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Atlanta Business Radio

Month: May 2015

Spotlight on Sustainability

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Howard Connell / Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Howard Connell is a professor at Georgia Tech where he’s also the Managing Director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business (part of the Scheller College of Business). The Center, which was launched in 2013, strives to “use the power of business, technology, and innovation to build a sustainable future.” He also develops and teaches courses at the intersection of business and sustainability at the undergraduate, MBA, and executive levels.

A native of Atlanta and committed to making a difference locally, Howard is founding board chair of Atlanta’s Center for Civic Innovation and also serves on the advisory board of the Lifecycle Building Center. He earned his bachelors degree from Belmont University and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

John Gardner / Novelis Linkedin Twitter

John is Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for Novelis Inc – the world’s leading aluminium rolled products and aluminum recycling company. He is responsible for driving sustainability across Novelis’ operations. Novelis supplies premium aluminum sheet products throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia and has operations in 10 countries and has 11,000 employees.

Robert Fairey / Cox Enterprises Linkedin Twitter

Robert is Senior Director of Energy Procurement & Waste Diversion at Cox Enterprises. In this role, Robert develops and implements strategies to manage Cox’s overall energy portfolio, which includes identifying opportunities for operational and financial efficiency. He also oversees one of the company’s major sustainability goals of sending zero waste to landfill by 2024.

It is a part of Cox Conserves, the company’s national sustainability program. The program engages each of the company’s major subsidiaries (Cox Communications, Cox Automotive and Cox Media Group) and encourages Cox Enterprises’ 50,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices in their lives and to make a difference through community service.

Stephanie Stuckey Benfield / City of Atlanta Linkedin Twitter

Former Georgia Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield has been appointed director of Atlanta’s Office of Sustainability. Benfield served in the General Assembly for 14 years, representing Decatur in the House of Representatives, before leaving state government in 2012 to become executive director of Atlanta-based GreenLaw.

She also serves on the boards of the Green Chamber of the South, the Olmsted Linear Parks Alliance and Earthshare of Georgia.

The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability was established in 2010, Reed’s first year in office. Through its leadership, Atlanta climbed to third in the nation last year on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of the top 25 U.S. metro areas for Energy Star-certified buildings.

Rohit Malhotra / Center for Civic Innovation Linkedin Twitter

Rohit Malhotra is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Civic Innovation in Atlanta, his hometown city. His background is in social entrepreneurship, digital communications, open data and community organizing. Most recently, he served as an Ash Innovation Fellow in the White House Office of Management and Budget, focused on the administration’s efforts around social impact bonds and pay for performance. In 2015, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, where he is the youngest serving member in recent history. Rohit earned his B.A. from Emory University and Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Rohit is a self-appointed expert on pizza and hip hop.

 

 

 

Special Edition: Emprendedores Latinos USA

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César Restrepo / Emprendedores Latinos USA Twitter

​César Restrepo, from Colombia is one of the founders of Emprendedores Latinos USA (Latino entrepreneurs of USA). His background and education in the arts has made of him a person with creativity and enthusiasm. In 2012, his life takes an unexpected turn when he decides to risk everything to become an entrepreneur. Since then, his vision has been to integrate the fragmented community of Latino entrepreneurs in the U.S. César has founded two companies since. One Voice Language Solutions, a company dedicated to the interpretation and translation of documents in over 80 languages. His latest business venture is Gourmet Wonders, an import product for distinguished Gourmet supermarket chains, restaurants, chefs, etc. In January 2013, César, with a group of innovative entrepreneurs decided to start a grassroots movement: Entrepreneurs Latino USA, an organization that seeks to inspire, educate and connect the Latino entrepreneurs. In addition to his business activities, César is an opera singer, and passionate about agriculture, kitchen and family.​

Juan Camilo Peralta / Emprendedores Latinos USA Twitter

Juan Camilo Peralta, Colombian, is director of Emprendedores Latinos USA . His educational background is in finance. With over fourteen years of experience advising companies in the area of finance and labor risks, Juan Camilo is one of the most qualified entrepreneurs in the city Atlanta. For Juan Camilo starting a project requires a great sacrifice : to cultivate emotional intelligence. Currently , Juan Camilo is a guru of eCommerce and professional advisor of more than a dozen companies. In addition to his business activities, Juan Camilo is Capoeira instructor and a fan of F1.

Armando Quintero / Comfort Hammocks

Comfort Hammocks came into existence when Armando Quintero suffered an accident on his job. After working ten years in construction, his dreams seemed truncated but it was then when the innovation stroked. Armando and his wife, Britany, decided to start a new type of business. They had the idea of bringing hammocks from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to the US. After working on the business idea for almost 2 years, it finally came to fruition. They contacted and worked with a community of hammock weavers offering them a more than fair trade price. They started with only 5 styles of hand made, vivid hammocks and over the course of 2 years, their business flourished and now they are proud distributors of more than 20 styles of hammocks, hammock chairs, and swings in the U.S.

“We now work with over 500 families of Mayan decedent in Mexico, and recently have spread our reach to included a group in Nicaragua. The Mexican and Nicaraguan hammocks are very different. Our goal is to bring a new style from a different country each year because, because we simply believe that diversity is a powerful tool to unite two cultures.” says Britany Quintero
“We want to be able to continue providing work and subsecuently means of income for more families in indigenous communities through LatinoAmerica. One of our goals is also to create a work force of salesmen and distributors, and also create franchise opportunities. The possibilities are limitless.” say the Quinteros.

ABOUT EMPRENDEDORES LATINOS USA.
Emprendedores Latinos USA is a grassroots organization that exist with the purpose of inspiring, educating and connecting the Latino entrepreneur in the U.S. with a Local and National footprint.
Visión. To create an organization that is driving-force for Latinos by forging paths that transcends language, culture and geographic barriers in order to inspire the entrepreneur spirit in Latino communities throughout the United States.
Misión. To create unique experiences and events that will offer inspiration, opportunities and professional development for Latino entrepreneurs in order to create new business and foster development and economic growth.

ABOUT #VIVAMYBUSINESS.August 15.2015 at the Gwinnett Center

VivaMiNegocio or VivaMyBusiness is THE largest & most anticipated Business Forum for Latino entrepreneurs and decision-makers in Atlanta and surrounding areas. At the #VivaMiNegocio EXPO, the audience can learn about products & services offered by more than a hundred companies. At the same time, the event will help these business owners exceed their goals networking with other industry professionals, attending informative and cutting-edge WORKSHOPS, and most important: being exposed to a large audience ready to learn about their services, products, and ideas. Latino business owners, entrepreneurs and companies eager to connect with the Latino business community will be part of this joint effort. The COCKTAIL & GALA event aims to honor business leaders in the Hispanic community who have blazed a trail for entrepreneurship as well as up and coming small businesses who’ve achieved success in the following categories: Innovation, Creativity, Perseverance and Community Service.

#VIVAMINEGOCIO ENG

 

 

Joe Tomaszewski with Carzilla and Guru Rao with nuVizz

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Joe Tomaszewski / Carzilla Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Guru Rao / nuVizz, Inc. Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Gururaj “Guru” Rao serves as the CEO of nuVizz, Inc., a mobile business software company based in Atlanta, GA. Guru Rao co-founded nuVizz in 2011 with the vision of helping enterprises accelerate their adoption of mobility.

Guru Rao spent 20+ years working with medium and large enterprises around the world helping them leverage software solutions to run businesses better. He believes in putting the business processes in the front and leveraging technology to achieve better business results.

Guru Rao graduated from one of the premier educational institutions of India, National Institute of Technology, Surathkal with an Engineering Degree in Computer Engineering and has an MBA from Georgia State University.

Before founding nuVizz, Guru worked at Manhattan Associates, an Atlanta based Supply Chain Software Company and helped build the company to be a premier best-of-breed supply chain software company. Guru worked at IBM where he was part of the global supply chain strategy and implementation practice.

Guru Rao combined his two passions, enterprise ecosystem and technology in his vision for nuVizz. At nuVizz, Guru Rao leads the company vision and product strategy to help enterprises adopt mobility.

nuVizz brings a unique approach to enterprise mobility with ready-to-use mobile solutions and also creating new mobile products to meet business needs. nuVizz solution set includes a leading mobile platform, line of business mobile solutions and cloud hosting and deployment services. The comprehensive approach helps enterprises to accelerate their adoption of mobility by focusing on business requirements rather than technology and maintenance.

 

 

 

Michael Mogill with Crisp Video Group, Kevin Wilson with Active Production and Design, Meredith Millwood with Atlanta Humane Society, Nabil Ismail with Hi-Rez Studios and Jim Yeargan with Yeargan Barber Kert and Henderson

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Michael Mogill / Crisp Video Group Linkedin Twitter Facebook

A modern renaissance man, consummate multitasker and entrepreneur, Michael Mogill has been relentless in tackling new challenges and ventures, turning his passion for media into a diverse portfolio of businesses. His company, Crisp Video Group, has produced video content for major international brands (e.g. Coca-Cola, Verizon, RedBull), and has carved out a successful niche in the medical, dental, and legal industries.

Kevin Wilson / Active Production and Design Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Active Production and Design Inc. has been providing professional services for Corporate, Special, Social, and Fashion Events across the nation since 1993. We are continuously growing, expanding our operation and our name. Active Production and Design Inc. is an established premiere full service production company. We have extensive experience working as a preferred and exclusive AV provider for hotels, museums, and event venues around the country.

Meredith Millwood / Atlanta Humane Society Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Nabil Ismail / Hi-Rez Studios, Inc. Twitter

Jim Yeargan / Yeargan Barber Kert & Henderson, LLC

 

 

Spotlight on Quest For Success

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Linda Wind / Wind Enterprises Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Linda Wind is president and CEO of Wind Enterprises® Inc., a corporation committed to the personal and professional development of corporate women leaders and women business owners. The company offers Leadership Development Conferences, customized training programs for Fortune-ranked companies and small business (Pathways to Performance: the Leadership Mastery Series), and weekend cruises and retreats, offering professional women the skills to succeed in their careers and to effectively balance work/life issues essential to their health and well-being. Wind Enterprises has presented the Possible Woman® Leadership Conferences and events since 1996. She is also the Founder of the Possible Woman Foundation International, a 501 (c) 3 that gives academic scholarships to the women leaders of tomorrow, who pursue non-traditional roles and occupations, and connects them with women mentors and trailblazers in these challenging and diverse careers. Since 2001 PWFI has awarded over $500,000.00 in academic scholarships to the recipients.

Wind is among a select group of women around the world to be recognized on the inaugural list of The International Alliance for Women “TIAW World of Difference 100.” As one of 50 exceptional women from 15 countries, Wind was honored for her contributions to the economic empowerment of women. TIAW is an umbrella organization of women’s networks representing 50,000 women world-wide.

Wind is a recipient of the Y Women in Careers Award, has been a mentor for the Georgia 100 Mentor Exchange Program, and was selected to Who’s Who in the Media and Communications. She was selected for three consecutive years by Women Looking Ahead News Magazine as one of the 100 most powerful and influential women business owners in Georgia. Her career has included positions with IBM, Savin, Sharp Electronics Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Panasonic and AirTouch. She was the highest-ranking woman at Sharp Electronics in her position as Director of National Accounts for the Systems Products Group, and National Sales Training Director for Panasonic.

Wind is past-president of the Atlanta Women’s Network and is actively involved with the Georgia Commission on Women. She served on the Northside Hospital Foundation board, was on the Advisory Committee for the Georgia 100 Mentor Exchange Program, and is currently on the advisory board for ProWIN in Atlanta, Georgia. She has also served on the boards of directors for the YWCA, the American Heart Association, Sales and Marketing Executives International, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Norcross Rotary. Wind was a member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Women in Business, Board of Directors Network (Founding Board member), and is the founding director of the Atlanta Women’s Alliance. She is a graduate of Leadership Corpus Christi, Leadership Atlanta and Leadership America.

She was honored by NAWBO as the 2005 Inspiration of the Year, awarded to a woman business owner or nonprofit executive who has made exceptional contributions in time, energy and resources, advocating women’s issues and/or aiding women. She is also a member of International Women’s Forum, Dallas and Georgia chapters.

Celeste Jonson / Celeste Jonson International Twitter

Author of six books: D.A.R.E. to Succeed: No More Excuses, It’s time to Win; D.A.R.E. to Succeed Action Plan: 30 Ways in 90 Days; Mastering Your Image: Personal Branding and Business Protocol; It’s all in Your Mind: Enhancing Your Thinking Skills for Optimal Success; Essential People Skills: Rock Solid Principles for Winning Relationships; Office Power & Politics: Know the Rules, Master the Game. There are four more in the pipeline.

Executive Management Experience: CEO of my own training and development company for nearly 12 years.

Solid experience in professional sales/marketing and management.

Excellent communication/presentation skills for keynotes, training, coaching, and client meetings.

Computer savvy (both PC & Mac). Proficient with Word, PowerPoint, Keynote, Pages, iWeb, inDesign, Excel, etc. Creative, energetic, positive, hardworking, articulate, and inspiring.

My desire is to always be in a position to encourage and inspire people to do and be their personal best. I want to expand their vision of what is possible and then provide practical and powerful tools to help them live and lead fully and well.

Specialties: Personal/professional communication skill development. Motivating and inspiring optimal productivity. Engaging and Influencing people.

 

 

Scott Rosenblum with Neutrino Media Group and Sandy Wallack with Wallack Law

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Scott Rosenblum / Neutrino Media Group, LLC Linkedin

Scott is currently the Chairman and CEO of Neutrino Media Group (NMG), an innovative multi-media and technology company. Neutrino partners and joint ventures with progressive companies and international brands to develop and deliver innovative digial media and entertainment to the market place. NMG’s digital advertising solutions, media properties and branded entertainment connect with diverse audiences and users, while providing unprecedented reach to an ever-expanding group of targeted users. NMG currently names; Google, Time Warner, Dailymotion, AOL, WideOrbit, Admeta, Liverail, Yahoo and Hearst Media amongst the many companies it works with.

NMG Media produces engaging digital, broadcast media and content over a range of categories. The company is currently working with some of the most innovative companies including YouTube, O2 Media, Time Warner and several other media companies on a range of projects.

NMG Digital advertising solutions provides, best in class programmatic and direct buying and selling of advertising for publishers and buyers. NMG provides the latest direct purchasing, direct bidding, ad serving, auction based RTB and exchange platform solutions in digital advertising for a diverse group of premium publishers and buyers while driving top tier cpm’s and fill for publishers inventory. NMG Digital follows best practice while processing trillions of bids a year and providing best in class results.

Prior to NMG, Scott was the CEO of Rock Media, now a division of NMG. Working with companies such as Elle Magazine, Hearst Media and Marriot Corporation, Rock, an innovator in branded entertainment, was among the first to combine branded entertainment and integrated media into one model and is currently creating some of the most engaging sports, fashion, music and film related properties.

Sanford “Sandy” Wallack / Wallack Law Linkedin

Sandy has been practicing criminal defense throughout the metro Atlanta area for over 20 years. He has experience handling offenses including murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, white-collar crime, sexual offenses, commercial gambling, drug offenses and RICO actions. Sandy has experience and handles cases at both the trial and appellate level in state and federal court.

Sandy received his B.A. in Political Science from University of Florida and his J.D. from Emory University School of Law. He is also a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College Trial Practice Institute.

Sandy is a life member of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and one of the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers. He is a member of the Animal Law section of the Georgia bar and has provided pro bono assistance in the area of animal law since law school.

Sandy has called Atlanta his home for over 30 years, having grown up in the Atlanta area. Sandy is married with three kids and two dogs.

 

 

Cobb County Edition: Ned Goepp

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ned
I spent 30 years in the wholesale apparel & accessory world building brands for corporations at Levi Straus & Liz Claiborne, and decided to put my brand building & entrepreneurial skills to work for myself when we acquired the SmartBox Atlanta Franchise in September 2012. SmartBox is the affordable & efficient solution for people in the metro Atlanta market. We deliver, our customer packs the box, we pick up & will store or redeliver to their new home or location. We do local & long distance moving and are fast becoming the go to solution for Cobb County & metro Atlantans when it comes to their moving & storage needs. Touch it once when you load the box, and touch it the 2nd time when you unload your belongings. Remember, “if you’ve got stuff, we’ve got solutions”!

George Gordon with Moose Exhibits and Michael Uzzell with ALCOVA Mortgage

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George Gordon / Moose Exhibits Linkedin Linkedin

  • Moose Exhibits, 2012 – present / Director of Sales and New Business development.
  • Jack Morton Worldwide, 2007 -2009 / Manager of Graphic Production, Responsible for the management of a small, but growing graphics area within the exhibits arm of a global experiential marketing company. Duties were focused on improving production methodology and the expansion of business within an internal and external client base.
  • Impact XM, 1988-2004/Manager for 2D Graphic Design & Production/ Responsible for the formulation and execution of all details pertinent to the operations of a graphic design and production department. Duties included refinement of production methodology, assessment and acquisition of personnel, technological and raw material resources, finance and budget planning and long term corporate strategy development.
  • Beitel Displays, 1979 – 1988/ Graphic Artist; Manager of the Graphics Department

Michael Uzzell / ALCOVA Mortgage LLC Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Michael Uzzell, Branch Partner, ALCOVA Mortgage LLC. (NMLS ID# 148818) – “I have been an owner, manager and top producer for nearly 15 years. I specialize in residential purchases and refinances. I am able to offer a large product mix that allows me to help each family on an individual basis to find the best home loan to fit their family’s need. With my vast experience and corporate support I have become an industry leader. – Service First is my motto! The best compliment you can give me is a referral to your family, friends and co-workers.”