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Atlanta Business Radio

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Focus on Strategic Planning

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Chris Parker / Innvision

Abe Malla / Westside Foundry

Sig Mosley / Mosley Ventures Linkedin Twitter

Sigmund Mosley, Jr., the unwitting godfather of early-stage technology investing in Atlanta. More officially he is the President of Imlay Investments, Inc., the personal investment company of John P. Imlay, Jr.

Jim Jubelirer / Jubelirer Results Group Linkedin Twitter

Jim Jubelirer is a Certified Gazelles Coach, a certified “WHY Guy” and is affiliated with the Duke Leadership Program at the Fuqua School of Business. His mission is to help companies grow and prosper by using the best practices in business and personal development.

 

 

Spotlight on NAWBO

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Nancy Chorpenning / C-Suite Advisors Linkedin Twitter 

Nancy Chorpenning is Founder & Managing Director of Atlantabased C-Suite Advisors, a business advisory practice. C-Suite Advisors specialty is advising women entrepreneurs whose businesses have emerged successfully from the startup phase and who are growing their firms into profitable, professionally managed businesses prepared for selling in the future.

Nancy also leads peer-mentoring for women business owners, and offers webinars on planning, leadership, and building business value among other business topics. This January, she is starting three programs for Business Owners to support their business growth: CEO School for Women is a year-long business growth program; the Value Builder System is a 1:1 advisor-led process leading to increased business worth; and a hands-on Business Planning Workshop called Vision & Clarity Workshop. Registration for all of these events is on Eventbrite.

From strategic discovery to organization structure and operations, Nancy’s mentoring of business owners is informed by her +20- year tenure as an executive in Professional Information and Education with Fortune 500 companies (such as Time Warner’s Little, Brown & Company, Publishers) as well as high profile startups (WebMD), combined with a superb graduate Marketing education from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Chorpenning participates actively in local and national business organizations. After serving on the Small Business Council for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Nancy served on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) for 6 years, including as Chapter President. She was appointed to the NAWBO Presidents Assembly Steering Committee (PASC) in 2012 with responsibility for 18 Southern Tier NAWBO Chapters, inaugurating the Leadership Bootcamp for NAWBO, and in 2014, became its Chair. Additionally, she was elected to the National Board of Directors of NAWBO in 2013 where she presently serves. She was recently added to the Advisory Boards of the international company, “The Sellability Score” and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE) in Atlanta.

Darla Beggs / Abba Staffing

Darla Beggs is the President and CEO of Abba Staffing and Consulting, Abba Parking Services and MGD Management Group. Her broad business experience includes consulting with HR, insurance and oil and gas professionals to evaluate and establish effective programs with a focus on cost effectiveness coupled with employee satisfaction and retention. Prior to acquiring Abba Staffing and Consulting, Beggs held leadership positions with, Travelers Insurance and The Principle Group in account management services, marketing, and benefits administration. Ms. Beggs is active in various women-owned and minority owned business groups and is a devoted leader in in both professional and philanthropic organizations. In 2011 Ms. Beggs was appointed to the National Board of Directors of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), where she serves on the Executive Committee as Chair. Ms. Beggs’ commitment to other women business owners succeed has gained her recognition by her peers and Abba Staffing was named the 2011 Overall Business Enterprise of the Year by the North Central Texas Regional Certification Agency, “Benefactor” and “Star” Awards by NAWBO® Dallas/Ft Worth and 2012 Done Deals Women Working Together Award by WBENC Southwest.

Additionally, Abba Staffing and Consulting was recognized in 2013 and 2014 as one of the fast growing private companies by Inc Magazine.

Ms. Beggs is active in many philanthropic organizations and devotes considerable time to these endeavors. She is the driving force behind Abba’s commitment to the community through volunteerism and financial support. Previous Board appointments include YMCA of Metropolitan Ft Worth and Mid-Cities Pacesetters Rotary Club. She is also active in many associations such as the Women’s Business Council Southwest, Society for Human Resource Management, Women’s President Organization and various Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Beggs resides in Colleyville with her husband of 30 years-Gary. They are the proud parents of Valerie and Matthew and 2 “crazy” Yorkies.

Jill Peck / Henderson Shapiro Peck

Jill serves as Vice President & COO for Henderson Shapiro Peck, a relationship driven, award winning marketing and business support company with 23 employees. Over the past 18 years, Jill and her partner, founder of the company, Debbi Shapiro have been instrumental in supporting women driven initiatives both personally and professionally.

She is the President of the National Association of Women’s Business Owners (NAWBO Atlanta), a member of the Certified Women’s Business Enterprise Council (WBENC) and the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

Jill has volunteered for Scottish Rite known as Children’s Healthcare of America, The Girl Scouts of America, The Council on Alcohol and Drugs, The Atlanta Food Bank, The Tolerance Education Program and was the marketing chair for Emerge Scholarships for three years.

Jill graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Advertising and a minor in marketing from the College of Journalism and Communications.

Joy Lutes / NAWBO

 

 

Lan Bercu with Lead Across Cultures International

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Lan Bercu is the founder and president of Lead Across Cultures Intl, an Atlanta- based company with a focus on business competitiveness and global leadership. As an international speaker and expert in her field, Lan has nearly two decades of experience working with international corporations and small businesses in Asia and North America. In her earlier years, Lan was an entrepreneur and executive at British Petroleum Vietnam. She travels from Atlanta to Beijing, and Ho Chi Mnh City to Washington DC to assist her clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies including Intel, Bayer and Morgan Stanley to a variety of small businesses.

Born and raised in Vietnam, as a young girl, Lan was inspired by the Chinese classics, Sun Tzu’s Art of War and the Thirty Six Chinese Strategies. The principals and strategies in the books helped her overcome the tremendous hardships she and her family faced due to the ramifications of the Vietnam War. These messages carried her through, enabling her to not only survive, but to thrive in academia as well as on the corporate battlefields and compete in entrepreneurial competitive races.

Lan received her MBA degree from Kennesaw State University. She is a member of the National Speakers Association and Global Speakers Federation. Lan- the author of the book, The 36 Ancient Chinese Strategies for Modern Business has been featured on Finance Business News Channel, in Vietnam Investment Review, Entrepreneur magazine and other media channels.

 

 

 

Josh Webb and Joe Garcia with Root Radius and Constance Dierickx with CD Consulting Group

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Josh Webb and Joe Garcia / Root Radius Twitter Facebook

We equip cause to tell their story. Our organizational story is made true by the experience we give our supporters. It can be easy to become impersonal the busier we get. Automating your cause is a great way to ensure your story gets told to everyone in the way they need to hear it. With a decade of large brand advertising experience, like UPS, Universal Studios and more, Josh now uses that knowledge to help causes to tell their story and create the infrastructure needed to make it true.

Josh Webb is the Founder and a partner at Root Radius. He started the company in 2011 after a 12 year career as a Creative Director at marketing and advertising agencies here in Atlanta. He has worked for large brands such as UPS, Under Armour and Universal Studios and now loves helping causes tell their story. Josh is married to his high school sweetheart Kristy and has three boys Ethan, Garrett and Emery.

Joe Garcia is the President of Root Radius. Prior to that he served as the Director of Client Experience for Root Radius. He has a background in nonprofit leadership and development and is the former President of SERV International, an Atlanta-based nonprofit. Joe is the chairman of the board of The Kula Project (a friend of Business RadioX) and is married to his bride Kristin and is a father to his daughter Piper.

Constance Dierickx / CD Consulting Group

Dr. Constance Dierickx-Is unique among consultants who call her The Decision Doctor. She has consulted with over 500 executives, more than 20 boards in the US, Mexico, South America, Europe and the Middle East. Her results fly in the face of the 80% failure rate of acquisitions and mergers. Early in her career at a major Wall Street firm, she saw firsthand the impact of poor management, pay without performance, irrational beliefs, and extreme overconfidence. The behavior of neither her colleagues nor clients made sense, but her curiosity about it propelled her to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. She marries academic insight with pragmatic approaches to create a novel consulting relationship with her clients.

 

 

 

Tami McQueen with SalesLoft and Nancy Chorpenning with C-Suite Advisors

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Tami McQueen / SalesLoft Linkedin Twitter Facebook

As a marketing and communications strategist with over nine years of strategic experience in B2B and B2C markets, Tami joined SalesLoft to scale the marketing team and lead digital, content marketing, and inbound lead generation initiatives across multiple platforms.

Tami delivers branding insights and channels collaborative discussion among internal and external audiences. A champion for guerilla marketing and taking big risks to gain traction in a dynamic market, Tami was named the 2014 B2B Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) Marketing Innovator of the Year.

A former NCAA Division 1 collegiate tennis player, Tami believes in the strength of collaboration and exudes passion for career and teammates. Rooted firmly in South African soil where she grew up, Tami now calls Atlanta home, a city she believes holds exponential potential and a distinct flavor of home.

Nancy Chorpenning / C-Suite Advisors Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Nancy Chorpenning is Founder & Managing Director of Atlantabased C-Suite Advisors, a business advisory practice. C-Suite Advisors specialty is advising women entrepreneurs whose businesses have emerged successfully from the startup phase and who are growing their firms into profitable, professionally managed businesses prepared for selling in the future.

Nancy also leads peer-mentoring for women business owners, and offers webinars on planning, leadership, and building business value among other business topics. This January, she is starting three programs for Business Owners to support their business growth: CEO School for Women is a year-long business growth program; the Value Builder System is a 1:1 advisor-led process leading to increased business worth; and a hands-on Business Planning Workshop called Vision & Clarity Workshop. Registration for all of these events is on Eventbrite.

From strategic discovery to organization structure and operations, Nancy’s mentoring of business owners is informed by her +20- year tenure as an executive in Professional Information and Education with Fortune 500 companies (such as Time Warner’s Little, Brown & Company, Publishers) as well as high profile startups (WebMD), combined with a superb graduate Marketing education from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Chorpenning participates actively in local and national business organizations. After serving on the Small Business Council for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Nancy served on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) for 6 years, including as Chapter President. She was appointed to the NAWBO Presidents Assembly Steering Committee (PASC) in 2012 with responsibility for 18 Southern Tier NAWBO Chapters, inaugurating the Leadership Bootcamp for NAWBO, and in 2014, became its Chair. Additionally, she was elected to the National Board of Directors of NAWBO in 2013 where she presently serves. She was recently added to the Advisory Boards of the international company, “The Sellability Score” and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE) in Atlanta.

 

 

Donna Peeples with Motiv8ed

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Donna Peeples / Motiv8ed Linkedin

An accomplished senior executive with an extensive P&L responsibility, Donna Peeples inspires change throughout the business world by offering verifiable results in a variety of industries. As a versatile strategist with keen market sense, Peeples incorporates her decades of industry experience into a vast portfolio, diverse enough to cross several plains of business.

Rising through a variety of leadership, operations and revenue-generating roles, Peeples has chartered her own path through highly regulated and uniquely challenging industries. Time and again, in financial services, energy as well as manufacturing, Peeples has introduced category-changing thinking while guiding purposeful and adaptable practices with positive results for customers and profitable returns for her companies.

Peeples’ professional narrative spans top corporations from her role as Regional Sales Manager with Lennox Industries to Chief Customer Officer of AIG Property and Casualty. Moving up through the ranks of corporate America, she has gained a wealth of knowledge that serves many fields. Speaking to over thirty topics that greatly enhance business today, Peeples is an expert on growing and evolving commerce through customer experience, new business concepts and brand management.

The storied career of Peeples’ has garnered her acclaim and recognition from both industry and top regional press over the last two decades. She has been featured in publications such as Atlanta Journal Constitution, Gwinnett Magazine and Insurance Networking News. She was awarded an EMMY at The Southeast Regional Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Television Spot Announcements Excellence, and Best Commercials in 2006 and 2007 during her time as Vice President of Corporate Communications & Chief Marketing Officer with AGL Resources. In 2014 she was given the Women in Insurance Leadership award from Insurance Networking News.

Honing her years of industry experience and expertise, Peeples looks to share her wealth of knowledge with business leaders and entrepreneurs in an effort to improve business development and create change.

 

 

Spotlight on Entrepreneurs Organization

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The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) – for entrepreneurs only – is a dynamic, global network of more than 10,000 business owners in 46 countries. Founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs, EO is the catalyst that enables entrepreneurs to learn and grow from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life.

David Felfoldi / SHERPA Global Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Over the past 15 years, David has guided the digital strategy behind Spanx, ADP, Racetrac, Gables, and the National Center of Civil and Human Rights. Today, he is the Chief Experience Officer of SHERPA Global, a global digital marketing firm specializing in search and mobile.

David developed the idea for SHERPA while in a not-so-very digital place — multi-pitch climbing in north Georgia. It occurred to him that the challenge of a long, technical climb was a suitable metaphor for leading clients with their digital marketing initiatives.

Professionally, David started as the self-taught web designer. He co-founded a web development firm at the age of 18 and grew it while obtaining a B.S. in Psychology. That firm would go on to be recognized by its employees as one of Atlanta’s “Best Places to Work” and “Top Web Design and Development Firms” for multiple years, and an Inc. 5000 “Fastest Growing Firm.”

As one of Atlanta’s youngest “40 under 40″ recipients, David invests in making Atlanta a world-class, sustainable city with a thriving entrepreneurial spirit in the arts and technology. When not tinkering with technology or musing on marketing, David enjoys traveling the world and being outdoors, running Ragnars and cycling around Georgia.

Hugh Massie / DNA Behavior International Linkedin Twitter Facebook

I am a relationship management strategist. My work involves providing businesses worldwide with proprietary online behavioral relationship management solutions based on validated behavioral sciences research to help them become client centered.

The uniqueness of my approach is the matching of employees to clients using behavioral insights which increases the levels of engagement. Both the employees and clients will feel their relationships enhanced and their human potential unlocked. This approach has proven bottom line performance in terms of assisting organizations to generate substantially higher revenue and productivity.

I have developed proprietary “hire to retire” technology systems for discovering the behaviors of both employees and clients. The system is internationally known for driving successful businesses by making the application of behavioral sciences practical on a scalable basis through seamlessly combining technology, training and consulting services including in the areas of: •client experience management •financial personality management and risk profiling •developing human capital

Based on using powerful behavioral discovery systems and my experiences as a business leader, entrepreneur, advisor, investor and personally, I have been able to help hundred of businesses and people to navigate the human differences which get in the way of success.

I have the belief that Behavior Drives Performance™ and operate by the approach of “Understanding People before Numbers”. My purpose is to liberate and guide people all over the world to Live with Meaning™.

David Aferiat / Trade Ideas LLC Linkedin Twitter Facebook

David brings more than 20 years of experience in trading, consulting, software, utilities, capital markets, and consumer product industries. Working with senior officers and key decision makers in the boardroom, finance, HR, marketing and trading functions, he has advised both public and privately held companies with revenues ranging from $20 million to $14 billion. Work at Trade-Ideas taps experience in business development, customer acquisition and retention, corporate strategy as well as energy trading and marketing.

Published in: Atlanta Journal Constitution, Barron’s, The Street.com, The Trade (UK), and Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities •Acknowledged in: –One Good Trade, Mike Bellafiore, Wiley Trading, 2010 –Simple Steps to Trading Discipline, Toni Hansen, Marketplace Books, 2009 –Enhancing Trader Performance, Dr. Brett Steenbarger, Wiley Trading, 2007

 

 

Special Edition: TiE Atlanta

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TiERachel Zick – TiE Atlanta Program Director

Karen Robinson Cope / NanoLumens Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Karen Robinson-Cope is a serial entrepreneur who has been CEO of 4 high growth companies, all of whom had angel or venture capital. As one of only a handful of women who have raised over $75 million USD in the Southeast, she has successfully built and sold three companies.

She is currently Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at NanoLumens, Inc. an award-winning privately-held corporation that is transforming the way creative professionals and businesses perceive, utilize, and benefit from large format, patented digital displays.

Previously, Karen was CEO of Prime Point Media, one of the largest Alternative out of Home advertising companies in the United States that was acquired by a Canadian publicly traded company in 2006. Prior to Prime Point Media, Karen was Chairwoman, President and CEO of Enrev Corporation, a technology company that was sold in 2001.

Karen is an investor and board member for a number of private, non-profit and public companies on the local, national and international level. She is currently serving as the first female president of TiE Atlanta, a non-profit organization focused on promoting Entrepreneurship with over 15,000 members worldwide. She is founder of the Council of Board Advisors (COBA), a non-profit organization that aligns executive level talent with profitable, privately held companies.

 

 

Special Edition: “Mompreneurs” with Lenise Williams

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Lenise Williams / Attorney Twitter Facebook

Lenise Williams is a mother, entrepreneur educator, Small Business Attorney and Business Consultant. She provides female entrepreneurs with legal and business consulting to navigate them through the challenges of launching their business and building a lucrative brand. She also assists entrepreneurs in protecting their brand through proper legal agreements, federal protection through trademark and copyright, investor agreements, contract review, legal formation and much more.

Lenise also provides resources and guides to the aspiring and existing entrepreneur. She travels nationally speaking to women about building and growing their own business. Her goal is to launch 1,000 women into entrepreneurship over the next 3 years. She further seeks to aid an additional 500 female owned businesses with expanding their business & their income.

Janelle Perilliat / Mother Hustler Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Janelle Perrilliat is a single mother to a tween son, blogger at MotherHustler.com, owner of Joonie & Jake’s Face and Body Art, and Contract Manager at an Atlanta based law firm. Janelle launched MotherHustler.com as a platform for modern moms to share information, encourage philanthropy, and inspire each other! She has worked in the field of real estate law at the Atlanta based firm, McCalla Raymer, LLC for the past 13 years. Nurturing her passion for children and the arts, she spends most weekends as a face painter and much of her free time volunteering with various non-profits in the Atlanta area.

Shanicia Boswell / Yeyo’s Organic Body Products Linkedin Twitter Facebook instagram

Shanicia Boswell is Owner & Founder of Yeyo’s Organic Body Products, the newest revolution to organic skincare. Her company provides alternatives to the chemically ridden products and forces consumers to confront the fact that no matter how healthy you eat, your skin still absorbs everything you apply topically. “Feed your skin something good!”

Kelly Sirois / Atlanta Hollywood Entertainment & PR Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Kelly T. Sirois is a Digital Marketing and PR Specialist with a focus in entertainment industry. She is owner and president of AtlantaHollywood.com, an online hub for talent. Kelly has over 30 years experience in the Entertainment Industry and applies that experience towards helping her 2 children break into the into the music industry and YouTube world. Kelly has her BA in Film and Video Production and minor in marketing leaving her with the creative skills and business sense to build an entertainment empire in Atlanta.

Kelly works directly through referrals and is often presented with marketing opportunities for small businesses. Her niche is with Entertainers and Real Estate.

Kelly is married to her husband Jim Sirois. They have been together for 14 years. Kelly’s has two children, and is “momager” to Garland and Devan, both are students working in the entertainment industry.

Cheri Flake / The Stress Therapist for Moms Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Cheri Augustine Flake is The Stress Therapist for Moms. She believes that creating healthy habits is the key to stress reduction and happy living and has made this belief the focus of her private practice. In a high energy and engaging style, Cheri teaches her clients and workshop attendees how to work on establishing long-term change and healthy habits without stress, procrastination or excuses. The result is that clients not only generate motivation, but are able to sustain it for the long-term.

“Moms that are consistently doing whatever makes their heart sing, are happier moms. This instills a value that is more likely to be passed on to our kids.”

“One thing I know about kids is they don’t always do what we tell them to…they more likely do what they see us doing.”

“So, how can we expect our kids to go for their dreams when we’re not even thinking about ours?”

As a mother of two small children, Cheri understands firsthand how stressful and hard it can be to live your life and be a mom. Cheri believes that performing, recording and touring with Atlanta pop band 13 Stories for 12 years prior to becoming a mom, actually helped prepare her for her journey into motherhood. To the benefit of her clientele, the marriage of all of these experiences prompted a recent decision to focus on serving the mommy community — Because Cheri truly believes that every mom is a rock star.

Cheri is currently working on her forthcoming book entitled, “Be A Rock Star Mom: Be Cool, Keep Your Cool and Make Music Among Mayhem”

Cheri Augustine Flake is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 20 years of experience helping people in the Atlanta area. Cheri has worked as a social worker and therapist in numerous settings including inpatient, outpatient, pharmaceutical research, and private practice. Her training includes Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Michigan State University, and a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Georgia. Cheri is also a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist as well as a Certified Distance Credentialed Counselor. Cheri is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers, the National Association of Social Workers, the Georgia Society of Clinical Social Work and the International Certification Board of Clinical Hypnotherapy.

 

 

Heath Padgett with Hourly America, Jeff Cohen with Odyssey and Curt Coulombe with Elliott and Associates

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Heath Padgett / Hourly America

Heath Padgett and his wife Alyssa are on a mission to travel across America and work one hourly-paying job in each of the 50 states. Traveling in their refurbished RV, the Padgetts look to shine a spotlight on the millions of hourly workers that currently do not get the recognition they deserve for their dedication and hard work. Working alongside hundreds of hourly workers, Heath will learn what it takes to succeed, and sometimes fail, in 50 different work environments.

“Through this journey, I want to be able to create a stronger connection between hourly workers and their customers and help break certain stigmas that exist about the hourly employment industry” – Heath

Jeff Cohen / Odyssey Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Odyssey is an educational non-profit organization partnering with the Atlanta Public Schools to serve students in grades 3-12 from economically disadvantaged communities. Odyssey’s academic enrichment program focuses on students with unmet potential, preparing them for high school graduation and supporting them on their path to college.

Curt Coulombe / Elliott and Associates Wealth Advisors Inc. Linkedin

As a graduate from Syracuse university, Curt leads an exciting life. He’s been in the financial business for over 20 years. His hobbies include: traveling, remodeling his ranch home, and riding his motorcycle.