Jim Garrett, founder and CEO of Kudzu Interactive and Snapfinger.com received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Georgia in 1980 and his MBA from Georgia State in 1991. After spending many years working in the communication industry with Scientific Atlanta, GTE and Harris Corporation, Garrett then moved on to form his own consulting firm focused on re-inventing companies and strategic business initiatives around the changes brought on by the Internet and other advanced technologies; assisting companies such as Cisco, Equifax, NET and others.
Garrett is largely credited as being one of the pioneers behind the Internet banking industry and marketing financial services via the Internet beginning in 1993. His accomplishment included leading the growth strategy behind Servantis and Response Marketing Group. In 2000 Garrett started Accelerated Growth Partners in order to provide early-stage capital and strategic management services for emerging Internet businesses. In 2004, Garrett started Kudzu Interactive which today is the leading provider of remote ordering technology within the restaurant industry.
In 2009 Kudzu Interactive launched the Internet’s largest restaurant online ordering site with over 26,000 restaurants in over 2,600 cities across the US. Garrett’s vision for Snapfinger is to make take-out more convenient by offering variety and ease of access to most of the nation’s largest restaurant concepts. Today Snapfinger represents the single largest mobile ecommerce applications connecting mobile users to thousand of restaurants for ordering and payment.
New Places, New Faces; Your Path to People and Profit: David Topus
David turns reputations into revenue by taking the mess out of messaging and putting the art in articulation. A veteran expert in value-based communication, he brings a thirty year career with companies and individuals across the country and around the world. Since 1990, after 12 years in advertising and marketing with The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and IDG Communications, David has consulted and trained thousands of sales professionals in articulating their value propositions for competitive advantage. He has an uncanny ability to uncover and convey in engaging and compelling terms the essential value in people, products and companies.
“Who we know, and how we get to know them, has everything to do with our success in our business, our careers, and our lives in general. You can’t deny the growth of online networking, yet it can leave a lot to be desired, as nothing beats face-to-face for establishing the basis of a trusting, enduring relationship.” – David Topus
