Papa Samb / It Secure Solutions
Founder & CEO
Immigrant from Senegal, graduated at ASA College(Brooklyn, NY) in Network Administration and Security.
Worked for various Organizations as a Consultant and formed IT Secure Solutions in 3 different States( NY, NJ, and the recent GA location).
Timothy J. Jones / The Timothy Jones Companies
CEO & Founder
TJ is an expert leadership speaker, coach, and consultant with a new book to be launched in September. He began his professional life as a teacher, then spent 20 years in the biopharmaceutical industry leading sales teams and as head of Training and Leadership Development. With practical wisdom learned in the trenches, TJ helps individuals, teams, and companies enhance their engagement and effectiveness. He delivers highly interactive and transformative learning experiences. He is President/Owner of the Timothy Jones Companies. LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyjjones1
Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk (Host)/ bbr Marketing
President
Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk has been a member of the creative and marketing services community for over 20 years and does not appear to be leaving it anytime soon. As president of bbr marketing, she has relished the challenges of entrepreneurship as she worked to grow and nurture a new business. Since the firm’s inception in 2009, Bonnie has led the young company to become widely recognized and respected within the professional services marketing niche, with award-winning client websites and an outstanding history of business success having worked with clients in 23 states and 2 Canadian provinces.
Vice President of Sales Eastern Region
CEO
JoAnn Holmes, Esq. / HOLMES@LAW, LLC
Attorney and Founder
JoAnn Jo Holmes is the founder of HOLMES@LAW, LLC(www.holmesatlaw.com), where her practice focus is Business Law & Contracts, Trademark & Copyright, Software & Tech. She works with a broad array of clients, including professional service providers, consultants, software and creative content developers, and manufacturers. Having practiced law for nearly 17 years, her goal is to live the firms slogan Your Business Ally™.
A graduate of Stanford University and Emory School of Law, her career began in the Technology & Intellectual Property (IP) practice group of Troutman Sanders, a prominent Atlanta based law firm. There, she successfully represented a gamut of diverse clients, from startups to multi-billion dollar companies like Chick-fil-A, Microsoft and WalMart.
Moving in-house, Jo served on business management and legal teams in senior leadership roles for both public and private manufacturing companies. For more than a decade, she was the go-to lawyer for her business units with presence in North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Pacific Rim. She has overseen IP portfolios in more than 130 countries, is well accomplished in negotiating sophisticated domestic and international commercial contracts, and in resolving high dollar disputes.
Jo has spoken extensively about business law, technology, and intellectual property. Currently, she writes the business law section for the Gwinnett Citizen newspaper, and speaks for SCORE, a longstanding resource partner of the Small Business Administration. Likewise, Jo volunteers with Leadership Gwinnett, Discovery High Schools Entrepreneurship Academy, the SE Gwinnett Coop food pantry, and the Stanford Alumni Association.
Kevin Geraghty / Revenue Research, Inc.
President
Kevin is responsible for the creation of $3 billion in documented corporate value. He has built successful analytic departments and profitable business models for Fortune 500 clients. Kevin received the Edelman Laureate Award in 1996 and 2016 for outstanding Operations Research practice and received the DM News Martech Award for Data Science in 2015. He is the author of machine learning patents for Dynamic Pricing and Paid Search marketing.
Thad Oviatt / ParkENT Cycles
Founder & CEO
ParkENT Cycles just wants to HUG your bicycle and keep it safe. We produce an electronic bike rack. The rack is a bicycle locking system built into a custom bike rack. To use the rack a person just needs to push their bike into the rack, activate it with the paired phone app (or key card, or attached kiosk), and the bike rack locks up the bicycle. The electronic bike rack locks the wheel and frame of the bicycle. The rack is safer than any other bicycle lock on the market.
Owner
President and CEO
Dr. Joi Freemont / The Freemont Foundation
President
The James M. and Erma T. Freemont Foundation was created on the legacy of Dr. James McKinley Freemont, Sr. (1942 – 2013). His life’s works were built on integrity, hard work, and genuine laughter. He was an obstetrician/gynecologist, medical acupuncturist, and hospital administrator. He believed in higher education and Christian principles. His dedicated wife of 47 years, Erma, and children are determined to continue his legacy by funding projects that reflect his nature.
Dr. Freemont’s contributions to his wider community are too numerous to count, from his ongoing dedication to his alma mater, Southern University, to his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., to his beloved family, and many others. His circle of friends and family was very important to him, as was his sense of service. His dedication to the South Fulton Medical Center and his community of patients and staff is living on in the lives of the more than 7,800 babies that Dr. Freemont delivered, and in the memories of the lives he touched with his humor, his sense of commitment, and excellence.
Annually, the James M. and Erma T. Freemont Foundation awards scholarships to deserving students attending institutions of higher education. In our first two years, with the help of phenomenal supporters, we raised over $30,000 for scholarships and have named twelve “Freemont Scholars”.
Corey Moore / Social Georgia
Founder
Corey ‘ NetworKing’ Moore is the founder and CEO of ProNetworker, Atlanta’ s largest online resource center for business events, networking events, seminars, and expos. Currently, ProNetworker hosts four to seven events per month as well as produces two to three conferences/expos and niche events yearly. Two past events have featured speakers like Daymond John & Kevin Harrington, stars of ABC’ s award winning ‘ Shark Tank’ . Companies that have used ProNetworker to feature their products/services include Atlanta Business Chronicle, Microsoft, Sprint, InfusionSoft, BNI, Constant Contact, Fifth Third Bank, and American Express.
Initially, SocialGeorgia started out as a way to raise money for local nonprofits; however, it quickly reshaped into something far greater: a social movement. As SocialGeorgia’s devoted team went out into the community to engage with local nonprofits, a discovery was made. It was more than just money and resources missing. It was the practice of kindness and the understanding of sustainability.
As a way to fulfill this need, SocialGeorgia developed a #12DaysofKindnesscampaign, in which the team reached out to the Atlanta community by performing random acts of kindness. Through this campaign, SocialGeorgia witnessed an enormous transformation thanks to the one key ingredient they added that had been missing from the community pot: togetherness.
During the campaign, the SocialGeorgia team heard countless stories from struggling nonprofits that began their organizations when a problem came tugging at their heart strings. Whether the problem was rooted in their own personal experiences or the experiences of others, they knew something had to be done. Each nonprofit intended to make a difference, but sadly their dream was deferred. Unable to communicate their results and improve on their capabilities, the community members they served became restless. Out of frustration, members of the community attempted to solve these issues on their own. Although their intentions were admirable, they were also unsuccessful.
After hearing similar stories from various nonprofits, our team quickly realized how efforts were being duplicated, resources were being wasted, and members of the community were suffering silently from feeling forgotten. Even though it’s well known that two heads are better than one, many people we interacted with were working separately and losing sight of a universal truth: “Together We Build”.
We believe our community needs a safe space to reconnect, repair, and restore togetherness with like-minded people. As a way to meet the needs of the community it proudly serves, SocialGeorgia has revamped its mission, vision and structure to eradicate this issue of division.
James Franklin / Techbridge
CEO
TechBridge® is a nonprofit that drives community impact by bringing affordable technology & business expertise to other nonprofits. Since 2000, we’ve been providing IT consulting and services to thousands of nonprofits in all 50 states and in seven countries—helping them harness the productivity gains long since enjoyed by the corporate sector, by connecting the needs of nonprofits with the skills and financial resources of the technology community.
James’ service to TechBridge started in 2006 as a volunteer. From there he joined the Board, serving as Products and Services Chair, Digital Ball Chair, and Board Vice-Chair before becoming Board Chair.
Prior to joining TechBridge as CEO, James held executive management positions at a number of IT products and services companies. Most recently, James was General Manager for the Enterprise business segment of Omnilink, a software-as-a-service business. He also worked at Avanade, an Accenture company focused on Microsoft solutions, where he ran the Southeast Region, and HP, where he served as General Manager for HP’s US State Government Consulting business unit. Throughout James’ career he has focused on the delivery of top quality IT products and services for leading brands.
James has a MBA from the University of Maryland and BA in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia. With generations of family history in Georgia, James is honored to have the opportunity to serve the community through TechBridge.
Michael Dayl /Orange Duffel Bag Initiative
President
Orange Duffel Bag Initiative, a 501c3, provides at-risk teens and young adults programs proven to improve their education success, ongoing advocacy, support to their guardians and caring adults, and service to the community in a spirit of offering hope and positive systemic change.
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram
Your Most Trusted and Respected Source For Pro Business Talk in Atlanta. Tune in LIVE Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10am and always on at AtlantaBusinessRadio.com
–
Marvin Price / The Container Store
Area Director
Marvin has been an employee of The Container Store’s since 2005 and has held multiple roles throughout his career. He began with The Container Store in 2005 as full-time salesperson in Portland Oregon, quickly became a Store Manager, then General Manager of the store in Portland. in 2013 he moved to Tampa, Florida to be General Manager of their new store in Tampa and was promoted to Area Director in 2015 and now oversees all three stores in Georgia, two stores in North Carolina and one in Tennessee.
Twitter Facebook Instagram Pintrest
Hillery Champagne, Director of Mobility Industry Expansion, Metro Atlanta Chamber
Aubriana Lopez, Chief Mobile Strategist, Digital Element
Fernando Pinto, Founder, Mobinteg
Margaret Martin , CEO, CN2 Tech
GSMA Mobility Live! – North America Press Release
Mobile Atlanta Pavilion at MWC 2017
Atlanta’s Most Exclusive Small Business Conference
The Conference will be held at the Hyatt Atlanta Perimeter at Villa Christina on Friday, May 20, and feature over 200 of Atlanta’s most-recognized small business leaders.
Tim Fulton / Small Business Matters
President
Small Business Matters is a leader in small business coaching and development.
With over 30 years of experience, Small Business Matters brings a results-based approach to each and every client. Whether your business has been established for 30 years or 30 days, Small Business Matters is passionate about helping you achieve your goals and mission.
Small Business Matters was established in 1994 as an independent management consulting and training practice. It is the goal of SBM to increase the effectiveness and enhance the lives of CEO’s. Since its existence Small Business Matters has worked with companies such asLucent Technologies, Carlson Companies, CB Richard Ellis Real Estate Services, Inc.(formerly Insignia/ESG, Inc.), and Georgia Power.
Small Business Matters is owned and operated in Atlanta, Georgia by Tim Fulton. Tim is a nationally-recognized small business coach, consultant, and advocate. He has been involved in the field of entrepreneurship for the past 30 years as a successful business owner, a small business counselor, and as an adjunct university professor.
Tim currently is a Vistage Group Chair in Atlanta. Vistage is an international membership organization for company CEO’s and Presidents that provides a very unique growth experience for its members.
In 2012, Tim’s oldest son, Taylor, joined the Small Business Matters team as Director of Marketing. With a BS in Marketing/Entrepreneurship from the University of Kansas, Taylor shares Tim’s passion for small business and the entrepreneurial spirit. He has a professional background in publishing and content marketing and uses his experiences in these fields to help Small Business Matters develop and promote resources for the SBM community.
www.smallbusinessmattersonline.com
