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Scott joined Allconnect in 2008, and is responsible for marketing strategy, brand management, and customer experience.  Prior to joining Allconnect, Scott was Senior Vice President Marketing

Services at HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation and Director of Online Solutions at Delta Air Lines where he managed the $3 billion delta.com channel.  His management experience includes marketing, sales, customer service, operations, and corporate strategy and technology positions.  Scott holds an M.B.A. from Georgia State University with a concentration in finance and a B. S. in Industrial Management from Georgia Institute
of Technology.

Senator John Albers, a Republican, represents the 56^th District, which includes portions of Fulton and Cherokee County.  He serves as vice chairman of the Finance, Public Safety and Science and Technology committees as well as a Deputy Whip.  He is also a member of the Economic Development, Education and Ethics committees.

Senator Albers has long been an active member of his community.  His affiliations include the World Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Roswell United Methodist Church Job Networking Industry Guide, Alpharetta Public Safety Foundation Board of Directors (past chairman), Hope & Light Foundation Board of Directors, Republican Party Member (National, Georgia, Fulton & Cherokee), Awakening, Heritage Foundation Presidents Club, Scout Leader, EnAble of GA Board of Directors, Sigma Phi Epsilon KY Beta Alumni Board, National Rifle Association, Georgia Carry, Roswell Area Park (youth sports coach), Roswell Historical Society, Friends of Bullock Hall, Kiwanis and Roswell Rotary.

Senator Albers is a fourth generation firefighter serving as a volunteer in Alpharetta and member of the Georgia Firefighters Association. In 2011, Senator Albers was named Legislator of the Year by the Georgia State Firefighters Association and the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs.

Senator Albers, a devout Methodist, lives in Roswell.  He attended the University of Louisville and is a graduate of the Carl Vinson School of Government Legislative Leadership Institute at the University of Georgia.   When not attending to state business, Senator Albers is an executive and business owner.  He and his wife, Kari of 19 years, have two sons: Will and Ryan.

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Michael Esposito is a native of New York, having relocated to Georgia from Florida with his wife Ann (a Registered Yoga Teacher) and two children. He moved to Georgia to join The Home Depot’s Northern Division as its Director of Associate Relations in 2005.

Most recently, Mike joined The HoneyBaked Ham Company as their Vice President of Human Resources, where he is responsible for leading all HR functions, including associate engagement, coaching, organizational and leadership development, succession planning, employee and labor relations/law, recruiting and staffing, on-boarding, compensation, payroll, benefits, communications, and training.

Mike’s career started in Human Resources and then migrated to law after he earned his Juris Doctorate degree nights from The Seton Hall University School of Law in New Jersey. He worked in private legal practice and in-house as a labor and employment attorney before serving as the Chief HR Officer for two multi-billion dollar organizations.

Mike currently serves on the Alumni Board of The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and on the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross of Georgia.

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Ms. Goodman joined GGG Partners, one of the oldest turnaround consulting firms in the United States, in 2001. Since then, she has worked with more than 100 public and private companies, focusing in particular on middle-market firms in the Southeast. Ms. Goodman specializes in assessing a company’s situation, determining a course of corrective action that is tailored to each client’s needs, and executing the plan. She is known for both her candor and her results-oriented approach.

Katie Goodman has a strong background in finance, operations, and mergers and acquisitions. She often assumes the role of director of reorganization or restructuring officer for companies with private equity funding, and she serves as an adviser to boards of directors and management teams.

Ms. Goodman is experienced in dealing with companies in bankruptcy (Chapter 11 and Chapter 7) and has successfully sold companies under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code.  She also serves as a court-appointed receiver and Assignee in general Assignments for the Benefit of Creditors.

Ms. Goodman has worked in various industries, including automotive, textiles, finance, telecommunications, restaurants and retail, commercial and residential contracting, general manufacturing, commercial distribution, publishing, government contracting, business-to-business distribution and consumer products companies.

Prior to joining GGG Partners, Ms. Goodman worked for a leveraged buyout fund, where she focused on assessing and acquiring middle-market companies including acquisitions in the telecommunications, textile and industrial distribution industries.  She also worked in the food brokerage industry.

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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.

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Susan is a native of Atlanta having grown up in Sandy Springs.  Her banking career spans over 40 years and includes retail, mortgage, private, and business banking.  She currently works with State Bank & Trust in Buckhead.

She began writing her first novel about three years ago.  She completed “A Season For Living” in 2010 and self-published with iUniverse.  The novel’s genre is Romantic Historical Fiction and follows the lives of four very strong women from the late 1940’s to 2000 in Atlanta.  You will take a walk back to the Atlanta that we remember so fondly.  Each of the women has her own struggles, but the bond of family and friendship provides the love and support they all need to survive and triumph over tragedy and hardship.  Susan’s love for interior design is evident in the book with detailed descriptions of the homes they lived in and the places they visited.  Many of the homes and places in the book are historic homes and places in Atlanta, Roswell, Charleston, Charlottesville, Williamsburg and Kennebunkport. The book is available at Barnes & Noble on line, Amazon, and iUniverse.

Because of the wonderful responses she has received from her readers and the encouragement they provided, she is currently writing a sequel to “A Season for Living.”  This book continues to follow the lives of these strong women and you will meet new people who will add to the inspirational story.

Susan has five children and six grandchildren.  She lives in a North Atlanta suburb with her husband, Don.  She is a member of Johns Creek Baptist Church in Alpharetta where she is an ordained deacon and has taught adult Sunday School for over twenty years.

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As CEO of East West Manufacturing, Scott spends much of his time on company operations and systems. Along with a considerable familiarity with Asia and their production facilities, Scott’s background in supply chain logistics, strategy and operations gives him a unique advantage in understanding this side of the business.

Before starting East West, Scott was the VP of Offshore Manufacturing and Logistics for DiversiTech Corporation, a leading manufacturer and distributor of HVAC components and supplies. Prior to that, he co-founded ITS Ltd., an EMS manufacturer in Asia that produces automobile components and electronic assemblies. Mr. Ellyson’s career began as a manufacturing and industrial engineer producing medical instruments for Boston Scientific and he also worked for several years as a management consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, in their Supply Chain Logistics group, focusing on logistics, strategy and operations.

Mr. Ellyson is a founding board member of the Georgia China Alliance and an advisory board member for Atlanta’s China Research Center. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Heading business development efforts for East West Manufacturing, Jeff’s focus is on the customer. From identifying companies in need of offshore manufacturing services, evaluating projects for an effective fit, to oversight of the customer service and logistics functions at East West, Jeff combines a personal approach with extensive problem-solving skills to provide one-of-a-kind service to each client.

Prior to co-founding East West, Jeff was VP of Research and Engineering at DiversiTech Corporation, a leading manufacturer and distributor of HVAC components and supplies. While there, he invented and developed several product lines key to their growth. His work there resulted in seven U.S. patents, with more pending.

Mr. Sweeney graduated with high honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics.

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Pat Huddleston is a former Enforcement Branch Chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the author of The Vigilant Investor. Pat has served as a court-appointed Receiver in three SEC fraud cases and succeeded in recovering assets that funded substantial distributions to defrauded investors. He has served as a court-appointed Receiver in two nationwide telemarketing cases for the Federal Trade Commission. He has also been appointed Chapter 11 Examiner by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia, tasked with investigating self-dealing by officers and directors of a public company. He represents investors and serves as an expert witness in securities litigation and arbitration.

Pat’s desire to protect investors from the scams that crowd the investing landscape led him to found Investor’s Watchdog LLC, (“IW”) in 2006. Investor’s Watchdog hosts a popular blog, investorswatchblog.com, which tracks breaking investment scams and teaches investors and financial advisers effective due diligence tactics.  Investor’s Watchdog has conducted investigations for clients all over the world and helped save millions in assets that otherwise would have been lost to cleverly disguised frauds.

In addition to The Vigilant Investor; Pat has written for Risk Management, The Prosecutor, Benefits, Registered Rep, Physician’s Money Digest, Church Executive, Medical Life (Australia), and RIA Biz.  He appears frequently as a subject matter expert on television and radio. He has appeared on ABC News, CBS Moneywatch, Fox Business News, Consuelo Mack Wealthtrack, Chicago’s Monsters and Money in the Morning, and local news programs in Seattle, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Forbes, the Financial Times, Investment News and USA Today, among other publications. The Vigilant Investor has been published in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom, in addition to the United States. In an endorsement on the back cover, Princeton Professor Burton Malkiel (author of the bestselling A Random Walk Down Wall Street), calls Pat “the investors’ perfect teacher.”

Mr. Terry is a member of the Page Perry’s Regulatory Practice Group, advising and representing individuals, broker-dealers, and investment advisors in regulatory and enforcement matters.  He also provides advice and representation to clients in connection with other corporate matters.

Mr. Terry has many years of varied experience in securities regulation, compliance and enforcement, as well as other areas of the law. From 1997 until 2001, and again from 2007 until 2011, Mr. Terry served as the Director of the Securities Division of the State of Georgia.  He also as Chief Compliance Officer for a major regional broker-dealer, and,  In addition to his regulatory service and compliance roles, Mr. Terry has represented firms and individuals in connection with a wide variety of securities and other matters in private law practice.

As Georgia’s Securities Division Director, Mr. Terry oversaw a major legislative revision of the Georgia Securities Act of 1973 and, later, the adoption of the Georgia Uniform Securities Act of 2008.  In addition, he and his staff conducted numerous investigations of violations of Georgia’s securities laws, both independently and in cooperation with other states, resulting in the return of millions of dollars to investors as well as the imposition of administrative, civil and criminal sanctions against offenders. Mr. Terry served in many leadership roles within the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), including two terms as a member of the Board of Directors, service on many enforcement task forces and Vice Chair of the CRD Steering Committee.  He has received two Outstanding Service Awards from the NASAA membership.

Mr. Terry received his B.S. degree in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia and a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.  Mr. Terry is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of Georgia, and also the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Keith Green has worked with thousands of individuals who are preparing for retirement.  He responded to critical gaps in the U.S. retirement system by founding the American Retirement Initiative in which he serves as its president.  The American Retirement Initiative is a national conversation that facilitates best practice-sharing among trusted advisors.  ARI provides thought leadership on employer-sponsored retirement plans and the retirement landscape in general in the US.  He brings to this role over 20 years in leadership roles for leading financial services companies offering retirement solutions to individuals and organizations.

In his early career with TIAA-CREF, Keith worked as an Institutional Consultant, collaborating with colleges and universities on their retirement plan designs.  Keith then joined Aetna Financial Services as its Regional Manager in its Michigan office and ultimately became vice president for its Southeastern Region.

After ING’s acquisition of Aetna Financial Services in 2000, Keith held progressively responsible roles, including Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Senior Vice President of Domestic Emerging Markets.  He was then appointed Senior Vice President and executive-on-loan to Hemisphere, Inc., an organization tasked with bringing the headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas to Atlanta.  Much of his time during that period was spent in Latin American and the Caribbean capitols promoting trade and working on economic development issues with diplomats and democratically elected leaders.

In January 2006, Mr. Green was appointed Vice President of Government Relations for ING, responsible for ING’s state government relations in twenty US states.  He held this role until 20ll when he founded the American Retirement Initiative.

Keith received both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan.