Listen Now!

Business Talk 24-7

Curated Collection Of The Best Interviews From Our Sandy Springs Studio





Atlanta Business Radio

Month: September 2014

Roger Flynn with First Choice Franchise Concepts and Shene Commodore with Commodore Consulting

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Roger Flynn – First Choice Franchise Concepts Linkedin Facebook

Currently COO & Senior VP of Franchise Development with First Choice Franchise Concepts, Roger Flynn has more 20 years of experience in franchise development with a broad knowledge base as a franchise consultant. Roger works with entrepreneurs who want to expand their businesses, and make financially sound choices. First Choice Franchise Concepts has extensive franchise sales and development experience across multiple markets and disciplines; and proven marketing and branding expertise with franchisors and top Fortune 100 companies.

Shene Commodore / Commodore Consulting, LLC Linkedin Twitter

Ms. Commodore is the President of Commodore Consulting, LLC. As a government contracts expert, she has helped businesses generate and manage over $4 billion dollars in government sales. Recently Ms. Commodore worked with Congress to help draft new legislation on Acquisition Planning for TSA. In June of this year, Ms. Commodore was awarded the Statesman Award by the Security Industry Association (SIA) for her leadership & time advocating public policy challenges impacting the electronic physical security industry to Congress. Other awards include One of the 25 Influential Women in Business by the by MEA Magazine and the NCMA President’s Circle. Ms. Commodore works with companies to help generate revenue by winning work with the federal government. Her services include GSA, CARF, contract assistance, training, proposal writing, and marketing. Ms. Commodore is a certified professional contracts manager who has been providing government services for over 20 years.

 

 

Special Edition: TiE Atlanta

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Akber Mithani / Zydexo Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Akber Mithani is the Executive VP at Zydexo. He Serves as a key member of the executive team that sets the Zydexo’s strategic direction that spearheads business development initiatives that are consistent with Zydexo’s overall strategy. He Manages multiple business initiatives in a start-up environment and most recently ZydexoEd, which is the Zydexo’s Education Technology Solution. Akber focuses on revenue generation and strategic partnership development, all while building and managing a business development team. He is the driving force in the development of the work ethic, culture and values of the sales and business development group. Akber is a passionate golfer and a Private Pilot with Instrument rating.

Tonya Lee / Life in the Pink Linkedin

Tonya Lee is the CEO and Co-Founder of Life in the Pink, Inc., a medical garment manufacturing company specializing in post-surgical drain management. She holds two Master’s Degrees in Counseling and Psychology. She is a member of the prestigious Oxford Round Table, Oxford, England and has spoken on subjects such as tolerance and self-esteem all over the world. She has been published in the peer-reviewed Oxford Journal on Public Policy in 2010.

Tonya has over 14 years experience as an innovative and versatile leader specializing in building organizations from ground level. A creative thinker and problem solver, Tonya has proven herself as a visionary in business development, product design and development, and team building.

 

 

Spotlight on Legal Marketing Association

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Clinton Gary / Arnall Golden Gregory LLP Linkedin Twitter

Clinton Gary is the Chief Marketing Officer for Arnall Golden Gregory, a top 10 law firm in Atlanta. Previously, he served in marketing leadership positions with the national law firm, Kilpatrick Townsend, and the global consulting firm, Arthur Andersen. His leadership has resulted in Arnall Golden Gregory receiving the designation of 2013 Midsize “Hot” Law Firm by The National Law Journal, recognizing the 20 most dynamic law firms in the country. His previous brand and website launches received national recognition by the Legal Marketing Association, and, while at Kilpatrick, his team received a top 10 ranking for Best Law Firm Marketing in the U.S. by The American Lawyer. For 20 years, Clinton has excelled at creating strategies that drive growth; rebuilding, retooling, and reenergizing marketing teams; and rebelling against the all-too-common average professional services marketing. He graduated from the University of Alabama but was raised in New Orleans. He is a huge fan the Saints and has never missed a Mardi Gras.

 

 

Stacy Williams with Big Drum and Danny Kofke with Invest N U

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Stacy Williams / Big Drum Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Stacy Williams has been a practitioner of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) since 1998, just a few months before Google was launched. Her nearly 14-year old award-winning B2B conversion agency, Big Drum, works with B2B technology clients that wish to generate more leads. In addition to driving more website traffic for clients through SEO and Paid Search, Big Drum also encourages more visitors to become leads through Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). Big Drum was formerly known as Prominent Placement, Inc. (PPI).

Prior to launching Prominent Placement, Stacy’s career spanned both coasts, serving at advertising agencies in Los Angeles and Atlanta. A graduate of the Haas School at the University of California at Berkeley, she received a B.S. in Business Administration, with an emphasis in Marketing. Stacy also received an M.A. in Communications Management from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School.

Stacy is a nationally sought after speaker on digital marketing, and is well published on the subject. She served as President of SEMPO Atlanta, a local chapter of the global Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization in 2013. Stacy was named “Search Engine Marketer of the Year” in 2012 by TAG (Technology Association of Georgia).

Danny Kofke / Invest N U Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Danny Kofke is currently a Retirement Consultant for Invest-N-U. After being an elementary school teacher for 14 years, he recently joined INU and will be responsible for visiting their 38 school districts around Georgia and neighboring states to give presentations and one-on-one advice to school employees – something he feels he was put on Earth to do!

Danny taught grades ranging from pre-kindergarten to second grade and special education in school districts throughout Florida, Georgia and, for two years, at an American International School in Krakow, Poland. His love of teaching and passion for helping others learn how to manage their money better led him to write three books – A Bright Financial Future: Teaching Kids About Money Pre-K through College for Life-Long Success, A Simple Book of Financial Wisdom: Teach Yourself (and Your Kids) How to Live Wealthy with Little Money and How To Survive (and perhaps thrive) On A Teacher’s Salary.

Danny’s everyday approach to handling money has led him to be interviewed on television over 50 times including national shows such as The CBS Early Show, Fox & Friends, CNN’s Newsroom, Fox Business Network’s The Willis Report, HLN’s Weekend Express, The 700 Club, The Clark Howard Show and MSNBC Live. He has also been interviewed on over 450 radio shows and featured in numerous publications such as USA Today, Yahoo.com, Money Magazine, Bankrate.com, Instructor Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Woman’s Day and The Wall Street Journal.

As a former teacher, Danny knows first-hand what it is like to walk in their shoes. In addition, his wife is currently a 2nd grade teacher after being a stay-at-home mom for nine years. Danny’s mission is to help teachers and school employees manage their money better so they can freely pursue their passions and achieve their goals. An employee that has little financial stress is a great asset since she can focus solely on her job – educating our children to make this world a better place!

Danny is living proof that one can do well financially despite living on a moderate income. He wants to show other teachers if he can do it, they can too!

 

 

Brady Holcomb with Marketo and Vicky Sleight with GSMA

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Brady Holcomb / Marketo Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Brady is a sophisticated Sales Executive who specializes in exceeding financial objectives by increasing Revenue & decreasing the SG&A while working for the leading provider of Marketing Automation. His positive impacting mathematical strategy is simple: At each step in the process, improve proficiency & increase efficiency. He does this through his sincere approach of company & others first mentality with a nice mix of analytic analysis.

Currently he is responsible for the Go-to-market Strategy & Divisional Launch for Marketo’s East Coast Hub.

In the past Brady has led sales for many companies selling software & due to effective sales campaigns & actionable lead scoring models he has always been able to grow new business revenue. All of this allowed him to effectively reproduce Lowest Cost of Sale output due to the measured strategy being logical, repeatable & scalable. While in Sales roles (Sales Leadership &/or General Manager positions) his divisions have exceeded revenue objectives by implementing Sales 2.0 processes & systems that drive Sales & Marketing alignment.

Brady’s past twenty plus years of sales experience are incessant of Top 1% Award-Winning Sales Performance across diverse sales environments. These Top 1% Sales Results are due to his exceptional sales best practices, unwavering commitment to success & sincere desire to serve his Leadership Team, Sales Divisions, customers & prospects.

Vicky Sleight / GSMA Linkedin Twitter Facebook

As Senior Director of Member Services at the GSMA since 2008, Vicky Sleight is responsible for growing membership within the mobile ecosystem, leading membership communications and operations for a community of 20,500 industry executives. She is also the driving force behind the GSMA Connected Women program: an initiative which aims to highlight the opportunities available to women in the mobile industry at all levels, as well as increase the number of women in senior management positions. Before joining the GSMA, Vicky led on a number of ground-breaking mobile industry initiatives. As Motorola developed the world’s first smartphones, she was responsible for creating consumer propositions and content services around the new devices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Prior to joining Motorola, Vicky started her career in marketing at O2.

 

 

Denise Reese with Endava, Dr. Jordan Amadio with NeuroLaunch and Ashley Wells with Atlanta Ad Club

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Denise Reese / Endava Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Denise Reese is Director, Business Development with Endava (US) LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endava UK Limited, a leading IT Services and Consulting firm with operations in London, Germany The US and Central Eastern Europe. In her role, Denise leads sales and operations for Endava’s newest US office in Atlanta, GA.

Denise has spent more than a decade in Sales and Strategic Alliances for several major IT Services and Software organizations and has held positions both in The United States and Europe. Her experience spans multiple disciplines including Identity and Access Management, IT Security and Regulatory Compliance Management. Denise has built a brand rooted in developing trusted advisor relationships with her
clients. This, coupled with a keen ability to build repeatable and sustainable revenue generating opportunities, has afforded Denise with the opportunity to achieve significant milestones for the firms she’s worked with.

During her tenure with Wipro Technologies, a leading IT Services, Consulting and Business Process Outsourcing Organization headquartered in Bangalore, India, she secured Wipro’s 1st and largest Hospitality Client in the US and was a multi -million dollar contributor to the RCTG (Retail, CPG, Transportation and Government) Business Unit.

Denise holds an MBA in Strategic Management from The Henley Business School in The United Kingdom. Her dissertation research focused on the importance of businesses adapting a sound IT Security and Risk policy. During her MBA Program, she completed her International Business Experience in Hong Kong. This allowed her the opportunity to analyze and provide strategic direction to Asia-Pacific companies in multiple industries including Manufacturing, Retail, and Public Sector.

Denise is passionate about serving in the community and embodies the qualities of a true Servant Leader. She served as Board Chair of the University Community Academy Board of Directors from 2009-2012.  She is currently President of The Women in Technology (WIT) Foundation Board, the philanthropic arm of Women In Technology, Inc. Additionally, she serves as Executive Advisor to WIT’s “WIT on Campus ” Program and is also responsible for developing Strategic Relationships for The WIT Foundation. Denise also had the honor of being a contributing author to WIT’s leadership book CLIMB: Leading Women in Technology Share Their Journey’s to Success. Denise also serves on the Board of Directors for Cool Girls, Inc. where she has held positions as both Board Development and Resource Development Chair. She was also Event Chair for Cool Girls’ signature fundraiser, Hot Pink Party 2013. She had the privilege of being a 2012 Girls, Inc. “Strong Smart and Bold” Award Nominee and was recently bestowed the honor of serving on the Judges Panel for Distinguished Young Women’s (formerly Junior Miss) 2013 National Finals.

Denise was a Founding Board Member and Director of Development for the Greater Atlanta Professional Chapter of Women MBA’s International, formerly known as NAWMBA -National Association of Women MBA’s. Recently, Denise was inducted into the Financial Times/European Business School’s Women on Board Initiative, “Global Board Ready Women.” This groundbreaking program is a global database of 8000 high achieving women in business and supports greater gender diversity on publicly quoted company boards in Europe. Denise is also a member of the National MS Society of Georgia’s MS Leadership 2014 Class.

Dr. Jordan Amadio / NeuroLaunch Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Dr. Jordan Amadio, MD, MBA is Co-Founder of NeuroLaunch, the world’s first accelerator program for early stage neuroscience startup companies. He is also a senior neurosurgery resident at Emory University.

He received an undergraduate honors degree in biophysics from Princeton, where he was awarded the Kusaka Memorial Prize in Physics. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in conjunction with the physician-scientist training curriculum (Division of Health Sciences and Technology) at M.I.T., where his thesis concerned a novel genetic basis of human cerebral cortex development. In 2010, he earned an M.B.A. with Distinction from Harvard Business School, where he focused on life science entrepreneurship and best practices for health care innovation.

Here in Atlanta, Dr. Amadio has been a passionate advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration between medicine, engineering, and startups. He serves as a Biomedical Engineering senior design advisor at Georgia Tech, where he has mentored the creation of new inventions to improve the lives of patients and health providers. As Editorial Fellow at NEUROSURGERY, a premier peer-reviewed academic journal, he is the host of a regular podcast featuring informal interviews with leaders in neuroscience. He is Co-Founder and Medical Adviser of Forge, an
Atlanta-based nonprofit organization facilitating medical technology innovation that recently hosted its first Healthcare Hackathon at Georgia Tech. In 2014, his efforts as a young physician leader were recognized with the Excellence in Medicine Award from the American Medical Association Foundation.

In his spare time, Dr. Amadio is active in numerous service projects and enjoys adventure travel, hiking, biking, and running on the Atlanta Beltline. He is a supporter of several community organizations including the High Museum of Art.

Ashley Wells / Atlanta Ad Club Facebook

Ashley Wells is President of the Atlanta Ad Club and serves as Associate Media Director for 22squared. Primary Clients: American Standard, Costa Rica Tourism, Baskin Robbins. Ashley manages a team that researches, develops and implements cross-platform national media plans across all media, especially digital, mobile, national cable, print, broadcast, and cinema. She is essential in the establishment of utilizing “Strategy Teams” throughout the agency to advance strategic thinking and collaboration across departments. Ashley spearheaded the creation of a training process for upcoming assistant planners and media planners as well as for cross-departmental education. She often represents the agency as a digital and media thought-leader on panels and in speaking engagements.

 

 

 

 

Rick Vanover with Veeam Software, Lindsey Nelson with CareerBuilder and Cindy Hull with The Novo Group

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Rick Vanover / Veeam Software Linkedin 

Rick Vanover is a product strategy specialist for Veeam Software. Rick is an active blogger,  podcaster and dynamic member of the virtualization community. Follow Rick on Twitter  @RickVanover or @Veeam.

Lindsey Nelson / CareerBuilder Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Cindy Hull / The Novo Group Linkedin

Cindy Hull is the Director of Business Development for The Novo Group and is responsible for launching Novo’s Atlanta office. She joined the Novo Group last fall and has worked in the Atlanta market in professional services for the past 15 years.

As the Market Leader for Novo, Cindy consults with companies in the Greater Atlanta Area about their talent aquisition strategies and overall vision for their organization.

 

 

 

Marianna Miller and Anna Groce with Oracle Applications Users Group and Marc Ramos with EiS Technologies

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Marianna Miller and Anna Groce / Oracle Applications Users Group

Founded in 1990, the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) is the world’s largest user knowledge base for Oracle Applications users. The organization serves as an advocate to Oracle Corp. for companies worldwide and represents users of more than 65 Oracle Applications products including Oracle Fusion Applications, Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Hyperion, Oracle’s Primavera EPPM, Oracle Communications, Oracle’s Customer Experience including Oracle CRM On Demand and Oracle’s Siebel CRM, and others. The OAUG provides its members with education, networking and support via a wide range of activities and forums including conferences, publications, special interest groups and online communities.

Marc Ramos / EiS Technologies Linkedin Twitter Facebook

 

 

Special Edition: Georgia Society of CPAs

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Today’s episode features guests who are members of the Georgia Society of CPAs. We also welcomed into the studio a group of Ashish Sood’s students to observe the show.

Joel Pascaner/Stephen M. Berman & Associates Linkedin

Joel L. Pascaner is a tax partner specializing in high net worth individuals, privately held entities, partnerships, S corporations, estates and trusts, not-for-profit organizations, and state and local tax matters. He also has extensive experience representing taxpayers before the IRS as well as numerous other taxing jurisdictions.

Joel is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, and The Leaderhship Team of the Tax Section of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants. He has been an at-large member of the GSCPA Council. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of the Tax Section of the GSCPA as well as both the Federal Tax Legislation and the Georgia Tax Legislation Subcommittees of the GSCPA Tax Section, where he was involved in the drafting and introduction of proposed legislation. He is also a Past Chairman of the Depreciation Committee and the Tax Accounting Problems Committee of the NYSSCPA. Mr. Pascaner was a member of the GSCPA 2006 Tax Forum Planning Committee and served as Moderator at the Forum’s Luncheons with Georgia Tax Commissioner Bart Graham. He was awarded “2006 Distinguished Section Leader” by the GSCPA and served on their Task Force on Employment. Joel is a member of the Atlanta Tax Forum and the Atlanta Estate Planning Council. He is a graduate of the Philanthropic Advisor Leadership Institute and was awarded the “Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Manager” by Atlanta Magazine for years 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Joel has authored numerous articles in professional and industry publications including the CPA Journal and the Taxation for Accountants.

He has served on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Disabilities Network and is currently on the Board of Trustees of Georgia Shakespeare.

Prior to joining Stephen M. Berman & Associates, L.L.C., Joel practiced as a tax professional with Laventhol & Horwath and Peat Marwick.

Joel is a CPA and received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as well as his Masters of Science in Taxation at the Long Island University.

John Masters, CPA, PC Linkedin

John Masters earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1969, followed by his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1975, and finally his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1979. During this period he was employed eight years in the Computer, Aerospace, and Electronics industries. During 1979 he was admitted to the Georgia Bar and received his certificate to practice as a Certified Public Accountant in Georgia and Alabama.

John has been active in professional, civic, and political activities throughout his career. He presently serves on the Georgia Society of Certified Pubic Accountants Professional Ethics Committee, and recently completed his term as Chairman of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants Tax Section. He has served as a SBA Score/Ace Volunteer Consultant, taught in the Junior Achievement Program and been a Future Business Leaders of America sponsor. He administered the “Call the Expert” on taxation program for 21 years at WGST News Radio where he also appeared as Tax Series Guest/Host. He has participated in various other radio and television tax related programs, testified at administrative hearings including the Georgia Special Council on Taxation, and held positions in other organizations.

John has taught courses at Oglethorpe University, Clayton Junior College (now Clayton State College) and the Becker CPA Review Course. For the last several years he has been an active member of the Dekalb Peachtree Squadron, Georgia Wing, of the Civil Air Patrol where he currently holds the rank of Major, and has been an active member of the Northside Atlanta Jaycees and the Decatur Dekalb Kiwanis Club. His is currently a member of the American Bar Association, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Georgia Bar Association, Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants.

John practices in Atlanta, Georgia principally in the areas of taxation and accounting, taxpayer representation before administrative bodies and tax tribunals, and related fields.

 

 

Josh Gertz with AMMO, Courtney Schickel with Ingenious Med and Frank Visgatis with CustomerCentric Selling

Posted on

Podcast: Download

ABR

Josh Gertz / Atlanta Mobile Marketing Org (AMMO) Twitter Facebook

Kyle Rollins (Mammoth Ideas) and Josh Gertz (DAQRI) teamed up to form Atlanta Mobile Marketing Org (AMMO). They have monthly meetups and socials across Atlanta, highlighting innovations in mobile marketing. This year they decided to create the 2014 Inaugural Atlanta Mobile Awards to recognize and reward innovators in Atlanta’s thriving mobile ecosystem. The event will be Tuesday, Sept 16, 7pm at the Loft @ Center Stage. Tickets, RSVP and nominations can all be found @atlantammo.org

Courtney Schickel / Ingenious Med Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Courtney Schickel’s career in healthcare IT began ten years ago as the fifth employee to join Ingenious Med. Still with the company today as vice president of marketing, she has worn virtually every hat as the company has grown from startup to established enterprise.

Frank Visgatis / CustomerCentric Selling® Linkedin Twitter Facebook

As co-founder, President & Chief Operating Officer of CustomerCentric Systems®, LLC and co-author of the CustomerCentric Selling® sales methodology, Frank Visgatis drives the overall direction and strategy for CustomerCentric Systems®, LLC, leveraging 20 years of leadership experience. Visgatis knows how to conceptualize and execute a new business strategy into a winning company. He has done it numerous times – from co-founding a thriving commercial and residential real estate holding company to transforming a private consulting practice into one of the most successful sales training providers in the country. His ability to identify trends and changes in the sales ecosystem has helped improve the dynamic of interaction between sellers and buyers through the development of CustomerCentric Selling® and Sales Ready Messaging®. Visgatis’ vision has propelled CustomerCentric Systems®, LLC as one of the industry’s top providers of sales process consulting, sales training and Sales Ready Messaging®.