angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

Dennis O’Keefe with Workful, Richard Lorenc with Foundation for Economic Education and Carl Danbury

January 15, 2019 by angishields

Richard Lorenc is the Executive Vice President at Foundation for Economic Education. is involved in a number of civic, educational, and professional development organizations. He is the chairman of the board of directors of America’s Future Foundation (AFF), the nation’s premier network of liberty-minded young professionals. Additionally, he serves as the chairman of the board of directors of the Coalition to Reduce Spending, Inc., an advocacy group established to place meaningful controls on federal spending. He joined The Mont Pelerin Society in 2018.

Follow Richard Lorenc on Twitter and Foundation for Economic Education on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Carl Danbury has been in the magazine business for 30-plus years. The former publisher, editorial director and feature writer for Points North Atlanta and SportsUnlimited appreciates long-form journalism and the real story behind the published version. While his celebrity feature subjects included Cloris Leachman, Ron White and Lee Corso he prefers writing about relatively unknown individuals whose stories previously have gone untold. Currently, a free-lance media consultant and marketer, he lives in Cumming with wife, Maureen, is a father of six and a grandfather to Owen.

Follow Carl Danbury on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Dennis O’Keefe is the Product Director for Workful, a new cloud-based human resources, payroll and POS employee management suite made for small businesses. Dennis has a rich history in the payroll, banking and small business management space, with a specific passion for helping small business owners streamline financial and record keeping processes so they can get back to what they’d rather be doing, growing their business.

Follow Dennis O’Keefe on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Tucson Business Radio: Weeding Out Business Ep 7

January 14, 2019 by angishields

Taylor Carter is from Tucson, attended the U of A and was inspired to be a firefighter after 9/11. Taylor is a retired paramedic/firefighter, nutritional consultant, cowboy, husband, father, entrepreneur, and the owner of Sentinel Peak Brewing Company.

Taylor is very involved with good nutrition and health and works for and promotes a company called Juice Plus. He has two boys and a beautiful wife Crystal who runs their family ranch, River Valley Ranch.

Connect with Taylor on Facebook.

WOB Host and Owner
Poppy Yard Solutions

Josh Grubaugh is a Tucson native with 12 years of experience in the agriculture industry. His passion for the game of golf and the desire to spend as much time as possible on the course led to the start of his career. In 2006, Josh began working at Oro Valley Country Club. There, he acquired the basics of landscape and turf management. He also earned his Arizona Pesticide Applicator license. He quickly realized that not only did he have a knack for keeping vegetation alive in Arizona heat, he was also really loving the work that went into it!

Just a year into this career path, Josh took full advantage of an opportunity to help build the Golf Club at Dove Mountain, former home of the PGA Tour’s WGC Accenture Match-Play Championship. This amazing 6-year experience gave him the drive to advance on to The Views Golf Club at Oro Valley, where he became the Assistant Golf Course Superintendent. This was a game changer for Josh as his growing passion for and knowledge of turfgrass management further solidified that this was his calling.

With his skills and experience, Josh advanced onward to Tucson Country Club as the Assistant Golf Course Superintendent. Within two years he accepted the position of Golf Course Superintendent at Forty Niner Country Club. Shortly after joining the Forty Niner family, Josh and Brandy married and within a year were proud parents of their first child, Tripp Joshua Grubaugh. Things were getting real!

Josh had a very successful tenure at Forty Niner Country Club. His extensive knowledge and attention to detail allowed him to complete many in-depth landscape and irrigation projects, which improved the operation of the course. Some have even said he brought it back from the dead! Josh will tell you, he is only as good as his team. His hard work, respect for others and willingness to think outside of the box were, and continue to be, essential to his success. In early 2018, Josh knew there was something bigger for him and his growing family. With the support and encouragement of his wife, Brandy, he decided to take his knowledge, skills, and passion in another direction. This led to the launch of Poppy Yard Solutions. The company was named after his daughter, Poppy Louise.

Follow Poppy Yard Solutions on Facebook and Instagram.

Bill Hogan and Ben Andrews with ATDC

January 14, 2019 by angishields

Bill Hogan has always had a strong interest in technology and business, an interest that led to his obtaining his bachelor’s degree in applied physics from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Early in his career, Bill ran the European operations of a U.S.-based music services business. Stationed in London for three years, he created a pan-European satellite distribution network using cutting-edge MCPC technology. This new technology changed the industry paradigm for delivering music to customers. In 2000, he co-founded a technology-based startup called EGT, an ATDC company. EGT was focused on building products to improve the bandwidth efficiency of transmitting video over various networks. The company raised more than $30 million in venture capital, developed the first software-based video encoder for the cable television industry and generated more than $12 million per year in annual revenue.

Follow Bill Hogan on LinkedIn.

Ben Andrews oversees the ATDC @ initiative, which takes the incubator’s education, resources, and programming to various cities across the state. He will work with ATDC’s catalysts in current ATDC @cities, which include Athens, Augusta, Peachtree Corners, and Savannah. He joined ATDC in 2017 as community engagement coordinator, where he managed relationships with the incubator’s sponsors and external partners. Ben began his career working for the Community and Economic Development Department for the city of Americus. While working for the city, he earned his MBA from Georgia Southwestern State University. In 2013 he was promoted to department director, becoming the youngest senior staff member in the city’s modern history. In that position, he oversaw a variety of boards and authorities, and worked with recruiting, retaining, and assisting small businesses. He was regularly invited to speak at various conferences about the work he and his team accomplished in Americus. In 2016 he returned to Atlanta to work for the American Cancer Society in the role of Senior Market Manager for Community Engagement. There he worked with various verticals within the Atlanta market, ranging from fundraising to mission delivery. He received a bachelor’s in business management from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Scheller College of Business.

Follow Ben Andrews on LinkedIn.

Akmann Van-Mary with SpotKew and Tyler Johnson with PrivOps

January 14, 2019 by angishields

Akmann Van-Mary is an industry leader with over 20 years of experience in the Logistics and Trucking Industry, holding a strong focus on innovation and advanced technologies. He has made it his mission to stay on top of proven, forward-thinking strategies in order to optimize the highest end result in the sector. Akmann’s inspiration to start the Driver Relay platform known as SpotKew was fueled by the recent tightening of regulations on the Hours of Service laws that exacerbate the already serious driver shortage in the trucking industry. Prior to SpotKew, he served as the Director of Logistics for the largest seed and garden company in the nation (Central Garden & Pet), followed by his next role as Founder and CEO of Track Logistics Group, a position of which he held for 10 years. Akmann then went on to build RoadSync – the first electronic payment platform that offers the solution to an age-old stressor in the trucking industry, where he remained the Founder and CEO for 3 years. Akmann’s insight and passion for the hardships of truckers and the trucking companies were at the forefront of his mind when forming SpotKew and remain his motivating force today.

Follow Spotkew on Twitter and Facebook. Follow Akmann Van-Mary on LinkedIn.

Early in his career, Tyler Johnson invented an automated testing platform for HP’s most advanced servers and was awarded 22 US patents. Over the last 20+ years, Tyler has held various technical and business roles including product leader for Rackspace’s $600 Million private cloud computing practice and leadership of strategic IT technology alliances. Most recently, Tyler launched PrivOps, an ATDC Accelerate startup focused on software for digital transformation. Tyler holds a B.S.E.E. from Florida Atlantic University, an MBA from Southern Methodist University and lives in Alpharetta, GA, with his wife and two sets of twins.

Follow PrivOps on LinkedIn and Facebook. Follow Tyler Johnson on Twitter.

NFTC: Workforce Development & Talent Attraction Initiatives Ep2

January 14, 2019 by angishields

The Talent Store
33 S 5th Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85701

Devon Underwood is the Founder and Lead Strategist at The Talent Store, an Executive Search and Talent Strategy firm.  Her goal is to help clients discover the people and processes that allow them to meet their strategic goals.  This saves time, money and creates the tipping point for growth.

With an understanding of the technology and best practices available to help growing companies scale successfully, she can develop and implement custom talent attraction, acquisition and retention strategies.  She can also work to place key leadership in newly developed, shifting or re-aligned roles with a focus on long term matching of culture and values.

Devon has provided Executive Search, Recruiting and Talent Acquisition strategy consulting for clients in 40+ states for the last 15 years.  She has built, trained and developed recruitment teams and played a key role in employment branding.  She is an expert in analyzing current practices and shaping systems and solutions customized for each company’s culture, current processes and resource capacity.

Follow The Talent Store on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Pima Community College
1255 North Stone Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85709

Ian Roark is VP of Workforce Development at Pima Community College. His focus is developing and sustaining curricula, programs, and partnerships that will help students be successful participants in the 21st century economy. He has had the opportunity to work with many outstanding K-12 and community college professionals to develop innovative programs that have helped people realize their college and career dreams.

Ian has served on regional and state boards focused on workforce development (e.g., Texas Association of College Technical Educators and Chair of the Education & Workforce Development Committee of the West Texas Energy Consortium), and has presented at conferences on the topics of P-16 reform and CTE program innovation and at local, state, and national conferences.

Connect with Ian on LinkedIn and Facebook.

About Your Host

Tucson Metro Chamber
465 W. St. Mary’s Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85701
520-792-1212

Amber Smith is the president and CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber. In her role, she leads the Tucson Metro Chamber in implementing the goals and visions of the Chamber’s Board of Directors to champion an environment where business thrives and the Tucson community prospers. Focusing on growing business through workforce development, talent attraction, and public policy, the Tucson Metro Chamber is a strong community partner focused on making Tucson the ideal destination for business success. Amber’s goal is to lower the amount of poverty in Tucson by growing businesses.

A government relations professional by trade, Amber’s strength is building relationships between the public and private sector, while identifying ways to collaborate and partner to achieve mutually beneficial goals. Amber began her career working for Senator McCain where she became adept at retaining professionalism and decorum while navigating difficult and controversial policy matters.

Amber represented the real estate and land use industry on policy matters first as a lobbyist for homebuilders and developers and then for Metropolitan Pima Alliance (MPA). MPA’s foundation is creating balanced land use policies that stimulate economic development and reasonably preserves our natural environment. Amber has continued that philosophy of finding common ground through her work at the Tucson Metro Chamber.

A Texas native, Amber moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona and graduated with a degree in Political Science and a Master’s in Public Administration from Eller College. Married to a second-generation Tucsonan, Amber’s husband Robert is a Tucson Fire Department Captain, who also owns a small business. Amber and Robert have three young sons, 11 goats, four dogs, three donkeys and some chickens and they enjoy the quiet life on their small ranch.

Connect with Amber on LinkedIn.

Jeff Schmidt with Authomate, Piyush Saggi with Parmonic and Ugochukwu Ezeamuzie with Bloveit

January 14, 2019 by angishields

Jeff Schmidt has been a leader in the security arena for over 25 years. He built and ran one if not the largest managed security services businesses at British Telecom for Fortune 500 companies across all verticals and sectors. Jeff has been part of building and delivering some of the most innovative solutions in the security space including the first cloud based managed security service (BT Counterpane), Visual Analytics for Intrusion Detection, and protected some of the most prolific clients and events including the Olympics. Jeff has spoken at numerous conferences, RSA,, Gartner, Infosecurity Europe, and others, as well has worked side by side with industry icons like Bruce Schneier and Jim Tiller. Jeff joined Authomate in 2015 in their mission to eliminate the frustrations associated with passwords, making your mobile device your one and only password.

Follow Jeff Schmidt on Twitter and LinkedIn. Follow Authomate on Twitter and Facebook.

Piyush Saggi is the cofounder & CEO of Parmonic. He grew up in the print media business working with his dad.

Follow Parmonic on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Ugo Ezeamuzie is the Founder and CEO of Bloveit. Prior to starting Bloveit he was an Investment Banking Analyst and Private Equity Associate at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, respectively. Ugo is a graduate of Georgia Tech and loves movies.

Follow Ugo Ezeamuzie on LinkedIn.

Andrew Gowasack with TrustStamp, Charu Thomas with Oculogx and Zachary Aten with Grassroots Labs

January 14, 2019 by angishields

Andrew Gowasack is the CEO and a co-founder of TrustStamp. His primary focus is seeking out and building the strategic partnerships needed to open new identity-related markets around the world. As the CEO of Trust Stamp, Andrew has participated in a number of the leading accelerator programs in the U.S. and overseas and built relationships with some of the world’s largest financial institutions. Andrew is an accomplished public speaker who can regularly be found addressing leaders in both financial services and real estate. Andrew received a BA in both Finance and Economics from Benedictine College and began his career in financial services with a focus on sales and marketing prior to co-founding Trust Stamp. Andrew is actively committed to ongoing learning, studying at world-class institutions such as the Harvard Business School and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Follow Andrew Gowasack on Twitter and LinkedIn. Follow Trust Stamp on Facebook.

Charu Thomas is an entrepreneur and internationally published wearable computing researcher. She collaborates with the inventor of Google Glass, Thad Starner, and has developed her own wearable computers. Her company, Oculogx, has worked with clients like Newell Brands and is participating in an accelerator partnered with Walmart.

Follow Oculogx on Twitter.

Zachary Aten is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Grassroots Labs. He has worked in digital health for over 8 years and has a passion to solve cost and access problems in health care. Zachary is a software developer and got his B.S Economics from Georgia Tech in 2010.

Follow Grassroots Labs on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Dr. Andrea Goeglein with Serving Success

January 14, 2019 by angishields

Dr. Andrea Goeglein altered the truth of her age and got a job at a Wall Street brokerage firm at 14. By 24 she opened her first operating business – a Haagen-Dazs ice cream store in Reno, Nevada. Many businesses and a PhD in Organizational Psychology later she felt she had experienced enough stress and anxiety to be an expert.

Today she is a Success Catalyst and known as Dr. Success™ at Serving Success. Andrea is the founder, curator and author of the Don’t Die™ self-development collection of books. Her latest book is Don’t Die Waiting to Be Brave. As an expert in Applied Positive Psychology, she is your success Sherpa, guiding you as you climb the mountain of success.

Follow Dr. Andrea Goeglein on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.