Harbert Podcast

Jennifer Tarazon knows how to reach her clients; not just because she comes from a Spanish-speaking community similar to the ones she now develops programs to reach, but because her area of expertise is in providing ways for her company to establish relationships. As Director of Multicultural Engagement at Mountain America Credit Union, Jennifer explains that outreach is a lot more than 'good politics', it is integrating everything from which dialects are spoken for one base of clients to which kind of cars the sixteen-year-olds starting their first accounts are saving up for. She speaks on the importance of collaboration between entrepreneurial institutions and small businesses, why it is so important to learn about the community from which your employees come, and how to look outside of your own diaspora for mentorship opportunities. She reminds us to ditch the scarcity mindset, and that when you give someone else a seat at the table, it doesn't mean losing a seat for yourself.  

Randi Leath wants your budding entrepreneurship idea to be safe; and that starts with having copyright law on your side. She knows that young business leaders might see their idea as 'too small' to warrant registration, and she wants you to avoid that pitfall. Randi shares how to properly document the generation of your entrepreneurial idea at each phase, when it's time to get an intellectual property lawyer involved, and why any business (from money-generating-hobby to start-up company with hopes of acquisition) should keep track of their creations. She draws on a background in complex litigation and her practical, business-minded approach to IP to her work with the Chartwell Law Firm, and from her experience she speaks on the importance of copyright and licensing to the burgeoning field of content creation, and she warns listeners about the authorship problems associated with attempting to copyright work that is fundamentally derived from AI as the law adapts to understand it.

Phil Fraher knows his way around the C-Suite, having held various offices from President to CFO to COO of companies across the software and technology world. But now, continuing his 30+ year career, you won't find him behind the wheel as often as he navigates from the 'number two' position. As a consultant and advisor, Phil prefers the analytical side of entrepreneurial success. He discusses building your 'tool kit', knowing when you don't know something, and getting unique experiences that set you apart from other students and professionals. He also discusses business 'forensics' fundamentals, from how to assess your product idea in the marketplace to how to gauge the egos and attitudes in a board room for the overall health of the company.

Today you'll find Eric Finch on video thumbnails and blog posts across the web through his insightful YouTube channel Higher Levels. But it's been a long journey from his time at Auburn as an engineering student and goalie for the USA Team Handball residency. How'd it happen? Eric shares why leading with your particular background is an important part of reaching your full potential in a career change. He discusses the competitive drive to race against yourself in your results, and how he turned his job as an engineer into a career which allowed for that drive. He also discusses his pivot into content creation, how to cultivate and maintain an audience, and the specifics of publishing answers to the questions that people on the web are already asking. Perhaps his best advice to the aspiring content creator: don't quit the day-job before you've established revenue in the other.

Elliot Quinones is a former US Army Squad Leader and the current owner of the Grout Medic of Chattahoochee Valley. As a former Army squad leader who mentored over 300 soldiers, he now helps salespeople and entrepreneurs develop their leadership skills and sales technique.

Denise Groves, CPA  is a financial consultant and strategist, and the founder of CFO Support Inc. With a background that includes positions at  KPMG and Fortune 500 companies, Denise is an Advanced Certified Profit First professional. Her engaging style helps clients implement the cash flow philosophy of Mike Michalowicz’ book, Profit First. She is an Auburn College of Business alumnus and a member of Auburn's Women's Philanthropy Board Executive Committee.

Twenty years ago, Michael Giles wondered if his experience and education would be what employers were looking for. It was. Now Giles encourages Harbert students today to open their minds to career paths they previously thought were 'off limits.' He also suggests setting boundaries at work to make time for life at home.

Stephanie Todd knows that the value of hard work (see also: true grit) helped propel her into her role as an executive manager with Bank of America, a job that keeps her more than busy. But in this episode she also helps us understand the importance of interceding on your own behalf, learning it's okay to say no, and voicing your goals to the leaders above you-- even if you're just starting out. The 2004 Harbert Operations Management grad reminds us that a career is a journey, and it demands some faith.

Amy Jones is the founder and managing director of South Street Partners LLC in Elmherst, Illinois. She started her own company in order to share her passion for finance with other start ups. Prior to that, Amy spent fourteen years with the McDonalds corporation's Global Finance team with a three year assignment to Singapore. Amy is a 1996 Harbert Graduate with a BSBA in Accounting.

Kevin Sommers is a 2018 graduate of the Harbert College of Business at Auburn University. He currently serves as the Assistant Chief Financial Officer of TriStar Skyline Medical Center, part of HCA Healthcare, in Nashville, TN. He has worked at SCA Health (part of Optum and United Health) in their Financial Operations group, supporting surgery centers and surgical hospitals across multiple states. Before that, Kevin was a member of the finance team at UAB Health System in Birmingham, Alabama.Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Kevin is a proud alumnus of Auburn University, holding a degree in accounting. He furthered his education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a Master of Science in Health Administration and a Master of Business Administration. Outside of work, Kevin enjoys staying active with golf, tennis, and pickleball, and loves to travel and spend time with family and friends. He currently serves on the Young Alumni Council for the Harbert College of Business and is an avid supporter of Auburn athletics.

Greg Winchester is the founder and CEO of Summit Investors, a firm specializing in commercial and residential real estate investments in both North America and Europe.  Along with his wife Jan, he's the founder of the Winchester Institute for Real Estate Development at the Harbert College of Business.

Mack Johnson, 2021 Harbert graduate, shares a story of tragedy to triumph. After suffering a paralyzing spinal cord injury in 2016, Mack found his home at Auburn University earning a degree in Accounting and Information Systems Management. Now, as a leader and mentor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mack expresses the importance of inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce.

Brooks Fuller is the founder and CEO of Room2Room Movers, a former member of the Auburn University Baseball Program. He is a 2022 Harbert College of Business graduate in finance.

Winston C. Tucker is a Senior Manager of Lateral Partner Recruiting at Ropes and Gray, LLC in New York. He received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2002 and his M. Ed in Higher Education Administration from Auburn University in 1999.

The CEO of Allegiance Merchant Services saw opportunities to apply technology to the movement of money by developing customized transfer services for companies. A one-size-fits-all approach may not work, he noted: “My daughter is three. She’ll never write a check. My mom is in her 70s. She’ll never pay with her watch.”

Ebony Ruffin understands that life insurance is not a popular topic, especially among younger people, but in her Atlanta-based business, Ruffin Consulting Services,  the 2005 Harbert finance graduate helps others understand that insurance is a significant component of sound financial planning. As she explains in this podcast, buying life insurance when young is a smart financial move.

The image of shipping containers falling off ships into the ocean intrigued Meghan Nicholas and prompted her to pursue a career in solving the complex problems of supply chain management. That led to her current position as vice president for operations transformation and innovation at “Fortune 1” – Walmart.

For entrepreneur Patrick Brown, a willingness to “jump into the unknown where you don’t know the end of the story” has guided a varied business career that includes forming a highly successful adult kickball league. Brown, a 1994 Harbert graduate and former Auburn SGA president, notes the importance of identifying the “core offering” of your proposed  business.

For Jamie Garverick, a Harbert degree in finance proved to be an excellent background for a career in sales, especially for high-ticket items. Garverick, chief revenue officer at Fullstory, a digital experience analytics firm in Atlanta, says “The ability to know your way around the spreadsheet is really, really important.”

For Pavan Reddy, chief counsel at Auburn Ventures, a law degree was an ideal complement to his 2010 Harbert degree. As the commercial real estate company has grown, his dual background has allowed him to see the business from a legal perspective as well as a business viewpoint. 

An early mentor’s advice to always do the right thing has stuck with Steve Fleming throughout a long career in mortgage lending and now in commercial real estate development. In this podcast, Fleming, a 1984 Harbert finance graduate, also shares his experiences as a founder of On To Victory, Auburn’s Name, Image and Likeness collective.

Christa Cotton, CEO of El Guapo, caught the entrepreneurial bug early from her family’s business endeavors. Her company’s bitters are sold across the country, but because they are non-alcoholic, she can distribute them without having to deal with varying state alcohol laws. That’s a key ingredient in her recipe for success.

Given the competition in today’s financial markets, asset management and cryptocurrency firms need strong, data-driven media solutions to reach investors and advisors. For Stephen Love, a group director at Ptarmigan Media, that requires staying on top of critical areas such as consumer trends, competitors and technology trends. Love earned an international business degree from Harbert in 2012 and an MBA in 2013.

For Airship CEO Trent Kocurek, focusing on the views of the people you’re trying to help is critical to business success. Kocurek, a 2008 Harbert graduate in management information systems, says problem-solving has to be ingrained in a company’s culture. The serial entrepreneur also urges risk-taking early in a career, when there’s more room to make mistakes.

Bill Allen, a 1980 Harbert graduate, has seen great change in the HR field over a career that includes stints as chief HR officer at Macy’s, Maersk and Atlas Air.  He says today’s HR professionals have to help their companies build cultures that will attract the people needed to operate successfully.

That college degree is just the start of your learning, says Bo Patel, principal at Axion US and a 1998 Harbert graduate. It’s an ongoing process in the business world. And that process won’t be “lollipops and unicorns” all the time, he says. There’ll be fear and failure along the way, but it’s important to keep that in perspective: “Fear is a great motivator. It can stop you, but it also can keep you going because you don’t want to fail.”

Meghan Michel, a real estate manager for Whataburger, says algorithms and other forms of technology are helpful, but there’s no substitute for seeing a property firsthand. In this podcast, she discusses the complex business of finding and acquiring commercial restaurant property. Michel is a 2016 graduate of Harbert’s Master of Real Estate Development program and co-chair of the MRED Alumni Council.

Kella Farris, who has a degree in finance and an MBA from Harbert,  sees the creative and the financial sides of the music business. In this podcast, she discusses how her company helps recording artists and songwriters deal with the business side of music as their streams of creativity lead to streams of income.

As chief commercial officer of Play Monster Group, Scott Flynn has serious responsibilities, but he also enjoys his title of Chief Fun Monster at the toy company. The 1985 Harbert management graduate discusses the intersection of sales and marketing and the healthy development that toys can provide for children.

Before founding the craft brewer Wild Heaven Beer, Nick Purdy was founding publisher of Paste, a music magazine nominated four times for a National Magazine Award. The 1993 Harbert marketing graduate made his move into the craft beer business and has seen the industry grow significantly, despite the competition from major national brewers. It’s a long-term business model that requires investors to be patient.

The data-driven approach Andy Garlington followed in the for-profit sector still applies in his new job as CFO of Centerstone, a not-for-profit behavioral health care system. Because “what gets measured gets done,” he said, it’s important to consider data even in a not-for-profit organization that uses its revenue to sustain and further its mission rather than to generate profits paid to individuals. Garlington holds dual bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance from Harbert. 

An emphasis on “work, workers, workplace” helps Steelcase focus on the business office of the future, says Ron Martere, vice president and leader of the company’s North Business Group. The 1987 Harbert graduate expects a hybrid model – work in the office and at home – to become even more common as businesses transition from pandemic operations into a changed marketplace.

As vice president and chief medical officer of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Dr. Latonya Washington has gone from helping “the patient in front of me” to helping improve care for hundreds of patients served by the system. Her Harbert MBA prepared her to move from the clinic to the executive level, caring for people through the business side of medicine.

People don’t live in buildings, they live in communities, says Gizman Abbas, principal at Direct Invest Development. His sustainable real estate development company works to create opportunity in communities by providing services such as job training and early childhood education along with residential space. And it does so profitably. “We do really well by our investors, but we also do good in the community,” says Abbas, an Auburn engineering graduate who expanded his business horizons by shifting careers into investment banking and development. 

Tara Wilson’s latest venture, Fierce Lab, aims to give women insight and information in a variety of business and life areas. Owned by her agency, Fierce Lab offers networking, conferences and an app.The 1997 graduate was named Harbert College’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018. In this podcast, she outlines the thinking behind Fierce Lab and discusses how hard work and innovation have shaped her career.

For Parker Duffey, chairman and co-founder of Tailgate Guys, having “your back to the wall” isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, it can lead to creative thinking and that mindset is useful even when your business is operating successfully.Duffey also advises seeking business partners who are different from you and know how to do different things than you. Overlapping skill sets can create conflict and impede a company’s growth.

Kurt Ford says he “still looks up when an airplane flies overhead.” He follows his passion for the aviation industry as international network planning director for Delta Air Lines.When the COVID pandemic halted many of Delta’s international routes, Ford was part of a management team that sought ways to keep the airline’s employees and passengers safe while looking for opportunities to begin restoring service and opening new markets. Ford has a degree in aeronautical science and is a 2005 MBA graduate of the Harbert College of Business.

Matt Pierce describes Immediate as a “financial wellness company.” His company partners with employers to allow employees to access earned but unpaid wages ahead of the usual payday schedule, thereby avoiding high-cost short-term loan options for pressing financial needs.Pierce says thinking beyond the ordinary can be critical in moving a business forward. “In order to get deals done, in order to make things happen, sometimes you’ve got to be creative.” Before founding Immediate, Pierce worked in business development leadership roles at multiple established  companies and startups.He is a 2004 finance graduate and earned a Harbert MBA in 2005.

One of the best ways to prepare for corporate leadership early in your career is to serve on non-profit boards, advises Linda Rebrovick, president of Impact Corporate Consulting in Nashville, Tenn. The experience of working with a leadership team and achieving organizational goals is invaluable as you move into the corporate board orbit later in your career.It’s also important to remember that everyone in the company is in sales, she says. Even if they’re not calling on potential customers, they still represent the company and can affect its prospects for success.Rebrovick is a 1977 Harbert graduate in marketing.

Bringing the advantages of new technologies to traditional business models is a hallmark of Kinetic, founded by Harbert alumnus Jay Brandrup. In this podcast, he discusses the value of flexibility in business and the importance of balance in work and life.When he began his business in the mid-1990s, he said, a lot of business people thought the internet was a fad. That was a lot to overcome, but he learned that even if you’re starting out in tough times, that’s not a bad thing because it forces you to build a business model that works in tough times.Brandrup, an honors graduate in Finance, serves on the Harbert College of Business Advisory Board.

Connie Berardinelli majored in entrepreneurship at Harbert. Her minor in sustainability studies gave her an educational combination that blends well with her work at Trove. The San Francisco-based company offers retail brands such as REI and Patagonia a system for taking back and reselling items previously purchased from them, allowing them to retain customer contact with the brand while reducing the use of materials required to produce new items.As she explains, this circular shopping approach not only benefits consumers and retailers, but also has significant benefit for the environment. 

Leah Jones, a 1992 accounting graduate, is a veteran of the health care technology field. Armed with her Harbert degree, she gained increasingly higher levels of responsibility and is currently Senior Vice President and General Manager – Ambulatory at Allscripts.The phrase on her LinkedIn  profile, WE SAVE LIVES, reflects the impact of technology in the effective delivery of health care and is a daily inspiration, Jones says. In this podcast, she discusses the value of broad-based knowledge in management and the importance of internships for students preparing to enter the business world.

John H. Roth is vice president and chief compliance officer for Nassau Asset Management, a multi-strategy investment management platform managing more than $19 billion.  He holds a B.S. in finance from Harbert. While at Auburn, he was treasurer of the Student Government Association.Roth has also practiced law and served as chief compliance officer at two other capital management firms. He recently earned a doctorate in leadership and innovation from New York University.

Damon Duncan oversees the Montgomery, Ala., Housing Authority’s $400 million real estate portfolio. MHA’s core business is planning, building and administering affordable housing.Over the course of his career, Duncan has been involved in developing more than 1,250 units of housing. He holds a Master of Real Estate Development from Auburn and is current president of the MRED Alumni Council.

Kelly Baltes, former President of Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurants, discusses how to create a formula for a successful business and how brand strategy plays an important role in the process. Kelly began his restaurant career bussing tables. Since then, he has worked in almost every position within the restaurant industry, working his way to positions such as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board for a variety of restaurant groups.Kelly earned his Executive MBA from Auburn University in 2005 and was later named to the Auburn University Harbert College of Business 40 of 40, an honor recognizing the top 40 alumni to graduate in the first 40 years of the college’s formation. 

Keisha Dzata, a senior financial analyst at Home Depot, discusses the importance of hearing other voices in the workplace and the value of internships.She holds a degree in accounting from Harbert and serves on the Black Alumni Council. Keisha also mentors Harbert students.

Laura Glenn is a director of investment advisory services for Public Trust Advisors in Atlanta, Ga. She is responsible for providing customized investment management and administrative and advisory solutions to public sector entities across the U.S. She graduated from HCOB in accounting.

Kyle Tothill is co-founder and partner at three business service firms: eHire LLC, Make & Build and Collective Insights. As an entrepreneur focused on helping organizations acquire select talent, he has started four professional service companies and one software firm. He is a 1997 HCOB graduate in marketing.

Ashley Ahner is co-founder and CEO of Dream Catalyst Company. The company’s mission is to help clients realize their potential by turning their personal passions into successful business ventures. She provides assistance in website search engine optimization, competitor market analysis, social media consulting and website construction. She graduated from HCOB in 2010 with a bachelor’s in finance and earned an MBA from the college in 2011.