Fearless Fundraising for Small Businesses - Dalton

Moderator
Donna Lowry is an award-winning journalist who combines a passion for storytelling and a desire to empower others with communication and critical thinking skills surrounding political, educational, and financial  issues.

Through her firm, Donna Lowry Communications, she provides consulting, writing, and producing services for educational, media, professional, and business outlets.

Donna serves as host/producer for several programs, including Lawmakers on Georgia Public Broadcasting. 

Donna is an eight-time Emmy award winner, a three-time national Gabriel Award recipient, and has garnered honors from countless organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists, Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, Georgia Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). 

Her media peers inducted Donna into the prestigious NATAS Southeast Silver Circle to recognize her lasting contributions to the broadcast industry.  

Donna has a master's in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Bachelor's in Mass Communications and Administration and Management from Chatham University. 

Her professional affiliations include the Atlanta Press Club, the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Southeastern Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS SE).    

In her 15th year as a Girl Scout Leader, Donna has led girls ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her community service affiliations also include Magnolia (GA) Chapter of Links, Inc., and Nu Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.     

Donna and her husband, Army Major (Ret) Bennet W. Reid, Jr., are the parents of three daughters. 

Founder & CEO, Finance Savvy CEO®, Angel Investor & Small Business Advisor

Marguerite, a former Wall Street financial analyst, business strategist, and top ranked business money expert, was named Atlanta’s 40 Under 40 by Atlanta Business Chronicle, co-authored “Girl Power Uncensored” with her chapter “From Wall Street To Helping Main Street”, is an accredited angel investor, host of the podcast “Finance Savvy CEO®”, the creator of Your Profit Playbook® - the leading business financial planning training program for small business owners, and Founder & CEO of financesavvyceo.com. 

Marguerite spent the early stages of her career as a senior analyst at Goldman Sachs, controlling an over $2 billion portfolio of private equity, alternative energy, and commercial real estate investments. She transitioned after business school at the NYU Stern School of Business into a successful career in Mergers & Acquisitions as a Manager at Deloitte Consulting, advising fortune 500 companies through the full deal cycle from target screening, deal structuring, valuations, and due diligence, all the way through day 1 readiness and post-merger implementations. 

Marguerite continued to push the ceiling when she sought to make wedding planning less stressful and more fun for brides by creating Tulle la la, a global retail technology company that combines technology with a project management-based approach to wedding planning. In 2018, Tulle la la won the modern luxury diamond award for Best Wedding Technology. Marguerite had a successful exit from the company within 5 years, and today, Tulle la la continues to serve thousands of brides across the globe each year. 

Marguerite now focuses her attention on her EdTech FinTech platform, Finance Savvy CEO®, created to help close the gender & racial wealth gap through focusing on profitable entrepreneurship. Finance Savvy CEO® supports business owners on an ongoing basis, through programming and members only access, to increase the financial health of their business and intentionally create long term organic financial sustainability. 

Marguerite is passionate about building generational wealth through entrepreneurship and is always excited to help entrepreneurs navigate their pathway to profitability.

Head Coach and Founder, Shankly Elite Training, LLC 

Born and raised in Liverpool, England, Tyler Shankly Hudson came to the United States in 2014 with hopes to obtain a college scholarship to play soccer and study in the U.S. university system. After making his way through the youth soccer system in the United Kingdom, coach Ty had spells with Liverpool School Boys, Wigan Athletic, and Morecambe F.C before making the trip across the pond.

After playing all 4 years and completing 2 bachelor of science degrees in biology and Health & Wellness at Dalton State College, Tyler launched Shankly Elite Training, LLC in June of 2022. 

America’s Financial Wellbeing Coach, Operation HOPE

Linden Jackson was born in Kingston, Jamaica.  His family later moved to the U.S. and settled in New York’s Flushing, Queens. By 1970, he was living in Brooklyn, where he became the 5^th. grade school valedictorian and later, a contributing author in several nationally published books on creative writing and child rearing by author/educator Bernard Percy (bernardpercy.com). These books were published by Price/Stern/Sloan (“How To Grow A Child: A Child’s Advice To Parents”) and Prentice Hall (“The Power Of Creative Writing”). Linden enjoyed music, but became more interested while in Los Angeles, after a friend gave him a synthesizer in 1980.  Quickly adding Electronic Music, Musicianship and Microphone Technique to his college curriculum, Linden became absorbed in music and picked up a job at popular Los Angeles-based record retailer V.I.P. Records, while attending Los Angeles City College. 

Moving to Atlanta in 1982 to complete his college education at Georgia State University, he came armed with a Bill Lowery scholarship and a major in Commercial Music & Recording, with an emphasis on business. Linden soon began working at the distribution center for an Atlanta record retailer in the daytime, while working at a local recording studio programming synthesizers & drum machines, engineering and mixing music, at night.

An internship quickly produced a job at one of the world's largest record companies - CBS Records.  By the time he graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, Linden had a full-time job in CBS Records' southeast regional branch, where he marketed records by Columbia, Epic and Def Jam. During his 10 years, CBS Records became Sony Music Entertainment and Linden had personally worked with just about every act on the label’s roster such as Celine Dion, Billy Joel, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alexander O’Neal, Ozzy Osbourne, Shabba Ranks, The Jacksons, Mariah Carey and Public Enemy, just to name a few. Linden created and implemented dozens of sales and marketing campaigns, artist promotions and in-store appearances, received numerous gold/platinum albums, won a wide variety of awards, and traveled throughout the U.S., Canada and Jamaica attending record label and industry events. 

Continuing to delve deeper into his passion – the recording studio – Linden built MKM Studios, where he oversaw the production and marketing of numerous local and regional acts.  Expanding his hand into the audiovisual industry, Linden became a freelance technician for one of the world's top audiovisual companies -Total Audio Visual Services (TAVS), where he later became an audiovisual manager at a busy Buckhead hotel. In addition to working for Operation HOPE, Linden owns Atlanta-based media management company MKM Multimedia Works LLC, where he oversees operations of audiovisual and home theater, music production at his recording studio, marketing, and sales. For the new millennium, he executive produced the Atlanta Artists Against Gun Violence compilation CD for the Million Mom March Foundation and secured a major international advertising contract with The GAP for legendary music group Arrested Development’s Baba Oje. This led to a TV commercial that ran in several different countries, as Arrested Development kicked off a long-awaited tour, which Linden tagged along on. As an author, he has a line of music-related books and multimedia products in development, beginning with the MUSICOLOGY 4-book series. Experiencing the devastation caused by Covid, he joined Operation HOPE in 2021 to help assist the community with Business development and Credit.

With a clear vision of where he wants to go etched in his sights, Linden is at his best working in a positive, successful environment with successful people…and a unified goal in mind.  A favorite quote that he picked up from mentor/author Bernard Percy is: "Everything turns out right in the end - if it isn't right, it isn't the end."

Area Director, UGA SBDC

Peter Matthews is the Area Director with the UGA SBDC in Rome. He has over 14 years of experience working with business customers in credit administration performing credit underwriting for commercial and mortgage credits including financial analysis, loan packaging, risk grading and loan review of portfolio credits.

Peter also has experience in business consulting with 15 years of experience with the UGA SBDC. His consulting expertise includes financial packaging, financial analysis, and business management. His background includes service as CFO and operations manager of a franchised automotive dealership, and he has experience in designing and implementing business plans, store layout, site selection and staffing in retail environments.

SVP, Chief Credit Officer, North Georgia National Bank

Adam is a 2004 graduate of Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia, where he received a Master of Accountancy. During school, he served in the Marine Corps Reserve, obtaining the rank of Sargeant.

After school he began his professional career in public accounting where he worked for Mauldin & Jenkins, a regional CPA firm based in Atlanta. After obtaining his CPA license, he transitioned to banking in 2008. Working initially in credit and then special assets. In 2010 he accepted a position as a senior analyst at First Bank of Dalton. 

At First Bank he worked exclusively with small to medium size businesses on credits ranging from $50,000 to $15,000,000. He was promoted to Senior Credit Officer in 2020. First Bank was acquired and merged with First Volunteer Bank in 2022. In late 2023, Adam had the opportunity to rejoin the community banking space as the Chief Credit Officer at North Georgia National Bank. 

North Georgia National Bank is a small community bank headquartered in Calhoun, Georgia with approximately $230 million in assets under management. NGNB recently opened a full-service Dalton branch in the old credit union building on Chattanooga Avenue. NGNB specializes in serving our local consumer and small business borrowers with high touch, out of the box solutions, unavailable at our larger competitors. 

Adam has four children ranging from 19 to 14. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking with his children and watching movies.