Oconee State Bank in Gwinnett County Archives

Mike Fulton with Oconee State Bank and Craig Jenkins with the Atlanta Knights

August 14, 2019 by Mike

Gwinnett Business Radio

Mike Fulton with Oconee State Bank and Craig Jenkins with the Atlanta Knights

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Mike Fulton/Oconee State Bank

Oconee State Bank is a leading financial institution with a vision to be essential to the lives, businesses, and communities they serve. With more than 59 years of service in the banking industry, Oconee State Bank continuously strive to create remarkable experiences that significantly mark the lives of others. They are proud to provide an unparalleled commitment to personalized service, innovative products and solutions, and to bringing exceptional value to their customers through local ownership, involvement, and decision making. #beyondthecupola

Craig Jenkins/Atlanta Knights

The Atlanta Knights were a minor league hockey franchise that played at the Omni Coliseum from 1992 through 1996. The arrival of the Knights marked the return of pro hockey to Atlanta for the first time since 1980, when the NHL’s Atlanta Flames departed for Calgary. The Knights served as the top farm club to the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. In 1994, the Knights won the International Hockey League (IHL) championship, the Turner Cup.

2019 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Turner Cup championship team and the players and staff will participate in a 25-year celebration and reunion at the Atlanta Gladiators home game on Saturday, October 19.

Mark Prior with M1 Strategic Capital

August 17, 2018 by Mike

Beyond The Cupola

Mark Prior with M1 Strategic Capital

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“Beyond the Cupola” allows invited customers, community, and team members of Oconee State Bank to have an opportunity to share their stories of success and inspiration, and/or how the Remarkable culture of Oconee State Bank has inspired them to mark lives in their own right.

Mark Prior/M1 Strategic Capital

Mark B. Prior is the founder and Managing Partner of M1. Mr. Prior has over twenty-five years of experience in fund management, alternative asset analytics, enterprise level senior management, and strategy formulation/implementation. He is also the founder of a financial technology SaaS company. Additionally, he was a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of a mortgage fund where he developed and actively managed a national real estate debt investment fund that produced a high return on investment and managed a portfolio of both collateralized commercial/residential debt and real property. Before co-founding the fund in 2004, Mark spent more than a decade in the Fortune 100 manufacturing and forest product sectors which culminated in profit and loss responsibility for a $600 million business unit. He also has extensive experience managing projects in Asia, Europe and South America. Mr. Prior earned advanced degrees from Duke University (Master of Environmental Management) and Pepperdine University (Master of Business Administration).

Brian Brodrick with Jackson Spalding

August 9, 2018 by Mike

Beyond The Cupola

Brian Brodrick with Jackson Spalding

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Brian Brodrick/Jackson Spalding – Athens

In the summer of 1995, eight like-minded people decided there had to be a better way to structure an agency, serve clients, advance the community, and have fun doing it. The result was Jackson Spalding, an agency that, in their clients’ words, “just feels different.” Since the beginning, they’ve never aimed to be the biggest, flashiest or most highly-decorated – just the most trusted and respected marketing communications agency. They stay humble. They remain hungry. They embrace thoughtful questions above quick answers. They choose to work with people, clients and brands that inspire them. Jackson Spalding is driven to make the world more excellent for today and generations to come.

Lucas Acosta, Founder & CEO of Foojee

August 2, 2018 by Mike

Beyond The Cupola

Lucas Acosta, Founder & CEO of Foojee

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Lucas Acosta/Foojee

Foojee prides themselves on building rock-solid solutions created to serve by helping you achieve your goals through your Apple technology. Here are five things you should know about Foojee:

Foojee was born out of a calling to serve. They combined that calling with their enthusiasm of Apple products and created a company.
They’re in it to win it. Foojee doesn’t outsource their talent. All of their team members are W-2 employees with benefits, and each one adds their own spice to the Foojee brand.
Why the name Foojee? Well, the Fuji apple is their founder’s favorite type of apple. Simple as that.
Since Foojee opened shop, they’ve grown on referrals alone.
Foojee creates monthly Apple-centric videos filled with tips, news, advice, and the occasional joke. It’s how they like to keep in touch with their clients.

Tom Wilson/Oconee State Bank

In the early 1900s, there were banks in all the small towns of Oconee County… Bishop, Bogart, Eastville, Farmington and Watkinsville. When the Depression came along in 1929, all the banks went broke and Oconee County was without a bank for the next 30 years. Farmers and small merchants had to travel to Athens for their banking needs.

In 1958, a group of community leaders recognized the need for a bank in Oconee County and started a process of getting the necessary approval for a state chartered community bank. In 1959, the FDIC approved a community bank and Oconee State Bank opened its doors for business on February 1, 1960 with 3 employees and a small corner office on Main Street in downtown Watkinsville.

Today, Oconee State Bank has 3 full-service financial centers located in Oconee County, GA as well as a website which serves as an “Internet Branch.” The vision of the founders continues today. Oconee State Bank is proud to provide an unparalleled commitment to personalized service, value-added products, and a deep sense of responsibility to the communities they serve.

Clint Watson with Creed Fitness

June 21, 2018 by Mike

Beyond The Cupola

Clint Watson with Creed Fitness

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“Beyond the Cupola” allows invited customers, community, and team members of Oconee State Bank to have an opportunity to share their stories of success and inspiration, and/or how the Remarkable culture of Oconee State Bank has inspired them to mark lives in their own right.

Clint Watson/Creed Fitness

Clint Watson was born and raised in Athens, GA and graduated from UGA in 2006 with a B.S. in Exercise Science. He has held the most respected certification in the fitness industry since then.

In 2009, after many frustrating years training in gyms that cared more about profit than people, Clint decided to “right the wrongs” in the industry by starting his own fitness business. Since then, Clint and his talented team members at Creed Fitness have changed the lives of hundreds of men and women in the Athens area.

A skinny kid growing up, Clint made a decision at age 5 after seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger for the first time that he wanted to have big muscles. His fire for fitness was fueled in middle school when his football coaches introduced him to the weight room. While the other players moaned and complained about the workouts, Clint found himself enjoying the workouts more than he enjoyed football.

After a short-lived plan to pursue medicine at UGA, Clint eventually came to his senses and began pursuing his passion rather than pursuing a big pay check. Clint has a burning desire to help people achieve more than they ever dreamed they could. He believes anyone can be successful by consistently practicing the basics of exercise and nutrition.

Caleb Stevens, co-author of “Collegiate”

June 14, 2018 by Mike

Beyond The Cupola

Caleb Stevens, co-author of "Collegiate"

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“Beyond the Cupola” allows invited customers, community, and team members of Oconee State Bank to have an opportunity to share their stories of success and inspiration, and/or how the Remarkable culture of Oconee State Bank has inspired them to mark lives in their own right.

Caleb Stevens/Collegiate

Caleb Stevens is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia where he studied Business Management and Personal & Organizational Leadership. During college, Caleb started a podcast show for the business school, helped launch a faith & work conference, and was the student commencement speaker at graduation. He currently lives in Atlanta and blogs at calebstevens.com.

Wanda Stitt-Gohdes with the Oconee Area Resource Council (OARC) and Coleman Benko with Oconee State Bank

May 10, 2018 by Mike

Beyond The Cupola

Wanda Stitt-Gohdes with the Oconee Area Resource Council (OARC) and Coleman Benko with Oconee State Bank

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Wanda Stitt-Gohdes/Oconee Area Resource Council

The Oconee Area Resource Council is part of the Georgia Family Connection Partnership, a Georgia statewide initiative of 159 community collaborative partnerships committed to making measurable improvements for children and families in Georgia.

Controlled at the community level, Family Connection is present in every county in Georgia. It is the largest statewide network of communities in the nation that have made a commitment to improve results for children and families. In Oconee County, the OARC collaborates with local, state and national organizations to research the needs of their community and work together to address those needs.

The OARC pursues that goal by addressing the root causes of problems, building on their strengths, pooling resources, engaging an extraordinary diverse group of community members, and committing to a long-term process of planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Using a family-centered approach, schools, health and human service agencies, business, the faith community, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, civic clubs, and others work together with families, focusing on academics, physical and mental health, nurturing parenting, economic success, and community service.

Coleman Benko/Oconee State Bank

Travis Butler with Butler Properties and Josh Collins with Oconee State Bank

April 19, 2018 by Mike

Beyond The Cupola

Travis Butler with Butler Properties and Josh Collins with Oconee State Bank

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Travis Butler/Butler Properties & Development

Butler Properties & Development is a full service commercial real estate development and management firm specializing in national retail client services to include turn-key build-to-suits, ground leases, joint ventures, and fee developments. The company has also been successful in numerous multi-family, office, and industrial projects.

The firm also has a successful track record in complicated real estate financial transactions to include arbitrage, asset re-positioning, loan acquisitions, bond debt, tax-free exchanges, and defeasance.

Josh Collins/Oconee State Bank