

Ken Mathis is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence in Georgia State University’s (GSU’s) Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute(ENI) where he teaches a course on How to Scale a New Venture and runs the Incubator for Startups.
He has an extensive track record of developing and implementing Large Scale, High Impact, Innovative Enterprise Payment Solutions for the Banking, Utility, and Health Care industries. He has over 30 years of Financial Services/Payments Industry experience as well as running a startup in the Payments Software-as-a-Service Businesses for the B2B market segment. Prior to GSU and starting two businesses, Ken held leadership positions at IBM, MasterCard and PriceWaterHouseCoopers.
Follow GSU on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Jennifer Daniels is a bold and inspiring strategic leader, entrepreneurial growth adviser, certified coach and experiential workshop facilitator. She helps business leaders achieve better outcomes and greater impact by infusing entrepreneurial approaches into leadership development, strategic planning, operations, marketing and sales.
Jennifer serves as President at Flying Laboratories®, a strategic advisory and leadership coaching company. She is also an adjunct professor at Georgia State University teaching entrepreneurship in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business. She’s a member of Cherry Bekaert’s innovation advisory board and is Chairperson of the Catholic Charities Atlanta Leadership Program.
For over 20 years, Jennifer held progressive leadership roles in technology, process improvement, sales, marketing and innovation acceleration at GE. Most recently she was a commercial organization executive leading an intrapreneurial startup that provided management consulting services to GE’s most strategic customers. Jennifer also served in sales and marketing executive leadership positions at ChoicePoint, USIS, and LexisNexis, and was co-founder of Slimpressions® with a patented line of women’s shapewear.
Jennifer earned her B.S. in Finance from the University of Maryland and MBA from Georgia State University.
Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn, and follow Flying Laboratories on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Adesuwa Imafidon is a recent graduate from Georgia State University with a Bachelors in Managerial Science and a minor in Entrepreneurship. She is a certified dermatology technician and an entrepreneur. Adesuwa is an active woman within the community and church. She volunteers with anti-human trafficking organizations on numerous actions.
Adesuwa is currently starting her own unisex natural skincare company that is on a mission to change the skincare industry. She has participated in many pitch competitions, placing 4th in her very first one at Clayton State University and 1st with a team in a class at Georgia State University. Adesuwa recently participated in the TYE University Business Pitch Competition. She is fond of international business as she took a course abroad in Sweden.
Connect with Adesuwa on LinkedIn.



Laura Lee Bocade is a Market Development and Green Team Leader for DIRTT Environmental Solutions, a Calgary-based manufacturer of prefabricated, sustainable interior construction solutions, representing DIRTT in the Savannah and Coastal Georgia region. Laura Lee’s mission is to develop and build local, state and regional community partnerships and to ‘spread DIRTT’ – central to DIRTT’s progressive approach to corporate social responsibility, sustainability, disruptive innovation and grass-roots philanthropy. Laura Lee graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from Central Michigan University and has been certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resource Management. Laura Lee worked in Real Estate Development for years as Director of Operations for Medallist Developments’ Savannah Quarters, worked for the President of The Coastal Bank and as Chief Operating Officer for Innovations in Contemporary Furniture in Atlanta. Laura Lee’s early career years were on Seventh Avenue in the fashion industry, based in New York City where she spent months each year travelling across Europe, Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Mexico, India and other international locations sourcing materials, developing relationships and locating manufacturing opportunities, negotiating contracts and establishing production facilities for multiple brand-name designers’ many product lines.
Stephen Nottingham is the CEO and Co-Founder of Frendesign, (Fren LLC.), a Savannah, Georgia based multidisciplinary design, technology and innovation company, focused on pediatric healthcare. Stephen is a proud Charlottesville, Virginia native who arrived in Savannah during the summer of 2015 to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design, bringing an extensive business and project management background with over 12 years of related experience. His creative and entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well, ready to develop a strong relationship of understanding and lateral perspectives by bridging business strategies with purposeful design methods. During the winter of 2017, Stephen merged abilities with a team of world class designers to propose the value of advanced design techniques with medical expertise to unveil innovation. Late spring 2017, Stephen formalized Frendesign and soon after, initiated partnerships with nationally accredited medical institutions to begin uniting healthcare environments with purposeful design and technology by creating experience-driven solutions. Today, Stephen is positioning Frendesign as a key partner in the healthcare supply chain network and continues to build strong collaborative platforms that are delivering differentiated organizational value through service transformation. You can connect with Stephen Nottingham on
Scott W. Luton is the founder of 















Erich K. Schmid is cofounder and President of Business Intermediary Services, Ltd. He is a 35-year veteran in the mergers and acquisitions arena. In 1974 Mr. Schmid’s corporate career began with The Babcock & Wilcox Company (NYSE: BWC) in the Power Generation Group’s Nuclear Equipment Division and in 1975 was promoted to its Corporate Planning and Business Development Department; and, following the acquisition of BWC by J. Ray McDermott (NYSE: MDR) in 1978, he joined McDermott’s corporate staff. In 1980 Mr. Schmid was selected by Tidewater Inc. (NYSE: TDW) to be its first Director of Corporate Development and served in that position until 1985 when he resigned and moved to Asheville, North Carolina where he joined a local business brokerage firm and specialized in larger transactions. During his nine years with a general business brokerage, he performed valuations of several hundred businesses for buyers and sellers and was involved in over 100 transactions. In 1994 Mr. Schmid and the late William J. Fass founded Business Intermediary Services, Ltd. to focus solely on transactions in the lower middle market in the U.S. and Brazil and U.S. – Brazil cross-border transactions. Mr. Schmid has both a B.S. in Industrial Management and M.S. in Management from The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. Mr. Schmid also studied Strategic Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Business. He was instrumental in founding the Carolinas-Virginia Business Brokers Association (CVBBA) and served as its first president. Mr. Schmid is a member of the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&AA) and is a Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor (CM&AA). He is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (AGG) – Charlotte Chapter. He is a licensed real estate broker in both North Carolina and South Carolina. Mr. Schmid is a proud veteran of the United States Army; and, is a member of American Legion Post 205 (Bluffton, SC) and is the Post’s Golf Tournament Chairman. Mr. Schmid and his wife, Marilyn, live on Hilton Head Island, SC. They have two children, Gregory and Sara, and two grandchildren, Barrett and Mia. Connect with Erich K. Schmid on
Bill Stankiewicz has 20+ years’ experience in Industrial Facility Operations, Business Development and Food Grade Distribution, and is the co-host of our Savannah Business Leadership Series. Bill has helped countless companies with their operations via 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. Connect with Bill Stankiewicz on 
Liz Parker is Founder and Principal of 



















