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Will send before interview
Rick Elmore is an entrepreneur, sales and marketing expert, and former college and professional football player. As Founder and CEO of Simply Noted, Rick developed a proprietary technology that puts real pen and ink to paper to scale handwritten communication, helping businesses of all industries stand out from their competition and build meaningful relationships with clients, customers, and employees. Founded in 2018, Simply Noted has grown into a thriving company with clients of various sizes across the country including in hospitality, real estate, insurance, nonprofit, franchise, B2B, and others.
Ruthie is a US Army Veteran, wife, and mother to four. She is the founder and Chief Content Strategist of Defy The Status Quo, a B2B content marketing firm for consultants. Starting out as a freelance writer working for pennies, Ruthie now works with top tier clients creating website content, case studies, videos, and more.
is history."
Rob Braiman is the CEO / Managing Member of Cogent Analytics, a business management consulting firm. Since 2005, he has personally engaged with over 1800 small to medium size businesses. An entrepreneur himself, he knows, first hand, the challenges of the journey, and his passion is to help others achieve success and long-term profitability that also results in enhancing quality of life. A business analyst by trade, he founded Cogent Analytics in 2014 to provide solutions for small business owners. In 5 years, he has helped many small businesses achieve their goals and in the process has grown Cogent Analytics from 6 people to over 120; and, has ranked on the Inc 500 and Inc 5000 fastest growing companies in the country 2 years in a row (and is on deck for a 3rd).
Ryan Paugh is the COO and co-founder of The Community Company, the organization revolutionizing the future of professional organizations. He is also the author of Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Business Relationships That Matter and a renowned thought leader on creating strong communities and teams. Ryan co-founded Brazen Careerist, a career-management site for high-achieving young professionals and ambitious college students, and Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-only organization for leading entrepreneurs.
Ryan is the owner of Minute Women Home Care, a private home health care company located in Lexington, MA 6 miles outside of Boston. Established in 1969, Ryan bought the company from his Aunt in 2011 and has been focused on growing his business. Ryan is also on the board of directors for the National Aging In Place Council, a non-profit which helps connect seniors to proper senior care services. Ryan host two podcasts, The Caregiver Toolbox, and Conversation with Tara and Ryan. In his free time, Ryan enjoys golf, snowboarding and spearfishing.
Rachel Ford Hutman is CEO/ Founder of Ford Hutman Media, a life sciences communications firm. With 15-years of communications experience, she is consistently leveraging her media expertise on behalf of her health tech clients in the US and UK. She has worked with some of the biggest companies out there - Google, IBM, Medtronic, Verily, to name just a few. Welcome, Rachel
Rita Kakati Shah is an award winning diversity, inclusion and career strategist, international speaker, and currently helms Uma - an International platform that empowers women looking to return to work, as well helps companies attract, retain and develop female talent in the workplace via diversity, inclusion and retention strategies. Rita started her career at Goldman Sachs in London where she was awarded the Excellence in Citizenship and Diversity Award during her 10 year career there. She is also a recipient of the King's College London Distinguished Alumni Award. Rita transitioned into the healthcare industry, relocated to New York City where she took an almost 4 year career hiatus to raise her two children and founded Uma in response to her personal journey. Rita is also a regularly invited speaker at various academic institutions, Fortune 500 companies as well as global diversity and inclusion forums, such as UNESCO in Paris, Woman Who Matters in Moscow, Women in Finance in London, Women in Politics in Los Angeles and High Water Women in New York.
Renee is a US Navy veteran and a Loudoun County resident since 2003. She lives in Ashburn with her husband Don and son Gino. Her company, Cork and Keg Tours, is a nationally recognized as one of the top 10 wine tour companies in America, and number 1 several years in a row in Loudoun County. She has been a speaker and panelist for many organizations, including meta and Visit Loudoun, and the winner of the multiple awards including Meta Digital Innovator 2021, CTA of the Year 2022, and NAWBO Rising Star Award winner. Renee has been written about internationally in multiple publications for her leadership and trailblazing in the wine and hospitality industry, including a viral spotlight on entrepreneur.com at 18 million views and rising. In addition to running her own company, she is small business mentor and active as a volunteer with various community non-profits.
