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Nancy Glube with Dale Carnegie Training, Jack Canouse and Chris Albano with Stars and Strikes, Tonya Lanthier with DentalPost and Dontaira Terrell

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Nancy Glube / Dale Carnegie Training Linkedin

Jack Canouse and Chris Albano / Stars and Strikes Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Jack Canouse and Chris Albano are the founders and Managing Partners of Stars and Strikes Family Entertainment Centers. It was a rainy, cold weekend in November 2003 that these two neighbors came up with the Stars and Strikes concept over a few drinks. Their dream: A clean, safe environment that their children and others around the Metro Atlanta area could go to have fun and hang out with the friends. They imagined a place with top notch customer service, thousands of square feet of FUN, a nice restaurant with delicious food, bartenders that call you by name and remember your drink, and much more. In June 2005 they opened their first center in Cumming, soon followed by Lawrenceville, Dallas, Stone Mountain and Sandy Springs. They employ over 400 people, and are very active in the surrounding communities of their centers.

Tonya Lanthier / DentalPost Linkedin Twitter Facebook

A long-time resident of Atlanta, Georgia and Registered Dental Hygienist since 1995, Tonya’s involvement in dentistry goes way beyond the dental practice. Aside from being a member of the Academy of Dental Hygiene (ADHA), Entrepreneurial Organization (EO) and Academy of Dental Management Consultants (ADMC), she is on the planning committee for the Northern District Dental Society (NDDS) Gala for Smiles, public relations liaison for the Georgia Dental Hygiene Association (GDHA), and volunteers for the Georgia Mission of Mercy and the Ben Mansell Clinic. Tonya also works with the Georgia Department of Education’s Business Advisory Committee. She is a talented and engaging public speaker, using her boundless energy and enthusiasm to deliver her message about helping practices find and hire the right team member; while assisting job seekers with career coaching.

With the arrival of twin girls, it led Tonya to create a new identity as a successful “intrepreneur,” building her business while continuing to work as a Registered Dental Hygienist for dental practices. While maintaining multiple temp positions, she discovered that the process of looking for work in her field was itself a full-time job. Always an enthusiastic networker, Tonya built up a large database of contacts with whom she shared information about possible jobs; she even started hearing from practices looking for people, and made introductions, helping to connect job-seekers with employers.

Dontaira Terrell / Journalist Linkedin

Dontaira Terrell is a Florida A&M University graduate, former broadcast producer and journalist, with a penchant for journal writing, health and wellness, pop culture as well as entrepreneurship. Her love for documenting life’s best moments happened as a youth, consuming local and national news and engrossing herself in a variety of magazines, newspapers and books to read. Writing in her journal is a thing of the past, as she now provides her insights and reporting for companies including The Huffington Post, Ebony online, Spirituality & Health and B*Real which is an entity of BET.com.

 

 

Special Edition: WISE Speed Coaching

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Karen Curry Davis / ACE Twitter

Karen Davis currently serves as Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs’ (ACE) Strategic Initiatives Director. In this role, she directs ACE’s Women Investing in Successful Entrepreneurs (WISE) Initiative which is a $2.5 million revolving loan fund specifically for women entrepreneurs wanting to expand or start a business within Metro Atlanta and the North Georgia region. In addition to the loan funds, WISE offers business advisory support through individualized business consultations, business development seminars, speed coaching, and mentoring from high net-worth business owners. Karen is also the Principal Consultant of Curry Davis Consulting Group, LLC. Karen has more than 13 years of program management and community development experience and has made strides in her efforts to assist families with moving towards economic self-sufficiency, health and wellness.

Nancy Chorpenning / C-Suite Advisors Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Nancy Chorpenning is Founder & Managing Director of Atlanta-based 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, profitability and strategy among other business topics. In 2014, she launched two new program series exclusively for women entrepreneurs: CEO School for Women, an Annual Business Growth Program, and Taming Technology Workshops: Today’s Technology for Women Entrepreneurs.

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 (Time Warner’s Little, Brown & Company Publishers) as well as high profile start-ups (WebMD). Combined with a superb graduate Marketing education from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, she 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 a Leadership Bootcamp for NAWBO, and in 2014, became its Chair. Additionally, she was elected to the National Board of Directors of NAWBO 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.

LeeAnn Maxwell / Vixen Vodka Twitter

Vixen Vodka was conceived after a girls’ trip to St. Simons Island in Georgia. It was an idea that came to fruition after a few slightly dirty martinis and several sun-soaked hours lying by the pool. An idea that took root and took hold of friends who wanted to make a difference in their lives; it was their why not moment. After all, women like to hang out, chill out and drink vodka just like the boys. But research and focus groups showed that no vodka brand currently on the market tapped into targeting women. In fact, it was a boys’ club waiting for a revolution. So they decided to raise their glasses to toast an idea that eventually became Vixen Vodka. This award winning company is poised for national expansion and is the perfect marriage of a sexy flirty brand and the smoothest gluten-free vodka you’ll ever taste.

LeeAnn spent over 28 years in the financial industry and about as long in a marriage. Once both those chapters were over, she realized she wanted more out of life; to rediscover the woman she used to be and the one she wanted to become. Her varied experiences have contributed to an extremely detail-oriented work ethic along with a very savvy business acumen.

When LeeAnn sat down with a business consultant to review her initial business plan, he closed the document, told her how well written it was and then said, “You’ll never make it”. When asked why, he replied, “Because it’s the liquor industry, it’s all men, and they will eat you up and spit you out.” LeeAnn looked right back at him and said in her sweet Southern syrupy way, “Sugar, this could be a pair of pantyhose or a tube of lipstick, we’re creating a brand and we know what women want.” Intrigued? Learn how she took a brand from beach to shelf and disrupted a male dominated category along the way.

Courtney Smith / PNC Financial Services Group Twitter Facebook

Courtney I. Smith PNC Financial Services Group Vice President, Market Manager Community Development Banking, Greater Georgia Courtney I. Smith leads PNC’s community development efforts for the Greater Georgia market. In this role, Smith works with community organizations to develop programs and partnerships to support affordable housing, economic development and neighborhood revitalization. Smith joined PNC Financial in 2013. He brings many years of experience in creating community reinvestment opportunities, leading self-sufficiency programs, generating small business and micro-lending activities, and managing retail and commercial banking initiatives.

Prior to joining PNC, Smith served as vice president, community affairs with Regions Financial and as vice president, community development manager for SunTrust Bank. He is passionate about asset development initiatives and enjoys promoting financial literacy activities. Certified in the FDIC’s Money Smart curriculum, Smith regularly teaches financial literacy courses throughout the community. He is experienced in designing, implementing and monitoring Individual Development Account (IDA) Programs, including Youth and First-Time Homebuyers Programs. He previously managed a youth-based savings program with more than 1,100 participants and annual savings of over $65,000. Actively involved in the community, Smith currently serves on the board of directors for several local organizations including the United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Regional Community Investment and Community Engagement Committees (Chair); Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (Board Secretary); the Community Achievement Center; the KAPSI Foundation, and as Kappa Alpha Psi, Decatur Alumni Chapter, President.

Smith graduated from University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN, with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He received a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of Memphis.

 

 

Jack Perry with Source Point Coaching and Lloyd Lofton with RISK, Inc.

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Jack Perry / Source Point Coaching Linkedin Twitter

Jack Perry, Jr. is currently president of Source Point Coaching in Peachtree City, Georgia. He is a Board Member of the National Speakers Association (Atlanta Chapter), Certified Facilitator and Coach for FranklinCovey Corporation, Certified Professional Coach from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching, an Energy Leadership Master Practitioner, and a Neuro-Linguistics Practitioner from the Gestalt Institute. He earned his Master’s Degree from Regis University in Denver, Colorado, and his Bachelor’s Degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Lloyd Lofton / RISK, Inc. Linkedin Twitter

What Lloyd does is inspire sales organizations to raise insight, increase skills and improve knowledge regarding sales activity from 15 – 40% in as little as two to three weeks by helping them integrate mechanisms and sales process to ensure their individual sales force engages in the activity necessary to drive sales.

Lloyd Lofton has 30 years of door-to-door, call center; business-to-business and needs based selling experience. He is a successful business leader who has led large sales distributions who produced 50 million or more a year in sales, who has led recruiting efforts that resulted in hiring more than 2,000 sales professionals in one year and who has trained hundreds of managers, from field sales leaders to executive level leaders.

 

 

Jack Scherer with SALESTALENT

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Jack Scherer / SALESTALENT Linkedin

Jack Scherer is founder and president of SALESTALENT, a sales performance agency that focuses on three key areas: Targeted Sales Recruiting… Customized Sales Training programs… and Sales Strategy Playbooks.

SALESTALENT was started in 2001 because Jack saw the continuous need to find productive salespeople as well as to develop customized sales training programs for all types of businesses — “one size does not fit all.” Over the last 13 years, Jack and his company have worked with many types of businesses–in Technology/IT, healthcare, marketing, manufacturing, and many different business services. SALESTALENT delivers increased sales performance!!

SALESTALENT NATIONAL EXPANSION: The next step for SALESTALENT is to offer their proven sales systems to qualified sales professionals in key markets throughout the U.S. The mission of SALESTALENT is to be the national leader in increasing sales performance for the small to mid sized business.

 

 

14th Annual Afternoon In The Country At Serenbe

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Tamie Cook / Atlanta Chapter Les Dames d’Escoffier International Facebook Twitter

Tamie Cook came to a culinary career later in life. After working as an Occupational Therapist for almost 10 years she had the opportunity to live in Paris for three years and discovered food and wine, the way it is meant to be enjoyed. Upon returning to the US she resumed her career as a therapist all the while dreaming of the day when she could turn her new passion into a career. Opportunity struck when a merger led to a lay off and she seized the moment to chart a new path. While attending New England Culinary Institute Tamie performed internships with Bacchanalia in Atlanta and the cooking school LaVarenne in Burgundy, France. While in France, Tamie also worked as a stagiere in a Michelin 1-Star restaurant near Auxerre. She concluded her time in France working the vendange in the village of Pommard, picking grapes and making wine the old-fashioned way.

Tamie worked as Alton Brown’s Culinary Director for 11 years and in January 2013 struck out on her own as a freelance chef, food stylist, teacher, writer, recipe developer and caterer. She now has a sought-after recipe development and culinary consulting company called Tamie Cook Culinary Productions with clients across the Southeast and beyond, including the Tennessee Aquarium, Coca Cola, Chef Steven Satterfield, PeachDish and RSVP. Tamie is a member of the Atlanta Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier and serves on its Board of Directors as the Vice President of Philanthropy. She is also a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs. Tamie received a scholarship from the Atlanta Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier in 2001.

Cheryl Steep / Registered Dietician

Registered dietitian nutritionist and recent graduate of the Georgia State University Coordinated Program where I completed my MS in nutrition and dietetic internship. After a career for 10+ years in sales and recruitment in the physician staffing industry, I decided to pursue a career as a healthcare provider. My passion for food, nutrition, and prevention led me to the dietetics profession. Throughout the Coordinated Program, I gained experience in both adult and pediatric clinical nutrition, community education and outreach, and food service management. I also had the privileged to work as the graduate assistant for the GSU School of Hospitality chef and assisted in teaching the food production course for three consecutive semesters.

 

 

Chip Gross with AKQA and Lisa Smith with Andere Seminars

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Chip Gross / AKQA

Chip Gross serves as Director of Client Services for AKQA’s Atlanta office.

Chip has over twenty years of experience in mobile strategy, design and development, and digital experience planning through implementation for clients such as AT&T and Delta Air Lines.

Prior to joining AKQA, Chip held several positions at Razorfish, including Client Partner, Senior Account Director and Account Director. Before that, Chip served as Marketing Manager and Interactive Strategy Manager for UPS. He also held positions at iXL and IBM Interactive.

Chip holds an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Smith / Andere Seminars

Lisa Smith is a public speaker, consultant, and e-learning developer. She is also the founder and CEO of Andere Seminars, LLC and Executive Director of Andere Foundation, Inc. a 501(c)(3) public charity. Lisa endured and survived a 12 year violent marriage. During her marriage, Lisa realized her future was not set in stone. She understood she had the power to change her path and develop a New Future for herself and her children. For years, Lisa worked very hard to educate herself and make the way out to economic independence for herself and the three children born into the marriage. A few years ago, Lisa taught in a career school and saw herself in most of her students. They were all struggling to do the same things she had years ago. Many were unsuccessful.

Creating an online resource for those who cannot break away from an abusive situation and go to school full-time or who cannot afford to enroll in a training program has been a dream Lisa is finally able to realize. With the help of her wonderfully supportive husband, Rick, and the staff at Andere Seminars Lisa is reaching out and telling her story of the fight for survival. Increasing employability by providing survivors with the tools needed to win the interview, get the job, and demonstrate knowledge in a variety of soft skill and hard skill areas will increase self-esteem and confidence, greatly benefiting survivors and their families. Lisa Smith and her team are excited to be helping people change their lives and survive to see the New Futures they desire and deserve.

In pursuit of a greater awareness regarding the impact Domestic Violence has on the workplace and employment law, Lisa also enjoys speaking to employers and business leaders. Many people speak on this topic. Hearing the message from a survivor, who is also an HR professional, is absolutely the best way to truly be moved by the truth of the matter. Lisa would love to speak to your group.

 

 

Special Edition: Young Entrepreneurs

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Candace Hill Duvernay/ Hill Duvernay and Associates, LLC

Candace Hill Duvernay graduated from The University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts in English and from the University of Georgia School of Law where she focused her second and third years of study on Trial Practice and Criminal Defense. She is proud of her reputation as an Attorney who is not afraid to go to trial, but who also possesses the finesse and wisdom to negotiate and settle disputes. Attorney Duvernay is a member of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Candace is from Ellenwood, Georgia and has practiced law in McDonough,Georgia since the Firm opened its doors in 2009. She assists clients in the areas of criminal defense, personal injury, trusts and estates and family law.

Lauren Visconti-Beckett/ Melting Sun Apparel

Lauren Visconti-Beckett created Melting Sun Apparel on January 1st, 2012 in her tiny Atlanta, Georgia home. A recent art graduate, Lauren was looking for an inspired outlet, which her jewelry and leather-working hobby soon began to fill. Turning into an obsession, the coffee table accumulated a mountain of leather scraps and jump-rings: orders began to arrive. As each unique piece was commissioned and sold, Lauren soon realized she had to name the business she had so happily stumbled upon. Melting Sun Apparel continues to grow by selling wares in local and regional art markets and festivals. Various retail shops and boutiques also carry Melting Sun products, both nationally and internationally.

 

 

Bill Fasig with TopRight Partners and Sam Tesh with Loudfund

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Bill Fasig / TopRight Partners Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Bill Fasig is COO of TopRight Partners, an Atlanta based strategic marketing consultancy. Bill brings a wealth of senior executive and leadership experience as CEO and CMO for leading companies in the technology, marketing and gaming industries over a 25-year career. This includes having served as CMO and current Board advisor for Sports Challenge Network, President and Chief Executive Officer of GameTech International, Inc., Chief Executive Officer for BMM Compliance, Americas, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Corporate Affairs for VeriSign, Inc., Vice President of Global Communications at Compaq, Chairman and Managing Director of the Technology Practice of Burson-Marsteller/Young & Rubicam, and various management roles over 10 years at Apple, including managing Global Government Affairs and International Business Development and serving as Apple’s spokesman for government affairs, public policy and international communications.

In addition to his extensive executive operating experience as CEO, COO and CMO in both public and private companies, Bill has had the opportunity over the course of his career to help create and lead several notable brand strategy and marketing campaign’s from both the client side and agency side. These include VeriSign’s award winning “Value of Trust” campaign, for which Bill was named Marketer of the Year by Adweek’s Technology Marketing Magazine for his work in building the best cross-discipline, multi-agency integrated marketing campaign and team, and was also awarded Online Campaign of the Year by BtoB magazine. Additionally, he has led the global teams for clients such as Sun Microsystems, Sony’s Vaio launch, Iridium, Qualcomm, HP’s creation and spin-off of Agilent, as well as multiple brand strategy and consulting engagements for both Fortune 500 and small and medium size clients.

Sam Tesh / Loudfund Twitter Facebook

Loudfund is reinventing record deals. New legislation allows for the next generation of crowdfunding that will benefit artists financially and engage fans like never before. Loudfund is the first software platform featuring legitimate, selected artists willing to partner with their fans. This is not crowdfunding as you know it. At Loudfund, fans support artists and artists share with fans creating a new music ecosystem.

Guest Musicians Lauren St. Jane, Reuben’s Bell and von Grey

 

 

Special Edition: TiE Atlanta

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Mark Carlson / Baker Donelson Linkedin Twitter

Mark Carlson an Atlanta-based M&A lawyer at Baker Donelson and the leader of the firm’s Corporate / Mergers & Acquisitions practice group. In his law practice, he helps clients to structure, negotiate and execute middle market M&A deals, joint ventures and other business combinations as well as general business transactions. Mark’s industry experience includes transactions and strategic initiatives in wireless technology, manufacturing, private equity, financial services and international transactions. In his personal life, he enjoys reading novels, exercising and playing the guitar.

Brent Burke / Northwestern Mutual Linkedin

Brent Burke is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER who works primarily with closely held business owners and executives with their corporate and personal financial planning needs. His practice includes wealth management, executive & employee benefits, life insurance, disability income and estate planning. Brent is married and has 4 kids and has recently started the adoption process. He is an Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scouts, a small group leader for 9th grade boys at church, also a crossfit an outdoors nut!

 

 

 

Chris Stinson with Blue Ice Interactive, Rob Brawner with Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, and Jason Massie and Peter Green with Massie Tax Credits

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Chris Stinson / Blue Ice Interactive Twitter Facebook

Chris Stinson is a nine-year veteran of the online marketing space. He advises businesses, organizations, and individuals on how to use Google Adwords and Facebook marketing to drive business to their website and achieve better ROI and sales.

Rob Brawner / Atlanta BeltLine Partnership Linkedin Twitter Facebook

Rob Brawner serves as Interim Executive Director and Program Director for the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership. As Program Director, Rob guides the Partnership’s efforts to cultivate broad-based support for the Atlanta BeltLine, generate private sector investment in the project, and address the social and economic impacts resulting from its development.

Jason Massie and Peter Green / Massie Tax Credits Linkedin Linkedin Twitter

Jason Massie is the Founder of two service-oriented companies: MASSIE R&D Tax Credits and MASSIE Law Firm. In his role as President, he is responsible for the quality, consistency and integrity of the tax credit service offerings for MASSIE R&D Tax Credits. In addition to those, for the past ten years Jason has also been responsible for MASSIE Law Firm’s vision, growth objectives and client experience initiatives.

Peter Green serves as CEO for Massie Tax Credits.