go hand in hand.  Her next endeavor was with a local Atlanta Sports Radio Station started and run by Andrew Saltzman and Stephen “Steak” Shapiro.  Two men in their thirties that had a dream and a vision to own their own radio station.  There she was an Account Manager who created and sold sports marketing campaigns.  During her time there she met and married Jeff Woolverton, an on-air personality at the station.  After they began a family with the arrival of their first born, Alexandra realized that it might be time to be a flexible working mom and go into business for herself.  She came across a newer Direct Sales company, Stella & Dot, where she launched and built her new career as a Stylist who set up pop-a-shop trunk shows in people’s homes selling fashion accessories.  At Stella & Dot she was a Senior Director and Founding Leader who led a team of over 500 other stylists across the country, was Top in Sales for North America and Top in Recruitment.  During this journey of home parties, working full time hours she found she had put her health on the back burner.  She was exhausted, found herself just trying to get through the day and her weight was the same as the day she walked in the door carrying her second baby home form the hospital three years prior.   Her husband, Jeff, had been drinking AdvoCare’s Spark for over a decade but she had never really looked into the products or company for herself but needed a lifestyle shift so she gave it a go.  In her first 24 days she lost 8 pounds and unlocked energy for the first time in a long while.  Over the next 3 months she lost a total of 35 pounds and took her body fat from 34% to 9.9%.  People began to notice more pep in her step and the healthy changes taking place.  As they began to ask, she began to share and a business was born.  AdvoCare is world-class nutrition that provides distributors solutions in two key areas: health and finances.  Alexandra and Jeff are looking forward to helping Atlantans and beyond feel and look their best through AdvoCare’s food first program and elite nutritional supplements and building teams of others who in conjunction with taking care of themselves and others want to fight for the same freedoms that American’s deserve: financial and time freedom for families.  www.GetSparkedATL.com

 

Jeff  Woolverton / www.GetSparkedATL.com

Jeff attended Florida State University and since childhood has had a passion for all things sports.  In 1996 he moved to Atlanta during the Olympics and enjoyed interning in sports broadcasting.  He found a home at Sports Radio 790 The Zone as a producer for their popular Mayhem in the AM morning show and within a few years had an on-air show of his own during the mid-day slot.  He spent over a decade there and enjoyed opportunities such as being the Sideline reporter for the Georgia Tech Football team.  But his love of sports is also paralleled with his love of coaching youth sports.  Jeff has volunteered for over 15 years as a baseball and basketball coach at Northside Youth Organization also known as NYO out of Chastain Park.  In 2014, Jeff left the corporate world to start his own business: Woolverton Sports Academy.  Through camps, clinics and private lessons Jeff has taken his passion and made a career out of it.  Through his affiliation with AdvoCare he is able to help his youth athletes as well as his players who have gone onto play at the collegiate level by helping them get the best nutrition in their body through food choices and safe supplementation.    www.GetSparkedATL.com

 

 

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Jeff Woolverton, Alexandra Woolverton and Lee Heisman

 

 

 

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Lee R. Heisman / Savant Comprehensive Technologies
(Co-Host)

Lee R. Heisman is the owner and CEO of Savant Comprehensive Technologies, My School Pool and Ask a Privacy Officer. Prior to this, Lee was the founder and CEO of H and W Printing and Brainstorm Design Works, a full advertising agency and commercial printing firm located in Atlanta, GA. He has a Master Degree from Rutgers University and is on the Advisory Board of the KSU Entrepreneurial Center. Lee has sold 2 of his previously businesses over the years through mergers and acquisition. Before launching his Entrepreneurial Career, Lee was a Licensed Physical Therapist in New Jersey for over 3 years

 

 

 

 

 

Ted Jenkin/Oxygen Financial
(Co – Host)

Ted Jenkin has spent the past 22 years giving personal financial advice to thousands of people across the United States. After graduating from Boston College in 1991, Ted spent more than 16 years working for American Express Financial Advisors/Ameriprise Financial. He was one of the youngest people in the history of the company to reach both Field Vice President and Group Vice President level. He managed more than 800 financial advisors throughout 8 states in his last position with the company. He won the premier performer award, leader of the year award, and had the number one office in the country for more than two years in a row. In 2008, Ted founded oXYGen Financial to help revolutionize the financial services industry by creating a new company that focused on serving the X and Y Generation. oXYGen Financial now has more than 1,700 clients throughout 25 states across the country. Ted has been featured in over 25 magazines and newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and The Huffington Post. He has six advanced designations from the College for Financial Planning (CFP®, CRPC®, CRPS®, AWMA®, AAMS®, CMFC®) and is an on air radio personality featured on the popular drive time Atlanta radio show The Rock 100.5 Morning Show on Rock 100.5 FM. Ted lives in Milton, GA with his wife Genna and three kids Olivia, Lyla, and Louden.

 

Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals MEGA Mixer June 2nd 2016

The MEGA Young Professionals networking event of the year is here! Sandy Springs Perimeter ChamberBrookhaven Chamber of CommerceDunwoody Perimeter ChamberNorth Fulton Alliance of Young ProfessionalsJunior Chamber International (JCI), Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and UPS are co-hosting a Metro Atlanta Mega Mixer! Bring your friends and co-workers for a night of laid back business mingling while enjoying a complimentary Bourbon, Tequila and Cider tasting, business card swap corn hole and so much more!

 

 

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Alex Gossett Shifflet and her assistant Grace McKenzie Shifflet covered the MEGA Mixer for Business RadioX.

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Alley G. with Ryan Prior, creator of The Forgotten Plague.

Zach / Urban Tree Cidery

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Jordan  Gillins / The Dunwoody Chamber  & Wendy / Corporate Travel

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Zubair Hossain / Tag

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Kyle Valencia / Valencia Productions

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Brian Taylor / Keller Williams

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Jordan Suresky  / AAA Travel

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Kristen Hallom / Comcast Business

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 Katie & Sara Chukoian / Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber
Social Media & Communications Mannager

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Alvin Miller / Educator & Motivational Speaker / ALEMILLER15@GMAIL.COM

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Ryan Prior / Forgotten Plague

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John Hagon / TeleData Select 

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Brandy Duncan / Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber

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Jasmine Coer /Color Your Story

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Brandy Duncan

 

 

Brandy DuncanSandy Springs Perimeter Chamber
Marketing & Events Manager

 

 

Sara Chukoian / Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber
Social Media & Communications Mannager

Atlanta’s Most Trusted Advisors Features Timothy J. Jones

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.

 

Timothy J Jones and Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk

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Timothy J. Jones / The Timothy Jones Companies
CEO & Founder

TJ is an expert leadership speaker, coach, and consultant with a new book to be launched in September. He began his professional life as a teacher, then spent 20 years in the biopharmaceutical industry leading sales teams and as head of Training and Leadership Development. With practical wisdom learned in the trenches, TJ helps individuals, teams, and companies enhance their engagement and effectiveness. He delivers highly interactive and transformative learning experiences. He is President/Owner of the Timothy Jones Companies. LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyjjones1

 

 

Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk (Host)/ bbr Marketing
President

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.

 

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Timothy j Jones and Ryan “Redhawk” McPherson

Dave Norton Creator of InContextNow conference in Atlanta

 

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David Norton, PhD is founder and principal of Stone Mantel, which has guided hundreds of brand leaders in creating meaningful brand experiences. Norton founded the Digital Collaborative in 2013 to help companies collaborate in conducting research about consumers and the impact of digital in their lives. He is the author of the new book DIGITAL CONTEXT 2.0: Seven Lessons In Business Strategy, Consumer Behavior And The Internet Of Things. Norton is also the person behind InContextNow: The Conference On The Internet Of Things For Marketers, Business Strategists And Research Leaders which is taking place in Atlanta on June 2 & 3, 2016.

Stone Mantel     InContextNow

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JoAnn Holmes with HOLMES@LAW, Kevin Geraghty with Revenue Research and Thad Oviatt with ParkENT Cycles

 

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Ryan “Redhawk” McPherson, Kevin Geraghty, JoAnn Holmes and Thad Oviatt

 

 

JoAnn Holmes, Esq. / HOLMES@LAW, LLC
Attorney and Founder

JoAnn Jo Holmes is the founder of HOLMES@LAW, LLC(www.holmesatlaw.com), where her practice focus is Business Law & Contracts, Trademark & Copyright, Software & Tech. She works with a broad array of clients, including professional service providers, consultants, software and creative content developers, and manufacturers. Having practiced law for nearly 17 years, her goal is to live the firms slogan Your Business Ally™.

A graduate of Stanford University and Emory School of Law, her career began in the Technology & Intellectual Property (IP) practice group of Troutman Sanders, a prominent Atlanta based law firm. There, she successfully represented a gamut of diverse clients, from startups to multi-billion dollar companies like Chick-fil-A, Microsoft and WalMart.

Moving in-house, Jo served on business management and legal teams in senior leadership roles for both public and private manufacturing companies. For more than a decade, she was the go-to lawyer for her business units with presence in North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Pacific Rim. She has overseen IP portfolios in more than 130 countries, is well accomplished in negotiating sophisticated domestic and international commercial contracts, and in resolving high dollar disputes.

Jo has spoken extensively about business law, technology, and intellectual property. Currently, she writes the business law section for the Gwinnett Citizen newspaper, and speaks for SCORE, a longstanding resource partner of the Small Business Administration. Likewise, Jo volunteers with Leadership Gwinnett, Discovery High Schools Entrepreneurship Academy, the SE Gwinnett Coop food pantry, and the Stanford Alumni Association.

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Kevin Geraghty / Revenue Research, Inc.
President

Kevin is responsible for the creation of $3 billion in documented corporate value. He has built successful analytic departments and profitable business models for Fortune 500 clients. Kevin received the Edelman Laureate Award in 1996 and 2016 for outstanding Operations Research practice and received the DM News Martech Award for Data Science in 2015. He is the author of machine learning patents for Dynamic Pricing and Paid Search marketing.

 

 

Thad Oviatt / ParkENT Cycles
Founder & CEO

ParkENT Cycles just wants to HUG your bicycle and keep it safe. We produce an electronic bike rack. The rack is a bicycle locking system built into a custom bike rack. To use the rack a person just needs to push their bike into the rack, activate it with the paired phone app (or key card, or attached kiosk), and the bike rack locks up the bicycle. The electronic bike rack locks the wheel and frame of the bicycle. The rack is safer than any other bicycle lock on the market.

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