Midtown Business Radio Archives - Page 4 of 6

Humor Wins

May 5, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Humor Wins

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Humor Wins

This week I sat down with Marshall Chiles, Founder and Dudeman of Humor Wins, a business that helps companies looking to improve team dynamics among their staff. As the owner of one of the first comedy clubs in Atlanta, Laughing Skull Lounge, he has been in the humor business for years. He decided to take his knowledge of comedy to help business people learn to add an element of humor to their client interactions and sales presentations. Humor Wins’ team also provides corporate roast services, adding a memorable, interesting element to company events.

Marshall talked about how they take their clients through the process of learning how to develop some humorous comments or jokes that help disarm prospective customers, facilitating relationship building that can lead to a sale. His team also facilitates team building by teaching self-deprecating humor that can foster better communication and reduce tension among the business’s staff.

He brought along Jeremy Wing, Co-CEO of Payscape Advisors, a merchant services and financial technology company. Payscape Advisors provides an array of services and technologies for companies ranging from online invoicing, an online registration platform for schools and camps, access to AR capital, payment processing, and more. Jeremy shared how he came to know Marshall through providing their payment processing services, ultimately becoming a client of Humor Wins.

I met Kimyung Kim, a comedian and word smith who uses improvisational free-style rapping to provide entertainment services for corporate events. We got a demonstration of his skill with him rapping while we gave him random words he integrated into his lyrics.

If your company is looking to attract young, motivated millennials, reduce turnover, and help build closer relationships among your sales force, executives, and administrative staff, you need to get to know these innovative experts.

Special Guests:

Marshall Chiles, Founder/Dudeman Laughing Skull Lounge and Humor Wins

Bachelor of Business Administration, Management Information Services, University of Georgia
Founder of Southern Fried Supernova
Founder of the the world’s smallest comedy club (Laughing Skull Lounge)

Jeremy Wing, Co-CEO of Payscape Advisors

Previous Director, MTV
Director, RegPoint Solutions
Investor in numerous businesses such as FINSYNC, KidsLink Inc., Bayan Investment Group
Recipient of numerous business awards including Top 40 Innovative Company, Atlanta, Top Workplace, AJC, Inc 500/5000 Fastest Growing Companies, and others

Kimyung Kim, Speaker/Rapper Kimyung Kim Speaks

Former teacher, Social Studies, Magnolia Science Academy
BA, History, Georgia State University
National Speakers Association volunteer
Active comedian

Logistics

April 29, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Logistics

00:00 / 00:51:42

Logistics

This week I sat down with Jannine Miller, Director, Center of Innovation for Logistics at the Georgia Department of Economic Development. We talked about how the state of Georgia places a great deal of priority on maintaining and expanding our transportation infrastructure. Jannine shared how effective logistics management can foster significant economic development.

She also discussed how the entities that comprise our logistics capabilities across the various modes gives rise to growth opportunities for small businesses around the area. This comes from the need for “last mile” carriers who can move the freight to its final destination from larger distribution centers, as well as countless other ways to provide vendor/supplier services to larger companies that need to extend their capacity.

We also were pleased to have VP of Business Development for NOWaccount, Kim Humphreys on the show. We talked about how their merchant services solution provides B2B companies experiencing some delayed payment of invoices access to aging AR funds in 3-5 days for only a 2.5% fee.

With this already-earned capital can fund new growth and/or allow a company to be able to afford to take on larger orders that could otherwise not be possible.

Special Guests:

Jannine Miller, Director, Center of Innovation for Logistics, Georgia Department of Economic Development

Former Transportation Policy Advisor the the Georgia Governor’s Office
Previous Executive Director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
Former Supply Chain Finance Senior Manager, The Home Depot
MBA, Georgia Technical Institute

Kim Humphreys, VP, Business Development/Co-founder, NOWaccount

Published author
Founding member, TAG FinTech
Previous Chief of Staff, Harbor Payments
Over 20 years professional/leadership experience in marketing/leadership roles

Outsourced IT Solutions

April 14, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Outsourced IT Solutions

00:00 / 00:44:22

Outsourced IT Solutions

This week I sat down with two experts from Zydexo to talk about the variety of supplemental and outsourced IT solutions they provide. Going in I knew the company placed a focus on providing supplemental and permanent placement of the gamut of IT professionals. What I didn’t know before talking with Sugra Naqvi, Business Developement Manager, and Jerry Lawrence, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, was the breadth and scope of the IT solutions they provide. These include contract staffing of vital IT talent experts for key time-limited projects, but also software development, educational offerings, and IT consulting services.

Both of these folks have been with the company for over 11 years, a testament to the professional culture within the company. And as you listen to this fun interview you can clearly appreciate their respective passion for their work and the brand they represent, as well as the pride they take in delivering what they know is a high level of professional service and customer experience.

Let’s face it–supplemental staffing can be a rather vanilla subject on some levels. It can be as bland as, “I need an X Technician.” “I find good ones.” But when that sort of engagement is coupled with a measure of personal buy-in to the importance of what the “X Technician” will be doing and its financial impact on a client’s business and a high level of customer service, those can be long-term relationships. And those are engagements companies readily feel as though revenue dollars invested to secure the X Technician was absolutely worth it.

Special Guests:

Sugra Naqvi, Business Development Manager, Zydexo

BS, Sociology, Georgia State University
BS Nutrition Sciences, Kaplan University
Active Wellness/Lifestyle Coach
Fluent, Urdu/Hindi

Jerry Lawrence, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, Zydexo

Bachelor, Business Administration, Atlanta University
Former Licensed Commodity Broker, (Series 3 Certification), Risk Capital Trading
Previous Director of Admissions, Mithani Education Group, University of Atlanta

Greater Gwinnett Championship

April 8, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Greater Gwinnett Championship

00:00 / 00:43:56

Greater Gwinnett Championship

This week we talked about the Greater Gwinnett Championship and MileiQ. The Greater Gwinnett Championship, a Champions Tour event of the PGA started it’s annual schedule 4 years ago at TPC Sugarloaf. The course was previously known as a PGA Tour stop as the ATT Classic TPC from 1997-2008. This popular event has been able to draw top Champions Tour pros, ranking #1 and #2 over the last couple of years for Strength of Field.

Michael Chapin, Director of Marketing for the Greater Gwinnett Championship shared how, as a golfer, he finds it gratifying to serve in his role for this PGA event. He gets to interface with business leaders of small to large companies around the area to get them set up as sponsors for the tournament. He talked about the variety of pro-business functions they host in addition to a range of hospitality offerings that afford sponsors the opportunity to meet the players along with spending amazing quality time with existing and prospective clients in an experience they’re unlikely to forget.

Michael talked about the charities, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Gwinnett Medical Center’s Concussion Institute that benefit as a function of the tournament’s being held here in the Gwinnett area. So, not only can sponsors build their client relationships through the platform of sponsorship, they’re also able to know they’re helping important charitable initiatives in the community.

I also spoke with Chuck Deitrich, CEO/Co-founder of MileIQ. This is a COOL mobile app for iPhone/Android that automates tracking of drives, allowing users to classify them as business or personal with the swipe of a finger. Just as easily, they’re able to categorize them for business dinner, business meeting, etc. The app produces IRS-compliant reports that can be used to accurately report business miles for company reimbursement or for tax purposes.

Chuck talked about the fact that for many business people who try to manually report miles, MANY under-report, costing them hundreds of dollars or more annually in unreported mileage. I’ve used the app for a few days now and it’s quite impressive and easy to use. Midtown Business Radio listeners can go to www.mileiq.com/promo to find out how to use your listener code: RadioX for a discount on a subscription (40 drives per month are free).

Special Guests:

Michael Chapin, Director of Marketing for Greater Gwinnett Championship

BS, Communication, Broadcasting, and Marketing, Western Carolina University
Former On-air talent, IPS Sports
Previous Account Executive, 790 The Zone
Former collegiate golfer, Western Carolina University

Chuck Deitrich, CEO, Co-founder, MileIQ

MBA, University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business
Previous General Manager/VP, Salesforce
Former CEO, SlideRocket
Previous General Manager, VP of Applications, vmware

MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises

April 1, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises

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MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises

This week, Lara Hodgson, CEO and Founder of NOWaccount came by and brought experts from Atlanta’s mass transit authority and a WBE who’s worked with them to talk about MARTA and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. Ferdinand Risco is the Executive Director for Marta’s Diversity and Equal Opportunity platform. This arm of MARTA focuses on engaging Atlanta’s disadvantaged business enterprises to provide them with opportunities to vie for contracts and sub-contracts to work with federally-funded projects around the community.

Ferdinand shared that their goal for DBE participation is 30% of contracts awarded to this demographic of Atlanta’s business community. He talked about the fact that there are business opportunities on a broad spectrum of needs from basic office supplies to construction, planning, and other services. We talked about the online resources MARTA makes available to allow local business owners to easily review current and upcoming projects they could potentially participate in.

We also talked about the fact that business owners need to go through the effort to establish credit and corporate structuring to position themselves to be able to meet certification requirements for DBE status. Through partnerships with GMSDC and SBA, MARTA helps business owners have access to these often-free education and mentoring resources, as well as access to necessary resources such as working capital.

Lara shared information about NOWaccount’s recent partnering with MARTA to make their innovative capital solution available to the B2B community. This solution gives business owners access to their AR capital within 5 days or less for 2.5% of the total AR sold. In this way, NOWaccount gives B2B’s quick access to the capital they’ve already earned so they can add new staff, take larger orders, or purchase in bulk on discounts they wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.

Lara also introduced us to Heather Alhadeff, President of Center Forward, a transportation and land use planning firm based in Atlanta. Heather is so committed to the value of mass transit, she hasn’t owned a car in years. In addition to avoiding headaches associated with driving with Atlanta traffic, she also has gained first-hand experience of what users of our mass transit system experience. This affords her with insight to be able to recommend options that would improve on the experience and/or allows her to effectively engage community residents when discussing developments (growth or retraction) of mass transit, road systems, or urban land development.

We talked about why transportation is such a key element of urban or city planning, discussing examples of how mass transit availability can have unexpected impacts on such facets of our lives as healthcare delivery and other important functions.

Special Guests:

Ferdinand Risco, Executive Director of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, MARTA

MBA, University of New Haven
Recipient, 2014 GMSDC The Ambassador Award
Former Bradley Platoon Leader, US Army
Previous Inclusion and Diversity Manager, MTA Metro-North Railroad

Heather Alhadeff, President, Center Forward

BS Planning & Economic Development, Georgia State University
MBA, City Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology
Published Author
Part-time instructor, Georgia Institute of Technology

Lara O’Connor-Hodgson, CEO of Nowaccount Network Corporation

MBA Harvard Business School
Former Adjunct Professor of Finance, Georgia Institute of Technology
Board of Directors, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
Owner, Insomnia Group
Chairman of the Board, Atlanta Heights Charter School
Second Language–Japanese

Some backing music provided by: www.pacdv.com/sounds/

Intellimedix and Life University

April 1, 2015 by angishields

Health Connect South

Intellimedix and Life University

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Intellimedix and Life University

This week we sat down with experts from Intellimedix and Life University. Intellimedix is an Atlanta-based company that uses high-powered computing algorithms, coupled with genetic testing to identify existing medications that could potentially be re-purposed to effectively treat illnesses other than the ones they were originally designed to treat. One of the company’s founders has a child who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. Unfortunately, there are limited treatments known to be available that will provide relief from this debilitating condition. His daughter’s story influenced the decision to focus the company’s initial efforts on uncovering existing medications that could be successfully re-purposed to help folks dealing with this type of epilepsy and other neurologic disorders.

Chief Science Officer, Jeff Skolnick shared the example of how a blood pressure medication (Viagra) was re-purposed to treat erectile dysfunction. He went on the discuss the physiology/chemistry behind why this is possible and why it makes sense to look for existing, approved medications that have the ability to improve quality of life for patients dealing with illnesses different from those the medications are initially intended to treat. This approach saves a great deal of time and money over the years-long, massively-expensive process of developing a medication from ground zero to treat a particular condition; allowing patients in need to receive access to an effective treatment sooner.

Dr. Gilles LeMarche, VP of Professional Relations at Life University came by to talk about the undergraduate and graduate programs available at their Marietta, GA-based campus. They offer a number of health, wellness, and sports-related degrees ranging from chiropractic medicine, to vitalistic nutrition, functional kinesiology, and others. He shared their approach to wellness, applying the philosphy of “vitalism” allows their graduates to help their clients/patients by helping the body to heal itself; as it is ideally capable of doing when interfering factors are removed.

Special Guests:

Steven Hickson, CFO, Intellimedix

MBA, Global Executive MBA Program, IESE Business School, Barcelona Spain
BA Accounting, NC State University
Previous Senior Auditor, Turner Broadcasting System
Former SVP, New Media & Premium Channels, Fox International Channels- Asia

Jeff Skolnick, PhD, Chief Science Officer, Intellimedix

Director, Center for Study of Systems Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology
PhD, Chemistry, Yale University
Mary and Maisie Gibson Chair in Computational Systems Biology
Associate Director, Integrated Biosystems Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology

Gilles Lamarche, DCM, VP, Professional Relations, Life University

Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
Certified Six Advisors Coach, 6 Advisors Coaching Academy
Former Vice President, Parker College of Chiropractic
Fluent in French

Some backing music provided by: www.pacdv.com/sounds/

Motif Investing

March 17, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Motif Investing

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Motif Investing

This week I caught up with Peter Andes, VP of Research for Motif Investing. They’re an online investment platform that gives its clients the ability to invest in “motifs” built around particular themes or company types. Each motif consists of up to 30 unique company stocks and the investor has the ability to tailor the breakdown of percentage of funds that gets put into a given stock in the motif. In this way, Motif Investments clients get to achieve investment diversity as well as having a high level of control over the stocks in a given motif.

Here’s a link to an overview of Motif Investing.

Motif Investing’s experts have created numerous motifs, based upon market research and trends, that have potential for positive return when investors select that particular group. Should the investor wish to swap out companies or create a motif from scratch based on their own knowledge of market trends/data they have that ability. And trades are inexpensive, with investing in a given motif costing only $9.95 with a minimum starting investment of $250. For users to swap out companies in existing motifs it’s only $4.95 per company to do so.

Another benefit of this investment platform is that investors are actually holders of the respective stocks in these companies, not just investors in a fund that holds the stocks. That means that the investor can transfer their shares to a traditional investment agency should they choose to do so. Motif Investing doesn’t provide investment advice–it’s up to the investor to educate themselves on the stocks/market sectors they want to invest in. But their innovative approach to online investing makes participating in the stock market attainable for pretty much everyone who wants to do so. Check it out!

Special Guest:

Peter Andes, Director of Investment Products & Analytics, Motif Investing

BSc Computer Science, University of British Columbia
Chartered Financial Analyst, CFA Institute
Former Software Engineer, Google
Previous Associate, Equity Fundamental Strategies, Goldman Sachs

Creative Circus, BBDO, Escalate, and Coca-Cola

March 10, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Creative Circus, BBDO, Escalate, and Coca-Cola

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Creative Circus, BBDO, Escalate, and Coca-Cola

This week my guests included experts from Creative Circus, BBDO, Escalate, and Coca-Cola. The focus of our discussion was centered around marketing/brand awareness through creative campaigns and experiential/word-of-mouth marketing. And we started by sharing the story about Creative Circus, an Atlanta-based creative school that recruits top creative arts students from around the country to continue their education and professional development in their 2 year program. A key feature of Creative Circus is not simply teaching creative arts/ad creation skills. Rather, Creative Circus also teaches the students fortunate to attend how to market themselves in the interview/application process and how to build a professional, well-constructed portfolio of work. With the combined quality of instruction in the creative process and portfolio development, the Creative Circus’s graduates have a high rate of placement with creative agencies upon graduation.

The Creative Circus collaborates frequently with such well-known firms as BBDO, the globally-known creative agency responsible for innumerable high-profile ad campaigns as seen during the Super Bowl, on our TV’s daily, and across the spectrum of media forms. Debbie Lindner, SVP and Chief People Officer stopped by to talk about how the agency will sometimes refer candidates who are seeking to work with BBDO to the Creative Circus for additional experience and development of their book of work. She talked about the fact that Creative Circus graduates clearly come out of the program prepared and ready to contribute to creative campaigns with a high level of ability.

Stu Sheldon of Escalate joined the conversation to talk about how Word of Mouth earned media adds an additional layer of engagement on top of well-planned, quality creative campaigns to boost effectiveness of brand campaigns. He introduced us to a frequent client, Zakia Holland, a Director of Brand with Coca-Cola (a personal favorite brand of mine). We talked about a number of experiential marketing campaigns Coca-Cola has employed to reach new customer bases such as those in the younger generations and when they launch new brands into the market place.

The Coca-Cola Company is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 brands. The Company and its bottling partners are dedicated to “2020 Vision,” a roadmap for doubling system revenues this decade, focused on five key areas—profit, people, portfolio, partners and planet. The Company has the strongest portfolio of brands in the nonalcoholic beverage industry – now featuring 20 brands that generate more than $1 billion USD in annual retail sales.

Special Guests:

Katie Harmon, Marketing Manager of the Creative Circus

BA, Art History, Criticism, and Conservation, Georgia College and State University
Previous Representative and Event Coordinator, Coverdell Institute
Former Self-Expression Coordinator, Carrera Model Program
Hope Scholarship recipient, Weir Wells Study Abroad recipient

Debbie Lindner, SVP, Chief People Officer of BBDO Atlanta

BA, Psychology and Finance, Missouri State University
25 years of leadership roles with BBDO Atlanta
Board Member, BBDO Atlanta
Member, National Association of Professional Women

Stuart Sheldon, Chief Advocacy Officer at Escalate

BA, English and Journalism, Washington and Lee University
Former Senior Brand Manager, Coca Cola Company
Founder and Former Evangelist Prime, ConnectUs Marketing
2006 Coca-Cola North America Big, Bold & Inspiring Marketing award; Coca-Cola Worldwide Marketing Excellence award finalist

Zakia Holland, Senior Brand Activation Manager at Coca Cola

MBA, Georgia Southern University
9 years in leadership role, Coca Cola
Former Senior Account Manager, Ritz Carlton Hotel
Avid Runner

Pay Per Click Advertising

March 7, 2015 by angishields

Midtown Business Radio

Pay Per Click Advertising

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Pay Per Click Advertising

This week I caught up with Eric Jones from Jellyfish, the digital strategy experts. We talked about Pay Per Click Advertising, mistakes that can be made, things to think about when planning your campaign, and why it makes sense to work with experts such as those at Jellyfish to engage in a digital marketing campaign that employs pay per click advertising.

Having tried our hand at DIY Google AdWords campaigns that quickly cost us $$$ while getting us no conversions, our business can surely say there is value to working with experts who can guide you and help you spend wisely. Eric talked about the value of analytics to track the effects of a given campaign, as well as why it’s important to consider the page on your website the ads direct your prospective customers to.

Eric shed some light on how the bidding process works in determining where your ads will rank, ultimately controlling where your ads will be displayed (1st page?, top of 1st page? etc). We talked about how when there is much competition for a given set of keywords the cost per click can rise significantly, so advertisers must be prepared for that.

I also discussed some guests who have been on the show before that our listeners could benefit from getting to know. I’m planning to incorporate some occasional shout-outs to be sure the companies who need their solutions can link up with them. We hope you enjoy our show and subscribe to the podcast. Let us hear from you with feedback, guest recommendations, and where you’re listening from. If you tweet us questions or put them up on Facebook we’ll try to get them on the air and/or follow up with the guests after the fact to get you answers. Thank you for listening to us! Looking forward to 5000 downloads!

Special Guest

Eric Jones VP, Client Strategy with Jellyfish

CEO, Avenue J Development LLC
Previous Board of Directors member, Toolbank Baltimore
>10 years in leadership roles in digital strategy/marketing companies

Lara O’Connor-Hodgson, CEO of Nowaccount Network Corporation

HEAR LARA’S FULL INTERVIEW HERE

MBA Harvard Business School
Former Adjunct Professor of Finance, Georgia Institute of Technology
Board of Directors, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
Owner, Insomnia Group
Chairman of the Board, Atlanta Heights Charter School
Second Language–Japanese

LeeAnn Maxwell, CEO/Co-Founder of Vixen Vodka

HEAR LEEANN’S FULL INTERVIEW HERE

28 years experience in finance sector
former Director, Client Services of AccousTech Music Productions
Crossfit fan
50% Firecracker
50% Do-It-Yourself Woman

Jesus Ricardo (Rick) Tapia, Founder of La Bodega International, LLC and Creator of J.R. Revelry

17 years of experience in alcohol beverage industry
Successful entrepreneur
Actively involved in the community, supporting Hispanic and Latin American Chambers of Commerce
BA, Boston University
Speaks Fluent Spanish

Ron Herman, CEO of SionicMobile

HEAR RON’S FULL INTERVIEW HERE

Founder and Former CEO, Urban Informatics Corporation
>19 years of Executive Leadership roles in Technology Start-up to Fortune 500 Companies
Former CEO, Intellione Technologies

Mario Montag, CEO, Co-founder of Predikto Analytics

HEAR MARIO’S FULL INTERVIEW HERE

> 15 years of experience developing transformational technology solutions for Fortune 500 companies
Former Director, North America Oracle Master Data Management practice
MBA, IT, and International Business, Georgia State University J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Fluent in Spanish

Bill and Diedre Plunk of CimCo Commercial Collections