FinTech Archives - Business RadioX ®

Inspiring Future Tech Leaders Through a Unique Partnership, with Michele Curtis, Fiserv, and Ehab Jaleel, Amana Academy

April 23, 2024 by John Ray

Michele Curtis, Fiserv, Kali Boatright, GNFCC, and Ehab Jaleel, Amana Academy

North Fulton Studio

Inspiring Future Tech Leaders Through a Unique Partnership, with Michele Curtis, Fiserv, and Ehab Jaleel, Amana Academy

00:00 /

Inspiring Future Tech Leaders Through a Unique Partnership, with Michele Curtis, Fiserv, and Ehab Jaleel, Amana Academy

On this episode of GNFCC 400 Insider, host Kali Boatwright highlights a special collaboration between Fiserv, a leader in financial services technology worldwide, and Amana Academy, a charter school in Alpharetta that specializes in STEAM education for fifth through eighth graders. Guests Michele Curtis, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Fiserv, and Ehab Jaleel, Executive Director of Amana Academy, discuss the inception and objectives of the Future Techies program, its impact on students and the local community, expectations from the students, and the broader implications for talent development and workforce readiness in North Fulton. Michele and Ehab also share insights into the program’s development, hands-on learning experiences, and the crucial role of industry-education partnerships in fostering the next generation of FinTech leaders.

The GNFCC 400 Insider is presented by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and produced by John Ray and the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

Michele Curtis, Fiserv, Inc.

As Vice President of Corporate Communications at Fiserv, Michele leads strategic communications programs that drive associate engagement, brand strategy and corporate culture. With more than 20 years of corporate communications experience, Michele currently serves as the executive director of Future Techies, an afterschool STEAM program conducted in partnership with Amana Academy.

Prior to joining Fiserv in 2018, Michele served as Director of Global Corporate Communications at Verifone, where she led executive and internal communications, public relations, mergers and acquisitions, change management, message development, brand building and crisis communications. She has also held a variety of roles, managing global, national and regional brands such as The Home Depot, Macy’s and a range of B-to-B and retail clients.

Michele holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and English literature from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Alpharetta, the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, the International Association of Business Communicators, PayTech Women, and the Technology Association of Georgia.

Fiserv, Inc.

Fiserv, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, aspires to move money and information in a way that moves the world. As a global leader in payments and financial technology, the company helps clients achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to innovation and excellence in areas including account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale and business management platform. Fiserv is a member of the S&P 500® Index and has been recognized as one of Fortune® World’s Most Admired Companies™ for nine of the last 10 years.

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X (Twitter)

Ehab Jaleel, Executive Director, Amana Academy Charter Schools

Ehab Jaleel has a zeal for pursuing innovation and mobilizing new ventures with an eye toward making a difference in his community and the world. He aspires to be a “weaver”—building community connections and weaving a rich social fabric.

A graduate of the Leadership Atlanta class of 2016, Ehab is a corporate professional turned nonprofit leader/educator. He is Executive Director of Amana Academy Charter Schools, an emerging network of metro-Atlanta public schools. He co-founded Amana’s flagship school in 2005 in Alpharetta, GA, a STEM-themed EL Education credentialed Title-1 school that is among the highest performing schools in Georgia. Amana’s first replica school is in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta at their Camp Timber Ridge.

Ehab’s education and community focus extends to a number of organizations, including the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce’s Tech400 Committee, the Advisory Council for North Fulton Community Charities, as a board member of the Atlanta International Night Market, and as a Regional Director for the Georgia Tech President Scholars Selection Committee. He led the governance committee on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Charter Schools Association, and he served as a board member at U-Beyond, a youth mentorship & professional development organization.

In 2014 Ehab was included in the list of Georgia’s 100 Most Influential Muslims; and in 2015, The Alif Institute recognized him with the Arab American High Achiever award.

Born in Jordan, Ehab immigrated to the United States at the age of six and resided in Albany, NY, until his family moved to Florida’s Tampa Bay area. He has also lived in Louisville, KY while working for General Electric, but most of his adult life has been in metro Atlanta, where he earned degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and where he worked at The Coca-Cola Company’s headquarters in operational marketing and innovation roles for fifteen years.

Ehab resides in Milton, Georgia, with his wife, Lara ‘Lemiya’ Alexander. They have three adult daughters, the eldest an equestrian, the second a veteran of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, and the youngest attending his alma mater studying Environmental Public Policy and minoring in Japanese. He is a foodie who enjoys global travel, fitness, outdoor adventure, and following Formula 1 racing.

Amana Academy Charter Schools

Amana Academy is a K–8 tuition-free public charter school open to all students who are eligible to attend Fulton County Schools.

The Georgia Department of Education and the Fulton County Schools system approved the establishment of Amana Academy’s Alpharetta campus in 2005. Amana is now one of Georgia’s most well-regarded charter schools.

Amana chose the Harvard-based EL Education (Expeditionary Learning) model* because of its equal emphasis on academic achievement and character education. With high standardized test scores, an integrated STEM curriculum, a focus on stewardship and ethical character, and Arabic world-language instruction across all grade levels, Amana is a success story in the world of whole-child education.

Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Welcome to GNFCC 400 Insider: Fostering STEAM Education and Future Tech Leaders
01:00 Exploring the FISERV and Amana Academy Partnership
01:31 Guest Backgrounds and Program Involvement
03:30 Understanding FinTech and Its Importance
07:04 The Future Techies Program: A Deep Dive
11:49 Impact and Aspirations: Building Future Leaders
23:42 Expanding the Talent Pipeline: A Community Effort
27:27 Closing Thoughts and How to Learn More

About GNFCC and The GNFCC 400 Insider

**Kali Boatright, President and CEO of GNFCC**

The GNFCC 400 Insider is sponsored by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce (GNFCC), and the host of the show is Kali Boatright, President and CEO of GNFCC.

The Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce is a private, non-profit, member-driven organization comprised of over 1,400 business enterprises, civic organizations, educational institutions, and individuals. Their service area includes Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Roswell, and Sandy Springs. GNFCC is the leading voice on economic development, business growth, and quality of life issues in North Fulton County.

As a five-star accredited chamber, GNFCC’s vision is to be the premier organization driving member and community success across the region, and they are dedicated to pursuing this vision based on the guiding principles of advocacy, inclusivity, and operational excellence.

GNFCC promotes the interests of their members by assuming a leadership role in making North Fulton an excellent place to work, live, play, and stay. They provide one voice for all local businesses to influence decision-makers, recommend legislation, and protect the valuable resources that make North Fulton a popular place to live.

For more information on GNFCC and its North Fulton County service area, follow this link or call (770) 993-8806. For more information on other GNFCC events, follow this link.

LIVE from the GNFCC 2023 Women’s Leadership Summit: Dr. Julie Petherbridge, Dean, Mercer University School of Business

December 9, 2023 by John Ray

Dr. Julie Petherbridge, Dean of the Mercer University School of Business

North Fulton Business Radio

LIVE from the GNFCC 2023 Women's Leadership Summit: Dr. Julie Petherbridge, Dean, Mercer University School of Business

00:00 /

LIVE from the GNFCC 2023 Women’s Leadership Summit: Dr. Julie Petherbridge, Dean, Mercer University School of Business (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 727)

Dr. Julie Petherbridge, Dean of the Mercer University School of Business, joined host John Ray at the 2023 Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce Women’s Leadership Summit. Mercer was a Presenting Sponsor of the Summit. Julie shared that the university is experiencing record enrollment at the Business School, and she discussed new programs and their emphasis on retooling and reskilling the workforce in areas like analytics, cybersecurity, fintech, etc. She further covered Mercer’s commitment to creating bridges between their students and the wider business community, their mission of focusing on student outcomes and soft skills, and their initiatives to help students transition seamlessly from education to employment.

This show was originally broadcast live from the 2023 GNFCC Women’s Leadership Summit held at The Commons at Phase in Alpharetta, Georgia.

North Fulton Business Radio is produced and broadcast by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Mercer University School of Business

Mercer University’s Stetson-Hatcher School of Business delivers career-focused business education in order to develop innovative leaders who are responsible global citizens. Accredited by the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the school is widely recognized for its innovative academic programs and accomplished faculty. Graduates of the Stetson-Hatcher School of Business serve as respected leaders and professionals in their industries and communities.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Dr. Julie Petherbridge, Dean, Mercer University School of Business

Dr. Julie Petherbridge became dean of Mercer University’s Stetson-Hatcher School of Business on July 6, 2021. She also serves as associate professor of accountancy. Prior to her appointment as dean, she served as interim dean and associate dean of graduate programs.

Dr. Petherbridge earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Clayton State University in 1993 and has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Georgia since 1995. She worked full-time in public accounting until 2001, when she decided to transition to academia while continuing to practice. She earned her M.P.A. in 2002 and Ph.D. in 2010, both from Georgia State University. Her dissertation topic involved auditor’s behavior in the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspection process.

Her current research interests focus on public policy of accounting regulations, internal auditing, nonprofit organizations, and professional biases. She is published in the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, The Southern Business and Economic Journal, the Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal and others, and she has continued to stay connected with the accounting profession through several professional organizations.

Questions and Topics in this Interview:

00:04 Introduction to the Women’s Leadership Summit

00:36 Interview with Julie Petherbridge, Dean of Mercer University School of Business

00:50 Discussion on Mercer University’s Business School and its Programs

02:30 Exploring the Flexibility of Learning at Mercer University

03:14 Mercer University’s Connection with the Business Community

04:12 Mercer University’s Involvement with the Greater North Fulton Chamber

05:28 Women in Male-Dominated Industries: A Perspective from Mercer University

06:35 Work-Life Balance in the Accounting Industry

07:23 Key Takeaways from the Women’s Leadership Summit

08:14 Closing Remarks and Contact Information for Mercer University

2023 GNFCC Women’s Leadership Summit, presented by the Women INfluencing Business Committee

The 2023 Women’s Leadership Summit, organized by the Women INfluencing Business Committee of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, was held on November 28, 2023, at the Commons at Phase in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Powered by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce (GNFCC), the Women INfluencing Business Committee strives to engage female leaders and enhance the standing of professional women within the community. Its annual awards program recognizes women with exceptional vision who have implemented innovative ideas in both the workplace and community and who inspire others.

Website

North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Karen Cashion, Tech Alpharetta

March 21, 2023 by John Ray

Business Beat

Karen Cashion, Tech Alpharetta

00:00 /

Frazier & Deeter’s Business Beat: Karen Cashion, Tech Alpharetta

Karen Cashion, CEO of Tech Alpharetta, joined host Roger Lusby and his colleague at Frazier & Deeter, Reid Blalock, on this edition of Business Beat. Karen discussed how and why Tech Alpharetta was founded, their work as an incubator for tech startups, their strong graduation rate, available programs and educational opportunities, their dedicated, experienced board, tech trends locally, and much more.

Business Beat is presented by Alpharetta CPA firm Frazier & Deeter and is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®

Tech Alpharetta

Tech Alpharetta is an independent, 501c(6) nonprofit organization whose mission is to help grow technology and innovation in Alpharetta. There are nearly 700 tech companies located in the City of Alpharetta today. Tech Alpharetta helps to recruit and retain tech companies, grow new tech startups and innovation, create jobs, and grow the next generation of skilled tech workforce for the many employers in the Alpharetta and north metro region.

Tech Alpharetta also focuses heavily on giving back to the community, through its Women’s Forum, which supports area women in STEAM-related careers and provides STEAM mentoring to high school girls. Tech Alpharetta is partnered with the new, Innovation Academy Fulton County public STEM high school in Alpharetta. Tech Alpharetta, through its Board companies and its Women’s Forum, will be providing mentorship, classroom challenges, and internship opportunities to the school’s students.

Tech Alpharetta helps to effectuate its strategy through its Strategic Board of Directors, by operating a thriving tech startup incubator and its Women’s Forum, and by hosting year-round, locally-based, educational and tech thought leadership events for technology executives.

Company website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

Karen Cashion, President and CEO, Tech Alpharetta

Karen Cashion is President & CEO of Tech Alpharetta, which was created by the City of Alpharetta in 2012 and is now a 501(c)6 nonprofit organization.

Karen is an attorney with twenty years of experience as a commercial litigator and corporate technology lawyer. Karen began her career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York City, and in addition to law firm practice, has served as Assistant General Counsel for EarthLink and Legal Counsel, Global Technology for Travelport, LP in Atlanta.

Karen received her J.D. with high honors from Duke University School of Law, where she served as Senior Editor of the Law & Contemporary Problems Journal. Karen received her Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Emory University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Karen has served as a Commissioner on the City of Alpharetta’s Planning Commission, is a 2014 graduate of Leadership North Fulton, and is a graduate of the 2015 Georgia Academy for Economic Development. She has also served on the Board of Directors for the North Fulton Bar Association and the Advisory Board for the University of North Georgia’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. In addition, Karen is a member of the Advisory Board for Vinings Bank.

Karen and her family are longtime residents of the city of Alpharetta.

Frazier & Deeter

The Alpharetta office of Frazier & Deeter is home to a thriving CPA tax practice, a growing advisory practice and an Employee Benefit Plan Services group. CPAs and advisors in the Frazier & Deeter Alpharetta office serve clients across North Georgia and around the country with services such as personal tax planning, estate planning, business tax planning, business tax compliance, state and local tax planning, financial statement reviews, financial statement audits, employee benefit plan audits, internal audit outsourcing, cyber security, data privacy, SOX and other regulatory compliance, mergers, and acquisitions and more. Alpharetta CPAs serve clients ranging from business owners and executives to large corporations.

Roger Lusby, host of Frazier & Deeter’s Business Beat, is an Alpharetta CPA and Alpharetta Office Managing Partner for Frazier & Deeter. He is also a member of the Tax Department in charge of coordinating tax and accounting services for our clientele. His responsibilities include a review of a variety of tax returns with an emphasis in the individual, estate, and corporate areas. Client assistance is also provided in the areas of financial planning, executive compensation and stock option planning, estate and succession planning, international planning (FBAR, SFOP), health care, real estate, manufacturing, technology, and service companies.

You can find Frazier & Deeter on social media:

LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

An episode archive of Frazier & Deeter’s Business Beat can be found here.

B2B Compliance Marketing and Trends E1

October 19, 2022 by Karen

eCommerce Insights

B2B Compliance Marketing and Trends E1

00:00 /

B2B Compliance Marketing and Trends E1

In this episode atmosol talked with Maria Tringali, Sr. Solutions Consultant at Avalara; Scott Dailey, Vice President, Sales & Marketing at Carl Stahl Sava Industries; and John Ciceri, Digital Marketing Coordinator at Carl Stahl Sava Industries about B2B compliance, marketing, and trends.

If you’re working in the B2B industry or want to learn more, this episode is something you don’t want to miss. Listen and join the learning, sharing, and laughing about the challenges of personalization in B2B marketing, how to meet the customer’s needs, helping your sales team, document compliance, keeping abreast of the latest and greatest in tax compliance, and more.

Carl Stahl Sava Industries produces miniature and ultrafine mechanical cable and cable assemblies for endoscopic instruments and surgical robots, as well as a wide array of industrial, aerospace and military applications.

Using monofilaments smaller than 1/3 the diameter of a single human hair, Sava’s cables help the world surgical robots and instrumentation achieve motion.

Operating from its 100,000 sq ft headquarters in Riverdale, New Jersey, many of the world’s next innovations in surgical robotics and endoscopes pass through Sava.

Scott Dailey has nearly 25 years of digital marketing experience and has spearheaded multi-million dollar campaigns with companies like Bausch & Lomb, The Home Depot, Furniture Brands International (Thomasville), Godiva Chocolate and many others.

Today, Scott is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the global ultrafine mechanical cable manufacturer, Carl Stahl Sava Industries, located in Northern New Jersey.

Scott is a national sales and marketing business speaker that has traveled the country debunking myths about what it takes to make your digital footprint a revenue-acquiring powerhouse.

Whether you’re a giant, or just starting out, Dailey teaches organizations how to produce the kind of digital sales activity that gives your business a sustainable advantage within an overcrowded and noisy digital, democratized economy.

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn.

John Ciceri is a Sales Development Representative at Carl Stahl Sava Industries. He is qualified to find and screen potential customers who can benefit from our products and services.

As the first line of communication with prospects, he has an understanding of the sales process, excelling at researching leads, starting new relationships, and setting our customer up for success.

John has strong communication skills, and the ability to showcase offerings in a compelling way.

Connect with John on LinkedIn.

Avalara helps businesses of all sizes achieve compliance with transactional taxes, including VAT, sales and use, excise, communications, and other tax types. Our comprehensive, automated, cloud-based solutions are fast, accurate, and easy to use.

Our Compliance Cloud™ platform helps customers manage complicated and burdensome tax compliance tasks imposed by state, local, and other taxing authorities throughout the world. Avalara offers more than 500 pre-built connectors into leading accounting, ERP, ecommerce and other business applications.

Each year, we process billions of indirect tax transactions, file hundreds of thousands of tax compliance documents and tax returns, and manage millions of exemption certificates and other compliance related documents.

Maria Tringali has been with Avalara since 2014, helping B2B and other highly exempt businesses better understand their tax compliance responsibilities.

Currently she provides training, education and support for sales reps, partners and prospective Avalara customers on the importance of getting tax compliance right, even if you charge very little retail sales tax.

Follow Avalara on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

About eCommerce Insights

eCommerce Insights is about bringing people together to discuss the vast landscape of eCommerce covering topics like technology, conversion optimization, branding, and marketing. The show focuses on how to build, manage and grow your online business using scientific and predictable methods thereby reducing uncertainty and risk. Our guests include vendors, merchants, experts, and technology partners shaping the world of eCommerce.

About Our Hosts

Ram Mohan is CEO and partner at atmosol, an ecommerce and technology company. He has spent over two decades in technology and eCommerce consulting helping companies ranging from small to fortune 100 achieve their business goals using technology.

As CEO, Ram leads atmosol’s eCommerce and SaaS services business working with our clients. In addition, he leads a team that runs an eCommerce portal in the meetings and events sector focusing on the EMEA market. He is also responsible for several SaaS products that are envisioned, built, and marketed by atmosol in different verticals and geographies.

Ram enjoys keeping up with and gaining a deep understanding of the latest trends in technology and eCommerce so he can help atmosol and our clients avoid hype and adopt trends that offer a tangible impact on our businesses.

Honey Olesen is the Director of Operations with atmosol and has substantial experience in leadership, management, operations, project management, digital marketing, human resources and data analysis. She deeply understands how businesses work and can take complex concepts and make them easy to understand for both employees and customers. She has worked at atmosol for over 11 years and has had the opportunity to work with some great brands and people in ecommerce, marketing and business.

Before entering the world of technology, Honey worked with some fantastic business owners in the building industry – soaking up knowledge of business day-to-day operations and growing her professional development.

She believes that in order for businesses to be successful, they need to have a clear mission and purpose, make sure the business goals are aligned with the values and stay focused on what’s important. She believes this is the same for individual success: find a place where your mission, purpose, goals, and values align with the company.

About Our Sponsor

Atmosol is a technology company working at the intersection of eCommerce and SaaS software. Our deep expertise in web development in addition to our long partnership with eCommerce platforms enables our clients to break through eCommerce platform barriers and build experiences that amaze their customers. Being in the eCommerce business ourselves running a meeting and events sales portal in the EMEA, we know the trials and tribulations our customers face firsthand.

In addition to eCommerce, we also build highly scalable SaaS products for our clients. We’ve also built and marketed our own successful SaaS products in different verticals.

Follow atmosol on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

HBS Legal Trends: Burt Hicks, Encore Bank

July 19, 2022 by John Ray

Hall Booth Smith Podcast Network

HBS Legal Trends: Burt Hicks, Encore Bank

00:00 /

HBS Legal Trends: Burt Hicks, Encore Bank

On this edition of HBS Legal Trends, Burt Hicks of Encore Bank joined the show to share how Encore Bank has achieved such rapid growth since its inception. Burt discussed the company’s operating philosophy, how it chooses new markets and the banking professionals who lead them, their focus on the latest in financial technology, their employee retention strategies, and much more. Burt was joined on the show by Baxter Drennon, Partner at Hall Booth Smith.

HBS Legal Trends is sponsored by Hall, Booth, Smith, PC and is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

Encore Bank is a private, boutique bank with a commercial focus that couples highly experienced and talented bankers with innovative technology to offer unprecedented levels of personal service and experiences to its clients through a hospitality-inspired concierge approach. Encore provides a full suite of financial products and services to businesses, business owners, professionals, their families and contacts with purpose, passion, and precision.

Company Website |LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

**Burt Hicks, President, Chief Strategy Officer & General Counsel, Encore Bank**

Burt Hicks is one of three co-founders of Encore Bank, the fastest-growing bank in the country. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, where he majored in Finance.

After graduation, Burt worked for Merrill Lynch, and later Bank of America in New York as an investment banking analyst in the Financial Institutions Group. After later working for Simmons Bank, Burt completed the concurrent degree program at the UALR Bowen School of Law and the Clinton School of Public Service.

He subsequently returned to Simmons to hold various roles with Simmons Bank and its holding company, Simmons First National Corporation, including Chief of Staff to the Chairman & CEO, Director of Mergers and Acquisitions, Investor Relations Officer, Corporate Secretary, President & CEO of Simmons First Investment Group and Insurance Services and as head of the Bank’s mortgage line of business.

Hall Booth Smith, P.C.

Established in 1989, Hall Booth Smith, P.C. (HBS) is a full-service law firm with six regional offices strategically located throughout Georgia, as well as offices in Birmingham, AL; Little Rock and Rogers, AR; Denver, CO; Jacksonville, Miami, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Tampa, and West Palm Beach, FL; Missoula, MT; Asheville and Charlotte, NC; Saddle Brook, NJ; New York, NY; Oklahoma City, OK; Charleston, SC; and Memphis and Nashville, TN.

Experienced across a wide range of legal disciplines, HBS prides itself on providing knowledgeable, proactive, client-specific counsel to individuals, domestic and international corporations, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

At HBS they possess the legal knowledge, skill, and experience to meet our clients’ needs wherever they do business. HBS maintains the highest commitment to serve clients ethically and professionally by providing the highest quality legal representation.

Company Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

Baxter Drennon, Partner, Hall Booth Smith, P.C.

Baxter D. Drennon is a Partner at the Hall Booth Smith office in Little Rock, Arkansas, and he has more than a decade of legal experience. He is a seasoned trial attorney who protects the rights of clients in complex litigation involving products liability, professional liability, and automobile accidents.

Known for his work in high-exposure cases such as catastrophic personal injury and complex business disputes, Baxter has served as lead counsel in hundreds of cases and as trial counsel in over a dozen cases — most of which resulted in complete defense verdicts.

He works closely with each client’s leadership team to ensure the legal strategy aligns with broader business goals while resolving each matter effectively and efficiently. Baxter represents clients across manufacturing lines, including companies in the aerospace, automotive, heating and cooling, electrical component, and vertical transportation industries.

In addition to products liability defense, Baxter often advises businesses on commercial disputes and other day-to-day business and operational matters. He also represents several municipal water and wastewater entities and was honored to serve as legal counsel in the first privatization of a water utility on a military installation in the state of Arkansas. Also, Baxter is the City Attorney for Benton, Arkansas.

Baxter earned a Juris Doctorate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Arkansas. He also completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Considered a leader among his peers, Baxter has been actively involved in the Defense Research Institute (DRI) since 2010, and previously served as the Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee. In 2019, Baxter was elected to the DRI Board of Directors in 2019 – the first young lawyer elected to the Board. Baxter is also a Future Leader in the Products Liability Advisory Council. He has been repeatedly named a “Rising Star” by Mid-South Super Lawyers.

Nancy Langer and Laura Newell-McLaughlin with Transact Campus

October 5, 2021 by Karen

Phoenix Business Radio

Nancy Langer and Laura Newell-McLaughlin with Transact Campus

00:00 /

Nancy Langer and Laura Newell-McLaughlin with Transact Campus

Transact Campus is a fintech and the leader in innovative, mobile-centric technology for college campuses. Transact offers payment and mobile-centric credential solutions for the university technology ecosystem.

Offerings span integrated payment solutions for tuition and fees, to multi-purpose campus IDs that can be used for everything from door and event access, to campus commerce solutions for meal plans, mobile ordering, retail payments, and more.

With 500 employees globally, Transact is headquartered in Phoenix, serves 12M students across more than 1,300 institutions, and facilitates approximately $45B in transactions annually.

Nancy Langer joined Transact Campus, as CEO in July 2021. She brings more than 35 years of expertise and leadership in the financial technology arena to her role and is leading Transact to become a key partner in the university ecosystem.

Under Nancy’s leadership, and in the current digital landscape, Transact is poised for exponential growth and expansion as the complete mobile-first platform for student payments and commerce.

Nancy is a transformation and growth-driven executive, experienced in all aspects of business management and leadership. She has had success and proven results for start-up ventures and mature businesses.

In 2018 and 2019, Nancy was named a Top 50 Women of Influence by Housing Wire Magazine. Nancy was named a Woman Executive of the Year for corporations greater than 2,500 employees by the Stevie Awards in 2015 and 2016.

She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and later received an executive leadership program certification from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Laura Newell-McLaughlin is Executive Vice President of Payments at Transact Campus.

She has nearly 30 years of experience in financial technology for higher education and an expertise in integrated payments and payment processing strategy.

Laura oversees the strategy and operations for Transact’s Payments division that facilitates more than $45 billion in tuition and non-tuition financial transactions annually.

Follow Transact Campus on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Leslie Vaillancourt, CheqrPay

June 29, 2021 by John Ray

Minneapolis St. Paul Business Radio

Leslie Vaillancourt, CheqrPay

00:00 /

Leslie Vaillancourt, CheqrPay (Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Episode 13)

Fintech veteran Leslie Vaillancourt is committed to supporting the work of nonprofits through the company she founded, CheqrPay. Unlike other well-known payment applications which nonprofits have traditionally used, CheqrPay offers donors a frictionless giving experience, which in turn creates more potential donations for the charity. Leslie joined host John Ray to discuss CheqrPay and her entrepreneurial journey. Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio is produced virtually by the Minneapolis St. Paul studio of Business RadioX®.

CheqrPay

At the heart of CheqrPay is the desire to serve. Their team has served countless hours volunteering with nonprofit organizations – large and small.

This experience led them to the belief that there had to be a better solution for small nonprofits who needed an uncomplicated and cost-effective way to collect donations while interacting with their patrons. The answer is CheqrPay – an application that is easy to use and provides just what small organizations need without an overwhelming amount of features. They keep transaction fees low by keeping the app simple.

Though made for small organizations, CheqrPay is a great tool for any nonprofit to have in their toolkit. Their platform costs nothing to set up and only incurs a low transaction fee once you start using it. Their hope is to make interactions with donors simple and easy, no matter where or when you choose to engage!

Keeping with their mission of strengthening the bottom line for small nonprofits, CheqrPay commits to returning 10% of their profits on an annual basis in the form of grants to select member organizations. Look for more information on this program in 2021.

Company website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Leslie Vaillancourt, Founder and CEO, CheqrPay

Leslie Vaillancourt is the founder and CEO of CheqrPay, a Minneapolis-based software company that provides online fundraising services to nonprofit organizations.

Leslie has a background in finance and technology and a passion for working with nonprofit organizations to serve others. She volunteers as the Business Development Director for Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota (WeMN) and donates time to local nonprofits providing technical support.

Questions and Topics in this Interview

Let’s start with some history and an overview of your company? What services do you provide?
What was your inspiration for creating CheqrPay?
Who are your ideal customers and can you tell us some success stories?
What is your vision for the company? Tell us what it looks like in 10 years.
Can you tell us a little about your personal journey? What is your background? How did you transition into entrepreneurship?
What advice would you give to anyone that is thinking of starting their own company?

Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and produced virtually from the Minneapolis St. Paul studio of Business RadioX® . You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

ATDC Radio: DataSeers Founder Adwait Joshi

December 18, 2019 by angishields

ATDC Radio

ATDC Radio: DataSeers Founder Adwait Joshi

00:00 /

Adwait Joshi is the founder and Chief Seer at DataSeers. He has been successfully helping his customers Taming the Data Demon giving them working solutions tailored to their needs.

Adwait was not only a straight-A student in school but was always interested in business opportunities. When he was 15 years old, he won a scholarship and learned C++. This exposure encouraged him to start his first company at the age of 15, AD’s Computers, which was extremely profitable and paved a path for Adwait’s future.

While at University at Buffalo, Adwait’s thesis on Visualization Techniques for Anthropometric Data made the concept of Universal Design easy and became a very important part of UB’s research for the next 10+ years.

Adwait’s IT career in the US began with Fisher Price where he spent his summer creating tools for mechanical engineers to speed up the design of toys and he was successful in automating a lot of trivial tasks. He then went on to work at Intel where he was given a challenge that had not been solved before, migrating a 3D visualization software to a 64-bit architecture. He not only took that challenge but tenuously worked towards finishing the project and won an award for doing it 4 weeks ahead of schedule.

For more than a decade now, Adwait has been working with various verticals solving their Data problems. He has tremendous expertise in Big Data and analytics. After a successful exit in 2016, he is back in the startup mode.

His latest venture DataSeers, is a startup focused on RegTech and helping FinTech companies with Reconciliation, Compliance, Fraud, and Analytics. The product he has engineered, FinanSeer, has been so majorly successful that within the first year the company was already profitable and winning awards.

Follow DataSeers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Questions and Topics in this Interview

How AI is changing the payments world?
What issues do synthetic identities create in the world of payments? How can we solve them?
Do banks and FIs really know their customers?
How can predictive analytics in payments prevent human trafficking?
What does taming the Data demon mean?

Alpharetta Tech Talk: Matthew Thomas, City of Alpharetta

November 16, 2019 by John Ray

Alpharetta Tech Talk

Alpharetta Tech Talk: Matthew Thomas, City of Alpharetta

00:00 /

**“Alpharetta Tech Talk” Host John Ray and City of Alpharetta Economic Development Manager Matthew Thoma**s

“Alpharetta Tech Talk,” Episode 3: Matthew Thomas, City of Alpharetta

Matthew Thomas, Economic Development Manager of the City of Alpharetta, joins “Alpharetta Tech Talk” to discuss the roots of Alpharetta’s thriving technology sector. “Alpharetta Tech Talk” is hosted by John Ray and broadcast from the North Fulton Business RadioX® studio inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Matthew Thomas, City of Alpharetta Economic Development

Matthew Thomas is the Economic Development Manager for the City of Alpharetta.

There’s a reason why more than 640 technology-based businesses have made their home in Alpharetta, and it’s not just the nice houses and great weather. The city’s fiber-optic network is the most extensive and redundant in the Southeast, and they work closely with state and local economic development agencies to provide tax credits and incentives to complement any brand of business. Some of the biggest and most recognized names in the tech industry are thriving in Alpharetta. With more than 20 million square feet of office space, there’s plenty of room in the neighborhood for you next expansion.

The City of Alpharetta has been recognized nationally in a variety of awards and rankings, including Best Small City to Start Business (Entrepreneur.com), Best Atlanta Suburb (Movoto), Top 25 Best Places to Move (Forbes), 7th Friendliest City (Forbes), and 6th Fastest Growing City (U.S. Census, 2012).

For more information, go to GrowAlpharetta.com, or call 678-297-6024.

About “Alpharetta Tech Talk”

“Alpharetta Tech Talk” is the radio show/podcast home of the burgeoning technology sector in Alpharetta and the surrounding GA 400, North Fulton, Roswell, Johns Creek, and South Forsyth area. We feature startup entrepreneurs, executives of larger enterprise companies, and other key technology players from a region with over 900 technology companies. “Alpharetta Tech Talk” is hosted by John Ray and originates from the North Fulton Business RadioX® studio inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

“Alpharetta Tech Talk” is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®, located inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with approximately $12.9 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you.