Kelly Harris on SIVAD Radio!

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Kelly Harris, CEO of Gilda’s Club Delaware Valley, joined us yesterday on SIVAD Radio.

Kelly has worked in the nonprofit space for over 25 years. The mission of Gilda’s Club is to ensure that all people impacted by cancer are not alone, empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community. You can learn more about Gilda’s Club Delaware Valley here. And learn about how to make a critical contribution here.

On the show, we discussed the following highlights:

1. The challenges of operating, marketing, and funding a non-profit in today’s economic struggles.

2. As with all non-profits, we discussed how to stay competitive in today’s very challenging and competitive fundraising environment.

3. We discuss the similarities between non-profits and running a business, and the similarities between nonprofits and entrepreneurial ventures.

4. Kelly shared some innovative ways they are reaching out to potential donors.

5. We discussed the importance of grants and the grant-writing process to non-profits.

6. Marketing is becoming an increasing important element of thriving non-profits.

7. Co-host Charles talks about the utilization of strategies to raise venture capital also apply to non-profits.

8. We discuss the role of technology and non-profits.

9. Finally, Kelly shares her vision for where non-profits are going over the next 3 to 5 years.

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Improving Education For Special Needs Students – Part Two

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Today’s question: Response to intervention (RTI)… What is it? And how does it work?

As Dr. Golson and Ron Davis explain, response to intervention (RTI) is a process by which a teacher has to report progress on a special needs student learning specific skills, and whether or not they are learning the skill in a timely manner. It is a comprehensive reporting process.

But the big question is, how does a teacher handle their responsibilities with RTI…and also take care of a full class of students? It can become a burden and is time consuming…

Ron discusses a solution to help teachers better manage this…

Here is Part 1 in the series…

[The series is hosted by Red Crayon President Dr. Nancy Golson and SIVAD President Ron Davis. Email Ron Davis with any questions, or to learn more.]

SIVAD Proud To Appear on Marketing From The Streets Radio Show

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Ron Davis and Charles Davis both recently appeared on a local Atlanta radio show, Marketing From The Streets.

On the show, Ron and Charles discussed the keys to success for a small start-up to grow and thrive in what has been a sluggish and difficult economy.

Click here to see the full write-up.

Mike Robertson on SIVAD Radio

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Sometimes you just have a consersation and you walk away stunned at how much you learned. My co-host Charles Davis and I experienced that on today’s show with guest Mike Robertson. Mike is the Director of Life Sciences and Technology for Glasgow Hicks / Aquesta Insurance.

Highlights from today’s show include:

1. Mike’s fascinating definition of what constitutes the life sciences, and then how his industry insures and mitigates risk in that space.

2. We discussed the burden the federal government plays in negatively impacting innovation in the life sciences and technology spaces.

3. Mike is a recognized leader in risk management in the venture capital/angel investment space, and talked at length about it’s importance to the start-up and investment process, including a detailed chat about the significance of Directors + Officer’s insurance. Here is a good example of why this is important.

4. Mike then shared a bit about how the process works to get insured, and how he achieved the experience and knowledge to serve this special niche in the insurance market.

5. We wrapped the show talking about how we are all bullish on the age of the entrepreneur. But then, Mike explained how entrepreneurs can mitigate the risk with their business idea. If you launching an entrepreneurial venture, this segment is a MUST READ…

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Marshall Maglothin on SIVAD Radio

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Charles and I welcomed Marshall Maglothin to SIVAD Radio today. Marshall is a health care professional who also advises health care start-ups. He operates out of Blue Oak Consulting.

Marshall just completed a year with Bon Secours Health System, Hampton Roads, as executive in charge of their hospital cardiovascular services and physicians.

Highlights from today’s show include:

1. A hearty discussion on health information technology, largely surrounding electronic medical records.

2. Marshall’s review of the state of the union on health care; from technology to the politics of Obamacare.

3. Speaking of electronic medical records, we discussed the adoption rates of the technology, as well as how well it is being received and utilized.

4. The importance of analytics with medical dates, and how it impacts the business side of health care to patient care.

5. The application of technology: how will that look and manifest itself? From tablet computers to diagnostics to the cloud.

6. Finally, Marshall shares the opportunities and the challenges with health care start-ups…

Marshall is active on LinkedIn…

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SIVAD: Now Serving Over Fifty (50) Georgia Counties

[we just distributed the following press release...]

SIVAD Business Solutions: Now Serving Over Fifty (50) Georgia Counties
SIVAD recognized as leader in helping government do more, with less.

Atlanta, GA – Today, SIVAD Business Solutions announced that it is now officially serving over fifty (50) counties in the state of Georgia, providing solutions to improve governmental agency efficiencies and helping to ensure safer and better run elections.

“Due to the state of the economy and budget woes stressing state and local governments across the nation, we at SIVAD are driven to help government at all levels run more efficiently, with increased productivity, and helping the overburdened taxpayers get value for their investment,” said SIVAD president Ron Davis.

SIVAD has been offering various solutions to achieve these benefits, but one in particular has resonated with the counties’ election offices. This solution decreases the time voters and elections staff spend with the manual process of early voting and absentee voting. By implementing the SIVAD solution, both voters and elections staff are spending less time in voting lines or preparing absentee ballots to be sent to voters. In both cases, those involved are more satisfied through the process and for the elections office, productivity is rising and costs are falling with a decrease in needed labor.

“Honestly, without SIVAD’s Solutions, my department would be stretched further and the citizens of Fayette County would get less for their hard-earned tax dollars,” claimed Tom Sawyer, Fayette County Supervisor of Elections. “We enjoy partnering with SIVAD, because together we can run more efficiently, do more with less, and jointly create innovative solutions to make government run better.”

“With the 2012 elections coming next year, we feel that we are in a better position to execute a better run, more secure and more accurate election than ever before,” said Sawyer.

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Improving Education for Special Needs Students – Part One

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Part One of a series of conversation around how to improve education for special needs students.

Today’s question: What are some of the challenges that face school administrators when trying to offer the best possible education to special needs students?

The critical challenges are, of course, funding, resources and bureaucratic paperwork. How can technology assist both teachers and administrators?

The series is hosted by Red Crayon President Dr. Nancy Golson and SIVAD President Ron Davis.

SIVAD’s Equity Raise Series – The Importance of Persistence

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Charles Davis, SIVAD’s CFO and a partner in The Meadowmont Group, a private equity firm, continues a series of conversations around equity raises – what to do, how to prepare, how to recruit and how to communicate with potential investors.

In this presentation, Charles address the utter importance of persistance when dealing with equity raises.

Most are familiar with the Facebook story. But many don’t realize that many venture capital firms turned them down, which is one of the reasons Facebook moved to the west coast.

Any organization seeking to raise equity and capital will encounter negative feedback. The keys to making are:

1. Be persistent.
2. Believe, STRONGLY, in what you are doing.
3. When you get negative feedback, analyze and study, and make adjustments to your pitch if necessary.

Charles Davis is currently CFO for Sivad Business Solutions LLC, a regional document management and process automation company that specializes in the government, education, healthcare and small business sectors. Additionally, he is managing partner in The Meadowmont Group, a private equity fund specializing in healthcare and technology investments. Charles has a MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.

Rob Romero on SIVAD Radio!

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A thrill to welcome Rob Romero to SIVAD Radio. You can find Rob online here. [From Rob:]

“Early in my architectural career, I had the opportunity to work in a world-renowned architect’s office, Antoine Predock, on a wide range of projects from very high end residences to massive conventions centers in Morocco to museums in California and Wyoming to the Disney Mediterranean Hotel in Orlando. Since then, I have worked for several other design-oriented architectural firms until stepping out on my own.

In 2000, I started working for myself under the name Romero Architecture and now ROMERAMA which is a hybrid of my last name + the first letters of my interests – Architecture + Music + Art. I have pursued all scales of projects from retail/commercial to residential/renovation. From 2000 to 2009, I completed projects in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, North Carolina and West Virginia for total estimated construction costs of $7,580,000. As with each project, I always feel that site analysis is vital and I make an effort to experience each location as part of my duty as an architect and responsible designer in the world.

One of the most rewarding aspects of designing a project is getting to know the clients and, in some cases, I have had the opportunity to create art that is specifically commissioned for their building. The combination of art and architecture has been part of my ethos from the beginning.”

On today’s show, we discussed the following topics:

1. Rob’s firm, Romero Design; and what inspired him to launch his own firm.

2. How he, and his industry, are making it through the economy; and some discussion of ways to survive and thrive…

3. Business, industry and economic trends for the next five years.

4. The future and inspiration of the entrepreneurial spirit.

5. The opportunities in global markets.

Nancy Golson on SIVAD Radio!

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A real pleasure to be joined by Nancy Golson on today’s show. Nancy has been in education for over 40 years, serving as teacher, principal and Director of Special Education and now as education concultant with Red Crayon Associates.

Dr. Golson has worked in Charlote Mecklenburg School System in Charlottte North Carolina and Auburn City Schools in Auburn, Alabama. She has worked as a consultant for many schools systems in special education, school improvement, and accreditation.

On today’s show, we discussed the following topics:

1. The challenges faced by school administrators when trying to offer the best possible education to special needs students.

2. The impacts federal programs, such as No Child Left Behind, have on the impact of special needs students.

3. The process of evaluating students for special education via Response to Intervention, how it works, and the strain all this has on serving special needs students.

4. The increased role technology will play in helping and serving special needs students, including that of interactive technologies such as smart boards, projectors, etc.