James H. Johnson, Jr. is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds degrees from North Carolina Central University (B.S., 1975), the University of Wisconsin at Madison (MS, 1977), and Michigan State University (PhD, 1980).

Selected by Fast Company magazine (September 2000) as one of the "17 … brightest thinkers and doers in the new world of work," Jim’s current research and consulting activities focus on the workforce and workplace implications of post-1990 demographic changes in the U.S; and on how to create highly competitive and sustainable business enterprises and communities in the current era of economic uncertainty and global insecurity. His research on these and related topics has been widely cited in a number of national media outlets, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Detroit Free Press, Newsweek, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, and Business Week. He has also appeared on a number of national television shows, including The Today Show on NBC, CNN Headline News, the CBS Evening News, ABC Nightly News, Sunday Morning on CBS, Inside Politics on CNN, and This Week in Review on NBC.

Prior to joining the UNC-CH faculty, Jim was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he spent the first twelve years of his professional career.

As one of the nation's leading experts on the art of maximizing potential, Reinvention Strategist™, Entrepreneur and Entertainment Attorney, MARSHAWN EVANS is Founder of ME Unlimited®, a consulting firm focusing on reinvention, diversity, women’s empowerment, leadership and peak performance strategies. She is founder of ME University® - The Ultimate Business & Branding Bootcamp, the industry’s premiere summit for equipping entrepreneurs to monetize and maximize their brand (www.meuniversitylive.com).

She is author of the best-selling book, SKIRTS in the Boardroom: A Woman’s Survival Guide to Success in Business & Life, published by Wiley the largest business book publisher in the world. Some of her most popular presentation topics include:

• Habitude ™
• Diversity: Value Differences with Different Values
• Executive EDGE: How to Make Your Mark
• Reinvent ME: Keys to Expert Positioning & Personal Branding
• Style & Substance: Women of Faith in the Marketplace
• Gender Differences in Leadership & Communication

As President of EDGE 3M Sports & Entertainment – she quickly built one of the fastest-growing woman-owned professional sports management and branding agencies in the country, successfully elevating the profile of athletes in the NBA, NFL, WNBA, and Major League Baseball (www.edge3m.com). She is Founder and Executive Producer of The Caring EDGE Awards held annually in Atlanta, GA recognizing the philanthropic contributions of professional athletes and entertainers.

Her successes in the classroom and the courtroom took her to the infamous boardroom as one of Donald Trump's handpicked cast members on NBC's hit show “THE APPRENTICE.” Marshawn was the only person to lead Trump’s all-women’s team to a victory as the Project Manager for an upscale, yet in your face, Lamborghini advertising campaign. She has worked on marketing initiatives for global corporations such as HP, Delta Airlines, Tiffany & Co, Rolls-Royce, Vitamin Water, Gatorade, Kraft, Bally Total Fitness, Dairy Queen, and Best Buy.

As Miss District of Columbia, she finished 3rd runner-up at the Miss America Competition winning talent and interview. Using the power of expectation to surpass “problem-child” stereotypes, Marshawn, who is also a Harry S. Truman Scholar and a former U.S. ambassador to the International Summit of Achievement in Dublin, Ireland, received over $200,000 in scholarships and graduated magna cum laude from Texas Christian University with honors and distinction, where she joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She launched a new ministry called Marketplace Women™ focused on equipping women of faith to thrive in the workplace, and has held several international business summits in Nigeria, Ghana, the Bahamas, and Mexico.

Named one of Atlanta’s Power 30 under 30, she is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, a member of the State Bar of Georgia, and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshawn has been featured by Glamour Magazine, ESSENCE Magazine, Upscale, Diversity Business Magazine, USA Today, The Big Idea on CNBC, Fox News, MTV, the Paula White Show, and Christian Living Magazine. She regularly contributes for Fox Business Channel, PINK Magazine, Black Enterprise, CNN and ESPN. Subscribe to her e-newsletter at www.MarshawnEvans.com.

The Riverdale High School Jazz Band affords its students the opportunity to learn the elements of Jazz and improvisational music, develop the ability to play solos on their respective instruments in an ensemble setting and perform for audiences at events at school and in the local community.

Highlighted performances:
*Clayton County Public Schools Retirement Banquet - 2001, 2005
*Operation PUSH Clayton County Chapter Banquet – 2005
*NAACP Clayton County Chapter Banquet – 2007
*Clayton State University’s Spivey Jam Jazz Festival – 2007
*Atlanta Jazz Festival High School Jazz Competition – 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008
*Twilight Jazz Festival - University of Georgia / City of Athens, GA. - 2009
*Clayton County Public Schools Board Meeting – April, 2010
*U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s Minority Entrepreneur Development Week Luncheon & Banquet – 2009, 2010

In her more than fifteen years with AT&T, Sylvia Russell has been supporting the company’s efforts to provide the latest technology to keep customers connected while giving back to the communities in Georgia.

An Army brat, born in Germany, Sylvia moved to Atlanta in 1996 and today, is president of AT&T Georgia. From 2007 to 2009, AT&T invested more than $4.1 billion in Georgia’s wireless and wireline networks to help keep Georgians connected to each other and the rest of the world.

Sylvia and AT&T Georgia are building communities and touching lives throughout the state by providing volunteer and philanthropic support, particularly in the area of education. From 2007 to 2009, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation contributed more than $29.6 million to key initiatives in Georgia. AT&T made one of the largest-ever corporate commitments to address high school success and workforce readiness. In 2010, Sylvia was named one of the 100 most Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend and named to the Academy of Women Achievers by the YWCA. The Georgia Women’s Legislative Caucus named her one of the “Women Making History – Women Leaders in Business.” She has also been featured in Business to Business, James and Cobb Life magazines and in the “Black History Firsts” segment by 11 Alive News.

Prior to the merger of AT&T and BellSouth, Sylvia served as vice president, AT&T External Affairs, Southeast, responsible for all public policy within the region. An attorney, she has also served as senior attorney for AT&T’s Government Markets Business Unit and general attorney, supporting AT&T’s entry into the local telecommunications market. In 2000, she was named vice president of Law and Government Affairs for the southern region.

Sylvia is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Technical College System of Georgia, at the request of Gov. Sonny Perdue. Additionally, she serves on the board of directors of the Commerce Club, the Metropolitan Atlanta United Way, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Landmarks, the Georgia Corporation for Economic Development, the State Board of Technical and Adult Education, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Woodruff Arts Center.

Sylvia holds a bachelors degree from Rutgers College, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey and received her Juris Doctor from Rutgers School of Law in Camden, New Jersey. She is married to Herman J. Russell Sr. and they have four sons and a daughter.

Patricia Hanes is the Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency South East Region. The regional office, located in Atlanta, GA, serves eight states: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. She is a consistent supporter of minority business development, as demonstrated by over 30 years of her involvement with various organizations that promote minority business.

CAREER

Prior to joining MBDA in 2008, as Regional Director, Ms. Hanes served as Director of International Truck and Engine Corporation’s Global Supplier Diversity Initiative. Ms. Hanes’ career includes twenty-five years in Supply Chain Management and Supplier Diversity with the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, a division of Occidental Petroleum.


BOARD AND COMMITTEE AFFILIATIONS

• Served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Chicago Minority Business Development Council
• Member of the Executive Committee of the National Minority Business Council for four years; maintains working relationships with several M/WBE business development councils
• Honorary Co-Chair of the Chicago Regional MED Week Committee
• Served on the Advisory Committee for the Chicago Minority Business Opportunity Committee (MBOC)
• Served as member of the Board of Directors for the National Minority Manufacturing Institute

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

• Honored as one of Atlanta’s 100 Black Women of Influence (2009)
• Recognized in “Who’s Who in Black Chicago” (2008 / 2007)
• Advocacy efforts won International Truck and Engine Corporation the “Success Award” from the Minority Business Committee of the Chicago Minority Business Development Council (2007)
• Awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award, for Minority Business Development, by the MBDA Midwest Region (2007)
• Awarded Minority Business Advocate of the Year, at both the regional and national level, by the U. S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) (2006)
• Recognized by the Indiana Regional Minority Business Development Council and Diversity Inc. for excellence in supplier diversity (2005)
• Awarded Supplier Diversity Manager of the Year by the Wisconsin Minority Business Development Council (2005)

Pat’s accomplishments have been chronicled in various media outlets including: Minority Business News USA, Women and Minorities in Business, the Chicago Defender and the Chicago Tribune.

EDUCATION / CERTIFICATIONS

• B.A. degree in Business Administration from DePaul University
• Lifetime Certified Purchasing Managers (CPM) from the Institute for Supply Management

Global Director, Supplier Diversity
Ms. Johnnie B. Booker joined The Coca-Cola Company in April 200l as Director of Supplier Diversity. In this capacity, Johnnie is responsible for developing and implementing the Company's U. S. based supplier diversity program and initiatives to assure contracting opportunities for minority and women owned businesses. During her first year with the Company, contracts with minority and women owned businesses increased over the prior year by 50 percent, and exceeded the company's goal by 27 percent.

Prior to joining the Company, Johnnie worked as a consultant for a number of national agencies and corporations, helping them develop supplier diversity initiatives and programs. She also served in the federal government at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as director, Office of Equal Opportunity, and vice president, Resolution Trust Corporation.

While at RTC, she commissioned the first diversity/disparity study by a federal agency and increased contracting fees for minority and women-owned businesses from 18 percent to over 48 percent. Before joining the FDIC, Johnnie worked for the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as deputy assistant secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

Johnnie is an active board member for National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), and Georgia Women Business Council (GWBC). Johnnie received her master's degree in Social Work from Atlanta University and a bachelor's degree from Hampton University.

Stacey's background includes a Bachelors of Science from UCLA in Computer Science Engineering. Stacey got her start in the computer field as a computer engineer in the Hewlett Packard labs. She spent 2 years developing main frame operating systems code for HP’s MPEXL Operating system and 11 years as a Business Analyst designing and implementing software applications and technology solutions for Fortune 1000 companies.

This experience prepared Stacey to begin work with WebEx when the opportunity presented itself. Stacey was able to establish and deploy WebEx’s customer training department, as the company grew from 24 to 400 employees. During this time, Stacey developed software to manage new customer on-boarding and product adoption, helping to drive the WebEx market share.

Soon after, a top Fortune 500 telecommunications company approached Stacey about her previous tenure, and Elgia was founded in response to the opportunity. Since its inception, Stacey has expanded Elgia’s training services to include remote online training classes, and on-brand technical support center that operates 24/7/365 to enhance the customer experience.

Elgia continues to grow, incorporating top level service to its white label Remote Customer Experience Support Services, including Contact Center, Training Services, Application Development, and Virtual Expert. Year after year Elgia increases its revenue and recruits new talent to steer itself towards higher and higher levels of success.

Through her continued business growth and support of Minority Owned businesses, Stacey has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions over the last couple of years including being named Woman of the Year at the 2010 Atlanta Business League’s Super Tuesday Awards as well as Class II Supplier of the Year at the 2011 GMSDC Spirit of Alliance Awards. In addition to these awards, Elgia has been named a Top Business by DiversityBusiness.com and a 2010-2011 Top 300 Business of the South. In 2009, Stacey was honored with the Regional Director’s Award at MBDA Med Week Atlanta. Stacey also serves as a Mentor for GWBC’s Mentor-Protégé Program and is a member of the AT&T Small Business Entrepreneurs’ Forum.

Milton Kirby is the President and CEO of Atlanta based Allied Logistics, Inc. With more 25 years of business management and operations experience, he founded Allied Logistics in 2004. Under his leadership the company has experienced average year over year growth of 140%.

Allied Logistics is a freight transportation solutions provider. The company specializes in the transport of industrial machinery, raw materials for production and manufacturing and other finished commercial goods. Allied’s clients include the US Army at Fort Benning, GA and Fort Picatinny, NJ. Commercial customers include national and international machinery manufacturers and distributors.

Mr. Kirby’s experience includes employment with the international accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCooper, Heller Financial, and Martin, Harps, Syphoe & Co.

Mr. Kirby’s transportation career began in 1994 when founded and operated a regional trucking company for nine years.

Professional and Community Activities

GMSDC Board of Directors 2010-2012 GMSDC Chair of Transportation & Logistics Committee 2010-2011 Tucker Business Association – VP of Programs 2010 / VP of Membership 2009 Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce – Chair Special Projects Committee 2009

Honors and Awards

2011 Recipient of the GMSDC Eagle Award 2011 Graduate of Leadership DeKalb 2011 Nominated Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year 2010 Named One of the Top 25 Architects of Success by The Atlanta Tribune Magazine 2009 Governor’s Mentor Protégée Program – Mentored by The Coca Cola Company

District Director
U.S. Small Business Administration - Georgia District Office

Terri Denison became the District Director for the Georgia Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in May 2002.

Ms. Denison started her SBA career in 1987 as a Presidential Management Intern at the Agency’s Washington, D. C. District Office. In 1989, she moved to the SBA’s Headquarters Office. Here, Ms. Denison worked with the Agency’s Minority Enterprise Development and One Stop Capital Shop programs and as a Field Operations Analyst in the Office of Field Operations. In 1994, she served as an SBA representative on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community Interagency Task Force.

In 1996, Ms. Denison became the Deputy District Director of the SBA’s Indiana District Office. In the fall of 2000, she was one of seven individuals nationwide selected to participate in the SBA’s District Director’s Candidate Development Program. Assignments included serving as the Acting Deputy District Director in the Los Angeles District Office and the Acting District Director in Wisconsin.

A native of Corpus Christi, Texas, Ms. Denison holds a B.A. Degree in American Government from Cornell University and an M.A. Degree in Urban Studies from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She is a member of the Georgia Economic Developers Association and the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Entrepreneurs and Small Business Coordinating Network.

Ms. Denison was included in the 2006 and 2007 editions of Who’s Who in Black Atlanta. She was honored in 2006, 2007, and 2008 by the Atlanta Business League as one of Atlanta’s 100 Most Influential Black Women and by the Atlanta Business Chronicle the past several years as one of the “ Top 100 People in Banking and Finance”. In June 2010, Ms. Denison received a Special Recognition Award from the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

George Hoag has been working with the SBA since 1980 He is currently the Georgia District Office Lead Lender Relations/Capital Access for the SBA. George is responsible for all lending, servicing and liquidations in the Georgia District. He is also responsible for establishing new and maintaining existing relationships with all participating lenders [bank/non bank], as well as micro lenders and 504 Certified Development companies. In addition to the foregoing responsibilities, George manages SBA training efforts reaching out to approximately 300 lenders per year. Prior to joining SBA George served in the Finance and Banking industry as a commercial Loan Officer from 1963 until 1980, and is a veteran of the United States Marine corps.

LaVon Lewis, one of the nation’s most respected authorities on elite graphic design and branding, has sat at the helm of one America’s most creative branding firms, Pencilworx Design Group (PDG) for over a decade, and the hits just keep on coming! Housed within his psyche the gift of transforming conceptual ideas into signature brands, Mr. Lewis has come a long way from his humble beginnings.

Upon its inception, LaVon birthed his dream out of a dorm room at his alma mater at the tender age of 19, Alabama A & M University, with a mere pencil and a sketch pad (thus the name, Pencilworx). Yet, upon graduation, after submitting numerous resumes and applications, Mr. Lewis was rejected from more than 25 different employers. Despite the obstacles that were placed along his path, his ambition, passion and vision superseded his lack of experience, finances and business support. With his goal clearly in view, LaVon started from his point of promise and began to build PDG.

Today, with over a decade of business achievements under his business belt, LaVon Lewis and the PDG team have amassed more than 45 awards nationwide (i.e. U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Technology Firm of the Year, Golden Addy, Golden Web Award) and have garnished a business clientele portfolio that boasts of the countries Who’s Who in business and entertainment (The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Pastor Marvin Sapp, University of Michigan, The Hilton Hotels).

In addition to his business successes, Mr. Lewis is also an accomplished, bestselling author, with his highly sought after book, “Today is a Great Day for a WOW Image!” This literary gem has spawned the success and direction of business owners and aspiring business professionals alike. With his vast knowledge of the marketing genre, LaVon has not only been featured in several publications, websites and TV shows, but he has also joined the ranks of the most sought after public speakers of our time, hosting and headlining conferences, seminars and workshops all over the country.

Author, CEO, Creative Director, speaker, visionary…LaVon Lewis continues to develop the WOW Image now and for years to come!  www.pencilworx.com | www.getthewowimage.com