Richard S. Bergen Jr. is President of Broadband Communications Consultants, LLC, providing technical and operations consulting services to the wireless broadband market. His client list includes many of the largest US telecommunications providers and suppliers, as well as startups in Asia, Latin America, and the US. He retired in 1996 after 26 years with BellSouth Corporation where he served in a wide array of executive, engineering, and operations positions. While at BellSouth he led efforts to plan future telecommunications technologies, led the operational efforts to deploy optical fiber in the local network, oversaw the planning, engineering, construction and testing of a national fiber optic network in Australia, and planned the implementation of a wireless video entertainment network. Following his BellSouth service, he served in leadership positions with several global telecommunications firms.

Mr. Bergen currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at North Georgia College & State University, serves as Chairman of the Dawson County Planning Commission, and Chairman of the County’s Long Range Planning Committee. He has previously served as Chairman of the Joint Development Authority of Dawson County and the City of Dawsonville.

Mr. Bergen is a member of the Rotary Club of Dawson County, a Board Member of SleeveCo, Inc. and an Advisory Board Member of the Chestatee State Bank.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and an MBA from the University of Florida. He has attended numerous executive education programs at a wide array of universities, including the California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University.

Jim Borders is the President of Novare Group, Inc., a real estate investment and development company located in Atlanta, Georgia. He started in 1992 and has invested in self storage facilities and office buildings, has developed apartments, condominiums, and office buildings, and has converted apartments to condominiums. While his early projects were adaptive reuse, he is currently developing three new condominium buildings in Atlanta. His major projects include One Park Tower, 10 Park Place South, Renaissance Lofts, The Metropolitan, Peachtree Lofts, The Biltmore, Biltmore House, 33 Ponce, Newnan Lofts, and Peachtree Place. In the past three years, his partnerships have sold over $110 million of condominiums. His new projects are Centennial House, a 101 unit condominium in joint venture with Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, 933 Peachtree, a 498 unit apartment-condominium in joint venture with Wood Partners and TMW, and WN Buckhead, a 400 unit apartment/condominium in joint venture with Wood Partners.

Jim earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a JD/MBA from the University of Georgia.

William A. Geist, Senior Vice President - CDC Software, Inc., is a senior executive with over 30 years of experience leading technology organizations and directing the application of information technology (I/T) for achievement of business goals. He is a results oriented leader who has served as a consultant, corporate executive, and general manager with profit and loss responsibility. He has demonstrated the ability to transform organizations and improve financial results, with particular expertise at building and growing professional services practices.

Bill earned a BS in Mathematics from Bucknell University and an MBA in Information Systems from the University of Rochester. He is a member of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and has served in various leadership roles within TAG and its predecessor organization, the Business and Technology Alliance.

Stuart Johnson is a Partner with Bryan Cave Powell Goldstein. He is a business lawyer, primarily advising and counseling high growth businesses. He has particular expertise in the private equity and venture capital markets. Mr. Johnson has served as lead counsel on numerous engagements (acquisitions, sales, joint ventures, private equity investments and strategic partnerships) in the telecommunications, manufacturing, plastics, home building, business services, food services and health care/life sciences industries. He regularly counsels private companies in structuring relationships between business owners, employment matters, succession planning, and tax planning activities, and he also regularly assists clients in structuring and implementing their international business activities.

Stuart received an BA from the University of Virginia, an MA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

David Linch is the Managing Partner for Stephens, Inc. and is a member of the Financial Services and Information Technology group. Mr. Linch most recently co-founded ELM Capital Group in 2003. Prior to founding ELM, Mr. Linch was in the Media and Communications Group at RBC Capital Markets. He previously served as managing director and head of Stephens corporate finance office in Atlanta.

Mr. Linch earned an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Mercer University.

Jon Stroup is an EVP and Partner at Slayton Search Partners and has more than 12 years of experience in executive search. He has led senior level engagements for multi-national, mid-cap, and early stage companies in the industrial, business services, distribution, energy, logistics and technology sectors. Previously, Jon was a Partner and Office Manager in the Atlanta office of Egon Zehnder International.

Earlier in his career, Jon spent seven years with Scientific-Atlanta (now a Cisco company), a supplier of broadband communications systems. He managed the Time Warner Cable account, Scientific-Atlanta’s largest customer and the first major buyer of digital video products. Earlier, Jon was a Regional Manager in California and Colorado for Instron Corporation (now a unit of Illinois Tool Works), a supplier of materials testing equipment to defense, industrial and R&D laboratories.

Jon received a BSE with Honors in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University and a Masters in Engineering from MIT.