Upcoming Events:

*Click on the event link for additional event details or to register online.

TAG North Metro February Luncheon
February 16, 2012
Armando Escalante, Chief Technology Officer, LexisNexis

TAG North Metro March Luncheon
March 15, 2012
Bech Clark, Vice President, Information Technology, Georgia Aquarium

TAG North Metro April Luncheon
April 19, 2012
Jim Scholefield, Chief Technology Officer, The Coca-Cola Company

TAG North Metro May Luncheon
May 17, 2012
Alan Dabbiere, Chairman, AirWatch

TAG North Metro June Luncheon
June 21, 2012
Mark Pearson, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect, Suntrust Banks, Inc.

TAG North Metro July Luncheon
July 19, 2012

TAG North Metro August Luncheon
August 16,2012
Dr. Daniel Kaufman, President, Georgia Gwinnett College

TAG North Metro September Luncheon
September 20, 2012
Barry McCarthy, SVP of Strategic Clients & Alliances, First Data

TAG North Metro October Luncheon
October 18, 2012

TAG North Metro November Luncheon
November 15, 2012

TAG North Metro December Luncheon
December 20, 2012

Past Events:

December 15, 2011
Dallas Clement, CFO, AutoTrader

Mr. Clement has been the Chief Financial Officer of AutoTrader.com, Inc. since February 7, 2011. 

Mr. Clement served as the Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Cox Communications, Inc. Mr. Clement oversees development and growth strategies related to the Cox's video, voice and high-speed Internet services. He served as a Chief Strategy and Product Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development of Cox Communications Inc. since August 2000. Prior to that, Mr. Clement served as Vice President and Treasurer of Cox Communications from January 1999 to July 2000. Mr. Clement joined Cox in 1990.

Prior to joining Cox, Mr. Clement held analyst positions with Merrill Lynch and the Program on Information Resources Policy. He has been Chairman of Simtrol Inc. since July 2, 2007 and an Independent Director since April 2001.

He serves as a Director at Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. He serves as Member of Advisory Board of HiWired, Inc. Mr. Clement served as Director of MetaTV, Inc. Mr. Clement served as an Independent Director of Santa Monica Media Corp. from August 2005 to September 21, 2009 and served as its Member of the Advisory Board. He served as a Director of Lightspan Inc.

In 2004, he received the National Cable Television Association Vanguard Award for Young Leadership. He is a graduate of Harvard College with an A.B. in applied mathematics and economics. Mr. Clement also holds an M.S. in engineering-economics systems from Stanford University.

November 17, 2011
Brian Shield, EVP and CIO, The Weather Channel

October 20, 2011
Tom Noonan, President and CEO, JouleX

September 15, 2011
Tycho Howle, General Partner, hf Flagship Investments (Former Chairman, nuBridges, Inc.)

Tycho currently serves as General Partner of hf Flagship Investments. He founded nuBridges, Inc. in the spring of 2001 and served as its Chairman until 2011. Tycho is a pioneer in the eBusiness arena having founded Harbinger Computer Services in March 1983. Tycho grew Harbinger to become a world-class e-Commerce firm with more than 1,000 employees, 40,000 active customers, and annual revenues exceeding $155 million. Tycho served as both Chairman and CEO for most of his 17-year tenure with Harbinger, and led the company through its many phases of growth including an IPO in 1995.  He was instrumental in the creation of Harbinger EDI Services and Harbinger Net Services, a joint venture with Bellsouth. Prior to founding Harbinger, Tycho worked with McKinsey & Company, Hewlett Packard and Booz, Allen & Hamilton.

Tycho has received numerous awards for his contribution to e-business such as being named one of the "25 Unsung Heroes on the Internet" by Inter@active Week in 1998, selection as the 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year in Emerging Technologies for the Southeastern US, selection as Georgia's Businessman of the Year by the Georgia Security Dealer's Association in 1999, and was the 2002 inductee into the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame.  Tycho has served as a Director for a number of public and private companies.

In the mid-'90s, Tycho and his family formed the C. Tycho and Marie Howle Charitable Foundation, which has made more than 450 grants to support education, healthcare, the homeless, and the arts. These grants were made principally to organizations based in the Southeast.  Tycho has a B.S. in Physics (minor-Computer Science) and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Clemson University. He also holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. 

Agust 18, 2011
Co-Sponsored by the TAG FinTech Society

Kevin McDearis
SVP, Chief Technology Officer
Fiserv Enterprise Technology, Fiserv

July 21, 2011
Buddy Blaha, President, Corporate Development, Newell Rubbermaid  

Buddy Blaha joined Newell Rubbermaid in October 2003, bringing with him a long history of global mergers and acquisitions experience. Under his leadership, the company has significantly transformed its portfolio while building an exceptional organizational capability to source, evaluate, execute and integrate potential transactions that augment the company's strategic objectives. Prior to assuming his current role, Buddy spent 16 years at Lehman Brothers in both New York and London and was most recently Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions.

He holds a degree in commerce from the University of Virginia. 

June 16, 2011
Dr. Jay Yadav, Founder and CEO, CardioMEMS, Inc.

Dr. Yadav, an interventional cardiologist, founded CardioMEMS in 2000 to develop new devices for the treatment of chronic cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure. Dr. Yadav's most recent success is the Champion™ Heart Failure Monitoring System, the first permanently implantable, wireless, battery-free device that provides crucial cardiac information from home for patients suffering from heart failure.

Dr. Yadav is a consulting cardiologist at the Piedmont Heart Institute. He is the author of over 200 publications and two books. Dr. Yadav was the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of AngioGuard, Inc., developer of the first filter for emboli prevention during interventional and surgical procedures, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1998. Dr. Yadav is a director of several private medical device and technology companies.

Dr. Yadav holds a B.S. from Yale University and an M.D. from West Virginia University Medical School. Dr. Yadav’s post-graduate medical training was performed at Duke University and The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

May 19, 2011
Keith Smith, President and COO of SK C&C USA

Keith Smith is President and Chief Operating Officer of SK C&C USA where he leads a team of payments and mobile veterans who collaborate with financial institutions, retailers, technology innovators, and mobile network operators to develop innovative and interoperable services for mobile commerce.   SK C&C USA’s mission is to bring the mobile commerce lifestyle to North America and the rest of the globe.

April 21, 2011
John Ujda, VP of Marketing, Better World Books

John Ujda is the vice-president of marketing for Better World Books, the online bookseller with a soul. Better World Books is a for-profit social enterprise that collects and sells used books online with part of every sale funding literacy programs around the world. John previously served as vice president of product management at Primedia and as director of product management at EarthLink. He served 2.5 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Papua New Guinea, and he started his career in information technology at Procter & Gamble. John graduated the University of Notre Dame with dual degrees in Computer Engineering and Spanish, and he earned his MBA from Emory University's Goizueta Business School. John drives a hybrid vehicle, likes brussel sprouts, and shamelessly reads tons of sci-fi. By the way, his last name is pronounced 'wee-da'.

March 17, 2011
Mark Morel, CEO, Whoop

Mark Morel is an experienced software industry entrepreneur who has built several very successful businesses. Most recently, he co-founded and grew Procuri until its acquisition by Ariba in late 2007. Prior to that he was co-founder and chief administrative officer of Just Care, Inc., a private medical prison company; founder, president, COO and board member of Multi-Media Data Systems, a healthcare software development firm; and president of Meridian VAT Reclaim Inc., the U.S. marketing arm of a multi-national financial services company. Mr. Morel began his career on Wall Street in the investment banking group of Shearson American Express, prior to leaving and starting his first company. Mark holds a degree in Economics from Tulane University and categorically denies any and all rumors that he frequented the French Quarter in New Orleans while at school.

February 17, 2011
Kevin Costello, President, Ariba, Inc.

January 20, 2011
Sean Feeney, Operating Executive, Golden Gate Capital

November 18, 2010
Dr. Neil Mackay, CEO, EMS Technologies

Dr. Neil A. Mackay was appointed president and chief executive officer for EMS Technologies, Inc. in November 2009.  An EMS veteran, Mackay most recently was executive vice president and chief operating oofficer (COO), overseeing EMS's consolidation strategy,the day-to-day operations of the company's business units and the Strategy & Innovation function.  Mackay's corporate business career spans more than three decades, including 16 years with EMS.  He has broad experience an an aviation and communications executive. Prior to being named COO, Mackay served as EVP of Strategy, focusingon Mergers and Acquisitions.  He guided four key acquisitons which added approximately $90 million to EMS's overall revenues.  Mackay joined EMS in 1993 following its acquisition of Ottawa-based CAL Corp., where he was president and CEO.  He also served as CEO for several telecommunications, software and aviation companies.

September 16, 2010
Dana Tardelli, Associate Vide President of Strategy and Pricing, AT&T Mobility

Dana Tardelli is Associate Vice President of Strategy and Pricing for AT&T’s Emerging Devices & Partnership organization. He oversees market strategy and planning for the group.  He is responsible for structuring new business relationships, conducting pricing analysis, and supporting special projects. His team also gathers and analyzes market research relevant to the emerging devices market.  Dana was a key member of the Apple iPhone negotiation team that secured the ground-breaking exclusive arrangement for AT&T. He led the strategic assessment and financial structuring of the iPhone opportunity. Dana continues to support the Apple relationship in projects such as the iPad.

August 19, 2010
Dan Mondor , CEO,Concurrent