Scott Allen
Scott Allen is a business graduate of the University of Georgia, has a Masters Degree in Logistics Management, and is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with years of experience leading small businesses and non-profits.
During a 20 year Air Force career, Scott negotiated and managed multi-million dollar contracts with the defense industry, and at one time helped lead a team to negotiate a $2 billion multi-national contract for 480 F-16 Fighter aircraft. He went on to serve as Dean of Leadership and Management at a military college to prepare officers to be commanders, and was base commander of a facility with 10,000 employees and $30 billion in assets.
Reb Blaisdell
Ribble “Reb” Blaisdell is a native of the Virginia Mountains. He left Virginia in 1960 to join the United States Navy. Reb served with honor during the Vietnam War. He completed his Naval career in 1984 after serving 7 years as Squadron Aircraft Maintenance Chief.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Blaisdell was directly responsible for the care and upkeep of 16 aircraft valued in total 512 million dollars and managed a team of 365 seamen. A career Navy man, his leadership as Squadron Aircraft Maintenance Chief of an S3-A aircraft carrier based squadron has prepared him for the diverse positions and roles he has held. . He concluded his professional career in 2014 after 59 years of employment at Lockheed Martin where worked as the Lead Engineer for the C-130 Reliability and Maintainability Department.
Cherie Ann Byfield
Cherie-Ann Byfield is a seasoned, detail-oriented communications professional with over 25 years of solid experience in the consumer goods, financial services, manufacturing and retail sectors. She has a passion for promoting a culture of information sharing with internal and external stakeholders. Her expertise includes journalistic writing and creative, impactful messaging for varied channels and audiences, communications strategy and planning, and managing partner relationships.
In her current Global Communications role at The Coca-Cola Company, she manages the communications function specifically supporting McDonald’s, Coca-Cola’s largest and most strategic foodservice customer. Story-telling is an integral part of what she does for both internal and external audiences: extensive writing and development of creative, impactful messaging and communications materials for senior executives, employees, customers and the media. Her other areas of expertise include communications strategy and planning, internal and executive communications, administration of intranet sites, issues management, customer stewardship and managing agency relationships.
Cherie-Ann a native of Jamaica, is a graduate of the University of Miami where she earned her Master of Arts degree in Communications. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Print Journalism from the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.
Ben Cope
Ben Cope is an entrepreneur, Web Designer, and Internet Marketing Consultant with a background in multimedia, project management, instructional technology and graphic design. A graduate of Kennesaw State University with a BA in International Affairs and Georgia State University where obtained a Masters Degree in Communication, Ben started in his own company in 2003. Currently, Ben is responsible for the development and ongoing site maintenance of dozens of different client’s websites around the world. His diverse client base includes nonprofit organizations, internet marketing professionals and small business owners.
Dionne Gajadhar
Dionne is a native of Jamaica, New York the daughter of Trinidadian parents. Starting in the banking industry as a bank teller in college, she is currently an Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager at SunTrust Bank in Marietta, GA. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York in 1997 and received a Master’s degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Phoenix in 2010.
Conrad Maynard
Conrad is currently the Managing Director for Business Accelerators an entrepreneurial resource center providing tools and resources to assist businesses in developing a tactical and strategic growth strategy. Being an entrepreneur himself, Maynard does independent consulting to help clients in the areas of business planning, project management and implementing business solutions (process and technology). Prior to Maynard’s entrepreneurial ventures he worked as the Director of Information Technology for AFC Worldwide Express a Global Transportation and Logistics firm. In this role he oversaw all technical operations for the company and developed strategic alignment between technology and business operational initiatives. Prior to joining AFC in 2009, Maynard worked for The Coca-Cola Company for the previous 17 years.
In 2002, Maynard was recognized as a “Modern Day” technology leader and received an award of merit from U.S. Black Engineer and Information Technology magazine. Maynard is a life and career coach and enjoys working with teens and adults to meet personal and professional goals. Maynard has a BS’ in Sociology from Montclair State University in New Jersey and MS’ in Management of Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Dr. Quienton Nichols
Dr. Quienton Nichols is Assistant Professor of Social Work in the Department of Social Work at the Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Social Work degrees from the University of Georgia, School of Social Work in Athens, Georgia, and a Ph.D. in Social Work Administration, Planning and Social Science with a cognate in Counseling and Psychological Services from the Clark Atlanta University School of Social Work in Atlanta, Georgia.
For more than two decades, he has worked in the field of social service delivery with experience working as a counselor at Central State Hospital, Medical Social Worker at Athens Regional Hospital, Claims Representative at the Social Security Administration, and Child Protection Investigator at the Department of Family and Children Services in metro Atlanta.
Dr. Nichols has worked as a therapist for the Department of Juvenile Justice, Social Work PRN and private faith base practices as a Clinical Therapist with local counseling agencies in metro Atlanta. He has authored a number of publications included two books that teach the infusion social work education and policy into practice; “Connecting Core Competencies: A workbook for Social Work Students (2010) and “Advancing Core competencies: Emphasizing Practice Behaviors and Outcomes (2012).
Dwayne Pace
Dianne Russell
Originally from North Carolina, Dianne graduated from Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC with a B.S. in Chemistry. She worked in research for an agriculture company for eight years specializing in organic synthesis of new compounds and analytical techniques. She left the technical field of the laboratory to help build a successful network marketing business to the Diamond level with more than 5000 distributors and over 1 million in annual sales. Dianne has traveled nationally and internationally as a motivational speaker in the industry for over 20 years.
Jamaine “Jay” Tucker
Jamaine Tucker has chosen to dedicate his life to becoming an Anglican priest. As he sees it, this is an opportunity to provide focused spiritual leadership at an advanced strategic level in community service. Over the past nine years, Jamaine has lived, served, and studied in his home country of Bermuda and the United States.
In May 2017, Jamaine is preparing to graduate with a Master’s of Divinity degree from The School of Theology (Episcopal) at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. Prior to this pathway, he also served over three years as the Pastor of Evangelism and Outreach at Trinity Chapel, Powder Springs, Georgia. Originally ordained an itinerant deacon in the A.M.E. Church, he served two congregations as a staff pastor and interim pastor.
Kirk Wilson, Chairman of the Board
Kirk Wilson is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience in software development, sales and marketing. He served 4 years in the United States Air Force during Desert Storm. After the military he entered the corporate arena working in the Telecommunications industry, where he managed software development projects with budgets of $25,000,000 and up. He was directly responsible for the successful upgrade of over 5,000 PCs in order to make Fulton County Y2K compliant.
Kirk left Corporate America to pursue a career in the real estate industry. He became a successful Realtor and was ranked the number 7th agent in the state of Georgia after his 3rd year in the industry in addition to being awarded Remax’s elite Chairman’s Club Award. Kirk also expanded his real estate business to include building custom homes.
He is currently the President of a Digital Advertising Agency that is responsible for increasing the marketing campaigns’ ROI by a minimum of 92% for large national companies in the legal, insurance, finance, and educational industries.