With 25 years in the industry, Jason Holland with Holland IT brings his vast IT knowledge along with his ability to easily translate complex solutions into straightforward strategies.
Gavin Lindeman is a 10 year consumer and small business electronics veteran. His background in retail management has given him the acumen to help find cost/time savings through IT infrastructure for businesses.
Junko’s Health, Wealth, and Happiness Hour is brought to you by Fujiyama Wealth Management.
As Senior Managing Shareholder at Baker Donelson, Ms. Linda Klein’s law practice includes business dispute prevention and resolution, contract law, and risk and crisis management. She also serves as an arbitrator and mediator to help other lawyer’s clients resolve their disputes. She is the Immediate Past President of the American Bar Association, the world’s largest voluntary professional organization. In 1998, following her term as the first woman to serve as president of the State Bar of Georgia, Georgia Trend Magazine named her one of the 100 most powerful and influential Georgians. She was just named Attorney of the Year by the region’s leading legal publication.
Connect with Linda on Twitter.
Lucie Ide is the Founder of Rimidi. Follow Lucie on Twitter.
Supply Chain Now Radio brought to you by APICS Atlanta and TalentStream.
Elba Pareja-Gallagher is the founder of the social impact organization ShowMe50.org. The non-profit’s vision is to achieve 50% women in senior leadership positions through a grassroots movement of women and men. As Chair of the APICS Atlanta Gender Gap Task Force, Elba leads our joint work to change and close the gender gap in Supply Chain and Manufacturing. Elba is also a finance and strategy professional with 20 years of experience at UPS. She’s held roles in International Finance, Investor Relations, Marketing and Strategy. She lived as an expat in Asia for three years and currently works on a cross-functional team developing long term strategies for Global eCommerce. Elba has also published several thought leadership blogs on UPS Longitudes.
For more information, follow ShowMe50 on Twitter and reach out to Elba directly: elba@showme50.org
Kim Seijo is a Data Process Engineer on the Data Innovation & Excellence team at HD Supply, one of the largest industrial distributors in North America. The company provides a broad range of 
products and value-add services to approximately 500,000 customers with leadership positions in maintenance, repair and operations and residential and non-residential construction sectors. A member of the APICS Atlanta Board of Directors, Kim is passionate about serving her industry and community.
Connect with Kim on LinkedIn.
Bill Stankiewicz has 20+ years’ experience in Industrial Facility Operations, Business Development and Food Grade Distribution. He has worked at Savannah Supply Chain as a consultant in Savannah, Georgia. On weekends, Bill teaches as Adjunct Professor at Savannah Technical College, where he is involved with the OS & OOG Freight Program for Pilot Escort and Fork Lift Safety Programs for certification and distribution operations. Very active in leadership positions across industry, Bill serves in various leadership capacities for organizations such as: the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance, APICS Savannah, the Savannah Traffic Club, WorkSource Georgia and beBee.com.
Follow Bill on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn and reach out directly via email.
Scott Luton is founder of Supply Chain Now Radio and also serves as Managing Partner for TalentStream. He has worked extensively in the end-to-end Supply Chain industry for more than 15 years, appearing in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Dice and Quality Progress Magazine. Scott has held a variety of leadership roles with organizations, with significant experience in the manufacturing and professional services sectors. Scott currently serves as Executive Vice President of APICS Atlanta and was also named to the 2018 Georgia Logistics Summit Executive Committee. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and holds the APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) credential. As a Veteran of the United States Air Force, Scott also volunteers as Co-Chair of the Business Pillar for VETLANTA, and maintains active membership in the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance & CSCMP Atlanta Roundtable.
Connect with Scott Luton on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @ScottWLuton.
Andy Payment helps clients solve their most complex Marketing and Sales challenges. His unique brand of problem diagnosis, storytelling and overcoming obstacles helps organizations achieve better results faster. Andy started Symbiom because consulting and creative agencies lack the right combination of domain expertise, program leadership and execution capabilities to fully solve their clients’ challenges. He’s an experienced leader who has helped Fortune 1000s, mid-sized companies, high-growth startups and industry organizations from Silicon Valley to Asia fix broken capabilities, re-craft their story and accelerate sales performance in ways they never thought possible. Andy’s a sought-after speaker on marketing and sales transformations, leadership skills, and digital storytelling. In 2017, he was named one of PR Week’s 40 Under 40.
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Miranda Marshall graduated in 2014 from Georgia Southern University with a Bachelors Degree in Public Relations. She worked for two years following at an Atlanta corporation where she learned many tactics and valuable lessons before quitting to enter the world of freelance with the purpose of serving small business owners. Her business name has since evolved to Occipital Media. Occipital Media is a Digital Marketing Agency founded on a genuine desire to assist local businesses in achieving growth.
Doug Jackson with Shared Vision Marketing is an executive leader with experience and expertise in building revenue, market share and brand equity for highly visible, world-class organizations. Doug has a proven track record and extensive experience in the consumer packaged goods, financial services and technology industries with both Fortune 50 and start-up companies. Doug is a strategic thinker, quick study and team player with strong business acumen who has worked with companies like The Coca- Cola Company, Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble. Doug lives in Atlanta with his son Nick and dog Aspen but hails from Washington, DC and remains a die-hard fan of DC sports, music and culture. Doug is a proud graduate of both The University of Virginia (BA) and The University of Michigan (MBA).
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Jonathan Silver with Atlanta Coffee Supply Group lived the true entrepreneurial story. He started a business in a spare bedroom in his parents with an idea and a sedan. He took the concept of a dime cup of coffee to chef driven restaurants that were serving great food and a nickel cup of coffee. He has maintained the concept for the last 25 years and created a specialty beverage distribution company.
Follow Atlanta Coffee Supply Group on Facebook.
The following story was made possible by Transwestern. To learn more about Transwestern, you can follow them on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Lauren Glancy is the Director of Programs for Soccer in the Streets. She is a soccer enthusiast, a former Athletic Director, and a Health and PE teacher. She played soccer at the University of Georgia on an athletic scholarship and received a bachelors degree in Health and Physical Education from the University of Georgia. She also got her Masters degree in Sport Pedagogy from the University of Georgia.
The following story was made possible by Transwestern. To learn more about Transwestern, you can follow them on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Marci Alt is one of the Partners and Chief Executive Officer of Carma Productions, Inc. The proud producers of The Gay Community Yellow Pages and Gayborhood. In 1989, Marci relocated to Atlanta, shortly after her move, she realized the need for a resource directory to ensure members of the LGBT community are treated with the same respect as everyone else and The Gay Community Yellow Pages was born. In 2008, Marci and her business partner founded Carma Productions. Over the years, Marci has participated in several local non-profit organizations, having been involved with Mega Family Project, Out on Film, North Georgia Rainbow Coalition, GLAAD. She is currently sitting on the Board of Directors for AGLCC. Marci is also the VP of the LNFY board to help end LGBTQ homelessness. Marci has been awarded AGLCC’s Business Woman of the Year 2x in Atlanta Ga, as well has received a nomination for NGLCC’s Business Person of the Year, and was invited to spend Easter Sunday with the President Obama and his family at the White House. When she is not at work or volunteering, Marci enjoys being “Mapa” to her two beautiful children Alexandria and Nicholas.
Throughout his career, Phil Bush has devised multiple sales and marketing methodologies with a focus on execution success. His emphasis has been on continuous process improvement, sales methodologies and consistency of delivery. MavRen Sales & Marketing focuses on a wide variety of areas for different organizations and continues to expand its reach today. He has been very successful handling a wide variety of assignments in sales, sales management, business development, channels, and strategic alliances. His most focus has been on sales enablement. Under that broad umbrella, he has made contributions in sales process definition, territory planning, Account Execution Planning™, sales coaching, sales team coordination and partner execution for divisions of IBM, Oracle, Infor, and others. He has also directed sales teams across North America, Europe and Asia, and has worked not only with Blue-chip companies (IBM, Oracle) but also with a variety of start-up organizations through Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). Earlier, he served as a Principal for Atlanta-based Infomentis, a consulting firm that specialized in expanding revenue streams for its clients in all areas, including sales, channels / alliances, services and maintenance. Its clients included Oracle, Microsoft, Computer Associates, Cognos (purchased by IBM), Informatica, NetApp and other high-tech companies. During his tenure, he started and developed the Sales Performance Coaching practice to help his clients’ sales teams sharpen their strategic account planning, territory planning, and sales management techniques. This work has taken Bush around the world. He has a talent for devising ways to attain peak sales in complex, sophisticated global environments and for coaching teams and individuals to maximize their potential. Well educated, he earned his BS in Industrial Management at Georgia Institute of Technology. He frequently speaks on a variety of sales and sales enablement topic. His thoughts are published on the blog at www.mavren.com. He has lived in three countries and worked in 22.
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On this CEO Exclusive we talk with Tom Matthesen and David Paparelli with Thrive Farmers International, a coffee farm, about trends happening in the world of coffee and tea. We also discuss how they utilize the power of their business to make a social impact while still meeting the needs of stakeholders and shareholders.
About Thrive Farmers
We are in the business of impact. It is the most important thing we strive to make. From the start of a customer’s morning to the end of a farmer’s day, this is how we are measured.
Our farmers aren’t suppliers — they’re people. And what they cultivate isn’t a commodity — it’s a livelihood. It’s not just a supply chain, it’s a chain of values that guides everything we do. Integrity leads to transparency. Transparency to prosperity. And prosperity to quality. It’s a purposefully crafted product and process where all of us — from farmer to customer — thrive.
Tom Matthesen is a seasoned entrepreneur who has not only founded, built and sold several companies, but has also spent over 25 years financing and advising both development stage and more mature growth companies in a wide range of industries. He served as the founding Chairman of the Board for Thrive Farmers and took on the role of President in 2016. Since its inception, Matthesen has worked alongside the founders in the development of the company’s vision, strategic execution and capital formation strategies. Matthesen is passionate about helping businesses build purpose into their beverage programs and empowering the talented men and women who are responsible for growing world-class coffee – the individual farmers.
David Paparelli is Head of Product Development at Thrive Farmers International, where he builds innovative beverage solutions that give farmers the opportunity to earn more. Before his work at Thrive, David spent several years working with nonprofits in East Africa and Central America focused on economic development initiatives. He has a passion for helping entrepreneurs in the
developing world access new markets to better support their families and communities.
Whether you’ve been an employee since the beginning or you’ve worked here a month, Kevin Greiner is all about discovering what’s important to people – starting with never forgetting your name. We’re not sure how he does it, but we’re glad he does. At the office Kevin won’t hesitate to chat with you about what you’re up to or the latest tennis highlights – he genuinely cares about every employee. He’s also passionate about strengthening our community. Under Kevin’s leadership, Gas South has committed to giving back 5% of profits to help children in need. He has built a culture of service while also creating exceptional career paths for employees. He wants to make sure Gas South is a place where people want to be, not a place you feel like you have to be. With more than 15 years’ experience in the energy sector, Kevin gained expertise in management roles with Southern Company. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a master’s degree in business administration and a master’s of science in natural resource policy, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University. Board work: United Way of Greater Atlanta (chaired the 2012-13 Workplace Campaign), Georgia Chamber, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, the YMCA of Metro Atlanta (Executive Committee), Atlanta Opera Interesting fact: Kevin speaks German and is fluent in Dekatherms (Gas South’s band where he plays the piano).
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Brandon Black is a Florida native that now calls Atlanta home. He graduated from North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs and began his Georgia State University education while in his senior year of high school. Brandon completed his undergraduate degree, BBA in 2015 and graduate studies, MS in Finance in 2016, at Georgia State University (GSU). While attending GSU Brandon was always active in campus life. He was a Resident Advisor (RA), Zumba Instructor, finance society participant, and Vice-President of the Big Brothers Big Sisters campus chapter. GSU is also where he met Genna Brown, his business partner and co-founder in GIVIN. Genna was Brandon’s instructor in his first finance course at GSU. These days Brandon is actively involved with the Greater Atlanta community. Brandon has volunteered for Aid Atlanta, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlanta, as well as the Atlanta Community Food Bank. He is also involved with his Southeast Atlanta Home Owners Association in an advisory capacity. He also works with Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU). Brandon sees GIVIN as a way to expand his volunteer activities and support numerous non-profits. In his free time, Brandon enjoys rollerblading, Zumba, and laughter. Genna Brown is an Atlanta native that has worked and taught finance for over twenty years in Atlanta and Miami, FL. Genna is a registered investment advisor, and manages wealth for a small number of clients in Georgia and Florida. She is a Senior Lecturer at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business. Genna teaches investment valuation, corporate finance and portfolio management. Genna met Brandon Black, GIVN’s co-founder when he was a student in a finance course Genna taught. Genna recognized his determination and drive to succeed that first semester. Several years later Brandon happened to drop by her office one afternoon and expressed frustration at the 9 – 5 corporate world. He said, “I wish I had ‘a big idea.’ I could run a business, but I need the idea.” Genna was ready with GIVN –Charity Simplified. That afternoon they began the collaboration that is the non-profit Black and Brown Corp., Inc. Genna received degrees from the University of Georgia (BBA) and University of Miami (MBA). She is the past president of Miami Society of Financial Analysts, and is involved in Atlanta Economics Club, ABDIACG (a financial services association), as well as the Southeastern Hedge Fund Association. Over the years Genna has assisted several nonprofits, either financially and/or through volunteer services. Atlanta Humane Society, American Red Cross, Center for the Visually Impaired, READ (Adult Literacy), her church, college sorority alumnae association, political party and others have been beneficiaries of her efforts. She lives in South Buckhead with her dog, Trez.
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Joshua Silver co-founded Patientco after seeing an opportunity to take his expertise in consumer-centric product design to the industry that needed it most. Today, as Chief Solutions Officer, Joshua helps craft Patientco’s technology strategy, set product direction, and works with key accounts. Prior to Patientco, Joshua was a member of the International Product Development team at CareerBuilder.com, specializing in product integration with major partners such as Virgin Media, AOL, and Lycos. Joshua holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he graduated with Highest Honors and was the recipient of the prestigious President’s Scholarship Award. Joshua has been recognized as a rising healthcare IT leader by Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review as well as named “CIO of the Year” by the Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GCLA).
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Alexandra Fasulo is the Co-Founder and Owner of SocialMe Media, a social media consultancy and content writing agency based out of Brooklyn, New York. SocialMe provides content writing and editing services for small to mid-sized businesses, as well as social media training and consultancy regarding content development, analytics, and branding. Recently, Alexandra opened InstaNews, a social media-based public relations newsroom for brands wishing to submit press releases and blogs from around the world. InstaNewsPress.com and InstaNewsBlog.com can be accessed through the SocialMe platform. Alexandra is also a full-time Top Level and PRO Service Provider on Fiverr.com, offering website content development, biography writing, press release writing + distribution, blog writing, Amazon product listing descriptions, and proofreading services. A recent graduate of SUNY Geneseo, Alexandra immediately went to work at the NYS Assembly as a Correspondence Coordinator and Press Coordinator. Functioning as Volunteer Coordinator for a local campaign during her first six-months at the Assembly, Alexandra went on to volunteer for multiple local New York State campaigns and this year, a major presidential campaign. After a two-year stint with the Assembly, Alexandra felt the pull of the entrepreneurial lifestyle and moved to the best city in the world for it: New York City. Aside from running her content writing business, blogging about social media trends and travel, and volunteering on local political campaigns, Alexandra is the Marketing Manager for Allegra Paris Active, an up-and-coming athleisure clothing and bathing suit brand. Lastly, Alexandra is a published blogger and blog contributor on Women In Digital, Social Media Today, and Business 2 Community. She is presently working on her personal lifestyle blog, Zandra Rose, and has begun influencer collaboration with travel brands.
