Michele Rikard of Hardy Realty, Keith Beauchamp of KB Aerial Imaging join Pam Powers-Smith of the Rome-Floyd Chamber and Roger Manis of Rome Business Radio on the Rome-Floyd Chamber Small Business Spotlight.
Elaine Abercrombie:
Elaine Abercrombie is the Owner of Greene’s Jewelers, Inc. This family business located on Broad Street has been in business 70 years. Elaine serves on the Rome Floyd Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is immediate past Chairman.
Elaine began working for Greene’s in 1984. She received her Certified Gemologist and Graduate Gemologist titles through the Gemological Institute of America. Greene’s Jewelers has been serving our community since 1948. She is a member of the fourth generation in her family of jewelers. They have always been on Broad Street and are very proud of our great Downtown. She inherited the business from her mother, Joyce Greene Manning, when she retired in 2019. It is Elanie’s plan to continue serving our community just as she, her sister Sarah Greene Brock, and their parents, George and Thelma Greene, always have! Her family has been serving your family since 1948. Their roots are in Rome and those roots run deep.
Steve Dennis:
Internationally acclaimed entrepreneur, speaker, trainer and life coach, Steve Dennis has shared the stage with such personal development masters as John Maxwell and Jack Canfield.
In 2009, Steve founded Motivation Unlimited, an organization created to inspire positive change in the lives of people – personally and professionally. He began providing mastermind groups, lunch & learns, corporate training, and speaking engagements for individuals and organizations seeking personal growth, leadership development, customer service and teamwork.
Steve is a founding member and Executive Director on The John Maxwell Team. Steve is also a graduate of Jack Canfield’s “Train the Trainer” Program, and holds a Doctorate of Biblical Studies from Ministry International Institute.
He trains and motivates with an emphasis on strengthening leaders and helping them to maximize their skills and effectiveness and identify the potential in the individual. Steve believes that in order to build businesses, you first must build people.
Steve does keynotes, workshops and trainings all over the country in various corporations, universities, government agencies, city and county schools, and community organizations. As an internatinoal speaker, Steve has spoken to audiences in Recife, Brazil and Cartagena, Columbia. Along with the John Maxwell Team, Steve has helped to train 20,000 leaders in Ascension, Paraguay.
His workshops, training, coaching and keynote speeches help leaders and organizations achieve their desired results in record time!
Lamante Attaud, Tendo Technologies.
TENDO technologies was the brain child of Founder and CEO, Lamante Attaud. In Sept 1996 he opened his first “internet” account with pipeline.com. It was a small community of mostly nerds and programmers like himself. That year, using his background in Fortran and C++ began teaching himself HTML. Using IRC chat (a predecessor to modern messaging programs), he learned quickly creating his first web page. It was a single page, with a white background and a single burgundy rectangle placed in the center. From that day until now he has loved the ever evolving world wide web.
In 2004, he stepped out in faith with the encouragement of his first client and mentor, Phillip Gaines of Hi-Tech Signs. After eliminating all obstacles the final one was the need for a client. Phillip wrote him a check that day and TENDO was off the launch pad. Lamante became active with the Rome Chamber, serving 7 years on the board. He also served on many of its committees. He has served on several non profit boards including the Community Criminal Justice Foundation, South Rome Redevelopment Association, Domestic Violence Task Force, The Adult Prom benefiting the End to Alzheimer’s Disease, among many others.
Lamante’s mission has been to help companies and organizations of any size across to globe. From the local “insurance guy” to the New York fashion event agency to a major global manufacturer, and everything in between. His passion for puzzles and programming is the fuel that keeps the TENDO engine going strong. With the assistance of his marketing gladiators, TENDO is helping you fight off the competitors, protecting your brand, and expanding your empire.
Pam Powers-Smith, Rome Floyd Chamber
The leadership of the Rome Floyd Chamber, in conjunction with the Greater Rome Existing Industries Association, has selected Pam Powers-Smith to serve as the community’s contact for existing businesses and industries in the area. The executive search was led by The Chason Group, an executive search consulting firm providing services for chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, foundations and other non-profits. Powers-Smith currently serves as president and chief executive officer of the Opelika Chamber of Commerce in Alabama. Her new title in Rome will be Director of Business and Industry Services.
A graduate of Auburn University, Powers-Smith began her career in the economic development / chamber of commerce world in 1998 as communications coordinator for the Auburn / Opelika Tourism Bureau. In 2002 she opened her own photo business in Opelika which she held ownership of until 2016. In 2011, Powers-Smith was named director of Opelika’s Main Street program which was followed by the chamber leadership role in 2016.
Hillery Sawyer – Speakcheesy, Owner
Speakcheesy was founded in 2014 as a spark of an idea between three friends. Rome did not offer a late-night food option and they wanted to fill that need. What better than cheese and bread to get you through a late night in our downtown hub? Hot late-night food wasn’t the only dream, the friends wanted to create a concept that was versatile, appealed to the masses, provided comfort and took you down memory lane with the nostalgia of childhood. Together the friends incubated the idea, the name, initial menu, and branding, in just a few short weeks, by hosting a late-night pop-up grilled cheesery on Broad Street allowing customers to vote for their favorite original grilled cheese recipes with their dollars. The friends learned a lot about cheese, each other, and business over the six months they spent popping up on Broad Street. At the end of 2014 the friends chose different careers, but this was still a dream Hillery wanted to make happen! She partnered with local non-profits like the Chieftains Museum and growing local festivals like Going Caching to get the word out about her unique concept. By winter 2015, now sole owner, Hillery Sawyer had raised the $8,000 she needed to bootstrap this business from the help of friends and a quick repay loan from the Maker village. She successfully paid the loan off by March of 2016 and started booking around Rome from the parking lot of Redmond Regional to River Dog Outpost and headed off down the road to Atlanta, Athens, and even South Carolina. Now equipped with a new Teammate and husband, Benjamin Mitchell who dreams of cheese right alongside Hillery they set off for Speakcheesy’s Spring Music and Craft Festival US road tour taking the truck across state lines to over 15 music and art festivals across the south in order to fuel their expansion into a commercial prep kitchen and gastropub. In summer of 2019 Speakcheesy had the opportunity to partner with local brewery Rome City Brewing to make their gastropub dream a reality right here on Broad Street across from the space they hosted their very first pop-ups six years ago. Hillery’s heart is as big as it is cheesy. You can support Speakcheesy’s growth and journey by trying one of our many gourmet grilled cheeses or full menu at RCBC, ordering curbside or delivery, or simply grabbing a t-shirt or gift certificate for your friends and family!
Alma Roman – Farmers Insurance, Alma Roman Agency, Agent/Owner
Roman is one of 9 siblings born in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico to a blue-collar mother and father who migrated to the United States in search of the “American Dream”. At 9 years old, she moved to Rome in 1993 and she has considered it her home ever since. She graduated from Rome High School in 2002. After High School, she chose to be a stay at home mother to raise both of her children, Javi Roman (14) and Katelyn Roman (17). In 2004 through 2007, she worked in the medical field, working for The Harbin Clinic interpreting for the growing Spanish speaking population of Floyd County. From 2007 to 2009, she worked in retail and customer service for Lowes Home Improvement. From 2009 until now, she entered what she considers to be her career position, the insurance industry. She began in customer service and became the only team member in the history of Alfa insurance in Georgia to start as a Customer Service Rep and earn the position of business Owner/Agent. In 2016 she opened Farmers Insurance – Alma Roman Agency on 5 W 5th Ave, Rome, GA. She is happily married to Joel Paul McCool, and proud mother to 5 children: David McCool (11), Savannah McCool (20), Kassidy McCool (15), Katelyn Roman (17), and Javier Roman (14).
Jeanne Krueger was promoted to President and CEO of the Rome Floyd Chamber in July of 2019. In January 2019, Jeanne Krueger stepped into the leadership role of Interim Director for the Rome Floyd Chamber. With determination and focus to serve fellow colleagues in their excellent Chamber work and to consistently advance the Chamber’s pro- business message while communicating a confident and constructive image throughout the community, member engagement and investment has been significant.
Krueger’s professional career began in 1987 when she began working for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. She spent most of her career managing membership sales and retention, and business development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber prior to starting work at the Rome Floyd Chamber. Jeanne works to put best sales and marketing practices in place through establishing quantifiable goals and developing strategies along with cultivating long-lasting relationships.
A native of Rome, Georgia, Jeanne has been married to Mark Krueger, Managing Partner, Morehouse Group, CPAs, for 32 years. They have two children, Shelby, daughter and Spanish teacher, also a millennial living in downtown Rome, Georgia. Anderson is their 22- year-old son who is a graduate of Kennesaw State University and is working toward a medical degree.
Richard Montanaro brings more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive to his role as a University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (SBDC) area director. Montanaro’s industry experience includes textile and apparel manufacturing, specialty chemical manufacturing, and investment banking/consulting with responsibility for facilities and relationships in the US, Mexico, Central America/Caribbean, Spain, Northern South America and China.
Mr. Montanaro grew up in North Georgia attending high school in Dalton, receiving his undergraduate from Berry College in Rome, GA and receiving his MBA from Kennesaw State University. While Richard has spent the last several years working across the United States and internationally, he has always maintained his home in North Georgia. Mr. Montanaro speaks both English and Spanish fluently and is learning Brazilian Portuguese.
As President of the Synovus Bank Northwest Georgia Division, Scott Preston leads 90 team members with approximately $1 billion in assets. The NWGA division encompasses Rome, Cartersville, Calhoun, Dalton, Chickamauga, and Lafayette. Scott began his banking career during graduate school in 1991. After receiving his MBA, he began working at a small bank in Southwest Georgia as a lender, then made one more stop at another financial institution in Columbus, Georgia before beginning his career at Synovus Financial Corp in 1997.
Upon joining Synovus at the corporate office in Columbus, he worked in various capacities, including credit administration, loan review, product development and treasury management. While he was in Columbus, Synovus was named the #1 company to work for in the United States by Forbes magazine in 1998. It was there that Scott learned about applying a mindset of Servant Leadership in the workplace.
In 2004, after Synovus attempted on multiple occasions to buy a bank in Jacksonville, Florida, Synovus decided to start a bank from scratch for the first time. Scott was assigned to join a team in Jacksonville which became the Synovus Bank of Jacksonville. The team started the bank with zero assets, funded by a $10 million capital infusion by Synovus, and grew the bank to over $600 million in assets in a 12-year period.
While in Jacksonville, Scott served as Executive Vice President and COO before moving to Rome in 2016 to assume the role of President of the Synovus NWGA division. Scott graduated from Valdosta State University with his Bachelor of Business Administration, from Troy State University with his MBA, and received his graduate banking school degree from Indiana/Purdue University.
In addition to serving as Chair of the Rome/Floyd Chamber for 2020, he is also a Board Member of the Rome Floyd Development Authority, Free Clinic of Rome, Network Day Center, and the Shorter University Ledbetter College of Business. He previously served as a Board Member of the Florida Bankers Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the International Learning Center of Jacksonville, and a United Way loaned Executive.
He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children: Emily, a senior at the University of Georgia, and Jackson, a 6th grader at Darlington School. Scott and his family reside in Rome and are members of the First Baptist Church.
