Speakers

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, August 27 at Noon.

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Born into a broadcasting family in the  black & white days of the 1950’s, early on Lance Russell charted a course to follow in the family business. His first professional media job came to him before he graduated high school and was followed by a decade and a half working in the field of broadcast television.

 

In the early 1980s, he left broadcasting, picked up a film camera and for the next 3-decades produced and directed television commercials, network promotions, corporate communications and, adjusting to the changing times, web videos.

 

Along the way, he acquired an interest in Atlanta’s history, fueled, in part, by a 6-year stint producing videos for the Atlanta Regional Commission. All of this inspired him to launch the YouTube history channel...Stories of Atlanta.

 

The channel looks at the City of Atlanta not through the eyes of a historian but through the eyes of a filmmaker. “It’s the stories,” he says, “that captured my attention. The story of Atlanta is a story of Iron and Ambition...railroads gave rise to Atlanta; its people made it soar.”

 

Over the last decade, Lance has assembled more than 250 videos about Atlanta’s history, stories that not only recount the events of the city’s past but stories that reveal the personalities, imagination, and determination of the people who took a railroad stop in the middle of nowhere and turned it into a metropolis.

Tiffany Sawyer has served as the Director of Prevention and Education for the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy since 2006. She served as the 2019 President of Prevent Together: The National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and continues to serve on the Board.  She was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal in 2014 to serve on the Georgia Child Fatality Review Panel as the Prevention Specialist.  As an expert in the field, she co-authored the National Plan to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and the 2017 and 2024 versions of Georgia’s Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation Prevention Technical Assistance Resource Guide for Schools and Youth-Serving Organizations.  She has developed numerous training programs on mandated reporting, abuse prevention, trauma informed care, adverse & protective childhood experiences, resiliency in children, and human trafficking, and has conducted over 1,000 trainings and presentations both nationally and internationally throughout her career. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON.  Registration closes THURSDAY, September 10  at Noon.

To View on Zoom:  Click Here

Elizabeth Strickler is a professor of media entrepreneurship and innovation at Georgia State University and an internationally recognized speaker on artificial intelligence, creativity, and emerging media. She has advised Fortune 500 companies, startups, and creative organizations on the impact of AI and has presented at conferences around the world. Elizabeth is passionate about helping people understand new technologies in practical, accessible ways while emphasizing the enduring importance of human imagination, ethics, and storytelling.

Heather Rowles has served as Executive Director of the Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (MAAC) since 2004, leading its transformation from a single-staff organization serving 60 youth to a statewide nonprofit with more than 80 employees supporting over 1,500 children, youth, and families through 11 innovative child welfare programs. Under her leadership, MAAC has earned state and national recognition for improving outcomes for youth in foster care, including increased graduation rates, a 42% permanency rate, and multiple Top Workplace and leadership awards.

Pamella Talley is the Senior Vice President of Foster Care and Prevention Services at Bloom. In 2015, she, along with Bloom's President and CEO, Becky Davenport, launched Bloom's Foster Care Program. Bloom is currently the largest Child Placing Agency (CPA) in DFCS Region IV, operating over 50 foster homes and serving more than 150 children annually.

 

Nick Zeller is a senior program associate and lead researcher for The Carter Center's China Focus initiative. In additional to leading China Pulse, a twice annual survey of Chinese public opinion conducted with Emory University, he is editor of the English-language U.S.-China Perception Monitor blog and newsletter. Prior to joining The Carter Center, Nick was a Visiting Assistant Professor of World History in Kennesaw State University’s Department of History and Philosophy, Visiting Assistant Professor of Asian History in the University of South Carolina’s Department of History, and an NSEP Boren Fellow at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He received his Ph.D. in modern Chinese history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

John Trainor is President of Four Technologies, a rapidly-growing AI-first FinTech company. His previous roles include CTO of Wahoo Fitness and CIO of Aaron's.  John holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, was awarded as Georgia CIO of the Year (Global) in 2014, and has been a leader in a number of technology industry organizations in Atlanta. An avid endurance athlete, he enjoys running marathons with his wife Heather.  But, his favorite thing to do is spending time with his 2 grandchildren.

Cliff Graubart is the founder of the Old New York Bookshop in Atlanta, which he started in 1971. The shop became famous for its legendary invitation-only book parties and its most famous customer and Cliff’s best friend, Pat Conroy. 

 

Born and raised in New York City, he attended the University of Toledo and is a graduate of Georgia State University. He has boxed in the Golden Gloves, sold furs in Manhattan in his father’s store, and once parachuted out of a perfectly good airplane in celebration of his fortieth birthday—all material for his book of short stories, The Curious Vision of Sammy Levitt and he is now working on a memoir about life with his best friend. Graubart lives in Atlanta with his wife, cookbook author Cynthia Graubart.

Debra Lam is the Founding Executive Director of the Partnership for Innovation (PIN) at Georgia Tech, a regional public–private partnership advancing innovation, talent, and economic opportunity. Under her leadership, PIN has delivered more than 300 projects across 300 communities and has launched the PIN Fund, an evergreen investment vehicle making early-stage investments in high-potential, research-derived startups advancing community infrastructure, economic opportunity, and locally driven innovation. Formerly Pittsburgh’s first Chief of Innovation & Performance and a global consultant with Arup, she has worked across the U.S., UK, and Asia. Debra is a nationally recognized author and speaker on innovation and public–private partnerships and co-editor of a leading volume on community-centered smart cities. She holds degrees from Georgetown University and UC Berkeley and serves on several civic boards, including the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.