Category: Meeting Announcements

The September meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday the 20th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

Our speaker is the popular AJC metro columnist Bill Torpy. His tentative topic is “How to Win Friends and Influence People at City Hall”. You can review Bill’s recent columns at https://www.ajc.com/staff/bill-torpy/.

Bill Torpy joined the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1990. He has covered politics, government and countless stories about police, courts and the justice system. The Chicago native graduated from Southern Illinois University, and previously worked for the Daily Southtown in Chicago.

We look forward to seeing you on the 20th.

And, if you have not already done so, pay your dues for the 2018-2019 season—see https://atlantabusinessroundtable.org/dues/.

The May meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday the 17th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

Our speaker is Tom Croteau, the Deputy Commissioner, Global Commerce for the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD). In this role, he leads Georgia’s Global Commerce team to increase jobs and investment through locating and expanding businesses. The Global Commerce team includes Georgia’s international representatives in 11 strategic regions around the world.

Prior to joining GDEcD, Mr. Croteau worked in the economic development divisions of MEAG Power (currently Electric Cities of Georgia) and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. He has also worked for Ernst & Young and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Croteau holds a degree in Economics from Florida State University. He lives in Roswell with his wife Suzanne and their three children.

The April meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday the 19th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

We’re pleased to have as speaker Jennifer Bonnett, the General Manager of the Advanced Technology Development Center. In January, her Roundtable presentation on ATDC was outstanding. She returns to highlight ATDC’s Tech Square Innovation Week, scheduled for May 7-10. From the web site: “The Tech Square neighborhood is one of the nation’s most successful ecosystems of ideation and disruption”.

ATDC is the technology incubator for the state of Georgia. Founded in 1980, ATDC has developed a global reputation for fostering technological entrepreneurship. Forbes Magazine named ATDC to its list of “Incubators Changing the World” in 2010 and 2013.

Jennifer Bonnett is a technology entrepreneur with more than 25 years experience in the Information Technology/Software Development field with a specialty in web and mobile applications. She has served as Founder/Chief Technology Officer of a number of venture- and angel-backed firms.

The March meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday the 15th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

We’re pleased to have as speaker Ms. Katherine “Kitty” Cohen, President of the Georgia Bar Foundation. The foundation is the charitable arm of the Georgia Supreme Court and funds justice system projects, most notably legal services for the poor.

Katherine Cohen is Of Counsel for the international law firm Eversheds Sutherland. She manages tax issues affecting health care providers and tax-exempt organizations. Since 1987, she has served as outside tax counsel to the State Bar of Georgia.

Before joining Eversheds Sutherland, Katherine worked as a staff member of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, first with the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and later with the Subcommittee on Health and Environment.

Katherine’s undergraduate degree is from Wellesley College and her J.D. is from the University of North Carolina Law School.

The February meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday the 15th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

We’re pleased to have as speaker Kim Williams, Executive Director of Year Up Atlanta. Year Up is a national program that provides young urban adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Year Up achieves this mission through a high support, high expectation model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, internships and college credits.

You can learn more about Year Up at https://www.youtube.com/user/YearUpInc.

Before taking over Year Up Atlanta, Ms. Williams was Chief Operating Officer of iCorps Technologies. Prior to iCorps, she spent 17 years at Microsoft in multiple senior leadership roles. Williams has a BS in Business from the University of Maryland University College.

The meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday, January 18th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

We’re pleased to have as speaker Jennifer Bonnett, the General Manager of the Advanced Technology Development Center.

ATDC is the technology incubator for the state of Georgia. Founded in 1980, ATDC has developed a global reputation for fostering technological entrepreneurship. Forbes named ATDC to its list of “Incubators Changing the World” in 2010 and 2013, alongside Y Combinator and the Palo Alto Research Center.

ATDC’s leader, Jennifer Bonnett, is a technology entrepreneur with more than 25 years experience in the Information Technology/Software Development field with a specialty in web and mobile technologies. She has served as Founder/Chief Technology Officer of a number of venture- and angel-backed firms.

Thursday, November 16th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

Our speakers are Bill Duvall, Chief Bridge Engineer for GDOT and Adam Grist, Vice President of Structures for CW Matthews. Bill and Adam were key players in the much-celebrated re-construction of the I-85 bridge last spring. They will tell us about the project.

Bill Duvall (GDOT) is a registered Professional Engineer in Georgia and holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Masters of Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech. He has worked in the bridge industry for 25 years in bridge design, inspection and maintenance. Bill is a member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Subcommittee on Bridges and Structures.

Adam Grist (CW Matthews) oversees the Bridge and Concrete Divisions. Adam joined CWM in 2006, where he has held several lead positions as an Engineer and General Manager for the Bridge Division. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Roundtable meeting noon, Thursday, October 19th, at the Capital City Club downtown.

Our speaker is Mike Egan, Senior Vice President of AMB Group, the holding company for the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United. Mike provides executive oversight for the development and construction of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He will speak on the construction process and the work streams that operate the stadium.

Prior to joining AMB Group, Mike was a partner at King and Spalding, serving as primary outside counsel to Arthur Blank. In his 25-year career with K&S, Mike represented GE, Home Depot, Sprint, UPS and other leading companies.

Mike received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1982 and clerked for former Chief Judge Elbert P. Tuttle on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

The new stadium is an architectural and engineering wonder. Architectural Digest reports that Mercedes-Benz is “one of the most beautifully designed stadiums on the planet”. The stadium will host the college football final this January, the Superbowl in 2019, and the Final Four basketball games in 2020. Atlanta is a leading contender for hosting the World Cup soccer championships in 2026.

At the May 18th meeting, we’re honored to have as speakers Tread Davis and John Orr of the Atlanta Regional Commission. They will discuss the Commission’s recently-adopted Walk, Bike, Thrive! plan for Regional Trails, a network of hiking and biking trails extending outward from the Beltline and covering the entire Atlanta Region. The implementation of the Plan is on a fast track and the basic framework should be in place within the next five years.

Tread and John will report on the plans, discuss recent encouraging developments, and obtain members’ thoughts on priorities and ways to improve the Plan.

John Orr is the Manager of the ARC’s Transportation Access and Mobility Division. Before joining the ARC in 1999, he was a senior planner for the Athens-Clarke County planning department. John has an MS in Planning from the University of Tennessee and a BA in Business and Public Administration from the University of Virginia.

Tread Davis is a long-time Roundtable member, Senior Counsel of Dentons, and a long-time member of the Board of ARC. He heads an ARC task force which proposed a system of trails for our Region, and the proposal was unanimously approved and adopted by the ARC Board last month.

At our April 20th meeting, our resident, world-renown BBQ expert Bob Herndon will have BBQ samples from around Atlanta. After our traditional Capital City Club meal, you will taste and judge the BBQ. The kitchen staff and catering staff will also participate.

The BBQ is for tasting only—it does not replace the Capital City Club fare. We’ll be judging three samples of pulled pork. Tasting and judging procedures of the Kansas CIty BBQ Society will be in effect. Bob will instruct us on judging for taste, appearance, and texture. His presentation will include an assessment of the state of BBQ in Georgia and its wider potential to bring together a deeply-divided nation.

Bob Herndon is president of the Atlanta BBQ Club and has run the popular Atlanta BBQ Festival for the last eight years. Bob has appeared on “Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey”, “BBQ Pitmasters” and the Emmy award-winning GPB “The BBQ Show”. He is a certified BBQ judge in the Kansas City BBQ Society, the Memphis BBQ Network, and the International BBQ Association. He has been a guest judge at international festivals in Sweden and Germany.

Bob graduated from Emory University and is retired from the Decatur City Schools system His daughter, also an Emory graduate, is currently a student at Columbia University. He has a son at Georgia Tech.