Georgia Technology Summit 2025 Archives - Page 2 of 2

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Loretta Daniels with TAG Education Collaborative

April 24, 2025 by angishields

Atlanta Business Radio

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Loretta Daniels with TAG Education Collaborative

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Georgia Technology Summit brings together 1000+ Georgia-focused technologists to network, learn, and engage with the latest trends in Georgia innovation. This year’s summit was held at the Woodruff Arts Center, a stunning and iconic cultural landmark located in the heart of Midtown Atlanta.

Dr. Loretta Daniels, Interim Executive Director, Technology Association of Georgia’, TAG-Ed and CEO and Managing Partner at Kendall and Kendrick Consulting Group, is an expert in organizational Leadership, DEI, conflict management, and communication.

As an executive leader in the corporate arena, she has served in executive leadership roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Executive Director of Sales Operations, and General Manager.

In addition, she has written corporate training manuals Leading by Example and Fast Track to Excellence. As the former Executive Director of Corporate Relations of Kennesaw State University (KSU), she worked with medium and large organizations to define and deliver leadership growth certificate programs aligned with the company’s vision and objectives.

Dr. Daniels has recently created TAG Bridge Builders, a social justice and equity initiative to promote Georgia’s underrepresented tech professionals advance from mid-level positions to senior-level leadership roles, providing access to funding and customer acquisition for tech entrepreneurs.

Dr. Daniels partnered with C-level Leadership and HR to determine leadership development goals, identify training gaps, enable cultural workplace initiatives, and implement gender pay equality and equitable hiring practices. In addition, she served as the University Office of Diversity and Inclusion CoChair and Presidential Commission on Gender & Work-Life Issues. Also, she advised executive teams, including the President and Chief Diversity Officer, consulted as a subject matter expert on DEI challenges and solutions, and supported DEI’s continuous improvement efforts.

As an adjunct leadership instructor at KSU since 2002, Dr. Daniels delivered in-class and online lectures encouraging students to think strategically by applying fundamentals to real-world problems. Courses taught included Corporate Communication and Conflict Resolution, Human Communications, Public Speaking, Writing for Public Communication, and Foundations of Leadership. Additionally, she has designed a Coursera Specialty Certificate program, Advanced Leadership Skills for the 21st Century Specialization Certificate.

Dr. Daniels received a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Organizational Leadership from Johnson University, a Master of Science (MS) in Conflict Management, a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Communication from Bradley University, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Mass Communication/Media Studies from KSU. She is a Certified Diversity Professional and the author of two books, For Women Only, Women Mean Business (J & W Publishers, 1992), and Unlock Your Success, a Comprehensive Guide for Starting a Successful Business (J & W Publishers, 2006). Dr. Daniels’ upcoming book, Organizational Leadership, published by SAGE Publications, will be available in January 2025 This textbook will offer a new and comprehensive approach to organizational leadership to address the paradigm shift in our global business community.

Connect with Dr. Daniels on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2025 at the Woodruff Arts Center. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here broadcasting live from Georgia Technology Summit 2025. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Loretta Daniels with TAG Education Collaborative. Welcome, Loretta.

Loretta Daniels: Oh, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m so excited to get caught up. Uh, for folks who aren’t familiar, can you tell us about TAG Education Collaborative? How are you serving folks?

Loretta Daniels: Yeah. Um, we are the 501 C3 charity side of TAG. The Technology Association of Georgia.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved with TAG?

Loretta Daniels: Uh, it’s been about two and a half years now, and, um, I got involved by coming in and creating a program for the workforce. It was a program really designed to help the underserved population enter into the tech workforce. Also to help businesses acquire customers and capital.

Lee Kantor: So, uh, how’s it going?

Loretta Daniels: It’s going extremely well since then. Um, now I have, um, received a promotion, and I. I manage the entire tag editor collaborative. And so our focus there is workforce development, leadership development and entrepreneurial success.

Lee Kantor: So, um, how do you work with kind of the universities and the I would imagine you’re also kind of dipping into maybe high schools and middle schools and, and even do you go down to elementary as well?

Loretta Daniels: Right. There are a couple of our programs. We we do like to focus on immediate workforce needs. So we do have a program, a couple of programs like Georgia Stem day and Day of Day of Code, which introduces K-12, more of the younger students to an experience of, um, AI and other technology. What our focus is how do we help high schoolers, uh, be prepared to enter into the workforce? Some may want to go to college, some may not. Um, but we do have a high school internship program that’s starting, um, next month. Uh, for that. Um, also, we work with colleges. We we understand the most important thing is for college curriculum to be designed to help to meet the needs for the workforce. As a professor, um, of leadership, I think it’s really important that we address that now.

Lee Kantor: Are you getting a lot of kind of collaboration with the university? Because I would imagine that’s in their best interest to be as up to date when it comes to this type of learning and knowledge.

Loretta Daniels: Yeah, exactly. Like the business school at KSU. Um, they help to collaborate to make sure that the curriculum is designed to meet the needs. Um, companies like, um, Again, like Tag and companies like Honeywell and other type of industry leaders, it’s important for them to go into the classroom. So Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, these are all schools that allow these companies to come in to say, here’s what curriculum looks like. Let’s talk to your students. Let’s make sure that we have a prepared workforce.

Lee Kantor: Now, is it something that the the the enterprise organizations, are they kind of leaning into this? Because in my mind, it’s common sense. Like you, you’re getting a chance to shape your, your next employee in a way that that’s going to solve some training problems down the road. If we can kind of get them at least beginning their training at the university level.

Loretta Daniels: Yeah, I think we have to take it to a next level, right. So many are accustomed to going in for career days saying, here’s what we have. We have internships.

Lee Kantor: So they think they’re done there. Right. And it’s more than that. Right.

Loretta Daniels: It’s more than that. It’s being involved.

Lee Kantor: So how would you recommend like? Like if you had a chance to have a conversation with somebody at enterprise? What how would you communicate to them on how to best leverage this opportunity to work with Tag in this way?

Loretta Daniels: I would say meet with your department leaders, establish exactly what you’re going to need, especially with AI and all the new technology. What are you going to need? Don’t make assumptions that the curriculum is going to meet your needs. So then schedule a meeting with the dean of the university to say, here’s what we’re looking for. Here are our job descriptions. Let’s align this with your curriculum. And if your curriculum aligns, that’s great. If not, let’s take a look at how we can enhance it and allow our leaders to come in and speak to your students.

Lee Kantor: So it can be kind of customized to what they need. I think that they’re not connecting the dots, and they’re not understanding the full scope of what is possible.

Loretta Daniels: Exactly. Customization is possible. We’re not looking for, um, enterprise to come in and change the curriculum just to enhance the curriculum. So it’s meeting the need. Again, with AI and technology, it moves at a rapid pace. So the curriculum needs to change and adjust accordingly.

Lee Kantor: Right. This is one of the things that university, if they remember, is there to serve their students and to give them the best possible chance of success. And this is a chance to really kind of not wait until this is dribbled down to a textbook. Right? Like you can get this in real time. Almost.

Loretta Daniels: Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I left the corporate world. I was a C-suite executive in the medical device industry, but always teaching adjunct, you know, at KSU. Right. And one of the things I wanted to do was to go full time with the university to say here, not everyone wants to go out and be a PhD, right? They’re there to get a job.

Lee Kantor: Exactly.

Loretta Daniels: How do we prepare them to get a job today? Exactly.

Lee Kantor: So, uh, now. So what do you need more of? Do you need more kind of, uh, enterprise level organizations to want to take this kind of leap and work together, or is that the challenge or the biggest rock that you’re kind of dealing with?

Loretta Daniels: Yeah, for us, we are establishing more partnerships. So the more, um, educators can work through us, we can be that middleman, right? So that the industry leaders can come to us, tell us what their challenges are. We will help to connect them with the universities to make that change. We have a very unique program now where the first in the state of Georgia to have a registered tech apprenticeship program, and that’s very unique because it helps these employers tap into untapped talent. These are individuals who may or may not have a college degree. Right. Um, and it allows them to have training. But before they even go into training, like cybersecurity or software developer, um, they are hired by the companies. So they are full time employee. It’s different from an internship program, but it’s one of the most effective workforce gap fillers right now.

Lee Kantor: Because once they go through that, the company has an employee. The company is an employee throughout the whole process.

Loretta Daniels: Yeah, you have a company employee, but you don’t have someone who’s just coming out of college. Because if when you look at the numbers, there is simply not enough college graduates in tech in, in the tech arena to fill these jobs. Right. And so we have to look at those who may have a degree in business or may have a degree in nursing or English and get them trained into tech jobs. And now you’re filling that gap that you would not have had that talent to fill.

Lee Kantor: Right. But it requires you to kind of think outside the box here a little bit and really expand what you’re defining as that prospective student. Right. Like this is a it sounds like a little bit of a leap of faith.

Loretta Daniels: Yes. But you have to companies have to be more innovative in their approach to filling the jobs.

Lee Kantor: Because they’re not going to fill themselves. So you better be doing the work.

Loretta Daniels: Mhm. Exactly.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to connect with you um, or learn more about how to collaborate, what is the best way to do that.

Loretta Daniels: Visit our website. Tag online.com.

Lee Kantor: And then uh, they can go there and then they can just find the appropriate program.

Loretta Daniels: Yes. And the what they want to look for are programs. If they’re looking for leadership development, professional development, upskilling or reskilling for AI. Um, whether they’re looking for steam or just how do I prepare now to get into the workforce.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share, maybe that, um, illustrates or gives the listener an idea of what’s possible?

Loretta Daniels: Yeah, I’ve got two stories real quick. Um, one is the registered tech apprenticeship program. We have. We’ve just, um, placed a couple of apprentices in one of our organizations around board organizations. They are doing very well. They’ve gone from not having a tech career to one was working, I think, in a restaurant, and now they are cybersecurity analysts with a real job making real money. Right. Another is on the entrepreneurial side, um, we have invest connect. Um, and that’s where we allow these, um, tech entrepreneurs to present for, for, for, um, pitch competition funds. But not only that, half of the room are, are, um, investors. So we’ve just got a report that three entrepreneurs were able to get funding through Invest Connect.

Lee Kantor: Wow. The impact is real.

Loretta Daniels: Yes it is.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you, Loretta, for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you. All right. This is Lee Kantor back in a few a Georgia Technology Summit 2025.

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Scott McMichael with Improving

April 24, 2025 by angishields

Atlanta Business Radio

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Scott McMichael with Improving

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Scott McMichael serves as Managing Director of North America at Improving, supporting the enterprises and having oversight of Improving’s strategic service offerings.

His primary focus is growing and positioning the company for greater impact across North America to positively change the perception of the IT profession. This includes business development, delivery excellence, plus attracting and growing technology professionals by creating a great work culture.

Prior to working with Improving, Scott held multiple leadership positions for consulting organizations – President and COO at Innovative Architects, which was acquired by Improving in 2019, and VP of Operations & Delivery at American System Corporation/Thoughtmill. As an energetic technology leader, Scott is passionate about assembling dynamic teams that deliver enterprise platform solutions.

He is a Georgia native, having served the client and his community of North Metro Atlanta for his entire career. He serves on the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and is an active member of Conscious Capitalism’s Senior Leaders Network. Scott is a graduate of Southern Polytechnic State University and resides in Milton, Georgia with his wife and four kids.

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2025 at the Woodruff Arts Center. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2025. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Scott McMichael with Improving Atlanta. Also on the Tag board of Directors and co-chair of today’s event. Welcome, Scott.

Scott McMichael: It is good to be here. And it’s an active scene here in the lobby, isn’t it, Lee?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, there’s a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. So many people, so many familiar faces. How has the event evolved since you’ve been involved with it?

Scott McMichael: So this year I had the opportunity to be co-chair, and about halfway through the process, Larry Williams, who’s CEO of Tag, said, hey, I got a great idea. Why don’t we get a head start and start planning next year as well? So we’re trying to to to get ahead of things for next year. But the when you think about the evolution, I think that, um, there was a topic out there in the world called AI, the quantum verse. How long were we going to be able to ignore that? Now no one’s running around a tag event giving you their tip top secrets or or sharing their intellectual intellectual property on, on fobs or or through through some sort of, uh, agent. But this is a this issue is a big economic issue. This issue affects how we see data centers coming into our local economy, this issue of how we tackle AI. Um, I’ll use the term inside of my own business. They who who, uh, harness AI win the day. And we’re in the technology business, so we have an obligation to help our clients understand at really every level of their business how they’re connected to AI. So as we look at it through the lens of tag, we don’t have a choice but to address this topic from really every single angle. And that’s how they’ve structured that content for our guest today.

Lee Kantor: Now, how do you help your clients kind of decide what should we lean into when it comes to AI and what should we say? You know what? This is a human to human interaction that we don’t want to, uh, avoid happening. We want more human to human interaction. So how do you kind of, um, I was talking to another guest, and I mentioned this, like, just because you have a hammer doesn’t mean everything’s a nail. You. Part of being smart about this is knowing when to use the appropriate tool for the appropriate work that needs to be done.

Scott McMichael: It is a great question, Lee. And and you can print this on a fortune cookie tag, but, um, make no assumptions about how the client and where the client places their intellectual value, right? So we’ve done business with a nonprofit to build a registration system that now incorporates AI to that, that organizes camps for kids. Well, it sort of seems like that’s been done or is available and off the shelf. And you could go to CompUSA and pull cellophane right off the shelf, right. But that interaction and how they work with sponsors, how they interact with parents, is what they think is their most special sauce, their most special intellectual property. So that’s what we really try to get to the core of is, is this what makes you different, or is this what you have to have? If you have to have it, then there probably is a hammer on the shelf. If this is something that makes you uniquely different, then how do we uniquely deploy this sort of product scenario that that separates you out in the market? Because without that differentiation, it’s just an expensive. How did we end up with this on our cap table?

Lee Kantor: And it’s one of those things like um, when it comes to at one point there was the technology of I’m going to call somebody and they’re going to route me five times through some phone tree, right. And at one point, that was supposed to be elegant, and at one point that was supposed to solve some problems, right? But it just frustrates their customers a lot of times. So how do you kind of prevent AI from being that?

Scott McMichael: It’s it’s the scenario was actually spoken about on our stage today with Brett Taylor, who’s an aficionado at this sort of user experience. Um, when I look at those differences, I sort of say, uh, the difference in yesterday’s technology or an IVR technology like that is, is something that you can draw out in a, in a serial process, right? We could workflow that we could understand it, we could comprehend it, comprehend it. We could, uh, put together the marketing people, the product people, the technology people. We all now understand that one comes before two and two comes before three. This isn’t how we think about things anymore in technology at all, right? That interwovenness that speed of experience is just expected from those clients. And so now when we think about, uh, artificial intelligence and these, uh, agentic workflows, doing some thinking for us, we really believe that some of that thinking is good thinking, that that ability for me to not have to go through three steps. Step two, step three, step four, but to be able to skip to step five and really get to the right best, uh, solution for my answer. Solution to my problem. And maybe or maybe not. Do I speak with an individual human? Um. Those humans, we hope, upskill and become more and more intelligent. More and more, uh, higher, high skilled, more and more knowledgeable of the thing that they’re trying to solve for us. You know, we’ve been talking about, uh, technology replacing human capital since I started in this business 30 years ago, just at the onset of the web. I’m not sure I’ve replaced any jobs so far, actually, but I hope I have upskilled jobs along the way.

Lee Kantor: Now, from an improving Atlanta standpoint, who is the ideal customer for you improving?

Scott McMichael: Uh, Atlanta is our local office. We are part of a now global organization, and we have found we have this conversation on a pretty regular basis. It isn’t based on an industry, a technology, a a choice of technology platform. For us, it is the innovators, the people who have already decided that they’re not just a, a, an organization who needs enabling technology, but they’re an organization that is a technology organization that whether they ship pallets or make candies or order, uh, or provide pizzas to parties, they’ve already decided that a technology connected supply chain is what will differentiate them. It’s in the core of their business. We don’t want to be fighting an uphill battle on. Are we sure we need an app? Did we ever need the website? If you think about prior, you know, major decisions. So for us it is. It’s the group that’s like we’re enthusiastic about making ourselves different and really of more value through technology, regardless of of industry or tech.

Lee Kantor: And then so what is that problem that they’re having that it’s just not working as well as they’d like, or they’re frustrated by some element of it where improving is going to be able to improve their situation.

Scott McMichael: It’s a good question. One of the first, uh, things that we find is people have a a good fear of technology debt lest don’t get behind the eight ball. Are we still, uh, staying competitive? Do we have the tool sets now that are at our fingertips, that only the largest fortune 1000 could have had access to before? Can we now be the right size fish in that right size pond and leverage enterprise technology and elevate ourselves? Let us sit side by side with the top fortune companies. And so those are great conversations to have.

Lee Kantor: So you focus on mid market. Is that kind of your.

Speaker4: I would say.

Scott McMichael: Upper mid market. Um but there is no client that has been too small or too large in the last uh in the last year. So uh, some of our competition has really focused in and decided that there is a, a profile of client. That is where they need to focus. It’s where they are best situated. It’s the right size problem, the right size budget. We haven’t made that step yet. In our business, you find that we are sort of what we call a global boutique. We want to deploy local, um, in-office if we can, collaborative product development and systems integration and a sort of in that boutique way, like you really are collaborating and arm in arm and building that next, uh, piece of technology, but then be able to deploy globally when it’s time or when it’s time for that total cost of ownership or when it’s time to get to some more, to maybe less innovation and more operational, uh, stages of your products development.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Scott McMichael: That’s a great question. It is always a pleasure to have Business RadioX present, uh, promoting what it is we do, uh, in, in the technology community across not just Atlanta, but across Georgia. I think that the more my sort of I see this as my sort of second career in tag, um, where I am in my career and where I am in my community is we want to make sure that everybody understands that when they send their kids off to MIT and these in Stanford and all these great, uh, institutions, that they know that that educational system is just as strong right here. Um, I think sometimes in our technology organization in Georgia, uh, the kids driving down the road would say, I have no idea what’s going on on the other side of that concrete wall. I believe that where you can help us and where we need to help ourselves, is to promote that vitality of the technology market that is right within our reach, a growing, booming leading technology market across Georgia.

Lee Kantor: And then, like you said, cast that wider net and not define technology so narrowly.

Scott McMichael: Well said.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to connect with you, whether it’s about tag, whether it’s about next year’s summit or improving Atlanta, what are the best coordinates for you?

Scott McMichael: Absolutely. Reach out anytime. Scott McMichael at improving. Com or hit me up on LinkedIn.

Lee Kantor: And then improving his website.

Scott McMichael: Improving. Com.

Lee Kantor: Well Scott, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Scott McMichael: Thanks, man.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor back in a few. At Georgia Technology Summit 2025.

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Beverly Wright with Wavicle Data Solutions

April 24, 2025 by angishields

Atlanta Business Radio

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Beverly Wright with Wavicle Data Solutions

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Dr. Beverly Wright serves as VP of Data Science & AI at Wavicle Data Solutions, and Executive Director for Data Science & AI at University of Georgia, as well as Past President of INFORMS Analytics Society, Chair of Data Science & AI Society at Technology Association of Georgia, and host of TAG Data Talk podcast.

Beverly is a sought-after professional speaker at established conferences, presenting on topics related to data science, artificial intelligence, ethical AI, human-AI collaboration, consumer insights, and marketing analytics.

She operates a nonprofit that leverages data science talent, tools, and resources for community betterment, tackling tough issues like human trafficking, opioid and other addictions, mental health, and other causes.

Through University of Georgia’s Executive Education team, Beverly leads the data science & AI program conceptualization, development, staffing, delivery, and evaluation.

Beverly earned a PhD in Marketing Science, a Master of Science degree in Analytical Methods, and a Bachelor’s degree in Decision Sciences.

Beverly received Professional Research Certification from the Marketing Research Association, is currently a Certified Analytics Professional – Expert level from INFORMS, and regularly presents at professional and academic conferences, publishes articles in multiple business journals and conference proceedings, and maintains an active academic research agenda.

Connect with Beverly on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2025 at the Woodruff Arts Center. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Uh, live at the Georgia Technology Summit 2025. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Beverly Wright with Wavicle Data Solutions. Welcome.

Beverly Wright: Hey, thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Wavicle Data Solutions.

Beverly Wright: Yeah, we are a consulting company. We do everything services wise between data and AI. We help our clients save more money and make more money.

Lee Kantor: That’s a noble goal. So, um, tell us a little bit about, uh, the Georgia Technology Summit. Why are you here? Like, what are you what are you up to here?

Beverly Wright: Yeah, well, the Georgia Technology Summit is the largest event for Technology Association of Georgia, and my involvement is multifold. Number one, I am the chair for the Tag Data Science and AI society, which is a kind of a special interest group within Tag. And secondly, I’m the co-chair for the um, Georgia Technology Summit itself. And then thirdly, I’m one of the presenters. I’m moderating a panel, which I’m super excited about.

Lee Kantor: So for folks who are maybe not as immersed in the technology world here in Georgia, but maybe they should be. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience working with tag and why tag is so important?

Beverly Wright: Oh my gosh.

Lee Kantor: Atlanta and Georgia as a whole.

Beverly Wright: Yeah yeah yeah. Glad I’m glad you asked. So the reasons to get involved in tag are so many especially. It helps you not just learn about what’s going on through the heavy content that we deliver through some of our events, but really engage, um, by putting hands on activities involved in our initiatives. So as a quick example, the data science and AI society. Um, we help people learn by doing called experiential learning, by, uh, presenting purpose projects over the summer that help nonprofits. So if you’re curious about what is this AI thing that everybody’s talking about, one of the ways you can really get hands on experience with it is, uh, to get involved in some of our nonprofit work where we’re helping others by doing our purpose projects. And then thirdly, um, just the community, such a tight knit community. I have a colleague who works at Google, and he moved to Atlanta to from Atlanta to New York recently. He came back, uh, last week just to visit. And he said, there is no tech community like the Atlanta tech community. So that’s the third reason.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And could you talk a little bit more about that? Because I don’t, uh, we have interviewed a lot of people from all over the country, and I don’t think they, People understand that Atlanta is different when it comes to collaboration and community as compared to other markets. Can you talk about maybe other examples where you’ve seen people from elsewhere come here and say, this is definitely different. It feels different here.

Beverly Wright: Yeah, absolutely. I was talking to some colleagues from Dallas just two days ago, and they said, there is not a community like this, you know, anywhere in our area. Also, I have a second home in South Carolina near the Greenville area. Um, and it’s a similar kind of vibe that we it’s hard to find a community like this in other parts of the world. And thirdly, I had a friend who moved to Orlando recently and he said, I gotta move back. Like, I feel like there’s no it’s he’s trying to build a community like that. And, um, I think that at the core of it, I have to say is, um, I feel like our universities and institutes are at the core of it. Georgia Tech, the especially the Master of Science and Analytics program, they are really producing some heavy duty talent and create helping create this ecosystem. They’re a very important part of it, as are Kennesaw State, Emory, University of Georgia. Even so, the schools, I think, stimulate quite a bit, as well as the many startups that are here, just all tinkering away, trying to build their AI solutions.

Lee Kantor: Right. And it’s so important to have a healthy startup ecosystem because, you know, the ones that don’t work out, you need a place for those founders to bounce to somewhere else. So it’s not like one and done right. Where in some communities there’s not that density. So they they have an idea, they try to make it work, it doesn’t work. And then all of a sudden, you know, they’re doing something else, right? Where? Here. There’s a place for them to go.

Beverly Wright: Absolutely. Yeah. There’s definitely, uh, we embrace I mean, the companies in the area that I know of definitely embrace as much as they can, um, uh, the startup community to help get them engaged and help them get on their way.

Lee Kantor: So how important do you think is kind of the southern hospitality, just as part of the culture of being in the South and in Atlanta. Do you think that that’s also an element that creates kind of that collaboration?

Beverly Wright: For sure. I mean, if you look around, I wish you guys could see what we’re seeing right now. Those that are listening. But if you look around, I’m seeing more people, um, embrace each other with hugs. And you can tell that the smiles on the face, they were familiar faces. There are new people. Just the southern hospitality of the warmth, you know, in the tech community of greeting people. And especially it’s really interesting in data science and AI, where many of us are very heavily left brain. We’re statisticians, we’re computer scientists, we’re kind of nerdy, yet we’re still embracing the social charm.

Lee Kantor: Right? If there’s a level of that, the people make you feel comfortable faster, it’s like almost there’s a higher kind of degree of empathy and EQ, uh, in the group that makes people feel welcome.

Beverly Wright: Yes, absolutely. And you know what? That’s going to become more and more important as AI gets more and more integrated into our lives. The things that make us human are empathy, our caring, our connect, ability to connect with others. Those are the things that make us human. And we’re becoming becoming a much more salient as we move into the age of AI.

Lee Kantor: When it comes to that, can you share a little bit about your take on when it comes to AI that a lot of folks? Ai is new for them and they’re implementing it maybe for the first time at this level. How do they do it in a way where it’s not kind of a blunt instrument where it’s like, oh, I don’t have to have any humans anymore. This is just going to solve that kind of human relationship, uh, challenge that I have.

Beverly Wright: Oh, boy. This is a this is a big question. How much time do we have? No. Um, but let me just give you a quick background on that. So I’m working on a paper right now with two other coauthors. One of them is, um, my dear colleague Shannon Harlowe, and it’s about the convergent and divergent nature of AI. There are people that have worked in data their whole careers, like myself, like I graduated in 91 with decision sciences, so that was very rare. There were six people in my graduating class.

Lee Kantor: Not anymore.

Beverly Wright: Not anymore. And there were only three schools that had a program like that. Um, and now those those kinds of people that grew up from data and analytics and data science and now AI there, converging into AI, they sort of know what’s in the black box. You have a whole nother group of people that’s much larger that are divergent, where they’ve always worked in some other era area, you know, like if you all of a sudden said, I want to start using AI and those are sort of divergent. They’re they’re coming in from the outside, if you will. So those are sort of the immigrants and the native. So if you’re an immigrant, we welcome you. I mean, I don’t know the ins and outs of my vehicle, but I still drive it every day or most days. We welcome you. However, we also caution you as to. My advice would be to connect with those that are the natives like, understand their perspective, get connected with those who are engaging from a standpoint of development and that they know what’s in the black box.

Lee Kantor: Because sometimes I think when a new technology kind of arrives on the scene, you know, it’s that old saying, like when you have a hammer, everything’s a nail.

Beverly Wright: Right now, all of a sudden everybody has a hammer.

Lee Kantor: Right? So now I have an I hammer and I’m going to use it for everything. And I don’t have to think anymore because AI is going to do that for me.

Beverly Wright: Well, there is some concern about that, right? Right. We don’t want to turn our brains off, but the there’s more and more research to talk about how this is impacting us cognitively as well. That means, you know, from a cognitive mental compared to affective, which is your emotional, which is also impacting you there. And then your cognitive, which is the third dimension of a human that has to do with your, um, behavioral aspect. So it’s impacting us from all three dimensions. But I would certainly encourage anyone that’s interested in tinkering and learning more. Number one, definitely don’t turn the brain off. This is a tool. You know, a lot of people thought we were doomed when calculators came out, right? Exactly. That’s what I tell everybody.

Lee Kantor: I’m like, yeah. When I was a kid, they said no calculators. Like they thought that was going to be, that no one could do math anymore.

Beverly Wright: Right? Right, right. Well, we have seen a decline in that, I mean, and number. So don’t let yourself, you know, kind of don’t let the AI lead you. You know, you need to be the one that’s dominating. And um, secondly, be involved, like get involved, learn some things. And, you know, at a minimum, listen to tag data talk which exactly which is our podcast around tag. You know Technology Association of Georgia tag data talk.

Lee Kantor: And when it comes to Wavicle, what is kind of the problem that your prospective clients are having where Wavicle kind of can help?

Beverly Wright: We can solve so many types of problems. It’s a it’s very interesting. The majority of our work is actually around data data engineering, data structure, data architecture, getting data right. But the data science and AI section of our of our work, it can solve all kinds of complex problems. So to give you a quick example for a retailer that sells beverages, um, if they’re interested in knowing like what are people saying about us? How are people talking about us? How do they feel? What’s their sentiment? Um, what are some of the areas of opportunity that we can improve? Because obviously you want to make everything great for everybody, but you got to prioritize. You don’t have unlimited funds. So through data science and AI, you can gather that information just by scraping the web and gathering comments that people have made about you on something like a Google review. And that can be done fairly easily. That would help drive a business decision about how to better serve their customers.

Lee Kantor: So is it industry agnostic? This would work in any industry, yes.

Beverly Wright: Um, Wavicle works with all different kinds of industries. Um, we we don’t do as much in government or nonprofit. We do some still. Um, but the majority are fortune 500 companies. Uh, McDonald’s is a very good client of ours. We’re headquartered in Chicago. And the second one that is, um, I believe in Tennessee is pilot the flying J. Pilot flying J. Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: They’re all over the place.

Beverly Wright: Yeah, those are our top two clients. So we’re solving all kinds of problems from them for them regularly.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wanted to learn more about Wavicle, uh, what is the best way to connect? What’s a website?

Beverly Wright: Yeah, Wavicle Datacom is our website. You can also always reach out to me. Beverly Wright I’m on LinkedIn. Um, kind of kind of hard to miss me if you put in Beverly Wright data.

Lee Kantor: Well, Beverly, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work, and we appreciate you.

Beverly Wright: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This Lee Kantor back in a few. A Georgia Technology Summit 2025.

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Laura Gibson-Lamonthe with Georgia Fintech Academy

April 24, 2025 by angishields

Atlanta Business Radio

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Laura Gibson-Lamonthe with Georgia Fintech Academy

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As the Executive Director of the Georgia Fintech Academy, Laura Gibson-Lamothe’s primary objective is to drive meaningful impact within the industry through the implementation of a comprehensive diverse talent development program.

The Georgia Fintech Academy focuses on educating and empowering the next generation of fintech professionals by fostering collaboration with 26 institutions aligned with the University System of Georgia, as well as private universities and HBCUs. Our commitment extends to creating academic pathways to fintech at the secondary level, strategically cultivating a reservoir of talented individuals poised to shape the future of the industry.

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2025 at the Woodruff Arts Center. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from the Woodruff Arts Center for the Georgia Technology Summit 2025. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Laura Gibson-Lamonthe. And she is with the Georgia Fintech Academy. Welcome.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Thank you. So happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Uh, catch us up. Tell us about the Georgia Fintech Academy. How you serving, folks?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yes. So we are a talent development initiative within the University System of Georgia, serving all 26 public facing institutions across the state with a fintech curriculum. And so we’re not only providing this the skills and education for our students, but helping them navigate pathways into this industry. So it’s an exciting opportunity to join industry at events like this one. Um, and so we’re here today with several students representing a number of different universities, giving them access to the network and the insights from a technology perspective right here, live in action on campus here at the Woodruff Center.

Lee Kantor: So fintech is one of the, uh, hubs that we have here in technology in the metro Atlanta area. How do you develop the, uh, curriculum for your academies? Are you partnering with the enterprise organizations, like what does that kind of collaboration look like?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yeah, I like to say we are in lock step with the industry. The industry is evolving so quickly. It’s such a dynamic, uh, field and an exciting time around innovation. And so for us to innovate on the curriculum and how we deliver it means that we have to continuously refine and ensure that we have a close understanding of where the industry. Trends are heading and how we can best provide some of that education in. The curriculum. And so we work with a lot of our partners and have developed a routine where we’re reviewing the curriculum. We’re allowing industry to opine upon that curriculum, and then we’re making curriculum enhancements along the way. And so it’s it’s been exciting to to come and attend these events where, you know, people are showcasing real time some of the technology developments that they have on their radar. And we’re already, you know, writing down notes, um, have conversations, follow ups, obviously, I and embedded payments and some other trends are at the forefront of conversations. We now have to kind of take that back into our, our our mothership. I say, and dissect what that means from an education perspective and ensure that our curriculum is reflective of what the industry is doing and focusing on.

Lee Kantor: So, uh, tell us a little bit about the student who is attracted to this. Like, when does their interest begin? Is it something that you have to even start thinking about? Let’s create some curriculum for elementary and middle and high school.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yes, yes. So we work closely with the Department of Education. We have students that are taking under the dual enrollment program, uh, focused uh, classes on fintech. Uh, but then outside of that, we’re also providing some exposure early on. I think one of the things that’s a prerequisite to fintech is financial literacy. Um, which is a whole nother conversation we should have in the future. Right. But for math, I mean.

Lee Kantor: That’s critical for even if you’re not going to pursue it as a career, that just that kind of base education is invaluable.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yep. And I think financial literacy is almost the gateway to fintech for me personally, financial literacy and having to overcome some challenges, um, that I’ve had navigating, you know, just being a consumer, um, and someone who is, you know, starting to earn money and learning how to, you know, best, manage money. It it opened the doors to conversations around the technology that’s providing solutions and services for people to, uh, basically transact, uh, financially. And so for me, it became a career through my financial literacy journey. And I think for students, it’s about educating them about, you know, traditional finance, um, you know, best practices. And it kind of opens that door for, hey, there’s a career in this industry for me, right?

Lee Kantor: My dream is if education could explain to a young person the power of compounding, if they could just do that at a super young age. Um, I think it’s a game changer.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yes, it is. And I think one of the things that’s really exciting for me is to start seeing some of the students who are taking that, uh, extra step to become founders. So they’re identifying the pain points and the challenges through that financial literacy journey to say, I actually want to be a part of the solution, um, and bring that to the table. So it’s not necessarily just traditional pathways. We’re also focused on entrepreneurship as well.

Lee Kantor: So now, um, has how long has the academy been around?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: We’re about to celebrate our five year anniversary. So super excited. 10,000 students.

Lee Kantor: 10,000 students. Yeah. I mean, can you imagine 10,000 people going through the how? That’s so important.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: It is, it is. And it’s it’s all happening right here in Georgia. So we’re getting major focus from some of our competitors. And I think, you know, states outside of the state of Georgia that are looking in, uh, at the success of the program and what we’ve been able to achieve. But our focus now is, is really emphasizing the need for jobs, um, internships, full time placement. Obviously, the market is is, you know, taking a shift lately. And our focus is really trying to identify where those opportunities are and help students get placed in them. So we’re constantly facilitating those conversations with companies.

Lee Kantor: Now, has there been any, uh, graduates that have gone on either to start their own business or any kind of success stories you can share?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yeah, I think one of my favorite success stories, um, only because I’m here in the, uh, the Georgia Technology Summit, uh, last year at, uh, one of the other partner events, Fintech South, we had a student who was literally manning the table, the booth in the expo hall for Truist. Uh, and that student was a recent graduate of the Georgia Fintech Academy. We also had around 30 students attending that event, just as, uh, registrants for and participating in that event. They saw her and were like, that’s what we want to get to. We want to be on the other side working and representing that Truist brand. And I think for me, that was a full cycle of seeing that student, obviously, um, for me seeing her sophomore, junior, senior year and then now working as a career professional at Truist. But then seeing the students who were reflecting on that near peer as a as a goal for what they were aspirational.

Lee Kantor: And now it’s real.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Exactly, exactly. And then the other.

Lee Kantor: Could be you.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yes, exactly. It could be you. It’s attainable. I think so many times students see, especially at these conferences, they see the executives. Right. You know, folks who are more, you know, tenured and senior in their roles. And it’s a little bit out of touch, right?

Lee Kantor: They don’t see they don’t connect the dots how that’s kind of viable for them. But when they see somebody they know or seen around, all of a sudden they’re there. Yep. Then why not me?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yes, yes. And we talk about representation that really matters. Representation means a lot of things. Um, it could be, you know, something where it connects with the student and they can they can now kind of realize that that goal and that, that focus. So, um, those opportunities are there’s so many of them that I’ve come across and watching students, you know, get on the stage and represent their own brands as entrepreneurs or as another one. Um, and we’ve had students that, you know, apprentice with some startups here in the state. Um, you know, we’ve had students go over and work at the Atlanta Tech Village, which is doing exciting things here in Atlanta and Georgia as well. Um, and so being able to see them shine in different ways, in different capacities and kind of broaden their horizons as far as where their career pathway could lead them has been been really rewarding.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yes, I need jobs. I need job. Job jobs, I need internships. I’m looking for internships and and and jobs. Full time placement opportunities. These roles, um, vary. I think in the fintech space, people think, you know, traditionally data science, cybersecurity. But we have, you know, students that are navigating pathways towards product, uh, management, product development, project management, marketing, even, um, consulting sales. There are so many different segments in this space. And I think for our students, we’re we’re now looking at, uh, just the industry much more broadly. And so for for folks who are in an organization who are looking for early talent, um, and not just early talent, we also have, uh, folks that are continuing ed, they have, you know, more years of experience under their belt who are coming back into the academic fold to, you know, continue to refine their skills. And so we do have a growing portfolio of experienced professionals and some that are just embarking on their journey at the early talent stage.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, why was it important for you? Are you attending the event here or are you did you bring some students with you?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: I did bring some students with me. Um, and they’re they’re being good. They’re in the the main session right now and the main stage. Um, you know, we actually had a pep talk coaching session where we did kind of, like networking best practices, how to maximize what you’re getting out of this event. And so they’re they’re out here, um, meeting and learning and soaking up everything they can. Um, and so for us, it’s been, you know, kind of helping facilitate the, the networking, getting them warm and comfortable in this space. I think this also gives them an opportunity to demonstrate what they’ve learned, since they don’t necessarily get that, they get that with their peers. But to put them in a in an immersive experience where we are putting them, you know, with a couple of hundred or more, uh, professionals is is something that really gets them to, to get that practice and that skill refined.

Lee Kantor: So when you’re working with enterprise level organizations, or I’m sure you’re open to having conversations with startups as well. Yeah. Who at that organization is the right person for you to talk to? So you can explain the value of collaborating?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yeah. I think, you know, initially we start off with a lot of the folks in the talent space, air recruiting. Um, but for me, it’s really been, uh, extremely beneficial to, to meet with the folks that are on the tech side. You know, tech managers, leaders who are driving the talent acquisition strategy versus the execution of that strategy. So if you are anyone that’s influencing, uh, the plans for scalability within your organization when it comes to human resources and, and, and the people within your organization, that’s that’s who I really want to talk with. Um, for us, it’s going beyond the fact that you might have an immediate need to start starting to get more strategic about future state and what your growth goals are. Um, because those change over time and as we talked about earlier, the economy and where it stands today, and it’s a luxury to really invest in early talent, but it’s an imperative, uh, for the sustainability of any organization, no matter what stage you are in. Um, a matter of fact. So I think for having that conversation really requires leaders who are transforming and building and developing their organizations.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, what’s the best way to connect with you or somebody on your team?

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Yes. So I would recommend going to our website, Georgia Fintech Academy. Org or you can find me on LinkedIn Laura Gibson Lamoth. Um, or if you just look up Laura Gibson, I pop up, uh, as well. Um, but we are always active. Um, you can find us at a lot of the industry events, uh, coming up, um, as well as, uh, some of the things that we’re doing on various campuses. So look out for us on on either channel.

Lee Kantor: Well, Laura, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Laura Gibson-Lamonthe: Thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor back in a few at Georgia Technology Summit 2025.

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Reggie Marable with Sierra

April 24, 2025 by angishields

Atlanta Business Radio

Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Reggie Marable with Sierra

00:00 /

Reggie Marable, Head of Sales at Sierra, is a dynamic sales leader with P&L responsibility and global leadership experience.

His passionate leadership style inspires collaboration, trust, and creativity. Reggie has led $400 million+ sales organizations while developing solution-selling leaders who deliver results.

Connect with Reggie on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2025 at the Woodruff Arts Center. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. So excited to be broadcasting from the 2025 Georgia Technology Summit. And so excited to be talking to my first guest today, Reggie Marable with Sierra. Welcome.

Reggie Marable: What’s up. How you doing? It’s great to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well I am doing well. I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Before we get too far into things. Tell us about Sierra.

Reggie Marable: Yeah, excited to tell you about Sierra. So Sierra is a startup that we’re based in San Francisco. Um, we’ve been out of stealth for a little over a year, but we’ve been a company for two years. And what we do is we create customer facing AI agents that represent a company’s brand, and they’re integrated in all parts of the customer experience. And these agents are very sophisticated. They can think and reason like human beings. They speak multiple languages. They have emotional intelligence. And then we interconnect to systems of record and sources of data. And these agents can actually take action on your behalf 24 seven so it allows a brand to put their best sales representative and their best customer service agent in front of their customers 24 over seven and allow them to do self-service.

Lee Kantor: So what was the genesis of the idea? How did this come about?

Reggie Marable: Yeah, our company was founded by two incredible technology legends, Bret Taylor, who’s actually doing the keynote today. He’s the former co-CEO of Salesforce, and currently he’s the chairman of the board for OpenAI. And then also Clay Bavor, who is the number two executive at Google who ran Google Labs, which is all there at the time. All their forward thinking bets, technology bets for the company. So two great founders came together and wanted to capitalize on the power of this amazing technology, and our first focus is improving the customer experience.

Lee Kantor: And then who is the target? What size companies are you focusing in on?

Reggie Marable: We pretty much focus on, um, companies that are financial services, healthcare, telecom, technology companies, consumer electronics, uh, travel, tourism, hospitality. Uh, so just think of anything like where you live, work and play and where you’d want to interact with a brand. Those are the companies that we focus on.

Lee Kantor: And then is there a size or is this for enterprise only or is it for any size company?

Reggie Marable: We’re primarily focused on enterprise. But you know, as we continue to grow and make traction, we will be, um, pretty much working with all types of companies, uh, big, small, but primarily focused on the enterprise. But we are evolving our platform to do a lot of self-service. So we will be expanding into mid-market and SMB down the line. But right now we’re primarily enterprise.

Lee Kantor: So what is kind of the pain that these enterprise organizations are facing where Sierra is like the kind of the dream come true problem solver for them.

Reggie Marable: A great question. I just think about how you interact with the brand. I think a lot of brands want to interact with their customers. They just can’t afford to. So I think the main frustration people have is they wait on hold. And then because of the great Resignation, you’re interacting with an agent that has, um, pretty, pretty low tenure. Um, and then there’s a lot of, uh, you know, back end chair swiveling. So the customer experience is not ideal for a lot of brands. So our vision and our goal is to help improve the customer experience by providing a consistent, delightful experience and allowing, uh, businesses to interact with their customers 24 over seven.

Lee Kantor: Now, is it going to kind of get rid of the dreaded phone tree? You know, press one for this, and then you’re going down the series of really bad questions that aren’t really solving my problem, just frustrating me. And then when I finally get to somebody that’s supposed to help, I have to explain it all again.

Reggie Marable: Absolutely. So our our agents, um, pretty much are the front door of the customer experience. And we can interact with your customers in an authenticated experience where we know who you are and we know everything about you, and also in an unauthenticated experience. But we’re the front door of the experience. These agents, you can talk and chat with them. They’re very delightful. Uh, once again, they can think and reason like human beings and and you’re actually able to have a conversation and explain what you need. And then our agents, because they have access to the systems of record, um, they’re able to quickly resolve your issue, um, recommend a product, help you with your subscription, uh, help you troubleshoot a technical issue, so forth and so on.

Lee Kantor: So how quickly does when you’re explaining this to a prospect, how quickly does that aha moment come?

Reggie Marable: Fairly quickly when I can, um, paint the vision where your customers have the ability to interact with you 24 over seven, and it’s going to be a delightful, consistent experience, and they’re going to be able to handle whatever they need 24 over seven, um, on their own time. And they don’t have to wait on hold, and they can speak with someone that can actually handle their issue.

Lee Kantor: Right. But right now they’re moving from something that’s clunky and inelegant to possibly yours. Somebody sold them that clunky thing and used similar words that you’re using. So when do they kind of get that feeling of home? This is different. This is is that something immediate?

Reggie Marable: It’s the power of large language models. A lot of the quote unquote chat bots and ivrs are built off of older technology. Um, this technology has only been around for, um, you know, a little over two years. So it’s the power of this new technology, the power of large language models and the way AI works, it allows you to have very delightful conversational experiences with your customers. Um, and it’s not rigid. It’s not structured. It’s pretty much open form. And that’s the power of this new technology that our platform is built on.

Lee Kantor: And how quickly will a customer be able to implement this once they raise their hand and say, yeah, I’m in.

Reggie Marable: Depends on the complexity of what they want Sierra to build. But we’ve had one of our customers, Casper. I’m sure you’re using Casper mattresses. We were able to build and put their agent on live production and go live in less than a month. Um, some customers that really want to build very complex, uh, multi-step use cases that could be anywhere from 2 to 4 months, but we’re able to move incredibly fast. Um, because what we do is we have a forward deployed engineering model where we provide a dedicated product manager and a dedicated engineer that seamlessly integrates into your technology team and helps you build these agents so we can move as fast as our customers are able to to move once again, we can we can get an agent live as quickly as a month. Uh, sometimes it takes longer. It depends on the complexity.

Lee Kantor: So why was it important for your firm to, um, get involved with the Georgia Technology Summit and sponsor.

Reggie Marable: A great question. So we have expanded to the East Coast. Um, we’re growing at a very rapid pace, and we made the decision to make Atlanta our East Coast headquarters. So we’ve opened a very large office in beautiful Midtown Atlanta, which is not too far from here. And being that we’re going to be a significant, uh, company in this in the city of Atlanta, we felt it was important to become a member of Tag. Support. Tag. And also our co-founder, Brett Taylor is doing the keynote today. So Tag is a very important and influential organization in Atlanta, especially in the technology scene. And we wanted to be part of that.

Lee Kantor: So what is, um, the reputation of Atlanta and tag, you know, from the West Coast kind of point of view?

Reggie Marable: Yeah, Atlanta has quickly emerged as one of, uh, the best technology cities, um, in North America. Uh, shout out to, uh, mayor, Mayor Dickens, who’s really been focused on making Atlanta a technology hub. There’s a lot of great technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, meta, now, Sierra that have big presence here in Atlanta. And then also there’s a lot of like great institutions. There’s a lot of great talent in Atlanta. There’s a lot happening in this market. So we felt it was really important for Sierra to be part of Atlanta and also partner with Tag. But being a San Francisco based company in Silicon Valley, Atlanta is really emerging as a technology technology city. And we wanted to be here.

Lee Kantor: So how do you kind of how do you see the difference between the way that we’re doing kind of technology and the ecosystem we’ve created here as compared to the West Coast?

Reggie Marable: Yeah, I think Atlanta is still, um, still fairly fairly, uh, still up and coming when you when you think about Silicon Valley, you know, Silicon Valley is kind of been like the hub and heart of technology worldwide where you’ve got, you know, all these incredible companies that are being created. There’s a lot of VC investment firms that are funding these companies, and we’re starting to see a lot of that happening in Atlanta, like there’s a lot of new companies being created here. There’s a lot of innovation. There’s a lot of support from the VC community to help these companies get off the ground. So I think Atlanta could very well be a force, but I think still, Silicon Valley is the heart and soul of technology and new innovation, right?

Lee Kantor: Like there’s a lot more density there than there is here. Um, in terms of number of firms and VCs that are there. Is there anything like what do you need more of? How can we help you at Sierra?

Reggie Marable: Well, once again, we just we want to be part of the Atlanta community. We’re going to be very active in Atlanta. So just partnering with Tag and helping to increase our awareness, we’re going to be doing a lot of hiring. So just letting people know that we’ve got great, uh, positions here. We’re a fast growing company. We’re going to revolutionize how people interact with brands. And we’re hiring sales professionals, sales engineers, agent Asian engineers. So we’re looking for great people. So I think Tag can help increase our brand awareness in the market and help us find some of the best talent in the world to work at Sierra.

Lee Kantor: So right now, talent is a priority.

Reggie Marable: Absolutely. Uh, there’s you can never find enough talent, especially for a fast growing company. So we’re looking for great people, but we’re also looking to establish ourselves in Atlanta. There’s a lot of incredible companies that we feel we can help us leverage this technology to improve their their customer experience. And we really want to make an impact here, not only with hiring people, but also helping a lot of companies that are, you know, that are creating in Atlanta that have big presence in Atlanta. And everyone like, uses these brands and they’re they’re part of the Atlanta community.

Lee Kantor: And so you’re looking also to, um, have conversations with customer experience officers at some of these enterprise companies in Atlanta and the southeast.

Reggie Marable: Absolutely. Customer experience officers, technology leaders. Once again, we believe, uh, Sierra, we are the front and the lead of helping companies use this powerful technology to improve how they interact with your customers. And we want to help all the companies in Atlanta and all the companies in the southeast take advantage of this amazing technology.

Lee Kantor: And if somebody wants to learn more, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Reggie Marable: Yeah, the best way to connect is to go to Sierra II. And I’ll actually spell the name s I e r a I plenty of information on our website. And there’s also a Learn More tab where you can just fill out some information and we’ll reach out and connect with you. But we’d love to talk to you. Once again, we feel that Sierra is a force. We can help companies improve their experience, and we’re here in Atlanta to help.

Lee Kantor: Well, Reggie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Reggie Marable: Thank you. It’s an honor to be here and look forward to a great day at the conference.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor back in a few. At Georgia Technology Summit 2025.