Past Summit Agenda

Larry Sassano, President, Economic Development Council for Okaloosa County

Larry Sassano has been the President of the Economic Development Council for Okaloosa County since 1997. He is responsible for creating and implementing a comprehensive strategic plan for business development, retention and expansion, and economic diversity for Okaloosa County.

He supervised and developed State and National marketing and targeted industry programs for the Florida Department of Commerce for 13 years. He has also conducted several research studies for state and regional economies, including: Florida's Primary Targeted Industrial Profile; Rural Development Concepts for Marketing your community; and A Financial Strategy for The Creation of Technology Workforce.

Before his involvement in economic development, Larry owned and operated retail stores in Ohio and Florida for 12 years.

Professional Associations include:

Board Member Florida's Great Northwest
Board Member Workforce Development Board for Okaloosa and Walton Counties
Board of Directors United Way for Okaloosa-Walton Counties
University of West Florida President's Military Council Member
Economic Development Practitioner Advisory Committee Member for Enterprise Florida, Inc.
Florida Defense Alliance Member
Florida Economic Development Council Member
Florida Chamber of Commerce Member
International Economic Development Council Member
Association of Defense Communities Member
Southern Economic Development Council Member
Past Executive Director for the EDC for Bay County, Florida
Past President of the 16 county Northwest Florida International Affairs Commission
Past President of the 10 county Northwest Florida Economic Development Coalition

Larry holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Ohio University and performed Graduate Degree work at Baldwin Wallace University. He is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute (EDI), University of Oklahoma.

Dr. David Goetsch

Dr. Goetsch is co-founder, past-president and policy board member of the Okaloosa Economic Development Council and founder of the Technology Coast Manufacturing & Engineering Network (TeCMEN) and co-founder and past board chair of the Gulf Coast Alliance for Technology Transfer (GCATT).

Lester Hutt, CEO of Bev Shots

The President of BevShots MicroArt, Lester Hutt, was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. In high school Hutt developed a love for chemistry while working at the Sandia National Laboratories in the analytical chemistry division. Hutt's passion for science led him to pursue a Bachelor's of Science in both Biology and Chemistry at the New Mexico Institute of Technology. After graduating from his undergraduate studies, Hutt went onto the University of California at Berkeley to study chemistry at a graduate level. While at Berkeley, Hutt dedicated his thesis project to develop miniature chemical analysis devices for NASA's Mars rover missions that could detect chemical signatures of past life. He worked on this project in conjunction with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Hutt received a Master's degree in chemistry in 2000. From 2000 to 2003 Hutt worked at Apple as a Product Analyst. At this position Hutt analyzed data on new Apple products and worked with their engineering and marketing teams to resolve issues for future product releases. His main products included the PowerBook and the first line of iPods. After Apple, Hutt moved to Tallahassee, Fla. with his wife, Yuh-Mei, to work for her father's company, Golden Lighting. Hutt wanted to run a small business and now had the opportunity to learn the ropes first hand rather than attending business school. In 2008 Hutt became a business research consultant at Florida State University. With this position he was tasked with identifying research projects that could be developed into local businesses. When he came across Michael Davidson's work he saw it as a great business opportunity – taking into consideration Davidson's previous success in the necktie industry. BevShots officially began in August 2009 with the launch of the company's website, www.bevshots.com. Hutt continues to work with Davidson to update and expand the BevShots photo gallery.

Jim Breitenfeld

Jim Breitenfeld currently operates Breitenfeld Development Services, LLC, a Destin, Florida based consulting and contract management firm specializing in economic and community development and local and regional military and defense support.

Jim has been involved at the leadership level in local, regional and statewide military support initiatives since 1990 and has led local and state Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) programs since 1993. He founded the current Okaloosa County Defense Support Initiative in 1992 and established the Florida Defense Alliance (FDA) in 1997.

He currently serves as the BRAC and Military Affairs consultant to the Workforce Development Board of Okaloosa and Walton Counties where he has been instrumental in creating the BRAC Families Transition Council, the community partnership providing coordinated, one-stop community support and service for the families of the soldiers of the 7th SFG (A) transitioning to Eglin AFB. Areas of focus for the Transition Council include Housing, Spousal Employment, Education, Health Care and Family Services.

He is also serving as the Manager of the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County Defense Support Initiative (DSI) and the EDC Technology Coast manufacturing and Engineering Network (TeCMEN) and is a member of the Florida Defense Alliance.

In addition to his experience in military retention and reuse matters, Jim has also led and managed the formation of several community and statewide programs designed to support technology and defense related industries. These include the Okaloosa Technology Coast Manufacturing and Engineering Network (TeCMEN) and the Florida Aviation and Aerospace Alliance (FAAA).

His 35 years of experience includes terms as the CEO of Economic Development Councils and Chambers of Commerce in Okaloosa County, FL; Pinellas County; FL, Knoxville, TN; and Connecticut. He also served four years as senior vice president of Enterprise Florida, the state's public-private economic development partnership.

Jim may be reached at 850-598-1197 or jbreit@cox.net

JOHN F. AZZARETTO
University of West Florida
Vice Provost Extended Programs and Regional Development
Dean University of West Florida Emerald Coast

As Dean of UWF's Emerald Coast campus, Dr. Azzaretto coordinates all aspects of the university's nine regional locations including academic programs and outreach. As a UWF Vice Provost, he oversees international education and works with campus leadership, the regional community, and the adjacent military bases to deliver on-line degree and continuing education programs that extend university resources and promote lifelong learning. Dr. Azzaretto is responsible for aligning the university's resources and expertise in education, workforce training, economic and business development and outreach to effectively serve and mutually benefit the region, state and university.

John Strope
GCTC Chair & CEO, Dogwood Productions

John Strope currently serves as Technical Director for Dogwood Productions, a Mobile, AL based, full-service new media and sound design firm. In this role, John specializes in directing the technical design of advanced, integrated new media solutions to help businesses from all over the country communicate more effectively.

In his 13 years since starting the interactive development firm, John has produced many award-winning web sites and interactive applications for large and small corporations, tourism agencies, city government, software companies, financial institutions, non-profits, museums and many more. His team at Dogwood has established itself as one of the premier interactive firms on the Gulf Coast with a wide range of clients all over the country. John has earned a reputation as being an expert on the latest web and server technologies in an industry that changes daily.

Prior to Dogwood, John was chief imaging engineer at one of the world's first all digital fashion photography studios. John currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Mobile Opera, is President of the Gulf Coast Technology Council, and is past Vice Chair of Technology for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bill Payne

Bill Payne is an active angel investor, board member, and advisor to entrepreneurs. He assisted in founding four angel groups, including the Frontier Angel Fund in 2005. For over three decades, Bill Payne has successfully founded and invested in over 50 start-up companies, including: Solid State Dielectrics, Inc. in 1971 (an electronic materials company he founded and sold to E. I. DuPont in 1982), Novacap, Inc. in 1980 (a $100 million manufacturer of ceramic capacitors now operating as a stand-alone unit within Dover Companies), Vista Staffing Solutions, Inc. in 1990 (a private $60 million company providing temporary placement of physicians), and Email Publishing in 1996 (a venture-funded company merged into DoubleClick, Inc. - DCLK: Nasdaq).

From 1995 to 2007 in his role as an Entrepreneur in Residence with the Kauffman Foundation (Kansas City), he worked on educational programs for entrepreneurs and their investors, including www.eVenturing.com and the Power of Angel Investing seminar series. He has also been actively engaged in the formation and startup of the Angel Capital Education Foundation and the Angel Capital Association.

Bill was awarded the prestigious 2009 Hans Severiens Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Angel Investing. Bill just completed service as the 2010 BNZ University of Auckland Entrepreneur-in-Residence in New Zealand from February through June 2010.

Tim R. Holcomb, Ph.D.

Dr. Tim R. Holcomb is the Jim Moran Assistant Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship and Executive Director of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at The Florida State University.

Tim has more than twenty-five years of consulting, international executive management, and business startup experience, including work in the U.S. and more than twenty countries abroad. In 1986, Tim joined Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). He directed the firm's airline industry practice from 1990 to 1992 and was responsible for work with several of Andersen's largest consumer products clients, including PepsiCo and Nike, among others. In 1999, Tim founded Telcom Global Solutions Inc., a global wireless engineering and professional services firm, and served as the company's president and chief operating officer for two years. Telcom Global was named to the nationwide "50 to Watch" list of the most successful young U.S. high tech ventures for 2000 and became the third largest wireless engineering services firm in the world in its second full year of operation, serving clients in ten countries with a staff of more than 250 professionals. In 2001, he sold the company to Flextronics International, a leading provider of global electronic manufacturing services (EMS). Tim remained with the company for the next two years to run the Network Services division. In two years under his direction, the division reached sales of $800 million with 6,500 professionals in eighteen countries. Over his career, Tim has founded eight startups and has experience raising private equity funding for businesses. He has consulted with a number of public and private companies on a range of strategic, technology, and change management issues. He continues to advise businesses in a variety of industries, and serves on the board of two early-stage high tech ventures.

Under Tim's direction, the Jim Moran Institute at Florida State annually serves 1,000 students, including more than 100 undergraduate degree majors in entrepreneurship, and maintains an extensive outreach program that annually reaches more than 200 businesses with a portfolio of programs and initiatives designed to develop, connect, and serve aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners. The Jim Moran Institute's commitment to advance entrepreneurship extends to several non-traditional communities as well, including a youth development program aimed that annually serves more than 1,600 youth in high schools and elementary schools across Leon County and the widely acclaimed Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Disabled Veterans (EBV), an intensive program to teach entrepreneurship and business skills to veterans with disabilities returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tim teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in strategic management and entrepreneurship. He has published extensively on a variety of management and entrepreneurship topic, including entrepreneurial opportunity identification and evaluation, initial public offerings (IPOs) and IPO firms, resource-based theory and managerial human capital, and behavioral decision theory. His work appears in a variety of professional and academic journals. Tim serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Management and the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

Tim earned his Ph.D. in strategic management and entrepreneurship from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University in 2007. Previously, he earned his bachelor's degree in accounting and business data processing (in 1984) and his master's degree in business administration (in 1986) from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. In 2005, Tim received his alma mater's Golden Arrow Award, conferred annually by the University of Louisiana at Monroe to an outstanding alumnus.

Dr. Paul Hsu

Dr. Hsu will share his past experiences as an entrepreneur and the resources he used to become the successful business man he is today. In October 2010, Dr. Hsu was appointed by Obama Administration on the new National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise (NACMBE) in which he will develop strategies and policies to position minority-owned firms compete in a global economy. Dr. Hsu will also share his past experience as the Associate Administrator of the SBA's Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, appointed by President Bush in 2007. He served by directing the SBA's most important and effective programs, including the 8(a) Business Development Program and HUB Zone Empowerment Contracting. As an entrepreneur and businessman, Dr. Hsu founded Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI), Total Parts Plus, Inc. (TPP), ActiGraph, LLC (Actigraph) and Hsu Enterprises, a business and real estate development firm.

Holly Smith

Before establishing H2 Performance Consulting, Ms. Smith worked for a global business and technology consulting company, Bearing Point, where she specialized in managing and implementing performance management and organizational change management projects. During her consulting career, Ms. Smith has managed multiple large-scale performance management projects within the Department of Defense. She has also led multiple project teams in Strategic Planning/Performance Management process development and creation of the organization's Performance and Operational Architecture.

Ms. Smith holds a Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute, A Masters degree in Business Administration from Oklahoma City University, and a Masters degree in Business Education from Southern New Hampshire University. In addition to a long consulting career, Ms. Smith has also been a college professor and trainer.

David Overholt

David Overholt is an IP Sales Specialist for CenturyLink Corporation. In his position, Dave is responsible for the support of the local sales teams in Ft. Walton Beach, Tallahassee and Alabama for Strategic Data Products within the CenturyLink Business Markets Group.

Prior to his current assignment, Dave was Regional Manager for Coleman Technologies, the largest Cisco Service Partner in the Southeast. Prior to that Dave was Sr. Vice President with Kent Technologies a large Value Added Reseller and CLEC located in Southwest Florida. His responsibilities included building enterprise sales teams, consulting resource teams and marketing teams. While at Kent Technologies he grew revenue from $3 million to $75 million per year and at Coleman from $600k to $9.6 million in one year.

Dave is Chair-elect for the Tallahassee Technology Alliance (TalTech) and has also held numerous management positions at Bellsouth, Ameritech and SBC.

Vince Mayfield

Vincent W. Mayfield (Vinny/Vince) CEO/Co-Founder, entrepreneur, and Senior Software Engineer at Bit-Wizards of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. At Bit-Wizards, Vince has 10 years of experience leading a technology company that employs 24 software engineers, web designers, and support personnel. He has over 20 years of experience developing software, and over 18 years developing applications for the Windows Family of Operating Systems. Vince has 16 years of experience leading and managing multi-million dollar software projects.

Bit-Wizards is an innovative commercial technology company that provides Professional Software engineering, Commerce, Wireless, Web, Consulting, and Information Technology Solutions. In 2009 Bit-Wizards made Inc. Magazine's List of the Top 5000 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies at number 1617, with a growth of 198% over the three year period from 2005-2008.

Vince has expert skills in developing innovative technology and software solutions that solve real world business problems.

Vince is a FAA Commercial Instrument rated Pilot. He has authored/co-authored several programming books to include: Component Development Using ATL 3.0, Wait Groups COM/DCOM Primer Plus, ActiveX Programming Unleashed, ASP.NET by Example, and Visual C++ 5.0 Developer's Guide. He has also authored several technical articles, papers, and presentations. Vince is also a member of Vistage CEO Peer Group, and is on the Board of Advisors of the Mobile Alabama Chamber of Commerce.

Vince holds a BS in Mathematics with Minors in Computer Science and Aerospace Science, as well as a MS in International Relations, from Troy State University, Troy Alabama. He holds a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer Certification, was an Eagle Scout, and earned Civil Air Patrols' General Carl A. Spaatz Award.

Vince resides in Florida with his beautiful wife Kimberly, daughter Molly and his Labrador Retriever Tank.

Craig Barker

Craig Barker, President and CEO of Cobalt Blue Corporation, is an experienced, results-oriented leader with top-level accomplishments in both the private and public sector. He has been successful in forming, managing and growing start ups into multi-million dollar rollouts to international markets. Craig also has over a decade of experience serving in the public sector as a Destin City Councilman and as Mayor of Destin.

Craig's professional experience includes 9 years with Kore Gear Corporation where he served as the President and CEO. During his career with Kore Gear Corporation, he was charged with leading and empowering a team of doctoral scientists in positioning the company's assets for a global commercial launch. From 1991-2000, Craig worked as an engineer with Tybrin Corporation, a premier provider of process-based systems and software engineering services and customized applications based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Craig earned his Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of West Florida in 1995. Previously, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Florida in 1991.

Sonya Negley

Sonya is President of g.r.e.e.n. Consulting & Solutions, LLC. Her solutions oriented company is based in Northwest Florida and provides grant writing, administration and strategic planning assistance to profit and non-profit organizations. In addition, she provides services for GSA Schedule development, contract proposals, renewable energy site location, funding, feedstock utilization planning, entrepreneurial economic development and non-profit management services.

Prior to her entrepreneurial venture, Sonya was manager of business and community development with Florida's Great Northwest where she focused her effort on grant writing, Small Business Innovative Research assistance, International trade, foreign direct investment, renewable energy projects, research and life sciences.

Sonya spent 15 years in senior management with the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce and Oklahoma State Chamber. Her career included the founding and development of two non-profit subsidiaries, one for-profit subsidiary, funding and construction of a self-sustaining small business incubator and assistance in launching over 3,000 private ventures. She is a certified NX Level Entrepreneurship trainer, she has been a reviewer for State and Federal granting agencies, and has authored training programs on grant writing, starting a small business, regionalism and innovation.

She has collaborated on over $70 million in grants, $12 million in dedicated funds and has personally secured $28 million in funding for her clients.

Patrick G. Rooney
Value Building CXO

Patrick serves as the Lead Principal Consultant at Coastal CXO Services, Inc. where he leads a team of Executive/Senior Managers providing comprehensive business and technology consulting services. The firm delivers C-Suite expertise to firms' Founders, Management, Investors, and Directors. Coastal CXO helps identify critical pain points, prepares strategic and tactical plans addressing root causes (not mere symptoms), assists with improving business processes across the entire enterprise, and resolves problems hindering success in achieving business objectives.

He has served as a Senior Financial and Operations Executive working with start-ups and mid-stage firms in defense, electronics, software development/systems integration, education, manufacturing, multimedia distribution, information security and health-care. His 30-years of work experience encompasses a vast range of experience from controller, vice-president, and CFO to CEO and Chairman with companies such as Brand Asset Digital, Cogon Systems, Deloitte Touche & Co, Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI) & many more.

He has a proven track record in building and leading high performance teams needing effective assistance with private fund raising, enterprise process improvements, and operating management process development. He is a graduate of the University of West Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting with magna cum laude honors. He earned his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in November 1980.

He is an active member in the community:

• President, Blue Angels Pensacola Chapter Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA)
• Co-Founder/Director, itgulfcoast.org
• Leadership Pensacola, Class of 2001
• Member, AICPA.
• Member, NW Florida Life Sciences Council
• Member, WIRED NW Florida IT Advisory Council

Dean N. Parker, Jr.
President and CEO of Callis Communications

Dean N. Parker, Jr., is President and CEO of Callis Communications, which has grown over 600% in just three years. Prior to founding Callis, Parker oversaw a $100 million-plus business division for General Electric's private radio division and then later acquired by Ericsson. Parker is a business graduate of Liberty University, and serves on corporate and university boards. He is married to his wife Joanne and has three children, Jody (9), Trey (7), and Lauren (3), and they are in the process of adopting 2 more children.

W.K (Ker) Ferguson
Assistant Vice President
Research Office of Industry Liaison

Ker Ferguson was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, raised in Scotland and spent most of his adult life in Canada. While in Canada he obtained both his undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration from the Ivey School of Business, Canada's premier business school.

After graduation he worked primarily in the financial sector, within merchant banking and real estate. He has also been active in the small business sector, as a partner in taking a start-up firm to national prominence and industry leader in less than three years, with offices in London, Vancouver and Montreal.

In 1996 he joined The University of Western Ontario in their newly formed Technology Transfer Offices, where he assessed the commercial feasibility of new technologies and established appropriate paths to market. While at The University of Western Ontario he was asked to assist with managing the Research Park and undertook both roles for a period. Shortly thereafter the University asked him to take on the position of Director of the Research Park on a full-time basis. Under Ker's management and direction The University of Western Ontario Research & Development Park more than doubled its business base, including opening a second research park campus as a joint venture between the University and a neighboring municipality.

Ker moved to the University of South Alabama in the Fall of 2005 and is responsible for the development of their Research Park initiative and oversight of the Office of Technology Transfer at South Alabama (ranked 15th in the nation on return on investment by Forbes Magazine in 2008, in terms of license revenue versus research expenditures).

Ker is currently a candidate for a Ph.D. in Human Capital Development at the University of Southern Mississippi. His research interests focus on the innovation economy and technology based economic development. This includes the effectiveness of research parks as a vehicle for these activities.

Tanaga A. Boozer, JD, MBA

Acting Director for the Office of Technology Transfer, Licensing and Commercialization and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Florida A&M University. Ms. Boozer has over fourteen years of intellectual property experience and conducts technology transfer presentations and patent seminars for the faculty, staff and students. She also performs initial evaluations of faculty inventions, coordinates and manages both the Intellectual Property Review Committee and the Committee for the Commercialization of University Innovations. She conducts patent searches and drafts patent applications. She is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Ms. Boozer is a former United States Patent and Trademark Patent Examiner, consultant for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Technology Transfer Reviewer with the Department of Defense for its Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

Ms. Boozer holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, a Master of Business Administration from Prairie View A&M University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Rust College. Ms. Boozer is an entrepreneur whose company received two Innovation Grants--a Technology Commercialization Grant from Tallahassee's Innovation Park Authority and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Grant.

Tanaga A. Boozer, JD, MBA
Acting Director, Office of Technology Transfer
Florida A&M University
Phone: (850) 412-7232
Email: tanaga.boozer@famu.edu