Past Speakers for January-February 2013

JAN 02	Open Mic
	Testimonies by luncheon attendees.

JAN 09	Chip Williams,
	Staff Field Application Engineer, Lattice Semiconductor
	Lattice is the source for innovative FPGA, PLD, programmable Power Management and Clock Management solutions. Chip provides technical support for Lattice customers in the Southeast and South America. A native of Georgia, Chip has worked in electrical engineering since his graduation from Georgia Tech in 1977. Prior to working at Lattice, Chip had a consulting firm, Williams Consulting, Inc., which began in February of 1984 and provided quality hardware and software designs for products utilizing embedded microprocessors. Chip and his family spent a year as volunteers in West Africa and went to N.W. Kenya to test water wells six years ago.

JAN 16	Roger W. Doering, Jr.,
	President, Dahlonega Technologies Group, Inc.,
	which provides telecommunications consulting services to network users and equipment manufacturers. Roger has over 35 years experience in the telecommunications industry, primarily satellite communications and cable television, working in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and South America. Roger was formerly the President of IDC Communications, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of International Datacasting Corporation and has held various management and engineering positions at Wegener Communications and Scientific-Atlanta.

JAN 23	Gary Steele,
	National Director of Strategic Accounts
	Gary's career spans 30 years of building and managing high technology businesses for Fortune 500 companies as well as entrepreneurial start ups. His career includes national management positions with General Electric, DuPont and Kodak where he helped usher these companies into the age of digital imaging. Gary was most recently with Pictometry International managing the sales of their airborne geo-spatial visual intelligence platforms to Federal, State and County governments. Prior to Pictometry Gary was the President and CEO of Digital Techniques, Inc., a digital media company he founded in 1993, where he worked with executive teams at Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods, AIG, McDonalds, Miller Brewing, American Airlines and other major companies in helping them transition their advertising assets into digital archives. Gary holds a BS Degree in Imaging Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology, an MBA from the University of Dallas in Business Administration, a degree in Psychology from the University of Missouri in St. Louis and an Associates Degree from Merrimac Community College in Kirkwood, Missouri.

JAN 30	Ricky Steele,
	Chief Development Officer for Hunter Technical Resources.
	Ricky is an Atlanta native but grew up in Columbus, Georgia and returned to Atlanta in 1978. He enjoyed an entrepreneurial start to his career and in 1986, he was named the Georgia Small Business Person of the Year. Ricky has also served as a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Client Partner at Korn/Ferry International and Chief Development Officer at Definition 6. Ricky is very active in the community founding two not for profit organizations, Atlanta's Table and Hospitality Helping Hands. He has also served on the Board of Directors with The Atlanta Community Food Bank, Leadership Atlanta, Hands on Atlanta, and Meeting Professionals International. Ricky is also the author of The Heart of Networking, a book based on his philosophy of being a servant leader by living the Golden Rule.

FEB 06	Open Mic
	Testimonies by luncheon attendees.

FEB 13	Bryan Nicholson,
	Founder and President of Credible Solutionz
	A native of Atlanta, Bryan understands the world of the very small business. Bryan started a business in 1986 with a pair of post-hole diggers and a pickup truck, turning it into a highly-respected sign and lighting business with a fleet of trucks serving national retailers. A systems thinker, Bryan spent several years and tens of thousands of dollars on business consulting and coaching that in his words, "simply didn't get me home." In 2010, he began focusing on a way to solve the problem that he has come to call, "The chaos of wearing all the hats." Credible Solutionz creates, manages, and performs everything necessary for a small business owner to remove a specific hat with the assurance they will never have to wear it again, and endeavors to make Romans 14:17 a living part of everything it does, believing that the best way to achieve real peace and joy is real application of Godly wisdom.

FEB 20	Larry Shrader, Heinz Wegener,
	Business Owners
	Larry and Heinz will share their journey in starting several companies and what they learned and how God's hand was, and continues to be, the key to this process.

FEB 27	Phill Bettis, ,
	Attorney at Law
	Phill is a 1980 Emory University Lamar school of Law graduate who has practiced law in his hometown of Cumming, Georgia since being admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1980. Phill also obtained his BBA from Mercer University, Atlanta in 1976. In May of 2001 he established his own practice specializing in real estate and dispute resolution. As A native of Forsyth County, Phill enjoys taking an active role in the community and is currently the Chairperson and a Trustee of the Benjamin Brady Foundation which supports many local charitable activities, and a Trustee of the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation. He was also the 2005 Chairman of the State Bar of Georgia Committee on Professionalism and a former Trustee of the Forsyth Library Board and Lanier Technical College. Phill was named the 2004 Volunteer of the year by the Board of Visitors for Shorter University and recently completed a term on the Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Phill has recently completed a book entitled "The Little Book of Annoying Questions" and writes a column for the Forsyth County News. Phill enjoys history, archaeology and travel.

MAR 06	Open Mic
	Testimonies by luncheon attendees.