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Topic Expert: Janet Lathrop

JANET J. LATHROP, MBA has a long standing interest in healthcare.  Her initial exposure to the healthcare arena occurred through her role as division manager of the emergency medicine department at the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo from 1990 to 1995 in her home town of Buffalo, New York.  In 1995, she moved to Atlanta and worked at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (1995-1997) as the Staff Administrator for the medical director of the Pediatric Health Alliance.

Janet joined the staff of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants in 1997 and served as its CEO/President from 2001 until July, 2012.  Throughout her tenure with NCCPA, the organization underwent significant transformations such as shifting to computerized year-round testing administrations, providing PAs the ability to access their electronic certification records and conduct business with NCCPA on a 24/7 basis, and implementing the administration of a Certificate of Added Qualifications program for PAs who work in specialty areas of practice.  She served as the staff leader of NCCPA’s two supporting organizations, the NCCPA Foundation which was created in 2006 and the Society for the Preservation of PA History which became part of the NCCPA family in 2011.  She left NCCPA in July of 2012 to open a nonprofit business consulting company with her long time business colleague and friend, Lori Leal, MBA, CPA.  Their organization, Path2 Better Performance, specializes in positioning organizations for the best possible financial and performance results, and use the foundational framework of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.

A published author, Ms. Lathrop has been invited to speak at various state and national conferences. She has also conducted workshops on nonprofit governance, board development, strategic planning, Myers Briggs personality types in the workforce, and has also served as consultant to other organizations in the area of board development and leadership.  Ms. Lathrop is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, the Georgia Society of Association Executives, the American College of Healthcare Executives, and the University of Georgia Board of Directors for Atlanta Leadership.  She also serves as adjunct professor at Michigan State University where she teaches for the on line MD-MBA program.

Ms. Lathrop received a bachelor’s degree from National Louis University, an MBA from the University of Georgia in 2005, and is currently working on her dissertation to complete the requirements for a PhD in Business from Capella University in 2013.  The title of her dissertation is “What motivates volunteers to serve on nonprofit board in healthcare?”

Having been married over 20 years, Ms. Lathrop currently resides in Cumming, GA and is the proud mother of two sons.

For Profit: Diane Basco

Diane Basco started her career as a flight attendant and spent the first 13 years of her work life with an airline, after which she entered into the world of high tech sales at IBM.

Attachmate Corporation was the next step for Diane where she spent seven years developing  and honing her initial sales and sales leadership skills from inside sales, channel sales, account manager, to sales manager.  Her track record at Attachmate allowed her to make her next career move to Cisco Systems, which is where she continued her development and transitioned into the executive level.

Diane’s experience at Cisco afforded her the opportunity to work across several key lines of business including Enterprise, Service Provider, and Consumer technology.  Her track record was exemplary during her tenure in that role and she was selected to create a “start-up” market following the acquisition of Linksys, which was Cisco’s first insertion into the consumer market.  Given her Service Provider background, she was tasked with creating the strategy to develop the next billion dollar line of business by carving out a market for home networking devices for large Service Providers enabling them to enter into the “Connected Home” market by offering managed services to consumers.

In the middle of juggling her executive career, Diane started her own business in 2003 by taking over a small private school, Ivy League Montessori School located in Cumming, GA.  Diane views her ownership as her way of “giving back” and has never taken any personal compensation from the business.  As a result, Diane has become an advocate for educational change in this country.

Currently, Diane has rejoined Attachmate with a desire to slow down the pace and is an Account Executive, and was recently asked to join the Advisory Board of a local community bank, Alliance National Bank.

Diane holds a BBA and an Executive MBA from Kennesaw State University. She currently resides in Cumming with her husband and twin daughters.

Non-Profit: Marva Bailer

Marva Bailer is the Business Unit Executive for Media & Entertainment, Energy & Utilities, and Telecommunications for industry leading software solutions for the IBM Communications Sector Business, a Billion dollar business unit.

She is known for her high energy, positive attitude and ability to connect. Marva’s role in IBM’s software group is to provide leadership and execution of high value solutions for Smarter Planet impacting solutions for Telco, Mobile, Cable, Cell Towers, Smart Grid, Wireless, Broadband, Satellite, Media and Entertainment.

Her team utilizes all of the software offerings that IBM offers in an industry context. Some of the key business areas are Analytics, Mobile, Optimization, Service Management, Facilities Management, Customer Service, Demand Marketing, and Commerce.

Prior to being acquired by IBM, Marva held several roles at Micromuse; a top 25 Wall Street Journal rated stock during the .com era. She was VP of Communication Service Provider Sales, promoted to grow the Federal Division to 11% of the company’s sales, which included a team managing global alliances. Prior to Micromuse Marva held VP level sales leadership positions at niche technology companies focused on high tech communications.
She served for 3 years as the Co- Chair for the Digital Ball, and is an active an Executive Board Member for Techbridge. She is an executive member and active supporter of Global Exec Women, ATL CEO Council, Wireless Technology Forum, Women in Cable, WIT, and Women in Technology, ATP, Atlanta Telecom Professional, and TAG, Technology Association of GA.

Marva has received nominations and awards, been a panelist, host for many of these organizations. She is a 2011 President Volunteer Award Recipient for her board service.

She is a contributing author to “CLIMB,” by Hoffman & Daneker. She serves as a mentor to people in their 20’s and their 50’s both inside and outside IBM. Marva Bailer was recently featured in Citizen IBM as a kick off for the United Way ECCC Campaign

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Michael Shannon founded and leads the US practice of Liquid Strategies. He established the US arm of Liquid Strategies because he wanted to use his experience and relationships to help businesses accelerate their growth using sophisticated business strategies and funding options. The firm works with clients from the planning stages through execution to ensure success.

Michael spent the first 30 years of his career as an operating executive, developing and deploying sound strategies and innovative financing to grow businesses on four continents. Before joining Liquid Strategies, he spent 18+ years at Equifax, the global information services company, as a senior executive.

His primary focus is on mid-market companies in the business services sector, especially payments, data, information and analytics companies with international exposure or aspirations. Recent assignments have included a new strategy for a global payments company’s UK subsidiary; a new market entry business plan for a large British business services organization, and a sell side mandate for a Dublin based payments platform company.

Michael earned a BSBA from the University of Central Florida, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and earned an MBA in Finance from George State University (GSU). He serves on the advisory boards of the GSU business school and its Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER).

Marc is a principal in LS LLC our US operation.  Marc is a 25+ year veteran of corporate finance and M&A and has been advising businesses on exit strategies and sales for the last 10+ years.  Marc works with LS to find opportunities for us to engage with companies, pre-sale.  Our preference is to help companies to more fully develop their strategies and to get a good working relationship with the owners in advance of any transaction.   By working with companies pre-sale or pre fund raising, we can help to influence better the  outcome from a capital raise or sale with the necessary prep work.  Marc will also work with our LS team in the US or UK on projects that involve real estate financing, hotels, travel related companies in addition to our core business services sector deals.

Marc has worked around the globe as an M&A professional, strategic planning executive and business improvement consultant for both large corporates and boutique investment banks. Marc’s experience over 30 years covers a variety of industries, including financial services, real estate, franchising, hotels, and many others.

Originally educated in Switzerland and England, Marc holds an MBA from Tulane University and a JD from Tulane Law School and lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor and accredited Mindshop Facilitator. Marc is also a member of the Georgia Bar Association.

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Throughout her career, Ms. Hand has been focused on leadership and organizational development, previously serving as Director of Business Consulting, Director of Executive Development and National Director of Learning and Talent Development.

As the former Vice President of Talent and Development for Cox Communications Inc. Ms. Hand was responsible for the company’s strategy and execution for organizational and leadership development, including executive and management development, talent acquisition and retention, and national curriculum development and delivery for employees at all levels.  She and her team institutionalized the Cox leadership brand through the creation of consistent development practices and a company-wide performance management process.

Ms. Hand supported the execution of Cox’s Trusted Provider vision with employee education and development at all levels, with an emphasis on cultivating an organizational culture of trust to enhance sustained customer loyalty.

Among her accomplishments she aligned Cox’s talent development strategy to measurable business outcomes, developing a comprehensive succession planning process, and establishing the company’s first targeted Executive Development program.

Ms. Hand graduated from Creighton University with a B.S. in Psychology. She also holds a M.S. Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia.

Currently, Ms. Hand serves on the board of the Cable Television Human Resources Association as the President.  She is also an active member of Women in Cable Telecommunications, serving on its

Mr. Troutman handles a wide variety of domestic and international commercial law matters, drawing on 14 years of in-house and private practice experience. His areas of expertise include general corporate law and commercial transactions, technology licensing, e-commerce/Internet law, outsourcing, compliance, mergers and acquisitions, employment law and domestic and international anti-competition law.

Most recently, he served as General Counsel for Vitrue, Inc., a social media management SaaS platform provider, acquired by Oracle.  Prior to Vitrue, Mr. Troutman was a partner at FisherBroyles, LLP, where he represented startups as well as Fortune 500 companies in domestic and international matters.

Prior to joining FisherBroyles, he served as General Counsel for RubberNetwork, LLC, a joint venture of 10 of the world’s largest tire and rubber companies, acquired by Elemica, Inc.  He also served as in-house Corporate Counsel for MetalSpectrum, a joint venture led by one of the world’s largest aluminum producers.

Mr. Troutman began his career in private practice, in the areas of products liability litigation, general commercial litigation, and employment law.  He is a member of the Georgia Bar and an inactive member of the South Carolina Bar.

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Emile retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1995, as a Colonel, last serving Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training, Marine Force Reserve.  Upon retirement, he worked as an American Express Financial Advisor, later moving to the Shilla Corporation, a regional third party administrator for employee benefits.

In 1998, Emile started the first chapter of Business Network International in Louisiana.  He moved to Atlanta in January of 2002 as the Managing Area Director, BNI, Atlanta.  The aggressive growth of his region included an extensive educational program for BNI members.

Emile is the Managing Partner of RPM Advisors and is a franchise owner of the Referral Institute.  He has been a Referral Institute Master Trainer and has developed a number of referral training programs that are taught nationally.  He is also certified as a DISC Practitioner by Personality Insights, Inc. and has conducted DISC training for businesses both large and small.  Emile is known for his fast-paced, results oriented training style.  His dynamic presentations provide on-the-ground, useful information, mixed with action items and a little fun.

Emile is the Executive Director for Fast Forward Restart, a nonprofit organization working with small businesses and nonprofits in their recovery from major disasters.  Current project areas include New Orleans, LA, Livonia, MI, and Rumford, ME.

Clax Underwood is a native of Atlanta with deep roots in the real estate industry da-ting to the early 1900s. His great grand parents opened the Winecoff Ho-tel in downtown Atlanta in 1913.

His initial career spanned 25 years with Mercedes-Benz in client service.His career in the Real Estate industry spans 18 years here in Atlanta.Clax is a Member of the Atlanta Executive Forum, World Trade Center Atlanta, National and Georgia Association of Realtors.Clax, with Partners, John Damiano, Karen B. Eberson joined to form Provident Professionals, Inc., DBA, The Providence Group. The focus of their business is Residential Real Estate, Relocation and Commercial Real Estate.

Clax enjoys time with family and friends, reading, and early morning walks, activities through his church and works with Habitat for Humanity.

Paxton is a CFP® and joined Capital Research Advisors, LLC during 2010. Prior to his affiliation with CRA, Mr. DeMent was Senior Portfolio Manager with Varn Investment Counsel, Inc for the previous nine years. Mr. DeMent has also worked as a financial planner with Ameriprise.

He graduated in 1988 from Millsaps College with a Bachelors of Business Administration. Paxton obtained his Certified Financial Planner designation in 2007. He is a member of the National Association of Active Investment Manager, NAAIM. Paxton has lived in the Atlanta Area for more than 20 years. Paxton and his wife, Paige, have two elementary aged children and live in Cobb County.  His interests include golf and through the years has had consistent charitable/community service activity and has been especially keen on donating blood/platelets to the Red Cross.  My interest is still golf and more golf.