Hear from the top business owners, business leaders and entrepreneurs serving the Cherokee community. Listen in as we share insights from Cherokee’s best and brightest business leaders!
Jennie Rodriguez with andTransformation
Jennie Rodriguez / andTransformation
Founder
Jennie Rodriguez leads innovative strategic change, with a specific focus on moving organizations forward, under the brand and Transformation. Jennie works to make change in organizations better, easier and less disruptive. She is a forward-focused leader who aligns organizations to design and deliver al-ways-evolving, transformative change. Rodriguez connects leaders and organizations across boundaries to work together differently to accelerate growth. She specializes in partnering with leaders across the organization to translate growth strategies into disciplined transformation programs that deliver monetary and cultural benefits to people, the organization, investors and shareholders.
Jennie brings over 25 years’ consulting and industry experience in aligning organizations to design and deliver transformative change. Jennie has worked in organizations large and small in multiple sectors including financial services, consumer products, manufacturing and distribution.
Gerald McDowell with Aerotropolis and Chris Butsch, The Millennial Maximizer
Gerald McDowell / Aerotropolis
Executive Director
Gerald McDowell, originally from Hope Mills, N.C., graduated from DeVry University in Atlanta in 1987 with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems. He spent more than 18 years in the IT industry, managing projects in more than 40 states and 12 countries, and he was also a small business owner for nearly five years. Additionally, Gerald served as a teacher for two years as an evening Instructor at DeKalb Tech. He is a 2008 graduate of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development and a 2009 graduate of the Gwinnett Neighborhood Leadership Institute. Gerald and his wife, Toni, have been married for 26 years. They have two children: a daughter, Taylor, 22; and a son, Wesley, 19.
Gerald was on staff with the Gwinnett Village CID and Gwinnett Village Community Alliance for four years. His efforts resulted in more than 250 commercial property owners joining the CID, which accounted for $700 million in property value. He also assisted in creating the Gwinnett Village Merchant’s Association.
Gerald’s successes with the Gwinnett Village provided the experience he would draw from as the first Executive Director of the Lilburn CID – a position he occupied for five years. Even though this CID was formed during a time of national economic recession, Gerald was instrumental in securing $2 million in grant funding.
In 2015, Gerald started as the Executive Director of the Airport West CID, which joined Airport South CID in January 2016 to become the Aerotropolis Atlanta CIDs. Under Gerald’s leadership, the Aerotropolis CIDs have received more than $50 million in grants and project funding. Gerald was a member of the inaugural USDOT Leadership Academy conducted by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Additionally, Gerald was a key event speaker during the 2016 Sustainable Airport Area Seminar, focusing on issues related to workforce development, transportation and urban design.
Chris Butsch / The Millennial Maximizer
Speaker and Author
Chris Butsch calls himself “The Millennial Maximizer.” Author of The Millennial’s Guide to Making Happiness, Chris writes, speaks, and coaches on the topic of maximizing the Millennial generation’s potential. He speaks to managers, teachers, and parents of Millennials to help them understand how to connect with and unlock the potential of America’s most unique generation, and helps Millennials themselves reach their own potential through positive psychology science and coaching.
Noah McNeely with Product Quickstart and Kristi Gorinas with Kristi G
Noah McNeely / Product Quickstart
Principal / Founder
Noah McNeely is one of the founders of Product QuickStart, an innovation, product development, prototyping, and manufacturing company serving the inventor-entrepreneur and startup community. He lives and breathes innovation and new product businesses. Noah has spent his career in the trenches of real world product development, balancing tight budgets and narrow development schedules to create everything from toys to military equipment. He has spent much of his career helping to shape and guide a seemingly endless series of “good ideas” into successful product businesses.
Noah is degreed in both mechanical engineering and industrial design, and has extensive experience with prototyping and manufacturing. In his career, Mr. McNeely has innovated and developed products for some of the world’s most respected brands including: Black & Decker, the Coca Cola Company, Kimberly Clark, Proctor & Gamble, Arm & Hammer, Craftsman, Conair, Playtex, Plantronics, the Home Depot, Crock Pot, Schick, Hamilton Beach, and dozens of others. Now, Noah is exclusively focused on being a champion for, and serving the needs of, the growing start-up and inventor-entrepreneur community.
Mr. McNeely is a devoted husband, and proud father of three.
Kristi Gorinas / Kristi G / Defendables, LLC
CEO
Kristi Gorinas is an award-winning designer, inventor and manufacturer of unique and patented products that span from the juvenile industry to personal safety and wearables. Her passion is designing products and offering services that “Simplify Life” and have a meaningful impact on others.
Kristi is committed to helping other inventors and Mompreneurs get their ideas from concept to retail, and helping them land licensing opportunities.
Protecting Company Data
Daniel Blechinger / IST Management Services, Inc.
Vice President of Information Technology
Daniel Blechinger is the Vice President of Information Technology for IST Management Services, Inc. Dan has expertise in the development of state-of-the-art hardware architectures, software solutions and wide area networks for international companies. He has accumulated over 30 years of IT experience managing global projects and designing software applications. Dan has been with IST for over 13 years and has 8 years of prior management experience with 4 years as a CIO and 12 years of systems/software engineering knowledge from careers at TESA Entry Systems, Scientific-Atlanta and Photocircuits Corporation. Dan received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1985. He resides in Auburn, Georgia with his wife and has two adult sons.
David Barton / UHY Advisors
David Barton is a Managing Director and practice leader for the Internal Audit, Risk & Compliance group at UHY Advisors. He has over 25 years of practical experience in information systems and technology risk, and extensive experience in identifying and reducing information technology risk throughout an organization.
Conrad Meertins with Famteck and Jeff and Dana Miller with Sir Grout
Conrad Meertins / Famteck, LLC
Chief Information Officer
Jeff and Dana Miller / Sir Grout
Owners
Jeff & Dana Miller are the owners of Sir Grout, serving all of greater Atlanta. They also own and operate a second Sir Grout franchise in the upper counties of Northern New Jersey & New York. After long corporate careers, the couple decided to open up their own businesses together and focused on home remodeling and restoration. They have always been very passionate about home improvement and when they met the leadership team at Sir Grout they knew they had met their perfect business partner.
They have been running their businesses for over 4 years and have collected several franchise awards including Rookie Franchise of the Year (2013), Largest Franchise Expansion – Atlanta (2014) and Franchise of the Year (2015).
John Poulos and Sam Hoover with SK Commercial Realty
John Poulos / SK Commercial Realty
Executive Vice President
John Poulos is the Executive Vice President, Managing Director of Tenant Representation for SK Commercial Realty. John represents office tenants on an exclusive basis. His expertise and method of operation provides clients unparalleled service and assists them in achieving cost reduction and operational goals required by today’s tenants. With more than 23 years of experience in the real estate industry, John’s success is derived from his belief that the best way to serve a client’s real estate portfolio is by thoroughly understanding their business. With this in-depth comprehension, financial analysis & attention to details, he assists clients in making informed, educated decisions that align their real estate portfolio with their business strategy.
John has worked exclusively with tenants since he entered the commercial real estate industry in 1984 when he joined AFCO Realty focusing on long-term relationships enabling him to represent landlords as well as tenants. In 1997, John joined Advantis GVA where he was a founding member of the Strategic Solutions Team, whose focus was supporting the real estate issues of high-tech and corporate clients. In 2000, John joined Grubb & Ellis as a vice president where he was instrumental in securing several national accounts. He was affiliated with Equis Corporation where he won numerous high-profile assignments and was a leading producer in their Atlanta office 2005 & 2006. John joined Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Atlanta office in 2007 as a managing director and enjoyed being one of the top 5 Atlanta Brokers for Newmark for 5 years before leaving for SK Commercial in 2016.
Sam Hoover / SK Commercial Realty
Sam Hoover joined SK Commercial Realty in April of 2016 as an Office Tenant Representative working with John Poulos, Executive Vice President. Prior to joining SK, while attending The University of Georgia, Sam led the NAHB Student Organization as President, was chosen for a highly selective leadership-related internship and graduated with two degrees.
Sam’s clients benefit from his ability to leverage tenant’s position with landlords, evaluate space requirements, and his understanding of market standards. By combining appreciation of his client’s goals, overall understanding of the leasing process and an unwavering loyalty to clients’ interests, Sam provides the highest level of brokerage solutions.
As a leader in the community and native of The City of Peachtree Corners, Sam volunteers with The Norcross High School Foundation for Excellence to raise funds for different projects at his alma mater. He also has a passion for Technology and spends much of his time out of the office at technology incubators, accelerators, and events learning about new startup companies and ideas.
Nick Cappello with Capco Computing
Nick Cappello / Capco Computing
Owner / Head Systems Architect
Nick Cappello has been in the IT business for 20 years and started Capco Computing with the notion that even the smallest business needs a Fortune 500 mentality when it comes to tech, but within their budget. Nick was there for the formation of a lot of the tech practices for the Fortune 500 companies he’s worked for, he’s helped influenced a few of them, and saw just how these practices were able to help keep companies like Amoco Oil and Coca Cola on the right track. It is because of this that Nick Cappello and Capco is able to create a standard for not only the servers in the back office, but the computers and other tech your employees use.
Wilson Tomala and Brad Grimes with Paul Davis Restoration
Wilson Tomala / Paul Davis Restoration
President/Owner
Wilson Tomala moved to Atlanta from New York in 1998. He studied engineering at Stony Brook University of New York where he received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. He proceeded to attend NYU where he received his masters in Management Technology.
With a passion for sales, marketing and engineering he later joined the team at Heatcraft as the Director of Marketing and Strategic Planning. With encouragement and support from his closest friends and family he decided to go into business for himself and joined the Paul Davis team by purchasing a franchise location in North Atlanta. He began this journey nearly 15 years ago and has enjoyed all of the new challenges that being a business owner have brought him.
He is very passionate about his business and has instilled some of his values into the company’s culture. The four main values of the company are authenticity, continuous improvement, perseverance and empathy.
When he is not at the office he enjoys playing tennis and golf but most of all he enjoys watching his 3 boys play soccer.
Brad Grimes / Paul Davis Restoration
Busines Development Manager
Brad Grimes graduate from Kennesaw State University with a degree in Business Management and a passion for Marketing, New Technology, Music, TV and Film Production. Brad is considered resourceful, creative, professional and, above all, a team player. He is a self starter with a passion for helping others.
