Join us for the inaugural episode of Georgia’s Top CPAs on Friday, October 9, 2015 at 10am Eastern with your host, Steve Kilpatrick.
Veteran Owned Small Businesses
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Veteran Owned Small Businesses
This week I was joined in studio by friend of the show, Lara Hodgson, CEO of NOWaccount. We focused this episode on veteran owned small businesses. Lara introduced us to Kit Walker, a combat-disabled veteran who started his own small business, EBS-4U, after spending several years in the corporate world.
His company provides professional cleaning services for businesses and has begun to expand into construction clean-up. After completing certification as a minority business enterprise and combat-disabled veteran, Kit began to expand his business through fulfilling federal contract opportunities.
We also met Melinda Coker, of Small Business Access Partners, of Gainesville, GA. This non-profit organization works with small business owners, helping them get access to available small business loans for their particular needs.
In our discussion on veteran owned businesses, Melinda explained there are numerous options for business owners today, and shared some information about veteran owned businesses.
Coker explained a resource available through the Veterans Administration. If you go to the VA’s website which is va.gov and click on the resources link and then select businesses, there are several helpful links for veteran small business owners who are seeking financing for their businesses.
VA’s website also allows business owners to customize their search criteria by zip code to find financing options applicable to their area of operation. SBA’s website also has a special tool now for small business owners known as SBA Linc that allows small business owners to fill out a survey for the financing they are looking for and then SBA distributes that information to a network of lenders who can then
respond based on the financing need requested. The applicant is also provided the contact information for the lenders interested in their request.
Special Guests:
Lara O’Connor-Hodgson, CEO of Nowaccount Network Corporation 
- MBA Harvard Business School
- Former Adjunct Professor of Finance, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Board of Directors, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
- Owner, Insomnia Group
- Chairman of the Board, Atlanta Heights Charter School
- Second Language–Japanese
Kit Walker, CEO/Founder of EBS-4U 
- MBA, Management & Organizational Behavior, Woodbury University
- Combat-wounded veteran
- Previous VP Relationship Manager, Bank of America
- Former Consultant, Migration Project Partner, Wells Fargo Bank
Melinda Coker, of Small Business Access Partners
Spotlight on the SOA Awards
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Tracy Copeland / AT&T
Tracy Copeland is Senior Contract Manager with AT&T. Tracy has significant experience in the area of Supplier Diversity and has represented AT&T as Corporate Supplier Diversity Ambassador for the past 12 years. She has met with both Prime Suppliers and Minority Women Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises at various national and local trade shows to explain the corporate requirements, contracting process, and to introduce contracting opportunities within AT&T. In 2014 she was voted IT Buyer of the Year by the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council.
Tracy is a honor graduate of Hampton University with a degree in Political Science and received her Master’s degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Technology and Information Policy from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Mitch Leff of Leff & Associates and Frank Fenello of UHY Advisors
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Mitch Leff / Leff & Associates
Mitch Leff is founder and president of Leff & Associates, an Atlanta-based public relations agency offering clients a full range of public relations services, with a specialty in strategic counsel, media relations, media training and crisis communications.
Leff is a 25+ year Atlanta public relations veteran, recognized as one of city’s strongest and most effective media relations specialists. He has provided public relations services for some of the world’s most prestigious brands, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America, The Coca-Cola Company, the National Football League and UPS.
His current client list includes UHY Advisors, All About Developmental Disabilities. Turner Construction, Cardlytics, Sterling Risk Advisors, The Walker School, the Atlanta Regional Commission, Hedgepeth, Heredia & Rieder and MAP International.
He also created two specialized services for communications professionals, Leff’s Atlanta Media (www.leffsatlantamedia.com), a database of Atlanta media, and Mitch’s Media Match (www.mitchsmediamatch.com), a site that matches local reporters with local sources.
Website Twitter LinkedIn Facebook
Frank Fenello / UHY Advisors
Frank Fenello is Managing Director for UHY Advisors in the Southeast, leading a team of professionals who provide tax and business consulting services to clients across the region. He has more than 20 years of experience in management and professional consulting in the finance, audit and related professional services industries.
UHY Advisors, Inc. is one of the top 20 professional services firms in the U.S., delivering tax and business consulting services for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies. The firm’s innovative Management & Technology Consulting practice provides a complete solution for the optimization of a company’s financial and operational functions, with a suite of services to transform a company’s performance and profitability.
The firm’s Resource Solutions practice delivers clients the professionals they need to support their finance, accounting, internal audit, and tax teams.
Top Docs Radio on Midtown Business RadioX Spotlights Georgia Cancer Specialists – Business RadioX
ATLANTA, GA–(Marketwired – September 22, 2015) – October’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins in just a few short days, and as a timely reminder, Top Docs Radio welcomed to the studio Dr. Priyah Rudolph with Georgia Cancer Specialists to discuss the issues surrounding this disease. Host CW Hall spoke with Dr. Rudolph about how she came to choose oncology as her specialty of practice.
Affiliated with Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, Georgia Cancer Specialists provides an integrative approach to cancer care that includes prevention, early detection, advanced treatment, clinical research, support services, and compassionate caregivers in communities across Georgia. As a medical oncologist with Georgia Cancer Specialists, Dr. Rudolph practices in the Athens, GA office for the group and has expertise with several forms of cancer.
Citing statistics from breastcancer.org, Dr. Rudolph said, “In the US, roughly 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Nearly 300,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year.” She also shared the importance self-breast exams, conducted at least monthly, paired with annual mammograms annually after the age of 40 or sooner if a person has direct descendants of breast cancer patients. “Early detection helps give the patient more options for treatment,” Dr. Rudolph explained, “as well as the likelihood of successful treatment.”
Dr. Rudolph reviewed the various treatments available and what to expect should the troubling news come that a finding is indeed cancer. She also talked about the fact that breast cancer is very survivable with today’s technology and medical advancements.
To learn more about Georgia Cancer Specialists’ fight against breast cancer, listen to this entire interview on Top Docs Radio.
About Top Docs Radio:
Top Docs Radio is a forum for conversations with leading doctors and thought leaders. Discussions are about cutting edge trends and topics in health, wellness and lifestyle issues. Top Docs Radio is presented by Hyperbaric Physicians of Georgia and is hosted by Charles “CW” Hall. The program airs live every Thursday at Noon Eastern.
About Business RadioX®:
Business RadioX® interviews dozens of innovative entrepreneurs and successful leaders each week. Its mission is to help local businesses Get the Word Out about the important work they’re doing for their market, their community, and their profession. With a pro-business slant and a long-form interview format, guests don’t have to worry about being ambushed or talking in “sound bites.” Guests have enough time to tell their whole story and to share their insights and experience without interruptions. Business RadioX® hosts are business professionals interviewing their peers, drilling down on the critical issues, and delivering practical information to an engaged business audience. Business topics that are frequently covered include: Law, Finance, Healthcare, Technology, Trade Shows, B2B Marketing, Venture Capital, Training and Development and other issues impacting the business community. For more information, visit: https://businessradiox.com.
Healthy Choices For Entrepreneurs: Liv Harrison and Marcus Lynn
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Liv Harrison, Certified Health Coach/ Liv With Bliss
Liv Harrison is a Health Coach, business professional, German teacher and loving mother of one. She decided to become a Health Coach in 2012 to fulfill her passion to work with business professionals to improve their health and happiness, reduce their stress level, have more energy and learn how to eat better on the “Go” or at home.
Liv received her training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City and is certified by the AADP. She offers individual health, nutrition and lifestyle coaching to business professionals and she is also a group workshop presenter.
She was born and raised in Berlin, Germany. While graduating in honor from the apprenticeship program for Hotel Management, she received a scholarship for further education. She then completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from City University at the Frankfurt Germany Campus in 2002. Liv is also currently working on her Personal Trainer Certification.
Ms. Harrison came to the US in 2002 for a job offer in Florida. She is bilingual in German and English. She loves basketball, track, horse back riding and fitness. She is a very outgoing people person and has a passion for helping individuals.
Liv supports business professionals to find the right balance in life. Her mission is to help individuals to achieve their optimal health and happiness and be the best they can be at all times.
Marcus Lynn, president/ Juuice Atlanta
Juuice Atlant provides juice which is fresh pressed daily. The pressing action (instead of grinding) won’t oxidize the fruit and vegetables and helps keep the nutrients and enzymes intact. At Juuice Atlanta, all the fruit and vegetable juices are cold-pressed and bottled in glass. It’s the closest thing you’re going to get to a raw, pure vegetable or fruit. The daily juice and detox services are available for delivery in the Cobb county area and beyond.
DeKalb Business Today “Lunch Hour” – September 18, 2015
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On the latest edition of DeKalb Business Today, we delve into the worlds of banking and cloud computing. Judy Turner and Rosemarie Codling from Private Bank of Decatur explain why banking local is the best way to go. Bill Seybolt shares how Cumulus Global is making small- and mid-size businesses more efficient and more productive by taking them into the cloud.
Judy Turner/Private Bank of Decatur President
Judy Turner is President of Private Bank of Decatur. She is responsible for all Decatur market initiatives. In 2015, Judy celebrated 50 years in banking in Metro Atlanta, having started with Citizens & Southern National Bank in the Personnel Department. She worked in Auditing, became one of the first Personal Bankers when C&S started that program, and became an officer of the bank in 1974. A year after C&S became NationsBank (1995), Judy had an opportunity to go to work in the Decatur Office of Bank South. Three years later Bank South was purchased by NationsBank and several community leaders felt a need for a community bank in Decatur. They looked to Judy to organize and lead Decatur First Bank, where she was President and CEO. In November of 2011, Judy had the opportunity to join Private Bank of Buckhead to organize and open Private Bank of Decatur.
Community involvement has always been important to Judy, who currently serves as President of the Decatur Book Festival, Trustee of the DeKalb History Center, Treasurer of Seniors Helping Seniors and as a member of the Junior League of DeKalb Advisory Board. She has served on the boards of both the Community Bankers Association and the Georgia Bankers Association, as well as Leadership DeKalb, the Development Authority of DeKalb County (former Chair), and the DeKalb Medical Foundation.
Judy lives in Decatur with her husband Roy. They have a daughter and twin grandchildren.
Rosemarie Codling/Private Bank of Decatur SBA Portfolio Manager
Rosemarie Codling is SBA Portfolio Manager and Banking Officer for Private Bank of Buckhead and Decatur, which includes PrivatePlus Mortgage. She recently celebrated 20 years in banking.
Her 20-year banking career began in New York, though the majority of it has been in the Atlanta market, with the past 10 years focusing on SBA lending. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Management from Bernard M. Baruch College and a Master’s degree (with Distinction) in Banking from Mercy College.
The bank added its SBA program in 2008 and by the next year the bank was designated a Preferred Lender by the U.S. Small Business Administration. That designation has continued to be renewed. Preferred Lenders are allowed to expedite the processing of SBA loans because of their depth of experience with SBA lending. PLP status means that the bank’s borrowers have 24-hour or less turn-around from SBA once their loan has been approved at the bank level. A Preferred Lender also is allowed to make certain unilateral changes or addendums to the loan without having to wait for SBA’s approval.
“One of Rosemarie’s chief roles is to help small- and medium-sized businesses acquire loans for a broad range of business and business start-up purposes,” Brent says, “beginning by helping demystify SBA lending for anyone who might be seeking business lending solutions.”
Away from the bank, the Jamaican native is involved in her church and enjoys reading about Eastern philosophy and history, and talking with people from other cultures and learning more about them. She has a college-aged son. Rosemarie and her family – three generations – reside in Lawrenceville.
Bill Seybolt/Cumulus Global Cloud Advisor
Cumulus Global measures success by their customers’ results. As a Cloud Solutions Provider, they help small- and mid-size businesses, nonprofits, governments, and educational institutions move from in-house systems to cloud computing solutions. Partnering with both Google and Microsoft – and more than three dozen cloud services – they focus on their customers’ goals, objectives, needs, and priorities and bring forward the best solution.
In 2013, Bill Seybolt left one career in information technology and began anew in sales, joining Cumulus Global earlier this year. He brings a great deal of insight around collaboration, organizational change and how to adopt a new way of work as well as specific strategies outside the traditional workplace to succeed. You can read about it all over at www.the30secondcommute.com.
DeKalb Business Today – September 18, 2015
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On this edition of DeKalb Business Today, we focus on the great things happening in the East Metro DeKalb Community Improvement District (CID). Local business owners Nicole McGhee Hall, Van Jakes and Lloyd Nurse discuss ways that they – and their businesses – are helping to make East DeKalb a hot spot for innovation and investment.
Nicole McGhee Hall/Founder & Chief Consultant at Nickel Works Consulting, LLC
Ms. Hall is the founder and lead consultant at Nickel Works Consulting. She has a B.S. in Civil Engineering and has been primarily focused in the area of transportation in her 20+ years of work experience. She is a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) through the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) and is adept in business development/marketing, government relations, community engagement and Community Improvement Districts (CIDs).
She has worked with multiple CIDs in the Metro Atlanta area providing Administration, Expansion, and Formation Services. She is a 2014 Atlanta Regional Leadership Institute graduate and a Georgia Academy for Economic Development graduate. Nicole’s team works for businesses, in communities and with the governments.
Van Jakes/Owner-Operator of Jake 22 Management Company
Van Keith Jakes attended Kent State University from 1979-1983. He was a four-year starter as corner back and the captain of the football team during his senior year. He graduated from Kent State in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.
Van played with the Kansas City Chiefs during the 1983 and 1984 seasons. He joined the United States Football League (USFL) and played with the Jacksonville Bulls in 1985. After the demise of the USFL in 1985, he returned to the National Football League (NFL). In 1986, he began a three-year career with the New Orleans Saints. Van then played with the Green Bay Packers during the 1989 and 1990 seasons. He retired from the NFL in 1991.
Van became a McDonald’s Owner Operator in August 1992 where he opened his first restaurant in Tampa, Florida. In May 1994, he sold his Tampa store for four stores in Atlanta, Georgia. In the summer of 1996 he acquired two additional stores. Currently, Van owns and operates three McDonald’s restaurants in the Stone Mountain/Lithonia area of Dekalb County; Panola Road, Turner Hill Road, and Fairington Road.
Van has many affiliations, hobbies and philanthropic interests. He is a member and past president (1997-98) of the Atlanta Black McDonald’s Owner Operator Association (BMOA), and serves on the Executive Board of the Greater Atlanta McDonald’s Owner Operator Association (GAMOA) and is president of the African American Consumer Market Target Marketing Subcommittee. He is the former president of the Stonecrest Business Alliance, and serves on the SDIA (South Dekalb Improvement Association). He currently works on the McDonald’s Workers Compensation Committee. He has been the chairperson for the Wheels of Dreams Youth Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic where he worked tirelessly to fulfill its mission to “create future business leaders.” In April 2008 Van was inducted as a member of the prestigious organization “100 Black Men of Atlanta”. Van is a member of Antioch A.M.E. Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
In 1998, Van received the Women Looking Ahead, Blue Print Award, for Entrepreneur of the Year. He has been cited by the Atlanta Tribune, several years in a row, as one of Georgia’s Top 20 African-American owned businesses. He has also received commendations from Governor Roy Barnes as an “Outstanding Citizen.” In September 2002 he was inducted into the Harvard Cup High School Hall of Fame in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. He is also a current member of the NFL Players Association, while also a Partner in Education with several schools in Dekalb County. In December 2009, he was inducted into the Atlanta Tribune, Hall of Fame with three other local NFL greats. He is an avid golfer and racquetball player. Van is a devoted husband and father to his wife Chrystal and their four children: Leigh, Van II, Jasmine, and Jordan.
Lloyd Nurse/Co-Founder & CEO of Nurse Technologies
Lloyd Nurse is a man of many talents, having worked as a pilot, military officer and business owner with an eye on real estate development. Lloyd immigrated to the United States from his native Guyana, where – in addition to all his other professional pursuits – he took up inventing. He now holds three U.S. patents and has more in the pipeline.
Lloyd co-founded Nurse Technologies, a company geared towards raising awareness of problems related to medicine usage.
Mike Potts with Lancope, Judtih Martinez-Sadri and Gigi Pedraza with YoSoyM and Jen Martin with Girl Develop It
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Mike Potts / Lancope 
As President and CEO of Lancope, Mike Potts currently leads all aspects of the company’s strategic direction and day-to-day operations. Since joining the company in April 2010, Lancope has experienced more than 400-percent growth. Potts brings more than 25 years of experience as a seasoned technology industry veteran, spanning the application and security sectors. Prior to joining Lancope, he served as President and CEO of AirDefense, where he led the company’s breakthrough wireless security growth of more than 300 percent in 2 1/2 years and completed the strategic, all-cash acquisition of the company by Motorola in September 2008. While at AirDefense, Potts was recognized as the Atlanta Telecom Professional of the Year. Potts’ previous roles include CEO of ClickFox, President of Jacada, and various sales and marketing roles at MSA, which was subsequently acquired by Dun & Bradstreet. Potts completed his BBA in Marketing in 1984 at the University of Georgia.
Judtih Martinez-Sadri and Gigi Pedraza / YoSoyM
Jen Martin / Girl Develop It
