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Related Links
- Overview
- Agenda
- Summary: Exploring How Workers, Small Businesses Navigate Post-Pandemic Economy
Speaker Biographies
Moderators
Raphael W. Bostic is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. From 2012 to 2017, Bostic was the Judith and John Bedrosian Chair in Governance and the Public Enterprise at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), where he was director of the master's of real estate development degree program and founding director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast. Bostic also served USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate as the interim associate director from 2007 to 2009 and as the interim director from 2015 to 2016. From 2016 to 2017, he was the chair of the center's Governance, Management, and Policy Process Department. From 2009 to 2012, Bostic was the assistant secretary for policy development and research at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Bostic worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1995 to 2001, first as an economist and then a senior. He served as special assistant to HUD's assistant secretary of policy development and research in 1999. He was also a professional lecturer at American University in 1998. He graduated from Harvard University in 1987 with a combined major in economics and psychology. He earned his doctorate in economics from Stanford University in 1995.
Michelle Bowman took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on November 26, 2018, to fill an unexpired term ending January 31, 2020. She was reappointed to the Board on January 23, 2020, and sworn in on January 30, 2020, for a term ending January 31, 2034. Prior to her appointment to the Board, Bowman served as the state bank commissioner of Kansas from January 2017 to November 2018. She also served as vice president of Farmers & Drovers Bank in Kansas from 2010 to 2017. In addition to her experience in the banking industry, Bowman worked in Washington, DC, for US Senator Bob Dole of Kansas from 1995 to 1996 and served as a counsel to the US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight between 1997 and 2002. In 2002, Bowman became director of congressional and intergovernmental affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. From 2003 to 2004, she served as deputy assistant secretary and policy advisor to US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Following her time in Washington, DC, Bowman led a government and public affairs consultancy based in London before returning to Kansas in 2010. Bowman received a BS in advertising and journalism from the University of Kansas and a JD from the Washburn University School of Law. She is a member of the New York Bar.
Speakers
Anita Davis is the founder of Praxis Strategic Solutions and brings over two decades of experience in commercial and small business lending training from SunTrust, BB&T, and Chase Banks. Throughout her career, she has successfully helped clients acquire millions of dollars in capital, serving as a catalyst for small business sustainability, growth, and scalability. As an entrepreneur since 2016, Davis and her team at Praxis are dedicated to helping founders transform their ambitious visions into reality by securing expansion capital and growth funding at favorable rates with reasonable fees. She has also developed a proprietary analysis tool that offers Praxis clients personalized financial data. Every consulting engagement with Praxis begins with the end goal in mind: securing a seat at the loan closing table. Davis holds numerous credentials, including being recognized by the Georgia Secretary of State as an Outstanding Georgia Business and Goodwill Ambassador. She is also a holder of the Cornell University Women's Entrepreneurship Certificate, is a Goldman Sachs 10KSB Alumni member, and serves on the board of directors for the Greater Women's Business Council and the Gwinnett Chamber Foundation.
Keith T. Parker is president and chief executive officer of Goodwill of North Georgia (GNG). GNG spans a 45-county territory, operating 69 stores, 49 attended donation centers, and 14 career centers. Before Parker took the helm at GNG in October 2017, he served as CEO of the largest transit systems in several cities, including San Antonio, Charlotte, and, most recently, Atlanta. Parker has received numerous awards throughout his career. He was recognized as the nation's Outstanding Public Transportation Manager by the American Public Transportation Association in 2015. METRO magazine named him as one of its 20 Most Influential People of the Decade. In 2016, he was appointed to serve on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC). Also in 2016, Governing magazine named him one of eight Public Officials of the Year. Georgia Trend recognized Parker as one of Georgia's 100 Most Influential leaders on multiple occasions. He was named for four consecutive years as one of the City's Most Powerful Leaders by Atlanta magazine (2019–23). The Atlanta Business Chronicle selected him as one of Atlanta's Most Admired CEOs in August 2017 (as CEO of MARTA) and in August 2021 (as CEO of GNG). Parker has a long history of service to nonprofit, charitable, and corporate boards. He remains active with the Rotary Club of Atlanta, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Atlanta Fire & Rescue Foundation, Atlanta Community Food Bank, the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Learn4Life, and Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. He serves on several prominent national boards including the Eno Center for Transportation and continues his work with NIAC. Parker also serves on the Fifth Third Bank advisory board as well as the VHB Architecture and Engineering board of directors.
Will Ruzic is vice president of operations for Provalus, an information technology services firm with multiple locations across the United States. Provalus supports high-potential rural communities in partnership with local and state governments by creating technology, business, and support careers for undiscovered talent. Ruzic previously served as the executive director for the Coastal Gateway Regional Economic Development Alliance, where he worked with rural communities to recruit industry, develop workforce, and market the region. Prior to working in economic development, Ruzic was a licensed municipal finance representative. In this role, he worked with communities and organizations to strengthen their balance sheet through bond financing and debt restructuring, with a focus on Alabama Improvement and Cooperative District financing. Ruzic is an Auburn University alumnus.
Aleia Shipman is the founder and CEO of 3G Chemical Solutions LLC, an industrial chemical supplier headquartered on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. A graduate of Alabama A&M University, Shipman is a third-generation entrepreneur. Her experience and love for sales led her to start her own company in 2016. 3G Chemical provides industrial maintenance and chemical supplies to industries that include health care, education, automotive, and transit. Shipman and her team continue to expand 3G's footprint by participating in educational opportunities to enhance her business skills. She is a 2018 alumna of the US Small Business Administration's Emerging Leaders and a 2019 alumna of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. In the summer of 2022, she completed Supplier Scale and was recently selected to participate in the spring 2023 Alabama Minority Business Development Agency's Prospectus Procurement Accelerator program.
India Watson moved from Baltimore, Maryland, to Atlanta in 1997 to give her son more room to grow up in. Shortly before the pandemic, she moved to Arizona in search of better opportunities and hoping to open a food truck. But COVID-19 shocked the economy, and she transitioned into the construction sector, where she became a cleaner and saved money to move back to Atlanta. When Watson returned, she lost money on an apartment and found herself unhoused and celebrating her 50th birthday while sleeping in a train station parking lot. After some time residing in a women's shelter, she was connected to Goodwill of North Georgia, where she enrolled in a maintenance technician training program and found strength in being a strong student and a supportive inspiration to her classmates. Through this course, she found not just community but also employment. She now works as a property monitor at Kinstone Communities, where she feels appreciated and supported in her career development. Watson credits Goodwill for empowering her to blaze her own trail. She continues to build on past experience and develop her career, and to offer inspiration and an encouraging voice to those who are in circumstances similar to what she has experienced.