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Today we had a special edition of Atlanta Business Radio spotlighting the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce. We featured several members of the Dekalb Chamber who spoke about their involvement in the Chamber of Commerce and the upcoming Capacity Building Series.
Greg Russell/Bank of North Georgia div of Synovus Bank
Greg Russell is a Senior Vice President and Community Executive for Bank of North Georgia. In this capacity, Mr. Russell is responsible for banking activity and operations in the Tucker and surrounding markets. His career in banking began in 1988 at C & S Bank now Bank of America as a Management Associate. Mr. Russell earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Georgia State University and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the same school. He’s also a graduate of Leadership Rockdale and Synovus Leadership Institute.
Mr. Russell has been very involved in his local community having served on the local boards for the Northlake Kiwanis, the Decatur-Dekalb YMCA and Dekalb Chamber of Commerce. He coached youth baseball and soccer for several years.
He is a native Atlantan and has lived in Dekalb County for the past 35 years. He and his wife, Carol, have one child; Gregory Russell, Jr. Gregory is a 10th grader attending Arabia Mountain High School’s Magnet Program. The Russells attend Mt. Ephraim Baptist Church where they have had some connection for the past 30+ years.
Charles Blackmon/DEBCO
Charles Blackmon is the Executive Director of the DeKalb Enterprise Business Corporation (DEBCO). Charles is a native of Atlanta and is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia.
Charles Green/Small Business Finance Institute
Charles Green began working in his parent’s small business at age 8 and attended many dinner hour “board meetings.” Today he is a recognized small business authority with over 30 years of advising, financing and investing in entrepreneurs. He regularly consults with business owners and bankers, writes about financial topics and teaches finance through seminars and conferences produced by a non-profit enterprise he founded, the Small Business Finance Institute (www.SBFI.org).
His experience as a commercial banker, venture capitalist and advisor yielded clients from more than 30 countries. He founded and served as President/CEO of Sunrise Bank of Atlanta. Charles has served as corporate director for several businesses in the U.S., Mexico and Europe including a NASDAQ-listed company. Presently he serves as Chair of the Governing Board at Atlanta Medical Center, a 460-bed for-profit hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare.
Charles authored several books and articles about business financing including bestselling The SBA Loan Book 3rd Edition (Adams Media, 2011), and Get Financing Now (McGraw-Hill, 2012).
He earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Alabama and completed the Stonier National Graduate School of Banking at the Wharton School of Business. He serves as Chair of the Fulton County Arts Council. In 2005 he was named the Financial Services Champion by the Georgia District of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The Small Business Finance Institute is a vision to create a national education platform teaching business owners better financial management skills and how to navigate to funding through more informed preparation and search.
Charles Green & Co provides strategic advice on debt and equity financing, resource planning, cash flow forecasting, capital adequacy, business tactics, corporate governance, organizational planning, and big ideas to businesses and banks of all sizes. Hear him speak on Capital Management at the Dekalb Chamber Capacity Building Series on July 20.
