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Atlanta CEO Council

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The Atlanta CEO Council is an organization of executives invited to exclusive events for the purpose of developing relationships, promoting entrepreneurship and investing in the community.

Raj Rajan/Virima

Palaniswamy “Raj” Rajan is co-founder of Virima the world’s first IT Business Operations Automation (IT-BOATM) software that provides a single solution to integrate all aspects of an IT organization. Prior to starting up Virima, Mr. Rajan was the cofounder, President and CEO of Vigilar, Inc, a leading network security technology firm. A highly versatile entrepreneur, he has cofounded several ventures, including eLaunchpad, an early stage venture capital firm/incubator focusing on Internet infrastructure and network security technologies; Emerald Systems, a boutique technology consulting firm; and ResourcIS, an IT recruiting firm. Another earlier success, VerticalOne, a financial aggregator, was sold to S1 in 1999 in a deal valued at $166M. Mr. Rajan serves on the Board of Directors of the above companies and on the advisory boards of several early stage technology firms nationwide.

Mr. Rajan is also involved in several professional and community-related organizations. He was instrumental in establishing the Atlanta CEO Council, and currently serves as its Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Rajan cofounded and serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), a national mentoring organization for technology entrepreneurs. He serves on the Board of Councilors for The Carter Center (President Jimmy Carter’s nonprofit initiative), a leadership advisory group promoting understanding of, and support for, The Carter Center and its activities among Georgia’s private-sector opinion leaders. Mr. Rajan was also selected to Georgia Trend’s “40 Under 40′′ Rising Stars in 2000.

Mr. Rajan is also committed to a variety of charitable organizations focused on providing support and education. Beneficiaries include Raksha, (meaning protection in several South Asian languages) a Georgia nonprofit support network for South Asians in distress, and CRY (Child Relief and You),  a US-based group helping deprived children.

Mr. Rajan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Florida Institute of Technology. Mr. Rajan was born in Coimbatore, India and raised in Bangalore, India.

Glenn McGonnigle/TechOperators

Glenn McGonnigle is a General Partner at TechOperators. Prior to launching TechOperators, Glenn was most recently Chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based VistaScape Security Systems, a leading provider of enterprise intelligent video surveillance software where he was recruited by the company’s board to raise capital and grow the business. He subsequently oversaw the successful sale of the company to Siemens Building Technologies. An authority on IT and physical security convergence and a frequent contributor and expert speaker for numerous industry publications and events, Glenn helped shape President Bush’s 2005 National Strategy for Maritime Security.

Previously, Glenn was a co-founder and top executive of Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems (ISS) where he helped raise initial venture capital and launch the business. For 7 years, he led the business development team in developing sales channels and entering the managed security services market. During his tenure, the company grew from startup to revenues of over $225 million and was recently acquired by IBM for $1.5 billion.

Prior to ISS, he was President and co-founder of Data Integrity Services Corporation, an early-stage provider of WAN-based data management services. Throughout his 24 year career, Glenn has remained focused on emerging technologies and has held a variety of sales and marketing executive positions during the high growth stages of EMC, Epoch Systems, Borland, and Wang Laboratories.

He is an active member of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and sits on the board of the Venture Atlanta Conference. In addition, he has served as Entrepreneur in Residence and CapVenture coach supporting Georgia’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). McGonnigle holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia.

Glenn oversees the fund’s investments in Immunet, JouleX, and Endgame Systems.

Peter Baron/Carabiner Communications

Peter Baron is principal of Carabiner Communications, where he acts as a senior-level consultant, offering advice to clients on product positioning and how to leverage the latest market trends. Through more than two decades of high-tech PR experience, Peter has the skills to recognize new opportunities in the marketplace and help clients prepare strategies accordingly. He has worked with entrepreneurs spanning the technology ecosystem including telecommunications, networking, healthcare technology and enterprise software solutions. Peter received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and PR from the University of Utah.

Greg Harley/Burr & Forman

Greg is a partner in the Burr & Forman’s Commercial Litigation group with a concentration on business litigation, class action defense and employment matters. Greg has extensive experience in all aspects of civil litigation and has handled disputes on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants on a broad range of issues including breach of contract, fraud, bad faith, trade secrets, defamation and unfair business practices claims. While Greg’s practice is centered in Georgia and Alabama, he has represented clients in matters across the United States.

Greg’s clients include national banking institutions, insurers and one of Georgia’s largest residential contracting companies. Greg also currently serves as national litigation counsel for a diversified telecommunications company.

Atlanta Independent Womens Network

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Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk/bbr Marketing

Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk is the President and Founder of bbr marketing, a firm that provides marketing strategy and services to professional services firms. By having such a narrow market, she has been able to create a name for herself and her company, and was recently named “One to Watch” by AccountingToday on their Top 100 Most Influential People of 2011. She attributes the awareness and growth of her firm to a number of things, one of the most effective has been making connections with others and actively networking among her peers. She is never hesitant to make introductions to colleagues with the hopes that they will eventually work together, refer business to each other or simply enjoy getting to know each other. She’s even been known to reach out to her competitors, and has made some lasting friendships and alliances because of this strategy. At the end of the day, she feels the good that can be done by connecting people far outweighs any negative impact. And who doesn’t enjoy meeting someone new?

Dolly Evans/Small Business Services

Dolly Evans with Small Business Services has developed three successful businesses over a 20 year period and works with her clients to do the same.  All of her endeavors support the owner managed business and its owners by providing planning and affiliated financial and accounting services. She gives back to the community by serving on local Boards of nonprofits, assisting in building a business foundation that allows the mission of the organization to be met and exceeded.

Carmen Westbrook/Naked-Fashion Help

Carmen Westbrook is an Image Consultant and owner of Naked – Fashion Help. In addition to working with men and women to help them improve their overall image through smart wardrobe choices, she’s developed a 45-minute presentation called “Pull Yourself Together!” that she presents to professional women’s groups. She is on the membership committee of the Atlanta Independent Women’s Network and enjoys volunteering at the non-profit, Dress for Success Atlanta.


Financial Executives International Association – Atlanta Chapter

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Jim Wanserski/FEI-Atlanta

Jim Wanserski (principal of consulting firm Wanserski & Associates) is currently serving as President of Financial Executives International Association (“FEI-Atlanta”)—Atlanta Chapter.  FEI-Atlanta is a 250-member affiliate of FEI-National, the “association of choice for Controllers, Treasurers, VPs-Finance & Accounting, and Chief Financial Officers” in the metropolitan area.  Wanserski is a veteran of the telecom and high-tech industries, and has served in all the finance and accounting “chairs” during his public and private company tenure.  However, he’s also worked in consulting for Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, and at a Chicago-based turnaround firm – Morris Anderson & Associates, as well as formed his own firm in 2002.  Most recently, he has fulfilled specialty consulting and management trustee roles as nominated by the United States Department of Justice and appointed to two CEO roles as Management Trustee by two Washington DC-based Federal judges in Verizon’s acquisition of Alltel and AT&T’s acquisition of Centennial Wireless.

Today, Wanserski consults via a variety of projects and roles in several industries, and to the C-Suite.  He has also published articles, and presented some 60 times to universities, accounting, regulatory and ethics organizations on several topics—primarily fraud prevention and detection…having uncovered fraud some dozen times and executed multiple testifying stints during his business career thus far.

Mike McCarthy/FEI-Atlanta

Mike McCarthy is the Vice President of FEI – Atlanta, and is also the CFO with World 50, Inc.

Graham Stieglitz/Burr & Forman

Graham Stieglitz is a Partner with Burr & Forman. Graham’s practice in the Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy group focuses on commercial and bankruptcy litigation. He has experience in commercial reorganizations and workouts, as well as transactional and litigation experience involving commercial transactions, receiverships, real estate and other business-related matters. He has represented debtors, trustees, unsecured and secured creditors in Chapter 11 cases. Graham has also represented financial institutions, commercial lenders, commercial lessors and lessees in bankruptcy cases and structured loan workouts.

Graham is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the American Bar Association, the Turnaround Management Association, the National Funding Association, the Atlanta Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia.

In 2011 and 2012, Graham was named as a leading practitioner in Bankruptcy/Restructuring by the highly regarded Chambers USA, a legal directory featuring client-led intelligence on America’s leading lawyers for business. Since 2007, Graham has been named in the Georgia Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition in Atlanta magazine. The lawyers chosen as Rising Stars represent approximately 2.5 percent of the best up-and-coming attorneys in the state as voted by their peers based on their personal observations. Additionally, Graham was selected as one ofGeorgia Trend’s “2010 Legal Elite.”

Graham graduated from The Westminster Schools in 1991. Graham received his B.A. in Economics from Washington University at St. Louis in 1995, his J.D. from Georgia State University School of Law in 1999, and his LL.M. in Bankruptcy from St. John’s University in 2000.

March Newsletter Article

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Atlanta CEO Council Featured on Burr & Forman’s Results Matter Radio

On Tuesday February 19, 2013, Burr & Forman Partner Greg Harley and Elizabeth Gordon, host of Results Matter Radio on Business RadioX®, were joined by Glenn McGonnigle, General Partner at TechOperators, Raj Rajan, Co-Founder of Virima and Peter Baron, a Principal of Carabiner Communications to talk about the Atlanta CEO Council which focuses on the tech sector in Atlanta and to drill down into the current business climate in that sector.

For more than 10 years, the Atlanta CEO Council has provided an exclusive opportunity for technology company C-level executives to connect.  The organization invites tech executives to exclusive events for the purpose of developing relationships, promoting entrepreneurship and investing in the community.

Palaniswamy “Raj” Rajan is co-founder of Virima, the world’s first IT Business Operations Automation software and a former Chairman of the Board for the Atlanta CEO Council. Prior to starting up Virima, Mr. Rajan was the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Vigilar, Inc, a leading network security technology firm. A highly versatile entrepreneur, he has co-founded several ventures, including eLaunchpad, an early-stage venture capital firm/incubator focusing on Internet infrastructure and network security technologies, Emerald Systems, a boutique technology consulting firm, and ResourcIS, an IT recruiting firm. Mr. Rajan serves on the Board of Directors of the above companies and on the advisory boards of several early-stage technology firms nationwide. During the interview Raj explained the need for C level execs to meet with their peers and talked about how valuable the organization has been to him.

Glenn McGonnigle agreed saying, “the job of a CEO is a lonely job.” He further explained that no matter how much you like your management team and employees there are just things you should not discuss with them.

Glenn is a General Partner at TechOperators, an early stage investment group that focuses on applying capital and the practical experience of its partners to help entrepreneurs build great technology companies. Prior to launching TechOperators, Glenn was Chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based VistaScape Security Systems and was a Co-Founder and top executive of Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems (ISS) where he helped raise initial venture capital and launch the business.

Peter Baron, a Principal with Carabiner Communications, also joined the discussion and added his views from a marketing and PR perspective. He explained that the Atlanta CEO Council is a “true peer group” and the while many networking events are too big and “too full of people trying to sell you something,” Atlanta CEO Council is designed and operated to facilitate solid relationships that will truly help businesses grow and executives flourish.

To learn more about the Atlanta CEO Council and the members featured on the show, listen to the complete interview on the Results Matter Radio page for Business RadioX®.

 

Turknett Leadership Group Character Awards

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Susan Hitchcock & Dr. Liz Roling/Turknett Leadership Group

Turknett Leadership Group specializes in the assessment and development of executive leadership and organization effectiveness. Founded in 1987, the firm is a leader in using sophisticated proprietary assessment tools and long-term, personalized coaching to develop successful leaders and organizations. Turknett’s professional staff brings both depth and breadth to its clients by combining expertise in the behavioral sciences with practical business and executive management experience. The key to successful interventions is accurate individual and organizational diagnosis. Their proprietary assessment tools and the experience and expertise of its consultants ensure accurate diagnosis and the design of effective interventions.

Susan Hitchcock has worked with TLG for over 20 years. She was formerly TLG’s Vice President of Client Services. She is the founder and current director of TLG’s popular Women in Leadership (WIL) seminar series. Susan is also involved in research, writing, and speaking on the subject of women and leadership.

Dr. Liz Roling is an Industrial/Organizational psychologist with expertise in the areas of pre-hire assessment, performance management, leadership development, team development, and organizational surveys. Liz has presented her research at the Society of Industrial/Organizational Psychology’s past three national conferences.

Dr. Yolanda L. Watson Spiva/Project GRAD Atlanta, Inc.

Dr. Yolanda L. Watson Spiva serves as the Executive Director for the non-profit organization, Project GRAD Atlanta, Inc. Project GRAD Atlanta is a member of a nine-city network of Project GRAD organizations which individually collectively aim to increase high school and college graduation rates among public school students. Project GRAD Atlanta works specifically with students from economically- disadvantaged communities in the city of Atlanta, serving one third of the middle and high schools in the Atlanta Public School System. GRAD facilitates students’ access to and success through college, via innovative and strategic programming and interventions, including the provision of college scholarships of up to $4000, per student.

Douglas Ross/Synergis

Synergis‘ President, Doug Ross is a graduate of California State University. He founded Synergis with his wife (founder and CEO), Cindy in 1997. With twenty-five years of experience in technology and staffing, Doug has led Synergis to grow and expand over the past fourteen years. Synergis has most recently been awarded the “Psychologically Health Workplace Award” in 2009 and was named the Best Place to Work in Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2010. In his spare time Doug enjoys golfing and spending time with his family.

Spotlight on Buckhead

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Brian Daughdrill/Buckhead Business Association

Brian Daughdrill is an attorney and partner in the firm of Roberts & Daughdrill, P.C. They have been in Buckhead for more than a decade and concentrate their practice on real estate litigation and family law. Brian served on the City of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit B and the Board of the Garden Hills Civic Association.

Brian has been a member of the Buckhead Business Association for more than five years, has been on the Board of Directors for four years, and on the Executive Committee for three years. This year he will also be serving as President Elect of the Buckhead Business Foundation and will continue working closely with its new President, Catherine Cattles, the outgoing president of BBA.

Garth Peters/Buckhead Coalition

Garth Peters is the Director of Development with Buckhead Coalition, Inc.

Lolita Browning-Jackson/Buckhead Business Association

Lolita Browning-Jackson is the 2011 Past President of the Buckhead Business Association.

Jennifer Burns Thomas/Buckhead Business Association

Jennifer Burns Thomas is the Executive Director  with the Buckhead Business Association.

Ed Snow/Burr & Forman

Ed Snow practices in the Atlanta office of Burr & Forman and serves as Chair of the firm’s Banking and Real Estate practice group.

Ed has practiced law since 1988 and is admitted to practice in Georgia, Maryland and Tennessee.  He represents banks, finance companies, funds and borrowers in the middle and large corporate markets and his clients include: Wells Fargo Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, PNC Bank, Regions Bank, Atlantic Capital Bank, Synovus Bank, First Citizens Bank, Chatham Capital and Healthcare Finance Group, among others.

Social Media and Healthcare

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Lynn Hood/Crackerjack Marketing

Lynn Hood is the Top Kernel at Crackerjack Marketing, an integrated marketing firm that helps medical device, bioscience, high tech and business-to-business companies strategically position themselves and increase sales. Crackerjack is the answer for businesses that need a right-sized solution for their marketing, branding or public relations needs.

Lynn has more than 25 years of experience working with agencies and corporations in marketing and communications. Before founding Crackerjack Marketing, she was President of Hood Marketing Solutions for 20 years. Prior to that, Lynn was a senior writer for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and served as Communications Manager for Oglethorpe Power Corporation. She has also worked with Liberty Life Insurance/Liberty Corporation, Southern Vital Record Center, Pearl River Basin Development District and the Appalachia Health Council, and began her career as a reporter for the Augusta Chronicle-Herald.

Lynn is active in a number of organizations that support Atlanta’s growth:

• Founding member of SEMDA (Southeastern Medical Device Association) and remains on the Board of Directors after eight years. This is the seventh SEMDA Conference she has worked with.

• Chair of the Marketing Committee for three years for the Health IT Leadership Summit, and served as Director of the inaugural Intel Innovation Award program for the 2011 Summit.

• Board of Advisors – TAG Health Society

• Board of Advisors – Metro Atlanta Chamber, involved with HIT and Medical Device subcommittees

• Board of Directors – Women in Bio – Atlanta Chapter

• Marketing Chair – Clinical Trials in Georgia Conference Continue reading →

HUB Atlanta

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Michelle Morgan/HUB Atlanta

Michelle Morgan is the founder of Hub Atlanta, a shared workspace and accelerator for businesses that seek to make the world a better place. Since founding the Hub in 2009, Michelle has built a unique set of programs and partnerships for Hub Atlanta that include a mentor network, unique interactive programs for early stage entrepreneurs and relationships with incubator and accelerator programs in the region. In its consulting work, they have developed an Atlanta enterprise map and an international accelerator program for social business models for Habitat for Humanity’s offices in developing countries. Prior to starting Hub Atlanta, Michelle was the Director for the Academy of Sustainability at the Medici Center, a practicing architect for 16 years and maintains board membership at Enterprise 2 Empower, a student incubator at Georgia Institute of Technology, and GreenPlate, Inc, a non-profit organization that offers solutions to petroleum-based plastics in the food industry.

Janelle Jolley/Sidewalk District

Janelle Jolley is originally from the DC metro area, and found herself in Atlanta in 2009 when she relocated for graduate school. It was in Atlanta that she serendipitously found herself in the tech world, because she was trying to solve a problem: make local shopping easy and convenient for everyone. It’s been a wild ride, but after more than a year of working on her startup full time, Sidewalk District will we be launching its private beta in February…answering the prayers of consumers everywhere!

February Newsletter Article

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Burr & Forman’s Results Matter Radio Turns the Spotlight on Buckhead

On Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013, Elizabeth Gordon, host of Results Matter Radio on Business RadioX® and Burr & Forman attorney Ed Snow were joined by Brian Daughdrill, Lolita Jackson and Jen Thomas from the Buckhead Business Association and Garth Peters from the Buckhead Coalition to discuss the history of Buckhead, its current boundaries and challenges and the plans to keep the community strong going forward.

Garth Peters mentioned that he had heard some talk about Buckhead perhaps wanting to separate itself from Atlanta and be its own city, but denied it saying, “Buckhead is proud to be a part of the city of Atlanta”. Garth also noted that Buckhead is not just a shopping and dining district, but rather covers a 28 square mile area and its community. The only community in Georgia, in fact, to be recognized by the state legislature. He explained that 19% of the population of the city of Atlanta live in Buckhead, and the 19% pay 45% of the ad valorem tax for the city.

Brian Daughdrill discussed some of the plans at the BBA, including putting $25K into social, education, and green space initiatives in the community and said that in many ways, the BBA acts as a “Convention and Visitors Bureau” for the area.

Jen Thomas and Lolita Jackson discussed some of the projects they have personally been involved with in the community, and Ed Snow talked about the importance of Buckhead to the Atlanta area on the whole.

For more information on Buckhead and the organizations featured, listen here to the complete interview.

Georgia Association of Business Brokers

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Kathryne Pusch/ConsultKAP, Inc.

Kathryne Pusch, President of ConsultKAP, Inc., is a seasoned professional consultant and broker. Kathryne began her career consulting for a large international consulting firm in 1979. Since then, she has worked successfully within the framework of large corporations, and small enterprise, across a broad range of industries, private and public sector.

Kathryne has owned and managed two small businesses herself, in addition to her successful business enhancement, transitions, and brokerage practice. Her consulting work focuses primarily on preparing businesses for a successful sale, and exit and transition planning for owners. ConsultKAP intermediary services focus on helping individuals and companies who want to sell or acquire a business to do so with the greatest likelihood of success, as defined by the achievement of their unique objectives.

Kathryne is the 2003 past-President of GABB, the Georgia Association of Business Brokers, and has been active on Board and leadership positions in GABB since 1998. She has extensive formal education, including a BS in Marketing and Marketing Research and an MBA. Kathryne continues her education and certifications in many fields related to commercial real estate, business operations, business planning, negotiations, and business transfers as part of her passion for lifelong professional development.

Kathryne is a licensed Real Estate Broker, a frequent public speaker, and a published author.

Mike MacManus/ConsultKAP, Inc.

Mike MacManus brings over thirty years of business experience to his role as Business Transition Specialist with ConsultKAP. His career experiences have included Business Planning, Marketing and Sales positions within a range of companies including Fortune 500 corporations such as Glaxo SmithKline, BellSouth, Anheuser Busch and The Coca- Cola Company. In addition, much of his career has been spent in the telecommunications and technology industries employed by a number of start-up operations and small niche service companies. He has also worked in the commercial real estate industry where he founded a company providing marketing services focused on the multi-family market.

Mike is a current board member with the Georgia Association of Business Brokers.

Eric Gagnon/We Sell Restaurants, Inc.

Eric Gagnon is the founder and President of We Sell Restaurants andwesellrestaurants.com. He is the nation’s leading restaurant broker. Eric is an industry expert in restaurant sales and valuation. He is a frequent speaker and writer for the restaurant industry and hosted a restaurant brokerage segment on Atlanta radio for a number of years. Eric is co-author of Appetite for Acquisition, a book on restaurant brokerage published in 2012 and named “Best of 2012” by Small Business Book Awards.

Eric began his career in the financial services industry for Bank of America, Bank of New York and big five accounting firm, KPMG before launching the nation’s premiere restaurant brokerage firm and restaurant brokerage franchise. Eric is designated a Business Industry Expert by Business Brokerage Press and earned the designation of Accredited Business Intermediary from the American Business Brokers Association.

Eric is Past President of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers and Lifetime Member of the Million Dollar Club. He is a member of the International Business Brokers Association, Business Brokers of Florida and the International Franchise Association. Eric is licensed as a Broker in both Georgia and Florida. He holds degrees from major universities in both the United States and Canada.

Harvey Daniels III/Burr & Forman

Harvey Daniels practices in Burr & Forman’s Business section, with an emphasis on corporate law and business planning, including contract and document review and drafting.

Harvey’s practice involves advising clients on a variety of business issues such as entity formation, trademark prosecution, mergers and acquisitions — representing both buyers and sellers in the purchase or sale of businesses, through tax-free mergers, stock purchase arrangements, and asset acquisitions — real estate development, and single and multi-member limited liability companies.

Harvey earned his J.D., cum laude, in 2008 from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was a Fellow in the Georgia Supreme Court Law Schools Consortium and the Council for Legal Education Opportunity.  While in law school, Harvey was elected Student Justice of the UGA Law Honor Court Hearing Panel and was a Senator for the UGA School of Law.  He studied abroad for a semester at Oxford University’s St. Anne’s College, taking such courses as International Intellectual Property and International Administrative Law.  Harvey received a B.A. in Philosophy from Xavier University of Louisiana in 2005.Harvey is a member of the Georgia State Bar and the Atlanta Bar Association.