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Emerging Enterprise

Andrew Katz with Thumb Friendly, Ted Tagalakis with RJRO Interactive, and Jim Duffie with Georgians for Fair Taxation, Inc.

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Andrew Katz/Thumb Friendly

Andrew is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Thumb Friendly. Andrew’s areas of focus include capital management, strategic direction, new market development and establishing Thumb Friendly as the market’s leading mobile presence provider for SMBs. Prior to founding Thumb Friendly, Andrew was a tenacious driver of growth in both start-up and publicly traded corporations. Andrew has helped launch, market and sell products that delivered over $200M in revenue. Andrew has broad industry experience in internet advertising, web presence optimization, venture capital and private equity. Andrew has worked with numerous other start-ups as an executive consultant to the leadership team. When he isn’t working, Andrew is probably on a golf course, reading a book, or most likely spending time with his wife, two daughters and Chloe – his black lab.

Ted Tagalakis/RJRO Interactive

Ted Tagalakis is a Senior Vice President for analytics and consumer insights at RJRO Interactive and is a leader in developing and implementing successful online cross platform engagement strategies. As a sociologist and social media engineer, Ted is at the forefront of utilizing the most current methods and techniques in conducting virtual ethnography research to analyze social intelligence. This data and metrics are then engineered to create unique solutions that include SEO, social media, e-commerce, e-mail marketing, branding, key influencer marketing and consumer engagement strategy. Ted is a graduate of the University of Florida.

Jim Duffie/Georgians for Fair Taxation, Inc.

Jim Duffie is a 40 year veteran of the real estate and mortgage industry. He has been involved in the investment capital funding community for the last 15 years, helping start-up enterprises acquire funds, investing is some, and advising others. As a Governing Board Member of The Ritz Group, he is directly involved in this activity, and as State Director of Georgians for Fair Taxation, Inc., is actively working to improve the business climate for small business and entrepreneurs. He is a lead volunteer for the USO, active in his church, and is married to Mary, a RN with the Emory Health Care system. Their three sons, their wives, and eight grand-children live in the Atlanta area.

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High Velocity Radio

Ankush Tewari: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Andrew Katz: Thumb Friendly, Kent Reed: Murphy Business & Financial Corporation North Atlanta, and Bill Short: FiberTech

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Ankush Tewari/Â LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Ankush Tewari is Director of Strategy and Market Planning for LexisNexisÂ Risk Solutions and Lead Integrity products. He has over 10 years of experience developing and executing strategies to maximize profits and manage risk using information solutions and analytics. He has worked with Fortune 500 clients in a wide range of industries as well as multiple agencies within the federal government.

Ankush holds an undergraduate degree in Management from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Duke Universityâ€™s Fuqua School of Business.

Andrew Katz/Â Thumb Friendly

Andrew is Founder and Chief Executive Officer ofÂ Thumb Friendly. Andrew’s areas of focus include capital management,Â strategic direction, new market development and establishing Thumb Friendly as the marketâ€™s leading mobile presence providerÂ for SMBs. Prior to founding Thumb Friendly, Andrew was a tenacious driver of growth in both start-up and publicly tradedÂ corporations. He has also helped launch, market and sell products that delivered over $200M in revenue. In addition to all of this, Andrew has broadÂ industry experience in internet advertising, web presence optimization, venture capital and private equity, and he has workedÂ with numerous other start-ups as an executive consultant to the leadership team.

When he isnâ€™t working, Andrew is probably on aÂ golf course, reading a book, or most likely spending time with his wife, two daughters and Chloe – his black lab.

Kent Reed/Â Murphy Business & Financial Corporation North Atlanta

Kent Reed, owner ofÂ Murphy Business & Financial Corporation â€“ North Atlanta, recently helped Bill Short, Atlanta entrepreneur, with buying a business.

Bill bought Lawrenceville, Ga.-based FiberTech using Kentâ€™s business buying/brokerage services to negotiate the purchase and acquire the business. Bill left the banking industry after 34 years to own his own company. He acquired the 20-person fiber-optic engineering and installation company last March.

Kent cut his teeth as a professional primarily in marketing. He rose to the top of his field.Â However, Kent craved more balance in life — and he kicked the corporate world to the curb. Putting more importance on lifestyle, Kent launched North Atlantaâ€™s Murphy Business & Financial Corporation.

Kent has immersed himself in his business and has become a statewide success story — recently earning a place in the Georgia Association of Business Brokers “Million Dollar Club.”

All of this, without losing focus on what is most important to him — more time with his family and enjoying life on a larger scale (loves time in the North Georgia Mountains and fishing with his twin boys).

Bill Short/ FiberTech

Bill Short is the Owner and CEO of FiberTech, Inc., a telecommunications construction company specializing in fiber optic based networks. Prior to purchasing FiberTech, he was a Banker in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area for 30+ years, most recently retiring as President & CEO of Touchmark National Bank. He did his undergraduate studies at Clemson University and completed his MBA at Duke University. He also completed graduate work at Dartmouth College and UNC at Chapel Hill. Bill has been active in and held leadership positions with many community and civic organizations over the years to include the Gwinnett Childrenâ€™s Shelter, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia, the Gwinnett Convention and Visitorâ€™s Bureau, the Council for Quality Growth, the United Way, the Robert D. Fowler YMCA, the Atlanta Athletic Club and the Peachtree Corners Rotary Club. He is a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett and served as the Assistant General Manager of Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Bill and his wife Joann live in Roswell, GA — he has three children.