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Jennifer Sherer, PhD / Metro Atlanta Chamber   

Jennifer Sherer is the Vice President of Business Higher Education (BHE) for the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC). She works closely with the BHE partner universities to increase collaboration with metro businesses and strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region.

Prior to joining MAC, Jennifer served as the Executive Director of Southeast BIO (SEBIO), a regional non-profit organization that fosters the growth of the life sciences industry in the Southeastern U.S. by promoting entrepreneurship and bringing together key stakeholders active in the development of the industry. SEBIO’s mentoring programs, designed to prepare entrepreneurs for fundraising and cultivate new start-ups from universities, have benefi ted over 200 companies in the Southeast. Companies participating in SEBIO activities have gone on to raise over $2.5 billion in public and private funding.

Prior to joining SEBIO, Jennifer was a licensing associate in the Office of Technology Transfer at Emory University. She was responsible for assessing intellectual assets for advancement, developing marketing strategies, and generating commercialization plans for technologies generated by university researchers. She also aided faculty members in developing strategic partnerships with industry. Jennifer serves on the Emory University Center for Ethics advisory board and is a member and volunteer of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM).

She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics at the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Biochemistry at Lehigh University.

Kim Eaton / Aptean   

Kim Eaton serves Aptean as Chief Executive Officer, leading the company to provide unrivaled service to its nearly 5,000 global customers and drive product innovation in the enterprise software market. Ms. Eaton joined Aptean in August 2014 as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing all aspects of Aptean’s global operations.

Ms. Eaton has over 25 years in the technology sector with a broad range of senior leadership and management positions. She began her career as an Accenture consultant, implementing large-scale distribution and warehouse management systems, as well as Financial and HR/Payroll solutions.

She has served as President for BlueCube Software and as Executive Vice President for RedPrairie Corporation. Prior to joining Aptean, Ms. Eaton was with NCR Corporation where she served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for NCR Corporation’s Hospitality Division. She was also responsible for the integration process of Radiant Systems into NCR, focusing on sales and marketing.

Ms. Eaton holds a Bachelor of Science in Distributed Studies (Biology, Chemistry) from Iowa State University.

About Aptean: •Aptean is a global software company with 1200 employees in 17 countries and more than 5,000 customers. We’re headquartered right here in Atlanta, on Perimeter Center Parkway. We develop software that is found “where the work gets done.” By that we mean that our CRM, ERP and Manufacturing Execution products are installed on the front lines of our customers’ businesses—call centers, sales forces, bakeries, shop floors, assembly lines—to help those processes run more efficiently and reduce costs.

Aptean was launched in 2012, but we have a much deeper history than that—our core products like Ross ERP, Pivotal CRM and Respond Complaints Management were once stand-alone companies with track records and customers that go back as far as 20 years. Customers, like Farm Credit Services in Omaha; they have been a Pivotal customer for 16 years, long before Pivotal was a part of Aptean. Stories like theirs really struck me when I joined the company last year—Aptean customers are more like partners, they trust us and have evolved with us over the length of our long relationship. When we make upgrades and enhancements to the product, they are intricately involved with improvements and new functionality. That’s a tremendous sign of the value we’re providing and the voice that we give them in shaping the product.

Erin Rosintoski Lewis / Atlanta Tech Village  

Erin Rosintoski Lewis is a Community Manager at Atlanta Tech Village. She connects the Village to the larger ecosystem in Atlanta and beyond. Erin curates meetings between startups and investors, corporations, and strategic partners. She oversees the events team, programming calendar, and engages sponsors to support the entrepreneurs at the Village.

Jennifer McKenna / JMac Consulting 

Jennifer McKenna (aka “JMac”) is a change agent who transforms visions into reality. She is adept at extracting the Big Idea and breaking it down into measurable milestones. With a background in program and business development and change management consulting, Jennifer coaches leaders and facilitates the process of transformation in pursuit of growth.

Specializing in communications and strategy development, Jennifer is particularly savvy at identifying and changing patterns within the minds of business leaders and the inner workings of organizations that previously inhibited productivity and profitability.

Her focus is to honor and leverage the company’s mission and its people to achieve measurable victories and to ensure that the business itself enriches lives. Jennifer infuses a fresh perspective into traditional organizational paradigms to ensure congruency, integrity and forward movement to enhance the business and the world at large.

Jennifer has been featured on local television affiliates for her work as a coach. She has also been recognized for her conscientious approach as a facilitator, working with highly sensitive subject matter to generate successful outcomes from controversial discussions. As a consultant she managed a team that launched a new industry category for a Fortune 100 company that was named a product of the year less than six months of the product launch. Exceeding goals is a habit for Jennifer as evidenced by the 365% business growth one client experienced over a 3-year period of time.

Over the course of the last twelve years she has facilitated national conferences, expert panel discussions and annual planning retreats for many teams at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as multiple other small businesses and non-profit organizations. Jennifer is known to excel under pressure and has been called on to lead teams in crisis.

She believes that our professional life is an extension of our personal life and must be meaningful. Inspired by this, she creates customized strategic models to help progressive-minded business leaders create the change they desire.

Jason Premo / Premo Ventures  

Jason Premo, a native of Georgia and a GT Yellow Jacket, is Chairman of Premo Ventures, a Greenville SC – based venture capital firm focused on investing and accelerating small to mid-size advanced manufacturing companies with high-impact potential in the aerospace, defense, energy, and medical device industries.

Jason’s diverse career has encompassed a wide variety of roles ranging from design engineering to CEO, in startups to Fortune 500 global organizations.

Jason is also an active Angel Investor with Swamp Rabbit Angels, providing much needed seed capital for startups and early stage companies in the South Carolina. Jason is also an Advisory Board member for a number of startups and small to mid-market market companies in a variety of software, manufacturing, electronics, oil & gas, and professional services industries.

Jason received a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a certified Lean Manufacturing-Kaizen Facilitator, Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and ISO 9000 Auditor. He is also currently a senior examiner for the prestigious Presidential Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA).

Jason was appointed by Governor Nikki Haley as a Board member for the South Carolina Centers of Economic Excellence. He is a Foundation Board member for the Greenville Technical College, Executive Officer Board Member for the NEXT Charter High School, Board member for SC Broadband Advisory Council, Advisory Board for AidJoy Charities, and a Liberty Fellow with the Aspen Global Leadership Institute.