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Armistead Whitney/Preparis 

Armistead Whitney is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Preparis. As CEO, Armistead leads the strategic direction for Preparis with a passion for implementing innovative sales, marketing and partnership models in industries ripe for change. He has over 20 years of experience leading software, web services and digital media companies, including raising more than $50 million in venture capital and a successful IPO.

Armistead was inspired to start Preparis following his experiences in New York City during 9/11 where he saw firsthand the inability for companies to protect their people, operations, revenue and brand during a crisis event. Today, Preparis helps companies such as investment managers, banks, credit unions, law firms, and commercial real estate property managers prepare for the worst case scenario.

Preparis offers a unique, web-based platform which includes an emergency notification system (to send emergency messages via text, email and voice to your whole company in a matter of seconds), as well as online crisis team training, document storage for essential emergency plans and critical files, plus a professional consulting team to help create and implement actionable business continuity and life safety programs for your organization.

Martina Stellmaszek/GACC South

Martina Stellmaszek is originally from Munich, Germany. She has a double degree in Business Administration from the European School of Business in Reutlingen, Germany and the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, Spain, and earned her MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, GA in 2011.

Since joining the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern US (GACC South) in 2004, Martina has held various roles. She became Director of Consulting Services in 2008 and Vice President in 2010. She was appointed President & CEO by the Board of Directors effective March 1, 2012.

Martina also serves as the Chapter Director of the Atlanta Warburg Chapter of the American Council on Germany.

Kip Caffey/Cary Street Partners 

Kip Caffey is the Managing Partner of Cary Street Partners where he is responsible for developing and executing the firm’s overall business strategy. He has worked in wealth management and investment banking firms in the Southeast for over 30 years. As the Managing Partner, Kip Caffey defines his job very simply, “It is my responsibility to marshal the firm’s resources in support of our number one goal; to always produce a great result for our clients. I also believe that how you play the game determines whether you win or lose. That’s why you’ll find Cary Street Partners’ core values and beliefs framed and hung in every associate’s office.”

Despite what many on Wall Street might think, Kip understands Cary Street Partners is really in the relationship business. “In wealth management or investment banking, the objective of the advisor is to help the client define and achieve his goals”, he says. “That doesn’t happen in a single transaction that happens as a relationship is built over time.”

Personally, Kip has played a role in financing or advising some of the Southeast’s best companies. That list of organizations includes; Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, First Financial Management, Total System Services, Longhorn Steakhouse, O’Charley’s, Logan’s Roadhouse, Landry’s Seafood, J. Alexander’s, Advanced Telecommunications, Resurgens Communications, MindSpring Enterprises, Medifax, Education Networks of America and others.

Kip began his career in 1981 in the Corporate Finance Department of J. C. Bradford & Co. and became a partner there in 1990. In 1996, he opened the firm’s first satellite investment banking office in Atlanta. From 1999 to early 2004, Kip was a Senior Managing Director with The Robinson Humphrey Company and its successor, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, where he served as co-head of Investment Banking. In addition, he was a driving force behind the creation of that firm’s high-end wealth management business, Alexander Key, now part of SunTrust Securities.

Kip is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Harvard Business School.