ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT - Key Persons
Andy Offutt Irwin is an arts educator, theatre director, songwriter, comedian, keynote speaker, and traveling writer & storyteller. As a one-person showman, Andy has been a perennial favorite of the Teller-in-Residence Program at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and he has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival .
He is a recipient of Storytelling World Awards; Two Just Plain Folks Awards, the Oracle Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Network, and a Parents' Choice Honor for his kids' album, "Andy's Wild Amphibian Show!" In 2017 Andy received a Special Congressional Recognition - For outstanding and invaluable service to the community from Rep. John Lewis.
Everybody is impressed to know that from 1984 to 1989 Andy began his career selling out to a mouse at Walt Disney's EPCOT Center where, under the auspices of SAK Theatre he performed, wrote, and directed live comedy shows. Andy proudly holds a BA in Sociology from Georgia College &/or State University. They handed it to him in 1983. Andy lives in Covington, Georgia. He thinks he is funny.
Job Titles:
- Sergeant With the Anderson County Sheriff 's Department
Ben Cothran is a sergeant with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department, where he heads up hiring and recruiting. An officer in South Carolina's upstate for 18+ years, he has seen his share of dangerous situations.
Ben is currently assigned as a Sergeant in the Training Division. His certifications include: NRA safety officer and pistol and rifle instructor, SLED certified CWP instructor, SCCJA Firearms and Driving Instructor, SCCJA Patrol Rifle Instructor, Sniper, Sniper Instructor, Active Shooter Response Instructor, and has over eleven years SWAT experience.
Job Titles:
- Transcription Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Founder
- President
- Bigger Brains Founder and President
Bigger Brains Founder and President Chip Reaves is a serial entrepreneur who has started five successful IT companies. An Atlanta native, Chip began fixing computers for small businesses in the 1980s while studying Computer Science at Georgia Tech.
Christina Tankersley has been involved with software education and project management since 1994. Her career includes working on software development and varying manufacturing projects, helping people understand the power of diverse thinking, and continue to learn tools to share with customers, students, and the population at large.
She has certifications including Project Management Professional (PMP), CompTIA A+, CompTIA Certified Technical Trainer, and Microsoft Certified Trainer. When not working or studying, Christina loves to travel, read, and spend time with friends and family.
Job Titles:
- CEO of Ethics Resource Group
- Ethics
Chuck's work as an international ethics and sexual harassment speaker, author and consultant has been built on a foundation of experience building businesses and sales teams, along with powerful, and sometimes painful, lessons learned along the way. He's been featured on CNN, CBS and NPR radio for his work focused on the human side of ethics and using the insights gained to empower others in making better choices.
Chuck is the CEO of Ethics Resource Group and Virtual Training Associates. Through this outlet and others, he's able to share his knowledge and real-world experience of choices and their consequences - both positive and negative - and how life can offer second chances. Chuck shares his own life journey and vulnerabilities with audiences in a way that is both entertaining and thoughtful, taking theoretical principles and concepts and presenting them as practical actions - actions that lead to results.
Ethics is more than a theoretical concept. It's a practical collection of thought processes and behaviors that lead to personal and professional success. He helps audiences "connect the dots" between behavior, choices and success.
Job Titles:
- Founder and CEO of Smarter Searches
- Internet Marketing
Courtney is the Founder and CEO of Smarter Searches, a digital marketing agency located in Knoxville, TN, that creates online visibility by providing search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, social media marketing, website design, online video, graphic design, data and analytics, and public relations.
She has more than a decade of experience in the online marketing space focusing on the creation, execution, optimization, and retention of successful digital campaigns using PPC, SEO, web design, and social media campaigns for companies of all sizes and industries. Prior to founding Smarter Searches, Courtney was a search engine marketing manager at E.W. Scripps, and for financial talk radio host and TV personality Dave Ramsey.
Her focus is on developing creative, ground-breaking internet strategies with a cohesive approach to unite the search process, user experience, and customer engagement in the digital space in an affordable, efficient way.
Idaho Edokpayi is a SharePoint Consultant available for select projects. He has worked with every version of SharePoint dating back to SharePoint 2003 and has worked with clients in multiple industry verticals including non-profits, public utilities, energy extraction, and government contracting as a consultant, contractor, and employee. Idaho regularly leads development work on a variety of SharePoint projects, including custom SharePoint-based applications, SharePoint intranets, and public websites.
Job Titles:
- President of Communications for Everyone
Kelly Vandever is the president of Communications for Everyone and is an award-winning speaker who was named top speech coach by Toastmasters International for the state of Georgia. She served as an officer in the US Navy, earned a master's degree in management, been a professional speaker and trainer, and is currently a real estate agent with Keller Williams, a Bigger Brains teacher and an instructor with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.
Her professional career includes 23 years as a manager plus experience training and consulting with over 1100 leaders from more than 270 different organizations. Kelly's clients have included Cox Communications, Cox Media Group, Cox Enterprises, the CDC, USAID, INPO, the Georgia Justice Project, The Home Depot, the American Management Association, and more.
Laurie Holleman Sherrod has a BA in mathematics from Clemson University and a MAT in mathematics/computer science from the Citadel. Her experience includes teaching math, computer science, and various computer technologies at the high school, community college, university, and senior citizen levels.
She has also worked as a computer programmer analyst, technical support manager, trainer, systems analyst, knowledge base administrator, and trainer. Her teaching includes various computer technologies - including Microsoft operating systems (back to DOS), Microsoft Office, Google Apps for Education, and many more.
Laurie was one of the first certified Google Apps for Education trainers in SC. Laurie is an avid Pickleball player and maintains a website and mailing list for a large group of Pickleball players in the Clemson area. Look for her on the Pickleball court!
Job Titles:
- Video Editor & Studio Coordinator
Peggy Ward has almost two decades of experience facilitating classroom and virtual training for personal and professional development and software applications. As a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Peggy has educated thousands of professionals in Office Applications such as Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Office 365.
She also conducts training in programming languages including VBA and SQL. Peggy has a passion for personal and professional growth and her interest in helping others, as well as her drive for excellence, knowledge, and growth, have made her an outstanding teacher, mentor, and coach.
Piyanka Jain helps companies struggling to leverage their data. She has 20 years of experience in putting data to work. Her book, Behind Every Good Decision, became Amazon's #1 Bestseller in Data Science.
Piyanka's last corporate role was as the head of business analytics for PayPal- North America. She writes for Forbes, HBR, and many other publications. She has keynoted at major business and data science conferences in the US as well as internationally. Piyanka Jain is the creator of the framework called BADIR, which is fast becoming the data science framework for many global organizations like Google, Comcast, Regeneron, and others.
Job Titles:
- Accounting, Business, and Tax Consulting
With more than two decades of experience in writing, research, training, and consulting, Rebecca Schwartz is an expert at putting complex material into plain language. She has worked as a writer and editor for clients such as Defense Acquisition University, Walmart, J.P. Morgan Chase, Fidelity, and Google, among many others.
Rebecca regularly teaches workplace writing classes for government and corporate clients who want to improve work processes by making sure their employees can say what they mean clearly. She served as Deputy Executive Director and Executive Director of the Center for Plain Language from 2012-2016. Rebecca's consulting business is Plain Language Source.
Stacia Skinner's passion is to help companies save, sustain and grow their business. With 20+ years in sales, she is the secret sauce that has helped companies build competitive sales teams. From hello to close and from live, to virtual processes, she brings to the table work!
Working with a variety of industries, including manufacturing, hospitality, financial services, office products, and furniture, Stacia has been successful in helping companies accelerate their sales growth!
Stacia Skinner has had the privilege of having two books published. The latest is Competitive Selling: The Guidebook to Proactive Calling in a Reactive World. Her first book, Sell Now! is an e-book. Both are available through amazon.com.