ITEN WIRED RADIO: Ep 3-2018 IT GULF COAST and CSRA

March 14, 2018 by angishields

ITEN Wired Radio

ITEN WIRED RADIO: Ep 3-2018 IT GULF COAST and CSRA

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Sean O’Brien
2017 Chairman
Information Technology Association of the Gulf Coast
Promote Technology – Advance Education – Build community

Message from the Chairman

Welcome to the IT Gulf Coast web site and the first step in a very satisfying and enriching affiliation with the premiere professional association for the IT community in Northwest Florida and the Gulf Coast.

In January, the membership met and elected a Board of Directors. The Board elected me as the chairman renewed our association’s commitment to the IT Profession and our Community and refined goals for our organization. I would like to share that with you.

Vision

Become the premiere professional association for the IT community in Northwest Florida with a goal of creating educational and networking opportunities for our membership to foster the growth of the technology industry and entrepreneurship in our area.

Mission

To provide our members with the opportunities and resources necessary to develop and advance their IT careers
Stimulate and promote the area’s interest in Information Technologies and related Services and help attract IT professionals and IT related businesses by creating educational and networking opportunities both for and with our membership, supporting and sponsoring community IT, STEM and entrepreneurial events, competitions, educational programs and activities on the Northern Gulf Coast
To elevate the level of IT Industry awareness in the Pensacola region and promote all that the Gulf Coast region offers within the IT industry
Attract and seek new members to our organization

Promote Technology – Advance Education – Build community

Core Values

Integrity – We value professionalism and are committed to the highest Code of Ethics and Conduct
Respect – We build and inclusive environment through mentoring, delivering on commitments, working together with trust, and enjoying the camaraderie of each other
Innovation – We learn, we share insights, and encourage our members to make a difference today and for the future
Service – We keep current in technology, business, and academia. We contribute to our association, IT profession, and our community utilizing leadership, appropriate solutions, and community service.

Guiding Principles

Our Guiding Principles reflect ITGC beliefs about your role as a member and the impact we want ITGC to have in the IT profession and on our communities.

We aspire to be better leaders, better people
We excel through honesty
We treat others with respect
We demand ethical behavior of ourselves
We encourage out of the box thinking
We lead with confidence and inspire each other to achieve success
We don’t let fear of change paralyze us in reaching our goal
We are fiscally responsible
We take ownership in everything we do
We have fun

IT Gulf Coast offers a convincing slate of member benefits. If you are interested in becoming a corporate member click here. Here’s why hundreds

have joined the organization.

Professional Affiliation
Career Building
Chapters: Ultimate Peer-to-Peer Networking
Leadership Opportunities
Industry Conferences

Professional Affiliation
Affiliation with a professional association is a boost to your resume. We know from over a decade of recent experience that employers and clients prefer to hire and retain candidates who demonstrate a tangible commitment to their personal development, who are involved in community activities and who advance their career through education. Members tell us that they prefer to work with employers and clients who value their professionalism – they get the chance to do a better job, often at better rates. That rate increase alone more than pays the membership fee.

For over a decade ITGC has built a reputation for promoting professionalism in the IT industry. When you join, you buy a piece of that reputation and the opportunity to enhance it by getting involved. It is expected that, as a member, you will make efforts to enhance that reputation further, so that your Association is seen over time to contain the best people there are in IT.

Career Building
ITGC brings to members opportunity to focus on professionalism, ethics and business skills. These are vital skills are a unique offering through ITGC and recognized as required components to developing your career. We offer several career enhancing and educational opportunities throughout the year. We host a monthly “Lunch and Learn” where we bring in industry experts and visionaries to provide talks, discussion, training and lectures based on member input. ITGC hosts a monthly “Networking Social Hour” where members and businesses can meet. Please see our events page for the upcoming events.

Chapters: Ultimate Peer-to-Peer Networking
As an ITGC member, you have tremendous opportunities to interact with other network professionals through local chapter meetings, social events, workshops, and newsletters. These opportunities allow you to share and receive information, knowledge, skills, and opportunities with your peers. The ITGC does not have Chapters in every area of the Gulf Coast, but offers help and support to even brand new members to start them up. Peer-to-peer networking (also known as “fellowshipping”) continues to be the highest-rated benefit in member surveys.

Leadership Opportunities
The ITGC encourages members to get involved and thus enhance these important leadership and professional skills. Members have opportunities to develop leadership, communication, management, marketing, public relations, and organizational skills by serving on ITGC board, committees and in community event leadership positions. The experience of starting a Chapter is known to benefit those who do it.

Opportunities for Industry Related Conferences and Community Events
Through our joint effort as volunteers, ITGC members share opportunities for industry-related conference packages and discounts, including ITEN Wired; the Gulf Coast’s premier conference for executives, entrepreneurs, professionals, and educators working in technology. These conferences allow you to network with peers and learn new technology in educational labs and seminars. ITGC also sponsors regional community events that bring industry and government professionals together to promote IT, STEM and entrepreneurial events, competitions, educational programs and activities.

ITGC Member Logo
You can utilize the ITGC member logo credential in your professional correspondence, resume, and business cards. Get the industry recognition you deserve by identifying yourself as a true IT professional dedicated to continued training, development and community.

ITGC Job Board
Coming soon

Sean O’Brien

2017 Chairman
Information Technology Association of the Gulf Coast
Promote Technology – Advance Education – Build community

ITEN WIRED is a conference hosted by IT Gulf Coast and Florida West Economic Development Alliance. The annual summit provides networking and learning opportunities for executives, entrepreneurs, technology professionals and academia to foster local economic development efforts surrounding innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.

The ITEN WIRED planning team is composed of volunteers from IT Gulf Coast, Florida West Economic Development Alliance, and other members of our local IT community.

Pensacola Business Radio–Women In Leadership Series, Brought to you by Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast, Ep 5

March 13, 2018 by angishields

Pensacola Business Radio

Pensacola Business Radio--Women In Leadership Series, Brought to you by Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast, Ep 5

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Denise N Ables-PACE Center for Girls

Retired Diagnostic Sales Consultant since 2015.

Full time volunteer for 2 organizations:

PACE Center for Girls, Board of Directors, Media and Marketing Chair, Men Who Cook Co-Chair

Pensacola Women’s Alliance, Board of Directors, Chair

Mrs. Georgia Blackmon

The Gathering Awareness & Book Center

Mrs. Georgia Blackmon was born and raised in Pensacola, FL. She graduated from Booker T. Washing High School. She has been married to Johnny Blackmon for 56 years. They have two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Mrs. Blackmon is very active in the community. She was taught a long time ago, “If you take care of your community and children; the community and children will take of you.”

Mr. & Mrs. Blackmon are the owners of The Gathering Awareness and Book Center located in Pensacola, FL.

awarenessg@thegathering.gccoxmail

Stacey Robello-Home Instead Senior Care

In 2017, Stacy Robello, became one of the new owners at Home Instead Senior Care of Pensacola. She was a founding employee of the franchise in 1999 until late 2001. After receiving her BA in Elementary Education from the University of West Florida, she left to pursue her career as an educator in one of Florida’s top ranked systems; Santa Rosa County School District. But when the Home Instead office was granted their Home Health Agency license from the State of Florida in 2006, Stacy was inspired to return; this time as a Community Educator addressing issues specific to the aging population and as a promoter of the many home care services offered by Home Instead. She helps drive referrals and builds relationships within the provider network of home care. Some of Stacy’s affiliations are with the Baptist Women’s Board, Escarosa Senior Alliance, Santa Rosa Healthcare Advocates and the Healthcare Professionals Association of Northwest Florida, Impact 100 and Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild. Stacy is more enthusiastic than ever and she’s excited to continue the tradition of bringing exceptional home care and being a choice employer to the Pensacola community.

Kolleen Edwards Chesley

Kolleen Edwards Chesley has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and spent the majority of her career as a financial advisor. In that role, Kolleen was responsible for finding her own clients and quickly learned the value of networking, networking, and even more networking. It was in 2004 and during her sales career that she, along with two other professional business women met for lunch with the purpose of helping to motivate each other after Hurricane Ivan had blown through our area and changed not only the physical landscape of the area, but also impacted the business landscape as well. Out of that lunch was born what is now a thriving not-for-profit organization for business women.

Kolleen currently serves full-time as the Founding Director of what was originally called Women’s Business Lunch and is now known as Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast. The organization advocates a culture of confidence building, lifelong learning, collaboration, empowering others and a spirit of charitable giving.

The mission of Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast is to promote, advance and improve women in business and the organization accomplishes these in a number of different ways.

Monthly networking meetings in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. These are open to all women and are free to attend. We run a structured meeting with open networking, an educational segment, a sponsor presentation, an opportunity to hear about the businesses of all attendees, and a whole lot of fun. We frequently hear from attendees that these meeting are chock full of value and a great way to build new relationships to help support their businesses. The Pensacola meetings include lunch paid for by our sponsors.
Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast Magazine. We have produced 4 editions of this print magazine. Each edition features interviewees of local successful leaders in business who share their honest thoughts on leadership, success, obstacles, and inspiration as it relates to women in business. We also include other articles on leadership, networking, and other skill development. It is geared for anyone in business or looking for business motivation and tips. Our goal is for this to be a quarterly publication, however the magazine is currently on hold as we explore graphic designers. Our latest edition can still be found on our website.
Annual Pursue Your Passion Women’s conference. To help celebrate National Business Women’s Week, we hold a full day conference during the third week of October along with several other events leading up to the conference. We feature a national keynote speaker, several local successful leaders in business, along with Speed Networking, an Experience Hall, structured and unstructured networking exercises and plenty of laughter, relationship building and excitement. Our attendees are not only motivated by the conference but they leave with tangible tips they can take back and implement in their businesses to lead them to success. For 2018, our conference will be held on Wednesday, October 17^th and Thursday, October 18^th, 2018 at Sanders Beach.
Power Up Challenge is a 12 week educational series where we hold classes once a week for two hours. Classes focused around four main areas of business: Networking, Marketing, Business Efficiency, and Sales Skills. Open to men and women and all classmates receive the full audio recording of each class along with class notes, expanded notes, and extra resources. Remote classes also available. Classes are affordable and attendees are elated with the amount and quality of the information that is shared.
Women in Leadership radio podcast show – sponsored by Pensacola Business Radio X. We hold monthly shows featuring local community leaders and other men and women in business. We engage our guests in conversational style in-depth interviews. They share their advice on topics such as mentoring, keys to success, time management tools, personal mantras and favorite inspirations, and what men can do to help support women in business.
Membership in Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast is also available.

Contact directors@powerfulwomengulfcoast.com for more information or visit our website at www.powerfulwomengulfcoast.com or Facebook at “Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast” for all of our meeting information.

Michelle Faust with Rhino Online Strategies and eCreativity and Gordon Parkman with Achieve Results Consulting

March 11, 2018 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Michelle Faust with Rhino Online Strategies and eCreativity and Gordon Parkman with Achieve Results Consulting

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Michelle Faust with Rhino Online Strategies and eCreativity and Gordon Parkman with Achieve Results Consulting

Rhino Online Strategies and eCreativity serve small to midsize businesses and entrepreneur’s who want their business to grow and thrive. They partner with them to identify content and marketing strategies that best serves their target market. Their focus is on fresh, innovative and dynamic copy that effectively reaches their market through email campaigns, marketing articles, web content, blogs and newsletters. It’s all about powerful messaging for business owners that converts, so they can focus on what they do best, running and growing their business.

Michelle Faust has an extensive background in sales, marketing and public speaking, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry. When she left my corporate career, she shifted into the entrepreneurial world, combining her experience, talents and passions to reinvent herself. As a marketer and copywriter, Michelle thrives on discovering what motivates people into action and what their key emotional triggers are. Michelle loves to connect people through the power and beauty of the written word. Her passion is helping people create a roadmap to success, so they can fulfill their dreams and live their destiny.

www.rhinostrategy.com
https://www.facebook.com/michellecontentandcopywriter/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-faust-64b72b29/

Gordon Parkman started Achieve Results Consulting, LLC in April 2009 after 40 years in industry. Gordon is an accomplished traveled executive with extensive experience, who is skilled in both management and operating systems. A graduate of Northeastern University, with a masters in engineering management, who has always focused on having a peer organization that is built on collaboration and
mutual respect and one that considers the importance of innovation, teamwork and the free flow of ideas. He has been particularly effective in growing operations and managing cost. One of his strengths is building management teams that value cross-functional working relationships.

Gordon was involved in two acquisitions involving the due diligence phase to managing the new acquisitions and turning them into profitable business entities. These acquisitions involved transferring of products into the new facilities and ramping up production as well as implementing Lean Manufacturing concepts using Toyota Production System (TPS) model. A self-starter, Gordon has led teams from solution concept through planning, design, development, and implementation.

Gordon provides clarity and focus in partnering with individuals and organizations, helping determine what success means to them and then developing the road map to close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. He helps clients discover the way to unlock their door to success and achieve the things that are most important to them. Gordon unlocks a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn, rather than teaching them. He is a certified member of the Total Quality Institute and The Institute for Sustainability, both divisions of Resource Associates Corporation and certified for the administration
and interpretation of the Innermetrix Attribute Index, DISC and Values Index.

Gordon uses his past experiences in working with clients as they achieve improved results and sustained long term competitiveness. Gordon is active in community having been a member of three Chambers of Commerce, including serving on their Boards, and currently serves on the Board of the Kiwanis Club of Desert Ridge.

http://www.achieveresultsconsulting.com

www.linkedin.com/in/achieveresultsconsulting

http://www.facebook.com/AchieveResultsConsulting

ITEN WIRED RADIO- Ep2 2018 “The Program” and JETRO Coming to Pensacola

February 12, 2018 by angishields

ITEN Wired Radio

ITEN WIRED RADIO- Ep2 2018 "The Program" and JETRO Coming to Pensacola

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Jim Rhodes- Director ITEN WIRED

Keith Hoffert-eightfifty:media

Stan Harper – JETRO Influencer

The ITEN WIRED planning team is composed of volunteers from IT Gulf Coast, Florida West Economic Development Alliance, and other members of our local IT community.

Jim has actively participated in the planning of the annual ITEN Wired Summit since 2012 and is in his 5th year serving as its director.

He is a native of Pensacola and a graduate of Tate High School and the University of West Florida, where he received his degree in finance. He moved to Charlotte, NC in 1997 with a goal of furthering his career in banking, but later developed a passion for information technology. Upon graduating ECPI College of Technology, he officially entered into the world of IT in 2001. After working several years as a network engineer, he and his family relocated back to Pensacola in 2007.

Jim has been employed by AppRiver since 2008 and currently manages the mobile solutions team which provides mobile device support for a global customer base of almost 300,000 users. He also serves as an advisor to the board of directors for IT Gulf Coast and as a board member for Innovation Coast.

He is married and has two sons. He enjoys golfing, kayaking, and fishing.

JETRO

DESCRIPTION

We hope you can join us for Japan-US Grass-Root Business Partnership Forum organized in collaboration with local authorities. This Forum will deepen the essential economic partnership between Japan and the U.S. To further that aim, the Forum will advocate the creation of new business through bi-directional Trade and investment, strengthening cooperative work between Japan and U.S. companies, as well as business expansion in other countries and regions.

By promoting Grass-Root Business partnerships, we hope to contribute to the economic prosperity of both countries and regions. The format of the Forum will be divided into two sessions, one focused upon the strategies Japanese companies have taken when expanding in the U.S. market, and the second session focusing on the opportunities that currently exist in the Japanese market as well as newly emerging ones, including advanced technology applications. We hope that you will save the date. An invitation will be issued shortly.

◆Program (tentative)

1) Opening remarks and Greeting: Hon. Ashton Hayward, Mayor of Pensacola

2) Keynote address: JETRO Atlanta Chief Executive Director, Norikazu Mori

3) JETRO function of Business Development with Japan

4) Session 1 Approaching Business in Japan (US Speakers)

Attractiveness of Japan as a Hub for business expansion in Asia
Challenges Encountered and Overcome Japan
Case Studies Key Factors for Company Success in Japan
Opinions for making Japan more investment-friendly to U.S. Companies

5) Session 2 Approaching Business in the U.S. (Japan Speakers)

Case Studies Key Factors for Company Success in the U.S.
Opportunities for Japanese and U.S companies alliances with advanced technology.
JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization)
Organizer of Japan-US Grass-Root Business Partnership Forum
About the Japan External Trade Organization
JETRO is a non-profit organization that connects businesses with the resources they need to successfully expand to Japan. Since 2003, JETRO has supported more than 15,000 business investment projects and helped over 1,500 companies successfully invest in Japan.
Originally established in 1958 to promote Japanese exports abroad, JETRO’s core focus has since shifted to promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) into Japan and helping small to medium-sized Japanese firms maximize their global export potential.
Through JETRO, clients can incorporate their business in Japan; receive visa, immigration, and HR support; find dedicated office space; identify local government subsidies; meet Japanese business partners; and more.
JETRO is organized and managed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), a ministry of the Japanese government that focuses on economic and industrial development through innovation, technology, and foreign investment. JETRO currently maintains 74 offices overseas in 55 countries and 46 offices in Japan, including the Tokyo and Osaka headquarters.
JETRO in the United States
There are six JETRO offices in the United States. Each offers a full range of business support services to U.S. companies seeking to invest in Japan, as well as several industry-specific exhibits, seminars, and webinarsfor networking and partnership purposes.
In the last decade, JETRO has helped hundreds of U.S. businesses successfully enter or expand in the Japanese market. Companies supported include Amazon, Tesla, AdRoll, Johnson & Johnson, and more.
Business Investment Services
JETRO provides a wide range of free and subsidized business services to foreign businesses. Companies can work one-on-one with JETRO to learn more about business incorporation, visa applications, legal regulations, subsidy programs, and more.
ORGANIZERPROFILE CONTACT12

Pensacola Business Radio- Women In Leadership Series Brought to you by Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast Ep 3 2018

February 9, 2018 by angishields

Pensacola Business Radio

Pensacola Business Radio- Women In Leadership Series Brought to you by Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast Ep 3 2018

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Cheryl Weir, Executive Coach

Cheryl has been coaching individuals and teams in corporations committed to producing breakthrough results since 1992. Her client list includes: Pfizer/Wyeth, A Ernst and Young, World Bank, DuPont, Kimberly-Clark, Barclays Capital, IBM, Cisco, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Novartis, J&J, Jefferson Wells, Hershey Foods, Temple University Health System, Hajoca Corporation, Acme-Hardesty, and Wharton, as well as many smaller organizations. She leads team and leadership workshops designed to produce results beyond what these leaders could imagine before working with Cheryl. Recently she has been working with several organizations to uncover what sets apart the “stars” and “leaders” from those who are not and has a process to quickly identify leadership competencies to coach and develop.

Cheryl conducts public and corporate workshops and programs. Several of the most popular are: Developing YOUR Unique Leadership Style, Retaining Talented Employees, and The Executive Leadership Program for identified “high potentials” in organizations. Her workshop for sales organizations, ROCKET Your RESULTS was featured in FORTUNE magazine, “So You’re a Player: Do You Need a Coach?” where she helped her client, “blow out the numbers.”

Cheryl worked for IBM for 13 years in sales, specializing in business solutions to improve the bottom line. As Finance Industry Sales Executive for IBM she helped her clients solve business problems with multi-million dollar solutions sold to top executives.

Cheryl is a certified graduate of CoachU (a three-year program) and certified “Teleclass” Leader (an 8-month process). She was a founding member of Corporate Coaches Committee of the International Coach Federation (ICF) as well as a Host for the Internal Corporate Coaching Group.

She is certified in Hay Group’s Emotional Intelligence 360 Degree Multi-rater assessment (ECI) that identifies leadership strengths and “opportunities for development” in 18 key leadership competencies. She is certified in delivering feedback and coaching around TTI’s DISC Style and Behavior assessment. The Needs and Values Program, she developed, identifies people’s top 5 needs and values so they see the source of their upsets and orient their lives around these values/strengths. Cheryl is trained to facilitate the TKI Conflict Management Workshop that identifies the conflict modes one uses most often and provides others choices to resolving conflict. And, she is currently a contributing editor for Executive Excellence and Personal Excellence magazines.

Cheryl is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Economics and is a Hall of Famer in swimming. She lives in Pensacola, FL with her husband of 35 years and has 3 children, Sawyer, Kristin and Collin. Her passions are golf, swimming, exercise classes, traveling, reading at the beach; and watching her children take on all the new challenges that independent life offers.

Pam Hatt has more than 28 years of experience in the financial industry with more than 21 years in marketing and communications. She currently is the Director of Marketing at Pen Air Federal Credit Union, managing all aspects of marketing and public relation operations of the mid-size credit union with assets of $1.4B, 19 branch locations, including three Student Run Credit Unions, and over 99,000 members throughout Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida and Baldwin and Mobile Counties in Alabama.

Kate Treick (Trike)

At heart, Kate is a storyteller. Since opening her photography studio in 2014, she primarily has told family stories through custom portraits. Specializing in photographing newborns, children, and families, Kate loves capturing the personality of each family she works with. She creates portraits on location at local beaches, parks, and family homes, and also at her studio at 2600 West Nine Mile Road.

Kolleen Edwards Chesley

The mission of Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast is to promote, advance and improve women in business and the organization accomplishes these in a number of different ways.

Monthly networking meetings in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. These are open to all women and are free to attend. We run a structured meeting with open networking, an educational segment, a sponsor presentation, an opportunity to hear about the businesses of all attendees, and a whole lot of fun. We frequently hear from attendees that these meeting are chock full of value and a great way to build new relationships to help support their businesses. The Pensacola meetings include lunch paid for by our sponsors.
Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast Magazine. We have produced 4 editions of this print magazine. Each edition features interviewees of local successful leaders in business who share their honest thoughts on leadership, success, obstacles, and inspiration as it relates to women in business. We also include other articles on leadership, networking, and other skill development. It is geared for anyone in business or looking for business motivation and tips. Our goal is for this to be a quarterly publication, however the magazine is currently on hold as we explore graphic designers. Our latest edition can still be found on our website.
Annual Pursue Your Passion Women’s conference. To help celebrate National Business Women’s Week, we hold a full day conference during the third week of October along with several other events leading up to the conference. We feature a national keynote speaker, several local successful leaders in business, along with Speed Networking, an Experience Hall, structured and unstructured networking exercises and plenty of laughter, relationship building and excitement. Our attendees are not only motivated by the conference but they leave with tangible tips they can take back and implement in their businesses to lead them to success. For 2018, our conference will be held on Wednesday, October 17^th and Thursday, October 18^th, 2018 at Sanders Beach.
Power Up Challenge is a 12 week educational series where we hold classes once a week for two hours. Classes focused around four main areas of business: Networking, Marketing, Business Efficiency, and Sales Skills. Open to men and women and all classmates receive the full audio recording of each class along with class notes, expanded notes, and extra resources. Remote classes also available. Classes are affordable and attendees are elated with the amount and quality of the information that is shared.
Women in Leadership radio podcast show – sponsored by Pensacola Business Radio X. We hold monthly shows featuring local community leaders and other men and women in business. We engage our guests in conversational style in-depth interviews. They share their advice on topics such as mentoring, keys to success, time management tools, personal mantras and favorite inspirations, and what men can do to help support women in business.
Membership in Powerful Women of the Gulf Coast is also available.

Pensacola Business Radio- Spotlight Episode with Tim Martin and the Isaak Life Firm

February 1, 2018 by angishields

Pensacola Business Radio

Pensacola Business Radio- Spotlight Episode with Tim Martin and the Isaak Life Firm

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Dr. Tim Martin

Executive Director/Personal and Professional Coach/Motivational Speaker/Professor/Consultant

I must ask!! (No pun intended) What questions didn’t get asked in your personal or professional life and career or company in 2017 because, you or others feared what the answers may be?

Are you a situation focused leader or a solution focused leader? Situation focused leaders lean on this leadership lie. “If my situation or circumstances would change I, he, she; they, we, or it could change.” This is a limiting and disabling belief that will lead to desperate or debilitating leadership decisions. A belief, is simply a thought you have allowed to become a truth that you lean and lead on. Solution focused leaders engage the belief and act on a truth, which persuades their leadership mindset to focus on seeing any situation with many obstacles, as being a situation with more opportunities.

The conditions we find ourselves in and the positions others align with in certain situations don’t have to stand in the way of us moving and making something positive happen. Situational focused leaders are reactive and solution focused leaders are proactive. It’s the decisive difference between both leaders. The potential results can be dramatically different for one leader and the team he/she leads.

Solutions are seldom seen or found when only focusing on just what’s going on in the situation. Many solutions can become camouflaged in all the chaos that is causing or adding to the situation. Solutions are found inside people who find themselves inside the situation. A solution focused leader is willing to assess their role and responsibility inside the situation. They are not afraid to step back or away from the situation briefly, allowing time to examine things personally or professionally that may need to be challenged or changed at the time, to either help or keep from hurting the situation more. Leaders lead!! That’s a clue where to start.

The nouns (person, places or things) that surround the situation may not change but, that doesn’t have to limit what role or responsibility you take or response you make inside it. Even if things do not go your way, you can still be okay, because of the perspective, approach, action or solutions you were able bring to the situation. Will you set forth solutions to resolve some complicated situations and fail? Absolutely Yes!! However, you will discover that many mistakes are not setbacks, they are setups. You are being set up to fulfill your ultimate leadership potential, achieve a higher leadership purpose and become a more successful solution focused leader.

For any situations to be changed for the better, healthy solutions must be activated and directly applied. As you have figured out by now, this not only applies to leadership but, life as well. No matter what your situation or circumstances may be, always find the awesome inside you, live it and lead with it.

Pensacola Business Radio-Nicole Gislason from University of West Florida Sea3D Labs

January 26, 2018 by angishields

Pensacola Business Radio

Pensacola Business Radio-Nicole Gislason from University of West Florida Sea3D Labs

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Nicole Gislason from University of West Florida Sea3D Labs

The University of West Florida Sea3D lab provides valuable 3-D printing resources and fosters innovation and collaboration among students, faculty, staff, industry leaders and the Northwest Florida community.

Learn. Design. Invent

Launched as part of the Innovation Network, the facility serves as a hub for multidisciplinary research, invention and discovery in the high-demand field of additive manufacturing, providing a space for real-world problems to be transformed into creative solutions. It is located inside the UWF Historic Trust’s Museum of Commerce at 201 E. Zaragoza St.

The University of West Florida Innovation Network connects physical campus destinations along the Gulf Coast of Northwest Florida for innovation, collaboration, research and engaged learning to prepare students for the changing world and workforce of tomorrow.

ITEN WIRED Radio: 2018 Season is Kicking Off with Ben and Anthony from Coastware Technologies

January 24, 2018 by angishields

ITEN Wired Radio

ITEN WIRED Radio: 2018 Season is Kicking Off with Ben and Anthony from Coastware Technologies

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Ben Avellone and Anthony Gonzalez

Co-founders, Coastware Technologies

Coastware provides robust, business-class applications and professional IT managed services for small and medium businesses within the Gulf Coast communities.

Explore Our Services

Your software is custom built for your business. You have a direct line of communication with the decision maker, developer and designer of your software which lets you control every aspect of its operation and workflow.

We have experience integrating with other software platforms, both directly using APIs and indirectly by allowing data to be imported and exported from our systems. Let your software do the hard work for you!

Business requirements change over time and we make it easy to request additions and modifications to your software, even long after the project is built. We start small with a solid foundation and build on it until it meets your needs.

Combine Coastware’s technical expertise with your industry knowledge to create a valuable asset for your business.

We take your ideas and feedback and give you suggestions on how best to solve the problem at hand. You’ll be provided with a time-line and quote to allow you to make an informed decision.

With a plan in place, we start working on making your vision come alive. We send you regular progress updates to keep you in the loop and allow you to give instant feedback.

All changes to the software go through a QA process before ever reaching you. We use automated and manual testing to reduce the likelihood of any issues.

We value your feedback and welcome any comments or suggestions you may have. Any changes resulting from your feedback go through the same process as any other change to ensure the final result is always of the highest quality.

We understand the important role your custom software serves in the business. We use a combination of automated and manual testing to ensure there are no hiccups, gotchas or surprises in the operation of your software.

We stay up-to-date with the latest trends in software development and incorporate those which give us an edge when building software for our clients. As a result, we’re able to deliver updates at an accelerated pace which lets you see results sooner without compromising on quality.

Sometimes, you just can’t beat a face-to-face meeting. We love talking with our clients and helping them come up with solutions to their problems. No need to even leave the office!

Pensacola Business Radio: Spotlight Episode, United Way, the 411 on the 211 with Naomi Kjer

January 22, 2018 by angishields

Pensacola Business Radio

Pensacola Business Radio: Spotlight Episode, United Way, the 411 on the 211 with Naomi Kjer

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Naomi Kjer

Marketing Manager

United Way of Escambia County

www.unitedwayescambia.org

FILE YOUR TAXES WITH UNITED WAY’S FREE TAX PROGRAMS

Pensacola, Fla. – January 17, 2018

Keep your money! If you or your household make $66,000 or less, United Way of Escambia County (UWEC) offers free tax preparation services. Maximize your money by filing quickly and securely online, or visit one of our conveniently located VITA sites for one-on-one help with an IRS-certified volunteer.

Online – File taxes anywhere, anytime at www.myfreetaxes.com. If you have questions, call the MyFreeTaxes Helpline at 1-855-698-9435.
In-person – Go to a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site and have an IRS-certified volunteer prepare taxes. Dial 2-1-1 or visit www.unitedwayescambia.org/taxhelp for locations and hours of operation.

VITA sites open on January 30 with the help of partners at Pensacola State College and the Escambia County School District. United Way has also partnered with Impact America – Florida to grow VITA volunteer capacity at tax prep sites by engaging students and college graduates to address community needs. Additional program sponsors are Regions, Wells Fargo, and Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

“United Way’s Tax Preparation programs are vital to our community. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars in preparation fees, these free programs help local citizens keep money in their pockets. In turn, money saved could then be used to create a savings account or emergency funds to put a family on the path to financial stability,” said Katrina Madden, UWEC Financial Stability Program Outreach Manager.

Last year, United Way’s Tax Preparation programs helped 3,683 individuals and families for a total impact of $6,634,123 in our community.

Be sure to have the following documents on-hand when filing your taxes: state or federal photo identification; Social Security cards for all members of the household; all W2s, 1095s, 1098s, 1099s; childcare provider’s information; investment statements and other tax forms; amounts of other income; bank account information for direct deposit; and last year’s tax return if available.

Marketing materials containing information about these two tax assistance programs are available for distribution. To request the free materials and for questions concerning VITA or MyFreeTaxes.com, contact Katrina Madden, UWEC Financial Stability Program Outreach Manager, at vita@unitedwayescambia.org or call 850-912-8245.

By living core values of serving the community with Integrity, Leadership, Inclusiveness, Volunteerism and Excellence (I LIVE), United Way of Escambia County is working to meet a mission of uniting our community and leveraging resources to improve lives.