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Month: June 2015

Gregg Simon of Metro Atlanta Chamber with Baha Zeidan and Todd Fryburger

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Metro Atlanta Chamber

Gregg Simon / Metro Atlanta Chamber

Gregg D. Simon is Vice President of economic development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC). In his role, Simon works to build and manage relationships with our economic development partners across the 29-county metro Atlanta region and cultivate job growth across MAC’s industry clusters: bioscience, technology, mobility, supply chain & logistics and global commerce. He also assists businesses and their consultants in their evaluation of metro Atlanta for new or expanded operations.

Previously, he served as senior director of project management at MAC, and worked with partners and MAC’s project management team to support businesses interested in expanding or relocating to the region. Before that he was director of technology industry development at MAC, focusing on building Atlanta’s technology cluster and growing jobs in the areas of Internet security, wireless mobility, software development and digital media.

Simon brings more than 20 years of economic development experience to MAC. Prior to joining MAC, Simon was manager of business engagement for the Atlanta Development Authority (ADA) where he helped existing businesses and attract new ones to the city of Atlanta. Before coming to Atlanta, he was the director of business services for the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development, a private non-profit economic development organization dedicated to business growth in Massachusetts. He also worked for Empire State Development, New York State’s economic devel­opment agency with a focus on business retention and expansion in the Buffalo regional office.

Simon’s work in Atlanta, Massachusetts and New York has included administration of tax and financial incentive programs, business retention and attraction marketing initiatives, economic development policy creation and implementation, and special event planning. He has worked with businesses such as Mercedes-Benz USA, Panasonic Automotive Systems of America, Ernst & Young, Novelis, Kemira, Invesco, Wipro, Bristol Myers Squibb, Straumann, Target, General Motors, 3M, Ford, Delphi and many others to support business expansions resulting in job retention and creation.

Simon is a graduate of the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY and lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

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Baha Zeidan / Azalea Health

Co-founder and CEO of Azalea Health. Responsible for providing the strategic direction for Azalea Health as well as collaborating with partners and co-founders on the day-to-day operations growth of the company.

Baha is a strong proponent and advocate for Health IT, cloud computing, mobile development, pervasive computing, and big data analytics.

Baha’s daily mission is to empower smart and talented people while cultivating quality relationships with partners and shareholders that aid in the further advancement of Azalea Health.

Valdosta State University graduate with a BS in Computer Science, and currently pursuing my Masters degree in Information Technology Management with focus on Healthcare Information Technology Management. In 2008, Baha received the GOLD Award (Graduate of the Last Decade) Alumni Award from Valdosta State University for demonstrating professional achievements and exceptional community service.

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Todd Fryburger / StarMobile

Todd Fryburger, President and CEO of StarMobile, has over 30+ years experience in enterprise software and enterprise mobility for respected technology industry leaders, including Cramer Systems (acquired by Amdocs), PeopleSoft (acquired by Oracle), CSC, Chrysler Systems (acquired by IBM), GE Information Services (now GSX) and CompuServe (acquired by AOL).  Todd previously served as the CEO of enterprise mobility leader CAS AG (acquired by Accenture).  He most recently led Global Enterprise Mobility for SAP.

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Jeff Cunningham of Seyfarth Shaw and Dr. Robert Willis of Foxcode, Inc.

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Seyfarth Shaw

Jeff Cunningham / Seyfarth Shaw

Mr. Cunningham, a partner in the Atlanta office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP and member of Seyfarth’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Tax practice groups, serves as outside general counsel to many growing mid-sized businesses, and concentrates his practice in mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, and general corporate matters. He counsels clients—from entrepreneurs and start-ups to large privately held companies—through each phase business: choice of entity, business plan development, capital raising, equity and ownership agreements, commercial transactions, and exit strategies.

Mr. Cunningham represents clients in mergers and acquisitions, both buy-side and sell-side, as well as joint ventures and significant financing transactions.  He develops strategies on both business and legal aspects of marketing, sales, negotiating transactions and relationships, and corporate governance. Mr. Cunningham advises clients on commercial financing matters and negotiates acquisition financing, private debt and equity financing, and venture capital. He works with clients across many industries including manufacturing, distribution, business and professional services, staffing, residential and commercial construction, and distribution.

In addition to business and transaction counseling, Mr. Cunningham utilizes his background in federal, state and local taxation gained while working in two of the Big Four accounting firms to provide advice on effective tax rate minimization, tax compliance, and tax optimized structuring.

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Dr. Robert Willis / Foxcode, Inc.

As the Founder & CEO of Foxcode, Robert Willis leads the company’s investment activities, advisory services, capital raising and strategic direction. He has more than 25 years of experience in industries from investment banking and finance to energy, infrastructure, telecommunications and technology.

In 2008, he led the acquisition of nsoro, LLC by MasTec, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-listed company. nsoro is a telecommunications services firm responsible for building and maintaining the wireless network for companies such as AT&T in the United States and India. He is senior advisor and acting President of the nsoro/MasTec division.

Prior to Foxcode, he founded Alpine Computer Systems, a network operating systems company, at the age of 15 and as the Principal Owner and Chief Executive Officer grew the company to over $35 million in revenue. Alpine was on the Inc. 500’s list of the fastest growing companies in the United States for three consecutive years before he orchestrated a $25 million strategic merger of Alpine with the Delphi Group, a UK company listed on the London Stock Exchange. As President of the IT division and CIO of the Delphi Group, he supervised the acquisition of 35 companies. He helped to orchestrate the sale of Delphi to Adecco S.A., a Fortune Global 500 company, and served as the Executive Vice President of the IT division.

In July 2004, he formed Gaming VC, an entity that he used to acquire a European online gaming company. In December 2005, under his lead, Gaming VC acquired and subsequently performed an initial public offering in the amount of $160 million on the London Stock Exchange. He served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the publicly traded company. He has since sold all of his interests in Gaming VC although the company continues to operate and trade on the London Stock Exchange.

He received an honorary Ph.D. from Newbury College and served on its board of directors. He lives in Miami and Philadelphia. He is on the board of the nsoro Foundation.

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Linda Gabbard of Framework Initiatives Company and Wayne Kurzen of The Kurzen Group

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Linda Gabbard

Linda Gabbard / Framework Initiatives Company, LLC

A high performing Strategic Execution Consultant and Vistage Chair, Linda Gabbard is known for driving growth and results in large global companies, start-up businesses, and turnarounds.  Her consulting practice specializes in strategic execution, change management, leadership development and executive coaching. She has deep experience in the manufacturing space with experience in product marketing, sales, general management, leading international business units, and change management.

Recognized as a change agent and strategist, she combines teamwork, creative problem solving, and a sense of humor in supporting clients in the execution of complex strategies in fast-paced environments.  Winner of Vistage Chair Excellence Awards, Master Chair, and National Chair of the Year awards, she is a certified Co-Active Coach (CPCC and ACC) and Leadership Circle 360 Practitioner.

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Wayne Kurzen / The Kurzen Group

Wayne Kurzen is an International Award Winning Business Advisor, Coach, and Speaker with over 30 years of business and leadership experience. In over 11 years as a Certified Business Coach, Wayne has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs grow their business and have a “life.” Wayne has worked with Leadership Teams of more than 60 Entrepreneurial Companies ranging from $1 to 100 Million in revenue – focusing on Successful Businesses that want to break through to become a market leader.

Wayne is a former decorated USAF Pilot where he commanded a Unit of 700, and was promoted early to Colonel (top 1% of his peers). As the owner of several businesses, he secured the first exclusive U.S. Distributorship for Europe’s then second largest decorative brass hardware manufacturer. In less than two years, he grew this start-up business to a point where they were supplying products to Home Depot.

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Mark Samuels and Shabbir Bambot of LumaMed, LLC

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LumaMed

Mark Samuels / LumaMed, LLC

Mark Samuels is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of LumaMed, LLC. Mr. Samuels is an experienced public and private company executive and entrepreneur with an extensive background in technology and biomedical product development.  Mr. Samuels has founded three companies and has raised over $65 million of investment, including an IPO.  Mr. Samuels has led research, development, and commercialization efforts on four medical device products, including three currently on the market. Additionally, he has led research, development and commercialization efforts on a non-invasive replacement for cervical cancer screening currently undergoing Phase III pivotal trials at Guided Therapeutics, Inc. (ticker:GTHP)

Mr. Samuels earned his Master’s degree from Georgia Tech. He is a named inventor on nineteen (19) issued US patents and eight (8) US patent applications.

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Shabbir Bambot / LumaMed, LLC

Shabbir Bambot is co-founder, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of LumaMed, LLC. Dr. Bambot has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and over 20 years of experience in developing innovative medical devices, business development, intellectual property development, regulatory strategy and clinical trials. He is currently co-founder and CTO at LumaMed, LLC, a company focused on developing imaging devices to help surgeons see cancer margins during surgery.

Dr. Bambot previously co-founded Guided Therapeutics, a company developing products for non-invasive and point of care cancer diagnosis. He has been instrumental in the successful launch of multiple medical diagnostic products, the AVL/Roche OPTI 2® blood chemistry analyzer and the SpectRx BiliChek® Non-invasive Bilirubin Analyzer and the Guided Therapeutics LuViva® Advanced Cervical Scan. He is a named inventor on 10 (ten) US patents and several additional applications under prosecution. He has several publications in the areas of clinical monitoring and diagnostics and is the recipient of several NIH SBIR grants totaling in excess of $6.5 million for developing non-invasive diagnostic devices. He frequently serves on review panels for scientific publications and NIH grant applications.

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Sid Mookerji and Tom Delbrook of SPI

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CEOSid Mookerji / SPI

Sid Mookerji is Global CEO and Founder of SPI. He has built the organization with a passion about providing the best client experience for Retailers worldwide looking for services and innovation in IT and is recognized as an expert on outsourcing, IT services and technology solutions for the Retail Industry. He has received the Indian government’s Excellence in IT Exports award twice. In 2008, he helped secure SPI’s placement in the Atlanta Business Magazine’s list of Top Ten Fastest-Growing Companies. He has been honored for SPI’s rapid growth by USPAACC as well as by Inc Magazine several times.

Sid holds a BE (Hons) Electrical and Electronics from BITS, Pilani, India and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. He serves on NASSCOM’s Regional Council and the Academic Advisory Board of SDM Institute for Management Development.

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Tom Delbrook / SPI

Tom Delbrook is SPI’s Chief Financial Officer and leads SPI’s Finance and Legal teams worldwide.

Tom is a highly respected figure in the financial circles particularly in the areas of Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions. Till recently, Tom was Managing Director and Co-Head of the Transportation, Logistics and Shipping group at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, based in New York, NY. Prior to Credit Suisse, Tom worked for United Parcel Services, Inc. for over 20 years, the last seven years as the Vice President of Finance based in Atlanta, GA. Tom completed over 60 acquisitions and executed over $20 billion in the capital markets through his career at UPS as well as leading the company’s Initial Public Offering.

Tom has also been an Executive in Residence and Visiting Professor of Economics and Finance at Kennesaw State University. He has served as an independent consultant to several private equity and hedge funds in the transportation and logistics industry. Tom has a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Northern Illinois University and a Juris Doctorate from IIT – Chicago Kent College of Law.

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