2008 Atlanta Business Growth Expo

Ron Clark has been called "America's Educator." His outstanding success with students from low-wealth areas of North Carolina and NYC led him to be named Disney's American Teacher of the Year. He is a New York Times Best Selling author, and his classes have been honored at the White House on three separate occasions. He has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, and Oprah, and Ms. Winfrey has even named him as her first "Phenomenal Man." Ron's teaching experiences in New York City are the subject of the uplifting film, The Ron Clark Story, starring Matthew Perry.

Most recently, Mr. Clark has founded The Ron Clark Academy, a new school serving students from Atlanta. The privately-funded institution provides an innovative and out-of-the-box curriculum that is based on worldwide travel. Each year the students, grades 5 through 8, apply what they have learned in class during international adventures, and by the time they graduate each child will have visited six of the seven continents. In addition to educating students, the Ron Clark Academy is also a training site for teachers. Educators from around the world are invited to visit the Academy to learn more about how to implement the techniques used at the school to help students of all levels achieve high levels of success. For more information on the Academy, please visit www.RonClarkAcademy.com.

ROBYN FREEDMAN SPIZMAN is no stranger to success. A woman of many accomplishments, she is a nationally recognized media personality and well-known author of dozens of books including Where’s Your Wow? 16 Ways To Make Your Competitors Wish They Were You! (McGraw-Hill, 2008 with Rick Frishman) Appearing often on the Today Show, she is well known as one of the country’s leading how-to experts. For almost three decades, she has appeared weekly on the Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA-TV with her consumer segments and began her television career in 1981 as a regular guest on NBC’s Noonday. Robyn appears on the popular Cindy & Ray Show on Star 94 in Atlanta and online daily with “The Giftionary” show focusing on gift advice for all occasions based on her popular book, The Giftionary.
Robyn Spizman also authored When Words Most, The GIFTionary, Make It Memorable: An A-Z Guide to Making Any Event, Gift or Occasion...Dazzling!, The Thank You Book, When Words Matter Most, and teamed up with Tory Johnson and together they co-authored Take This Book To Work: How To Ask For (And Get) More Money, Fulfillment and Advancement (St. Martins Press, 2006) and and Women For Hire's: Get-Ahead Guide to Career Success (2004 A prolific author having written many inspirational books, she recently co-authored her first work of fiction with Mark Johnston titled Secret Agent, the Questions To Bring You Closer series with Stuart Gustafson and the Author 101 ™ series with Rick Frishman.
Robyn’s timely gift-giving tips and consumer suggestions have been heard around the country repeatedly on NBC's Today Show, CNN, MSNBC, The Discovery Channel, CNNfn, Talk Back Live, Good Day New York, New York One, & numerous ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliate stations. Her creative advice and books have been featured extensively in print media including The New York Times, Larry King Online, USA Today, USA Weekend, Women's Day, Ladies' Home Journal, Parade Magazine, Family Circle, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Delta's Sky Magazine, Dr. Laura's Perspective, Cosmo Girl, Parents Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Entrepreneur, Southern Living, Parade Magazine and many other media outlets.
Nominated for a Book For A Better Life Award, The USA Today Family Channel Award as well as Georgia's Author Of The Year, Robyn is a woman of many accomplishments. Business To Business Magazine named Robyn one of Atlanta's leading women and a Diva of Atlanta’s business world. A popular keynote speaker, she has entertained audiences across the country with passionate and lively presentations on a variety of topics including business success, personal branding, the art of promotion, book writing and other timely ideas. Dedicated to community service, Robyn Spizman serves on the eWomen Network Foundation Board and The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America’s National Advisory Council, which comprises nearly thirty influential celebrities, professional athletes and high-level executives who assist the Make-A-Wish Foundation in raising awareness, increasing funding and granting wishes. For more information see
www.robynspizman.com

Keith McFarland

10:30-11:15

Presented by

As an author, technology CEO, university dean, and consultant, Keith McFarland has provided catalytic management insight to organizations for more than twenty years. He is author of #1 Wall Street Journal and New York Times best seller The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers (Random House/Crown, 2007). He is founder of McFarland Strategy Partners (www.mcfarlandstrategy.com), which provides strategic advisory services to growth companies. He also writes regular columns for Businessweek and Inc. magazines.
McFarland previously served as CEO of two technology firms—most recently Nivo International, the exclusive provider of certification services for Microsoft Office products through 2,000 testing centers in 56 countries worldwide. He also served as chairman and as CEO of Collectech Systems, a two-time Inc. 500 company in Westlake Village, CA. He led the transformation of Collectech into the leading customer contact and accounts receivable management service provider for the telecommunications industry.
While running Collectech, McFarland pursued the life-long dream to study with management theorist Peter Drucker—he has completed his coursework and qualifying exams for a doctorate from Claremont University in Southern California.

At the age of 26, Mr. McFarland became one of the youngest business school deans in the nation. As a dean for the Pepperdine University School of Business and Management (he developed joint-venture executive education programs in the US, Europe, and Asia and founded the quarterly business journal Management Insight. He ranked consistently as one of Pepperdine’s top professors in executive student evaluations.
McFarland’s book, The Breakthrough Company is the result of an exhaustive study of successful growth companies in the U.S. He and his research team spent five years assembling an analyzing a database of more than 7,000 companies.
McFarland is a frequent speaker to executive groups. His work has been featured in U.S. News and World Report, Businessweek, Fast Company, Inc., the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, and many other leading publications. He and his wife and two young boys live just down the hill from the chairlifts at Snowbird, Utah.

Rajeev Dhawan
Director of the Georgia
State University Economic
Forecasting Center

Jeff Humphreys
Director of the Terry College
of Business Simon S. Selig Jr.
Center for Economic Growth

Roger Tutterow
Professor of Economics
Mercer University

Gitomer Defined (git-o-mer) n.
1. a creative, on-the-edge, writer and speaker whose expertise on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development is world renowned. 2. known for presentations, seminars and keynote addresses that are funny, insightful, and in your face. 3. real world. 4. off the wall. 5. on the money. 6. gives audiences information they can take out in the street one minute after the seminar is over and turn it into money. See also: salesman.
AUTHOR. Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The New York Times best sellers The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Black Book of Connections, and The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. All of his books have been number one best sellers on Amazon.com, including Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Patterson Principles of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, and The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching! Jeffrey’s books have sold millions of copies worldwide.

For more information call Emily Boyle at 404.249.1069 or email her at eboyle@bizjournals.com

Ron Clark 7:30-8:30 AM Presented by	Ron Clark has been called "America's Educator." His outstanding success with students from low-wealth areas of North Carolina and NYC led him to be named Disney's American Teacher of the Year. He is a New York Times Best Selling author, and his classes have been honored at the White House on three separate occasions. He has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, and Oprah, and Ms. Winfrey has even named him as her first "Phenomenal Man." Ron's teaching experiences in New York City are the subject of the uplifting film, The Ron Clark Story, starring Matthew Perry. Most recently, Mr. Clark has founded The Ron Clark Academy, a new school serving students from Atlanta. The privately-funded institution provides an innovative and out-of-the-box curriculum that is based on worldwide travel. Each year the students, grades 5 through 8, apply what they have learned in class during international adventures, and by the time they graduate each child will have visited six of the seven continents. In addition to educating students, the Ron Clark Academy is also a training site for teachers. Educators from around the world are invited to visit the Academy to learn more about how to implement the techniques used at the school to help students of all levels achieve high levels of success. For more information on the Academy, please visit www.RonClarkAcademy.com.

Robyn Freedman Spizman New York Times Best Settling Author Consumer Advocate TV and Radio Personality 9:15-10:00 Presented By	ROBYN FREEDMAN SPIZMAN is no stranger to success. A woman of many accomplishments, she is a nationally recognized media personality and well-known author of dozens of books including Where’s Your Wow? 16 Ways To Make Your Competitors Wish They Were You! (McGraw-Hill, 2008 with Rick Frishman) Appearing often on the Today Show, she is well known as one of the country’s leading how-to experts. For almost three decades, she has appeared weekly on the Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA-TV with her consumer segments and began her television career in 1981 as a regular guest on NBC’s Noonday. Robyn appears on the popular Cindy & Ray Show on Star 94 in Atlanta and online daily with “The Giftionary” show focusing on gift advice for all occasions based on her popular book, The Giftionary. Robyn Spizman also authored When Words Most, The GIFTionary, Make It Memorable: An A-Z Guide to Making Any Event, Gift or Occasion...Dazzling!, The Thank You Book, When Words Matter Most, and teamed up with Tory Johnson and together they co-authored Take This Book To Work: How To Ask For (And Get) More Money, Fulfillment and Advancement (St. Martins Press, 2006) and and Women For Hire's: Get-Ahead Guide to Career Success (2004 A prolific author having written many inspirational books, she recently co-authored her first work of fiction with Mark Johnston titled Secret Agent, the Questions To Bring You Closer series with Stuart Gustafson and the Author 101 ™ series with Rick Frishman. Robyn’s timely gift-giving tips and consumer suggestions have been heard around the country repeatedly on NBC's Today Show, CNN, MSNBC, The Discovery Channel, CNNfn, Talk Back Live, Good Day New York, New York One, & numerous ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliate stations. Her creative advice and books have been featured extensively in print media including The New York Times, Larry King Online, USA Today, USA Weekend, Women's Day, Ladies' Home Journal, Parade Magazine, Family Circle, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Delta's Sky Magazine, Dr. Laura's Perspective, Cosmo Girl, Parents Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Entrepreneur, Southern Living, Parade Magazine and many other media outlets. Nominated for a Book For A Better Life Award, The USA Today Family Channel Award as well as Georgia's Author Of The Year, Robyn is a woman of many accomplishments. Business To Business Magazine named Robyn one of Atlanta's leading women and a Diva of Atlanta’s business world. A popular keynote speaker, she has entertained audiences across the country with passionate and lively presentations on a variety of topics including business success, personal branding, the art of promotion, book writing and other timely ideas. Dedicated to community service, Robyn Spizman serves on the eWomen Network Foundation Board and The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America’s National Advisory Council, which comprises nearly thirty influential celebrities, professional athletes and high-level executives who assist the Make-A-Wish Foundation in raising awareness, increasing funding and granting wishes. For more information see www.robynspizman.com