AJ is an Atlanta native, serial entrepreneur, and longtime member of Atlanta Tech Village, currently living in North Druid Hills. When not heads down building or leading the team at ProLine, you'll find AJ at the gym, on a hike, or adventuring in a far-flung part of the world.

"AJ's entrepreneurial journey started with launching a bow tie company while studying at the University of Georgia, selling $20k+ bow ties to UGA students and local clothing stores between 2014 and 2015. While he did not want to build a business in the clothing industry long-term, this experience led AJ to launch Blackfire Systems in 2016, a successful website design and digital marketing agency. While running Blackfire Systems, AJ met his now co-founder (then client), John DeLaurier, a roofing contractor in Athens, GA struggling to find reliable software to automate and grow his roofing business. John and AJ partnered to build the next generation of roofing business management and automation software, launching ProLine in 2021. AJ taught himself no-code/low-code software development to build ProLine's MVP, and remains the company's CEO and technical co-founder, leading a remote-first team of 40+ employees operating across the globe. Since 2021, ProLine has raised over $3m and positioned itself as the fastest-growing CRM platform in the roofing space, growing its userbase and recurring revenue by over 3x in 2023, 2024, and 2025 (projected). The platform has over 1,000 active users and continues to rapidly develop and iterate innovative roofing-specific software for the AI-age."

Former product exec at WEX and Cox Automotive, now building AI-native fintech and B2B SaaS products.

Arpit Gupta is a product leader and startup advisor specializing in fintech/payments, B2B SaaS, and pricing & monetization. He most recently served as Global Chief Product Officer at WEX (NYSE:WEX), leading a 40-person team and driving $100M+ in new revenue. Previously, he helped scale Wayfair’s mobile app revenue from $250M to $1B+ in two years. He’s currently building an AI-powered platform for luxury hotels and previously founded the world’s largest AR/VR hackathon at the MIT Media Lab.

Arthur is an engineering and product leader with experience building AI and machine learning powered consumer and business software.

Arthur was previously CTO of SkinIO, helping to build intuitive skin cancer screening software using computer vision technology. He is an academic at heart - earning his undergraduate and doctorate degrees from Georgia Tech and Emory, respectively. Arthur grew up in Virginia outside of Washington DC, but has called Atlanta his home for over a decade and currently lives in Grant Park with his wife Megan and their cat Harper.

Brandon is a leader and business professional with a robust background in financial consulting, transaction advisory, and business development. Brandon is passionate about collaborating with founders, mentoring business professionals, and engaging in community initiatives. In his free time, Brandon enjoys cooking, traveling, and sporting events (Go Braves!).

With over a decade of experience, Brandon has served pre-revenue to multi-billion-dollar revenue clients and executive teams in the following industries: technology, manufacturing, logistics, not-for-profits, governmental, real estate, professional services, and more. He has a proven track record of helping clients navigate complex financial challenges, optimize their resources/processes, and enhance their overall financial performance for operations and future transactions. Brandon is an active Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He also helps co-teach a course called “Launching the Venture” for full time Vanderbilt MBA students, reviewing and advising on 100+ startup pitches and decks. Brandon earned his MBA from Vanderbilt University and his undergraduate and Master of Accounting degrees from Rhodes College.

Originally from Columbus, Ohio and a former Division I athlete, Britt Hunter is a dynamic leader with experience across athletics, education, and Big Tech. Having lived in seven U.S. cities, Britt brings a wide lens to every space—and leads with purpose, energy, and deep engagement. You can find her either recording her podcast or playing with her rescue pup!

Brittany “Britt” Hunter is a dynamic speaker, leadership coach, and former top ranked athlete who empowers future leaders and changemakers through candid storytelling, engaging workshops, and executive coaching. After a devastating sports injury ended her basketball career at Duke and UConn, Britt pivoted to mentoring where she spent 7 years working in public education in Harlem as a Dean, Vice Principal, and 4th grade teacher. Before transitioning to the corporate world at Microsoft Britt earned an MBA from Vanderbilt. Now, she leverages her unique journey—marked by resilience, humor, and an unwavering commitment to leadership—to inspire others through Executive Coaching.

Chris Copeland is an operator-investor and advisor focused on helping founders build durable business foundations, scale with discipline, and navigate capital strategy with real-world operating experience.

Chris Copeland brings a rare operator-investor perspective to early-stage founders, grounded in both strategic rigor and execution experience. As Managing Director at Clubmoss, he leads acquisitions and scaling work across education, industrial services, logistics, and mission-driven ventures, with a focus on pricing discipline, unit economics, and scalable operating models. Prior to Clubmoss, Chris was an Associate Partner at McKinsey, where he advised CEOs and leadership teams on growth strategy, financial transformation, and operational performance. He also consults with small businesses and nonprofits on governance, partnerships, and long-term sustainability. Chris is deeply embedded in the Atlanta startup and civic ecosystem and helps founders bridge strategy with capital, operations, and organizational design.

Cindy is a seasoned Revenue Operations leader with expertise in scaling hypergrowth SaaS businesses from $10M to $200M+ ARR. When she’s not optimizing go-to-market strategies or building high-performing teams, she enjoys cheering on her son at soccer games, listening to music, and going to the beach.

Cindy is a Revenue Operations leader who has helped startups like SalesLoft and Highspot scale to unicorn status. Her superpower is building high-performing teams that thrive in fast-paced environments. She excels at aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to create seamless go-to-market strategies, designing and implementing GTM systems to drive revenue growth and operational efficiency. Her expertise includes designing data-driven processes, forecasting models, and enablement programs that empower teams to perform at their best. Passionate about creating scalable foundations, Cindy helps organizations optimize their customer journey, ensuring sustainable growth and exceptional customer experiences.

Corean believes life is happening now, not someday, and that how we show up with people matters. She’s happiest in rooms where ideas are being tested, laughter is allowed, and honesty is welcome. When she’s not working, she’s on an improv stage or deep in conversation. She believes play keeps us human and that using your voice matters.

Corean is an executive leader and strategist with 20+ years of experience scaling advertising, marketing, and operations teams at hyper-growth companies. A former COO and founder, she partners with startup and growth-stage leaders to clarify strategy, build simple operating systems, and position their work so it lands with customers, teams, and investors. Drawing from deep corporate leadership and play-based innovation, she brings a grounded, human-centered approach to building businesses that actually work. Based in Atlanta, she’s usually found sipping matcha and sharing belly laughs with good people.

Formally trained in sales at Xerox, I transitioned into the medical device industry, where I successfully commercialized 14 medical devices across various classifications, before ultimately moving into economic development

David Hartnett is the founder and principal of the Teaghlach Group. He combined his passion for business with his commitment to family. As the former chief economic development officer at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, he led efforts to attract, retain, and grow companies across key industries. This resulted in more than 1,000 companies relocating and tens of thousands new high-skill / high-wage jobs. The key clusters they concentrate on AgeTech, CleanTech (battery tech., Solar, BioMass, E.V.’s, & smart cities technology), FinTech, Cyber, MarTech, Life Sciences (global & digital health, MedTech, biopharma), Supply Chain & Advanced Manufacturing 4.0, Creative Industries (film/T.V., music, gaming/esports, post-production, AR/VR). His career has enabled him to work with companies of all sizes, from startups to global headquarters, and he has consistently been dedicated to creating a meaningful impact. He has also been deeply involved in community service, co-founding organizations like Venture Atlanta™ ($17 billion in exits), FinTech Atlanta™ (the nation's first consortium of FinTech CEOs, which led to the founding of the FinTech Academy), and the Atlanta Science Festival™ (the largest citywide STEM festival in the US). Before joining the Chamber, Hartnett was the president and CEO of Maco Pharma (formerly United Pharma), a privately held U.S. medical device company headquartered in Lille, France. Before joining Maco Pharma, Hartnett served as CEO of SteriFx™ Corp., a specialty chemical company contracted by the Department of Defense (DARPA). Before joining SteriFx, he was the executive vice president of Given Imaging, an Israeli start-up with its corporate headquarters in Yokneam, Israel. Under his leadership, the company commercialized the “PillCam®” video capsule. He helped raise $30 million through a private placement memorandum before the company went public in 2001 (GIVN-NASDAQ), which Medtronic now owns. Hartnett served as Vice President of Marketing at ERBE Electro-surgery N.A., the world's largest manufacturer of electrosurgical systems. He has also held various senior sales and marketing roles for Karl Storz Lithotripsy, Genzyme (formerly Deknatel), STERIS (formerly AMSCO), and XEROX. COMMUNITY / CORPORATE SERVICE: - Carter Center, Board of Councilors - Grady Health Foundation, Director - Georgia Music Accord, Director -Georgia Lifescience Institute, Founding Board member -Gunderson Technology Advisory Council EMERITUS ROLES: -Venture Atlanta™ Coalition, Co-Founder - Science ATL/Atlanta Science Festival™, Founding Chairman - Technology Association of Georgia, Director - Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI), Director - Innovation Crescent Regional Partnership, Chairman - Institute for Healthcare Information Technology (iHIT), Co-Founder - Southeastern Life Science (formally Southeastern Medical Device Assoc.), President He was raised on Coronado Island, California, but now resides in Atlanta, where he enjoys life with his wife, four sons and their families.

I have a passion and track record integrating customer-centric analysis and design for ease of use with product management/marketing and delivery. My leadership focus is on enabling organizations to capture, represent, and integrate the user perspective of a problem or goal, resulting in highly effective, efficient and satisfying market solutions.

David Rubini is a Senior Manager of Online Product Management at The Home Depot, where he leads initiatives responsible for several high consideration/complexity online customer journeys on homedepot.com. He is currently focusing on the role of visualization technologies and generative AI on the shopping experience. With more than three decades of experience in product management and user experience design, David specializes in creating solutions at the intersection of design, business, and technology. Previously, he held senior product management roles at Intuit, Digital Insight, NCR, as well as at several early/mid-stage startups (VerticalOne, Brickstream). David holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor's degree in Human Factors Engineering from Tufts University. He brings a unique perspective in integrating customer-centric design with product strategy, focusing on delivering effective market solutions that enhance user satisfaction.

Hunter is an accomplished Engineering leader who has led teams from 1-100s to successful exit. Hunter helps founders use strategy and culture to adopt AI, accelerate product delivery, and unlock revenue.

Hunter has 2 decades experience in technology, with leadership in Engineering, Product, and beyond. He has significant experience leading teams at startups (Silverpop, SalesLoft, Calendly, Sendoso) and enterprise (IBM). He has experience in almost every facet of the startup experience, having contributed to Sales, Marketing, Success, and Support in addition to core responsibilities of Engineering and Product. His focus on strategy and culture has allowed him to unlock significant speed and revenue gains for the startups he's worked with, with some seeing millions in ARR growth and others seeing velocity improvements of over 1000%.

Jeff has been advising and investing in Atlanta startups for over twenty years. He's been directly involved and often instrumental in the founding, growth, and exit of some of Atlanta's best known entrepreneurial success stories, including Salesloft, Flock Safety, Fullstory, Lancope, Joulex, Vocalocity, Apptega, Openspan. Working exclusively with startups through three full economic cycles since 1999, there are few financing structures and hurdles Jeff hasn't seen.

Jeff opened the Atlanta office for DLA Piper in 2006 and currently runs its Emerging Growth & Venture Capital legal practice across the Southeast U.S. Jeff is also one of three graduates of the Kauffman Fellowship Program in Atlanta as well as an investment manager of the Spinnaker VC Direct angel investment fund. On Tuesday afternoons, Jeff teaches a class at Emory Law School called "Startups & VC Finance" as an adjunct professor & has been published in the Venture Capital Journal and the UNC Journal of Law & Technology. He's a graduate of Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Jehan is a startup advisor and fractional product design executive specializing in customer experience strategy, systems design, and AI-powered digital products. She supports early-stage founders in clarifying their value proposition, designing for real customer needs, and building scalable, differentiated experiences that accelerate the path to product-market fit.

Jehan Moghazy is an executive design and product leader with over 20 years of experience building and scaling digital products across agencies, consultancies, and Fortune 100 organizations. She has led experience strategy, product design, and platform teams across consumer and enterprise businesses, helping companies translate complex problems into intuitive, high-impact customer experiences. Most recently, Jehan served as VP of Product Design at Capital One, where she led large, multi-disciplinary design teams responsible for customer-facing products and internal platforms used by thousands of associates. Her work spanned experience vision, design systems, operating models, and the integration of AI-enabled capabilities at scale. Prior to that, Jehan built and scaled CX strategy at Havas, led UX design at Medidata, and at R/GA partnered with global brands including Nike, MasterCard, and PwC to design market-differentiating products and services. Now based back in Atlanta, Jehan advises early-stage founders on product strategy, experience differentiation, and building design-led organizations from day one -- bringing a pragmatic, customer-obsessed, and execution-oriented approach to helping startups grow with intention.

Joey is reasonably good at a lot of different things. He is also a mediocre farmer and lead singer of a very good British rock band.

I have 30 years of leadership across a wide range of areas. I've been an intrapreneur, growing a business from $200K/month to over $2M/month, a team leader for a $4B+ integration effort, a compensation consultant, general strategist, salesperson, restaurant manager, Techstars mentor, and even a singing waiter! Now, I get really fired up about the entrepreneurial community here in ATL.

Kaitlin lives in Reynoldstown with her two German Shepherd rescues and adventurous partner. She balances her time between caring for pets through Leashes & Litterboxes, outdoor adventures on her e-gravel bike and backcountry hikes, and developing PawKitBook, inspired by her passion for helping pet lovers plan for life’s surprises.

Kaitlin’s background is in clinical research, tech, and service operations. She joined Florence Healthcare, an Atlanta-based SaaS startup, as one of fewer than 10 employees and played a key role in scaling the company to 250 employees. Over five years, she built the first compliance, regulatory, and data protection programs, coached executives for audit readiness, and provided regulatory and operational consults to academic medical centers and pharmaceutical companies. Kaitlin is known for translating regulatory jargon into startup-friendly language, simplifying complexity, and building scalable systems that align with rapid growth. She holds an MBA in Operations Management from Emory University and certifications as a Clinical Research Coordinator, a Six Sigma Green Belt, and in Pragmatic Management.

Kris leads experience strategy and design for complex digital products and services, helping startups, growth-stage companies, and enterprise orgs create innovative solutions that fuel business performance.

Kris is a player-coach who moves fluidly between executive strategy and hands-on product design, prototyping, and testing. He has established strategic design practices from 0→1, scaled teams, and led transformation across agencies, enterprises, and verticals including fintech, healthcare, SaaS, and ecommerce. His expertise is rooted in service design and spans business management, organizational design, and digital product design and development. Kris specializes in cultivating teams, enabling innovation, and ensuring delivery excellence to fuel business growth. Recent portfolio highlights include American Express's first travel app (launched Q4 2025), 12-platform digital transformation for the NBA, and new lines of business for companies like Bridgestone and Intercontinental Exchange. He's energized when helping founders and product leaders rise above complexity, discover opportunity, and deliver upon a shared vision for the future.

Lauren Patrick is on a mission to change the world for the better, one startup and one story at a time.

Lauren Patrick is the Head of Marketing at Infinite Giving, a fintech platform for nonprofits headquartered in the Atlanta Tech Village. With 15+ years of marketing experience ranging from growth-stage startups to billion-dollar enterprises, Lauren is a true believer in the power of storytelling to help companies scale. She's served as a Village Advisor since 2018 and teaches the Social Media, Influencer, and Advocacy workshop for the It Takes A Village program.

Lori is neurodiverse, entertainingly quirky, and knows more about IT than any lawyer should. She has tried numerous times to have hobbies, but quickly gets distracted by one of her two children or something she saw on the internet.

After almost 20 years in private practice, Lori's attempt to retire proved to be a failure of epic proportions. To save the sanity of her friends and family, she resumed the practice of law and founded BLG, LLC. Lori is invigorated by helping founders move their businesses forward. She often speaks in food related analogies and connects dots across legal, technical, and business considerations, seeing around corners and turning complexity into clarity.

Melanie Crissey is a startup advisor and fractional product marketing manager with a focus on technical products, including AI, dev tools, and analytics.

With 14+ years of experience at startups from early-stage to Series D, Melanie Crissey has seen what it looks like to collect the first dollar of revenue and what challenges teams face at scale. Passionate, curious, and detail-oriented, she makes customer experience the center of the strategy for taking new products to market. In 2024, she started an independent practice under the name Technically, Marketing. Today she provides fractional product marketing support and playbooks for technical founders.

International Business Development

As an international business development and consulting professional with more than 25 years in the public and private sectors, Michael brings a wide range of experience to our team. He has had major successes growing export markets, establishing overseas offices, and attracting foreign investment for economic development organizations in the US. He has set up and managed international distribution networks for biotechnology and manufacturing companies. A graduate of the University of Maryland in International Affairs and Chinese Studies, he also has an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Native English-speaker, fluent in Spanish.

Michelle Handley is an experienced CPA who has provided financial leadership to companies in all phases of growth, from start-ups to well-established corporations. Michelle’s expertise is trouble-shooting finance operations and reporting functions which enables executives and investors to realize maximum efficiencies. Her firm, Legacy Accounting Solutions, provides fractional CFO and consulting services to many industries as well as non-profits. Michelle has a passion for financial education and empowering individuals and businesses to succeed!

Michelle previously served as the Vice President of Finance for Pinewood Atlanta Studios (now Trilith Studios), the second-largest, purpose-built film studio in North America. There, she established the Accounting & Finance functions and helped to lead the growth of the studio from the very first production on the lot. She utilized her expertise in management and leadership to build the Human Resources and Legal functions as well from the ground up. Michelle often volunteers for community causes, including Bloom, a private, non-profit foster care organization located in Fayetteville, Georgia, and The Clothes Less Traveled, a local thrift store and grantee organization. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys spending time with her three daughters and serving as Chapter Advisor for the Georgia Tech chapter of Phi Mu Fraternity. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Management degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters of Professional Accountancy from Georgia State University.

Guided by his core belief that Audentes Fortuna Iuvat—Fortune Favors the Bold, Mitch brings purpose-driven clarity and accountability to every growth conversation with founders and executives. An Atlanta resident for over 30 years, he and his wife, Lisa, share their empty nest with two dogs. Mitch models clarity and accountability, helping corporate leaders and non-profit boards create repeatable impact.

Mitch is a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of AFI Strategic Partners. He specializes in Sales Ignition, transforming reactive selling into intentional scaling for companies facing complex inflection points. With an MBA from the University at Buffalo, Mitch’s 30-year career began in sales at MCI before moving into national leadership at Cognisa Transportation. In 2007 Mitch founded Solstice Transportation Group specializing in transit operations and planning. He later co-founded Passio Technologies, scaling it from concept to acquisition by Transit Technologies in 2020. Mitch has served as President and Managing Director for multi-million-dollar organizations, reshaping success with his “Do it Now” strategy.

Nandu currently serves as President of the Atlanta CTO Club.

Nandu is a lifelong technologist with over 30 years of professional experience leading software engineering, DevOps, IT, and cybersecurity in organizations of all sizes. He loves to build, and he's interested in just about everything (seriously, ask him to tell you the story).

Neelima is an Atlanta-based product strategist who thrives on untangling complexity for fast-growing companies. When not helping B2B Saas organizations scale, she's chasing her two kids or exploring hiking trails. She believes in building businesses that move quickly but with intention.

Neelima Ramaraju is the Founder of The Other NPR, where she advises early-stage startups and nonprofits on product and go-to-market strategy. Most recently, she led product and global customer success at Return Rabbit, where she scaled a B2B SaaS platform, implemented product-led growth, and helped drive a successful acquisition. Neelima has worn many hats—interim CEO, startup turnaround leader, and builder of high-performing cross-functional teams. Her earlier career includes building a global impact division at LLamasoft, working in tech for social good with partners like UNICEF and USAID, and managing complex supply chains in 20+ countries. She holds dual master’s degrees in Business and Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a BS from Georgia Tech. She’s also a board member of ShowMe50, advocating for gender equity in corporate leadership.

Nick is a product developer with a strong technical background focused on machine learning and artificial intelligence who specializes in finding product market fit and growth.

Nick Hasty is a technologist and entrepreneur who has created products used by billions. He is the founder and CEO of Luz Labs, whose product Linda is a voice-powered AI assistant and automatic podcast creation app designed to turn seniors into podcasters. He was the founding engineer of GIPHY, which was acquired by Meta in 2020. While at GIPHY, he worked on both product and engineering and led the company's AI initiatives. Before that, he worked with arts+cultural organizations such as Rhizome.org and the Alan Lomax archives. Nick has been a tech and product lead for over 15 years and has consulted for dozens of early stage startups.

Scott is a father of three. He caught the startup bug early, has no plans to retire, and keeps working in health tech and risk bearing organizations because apparently fixing hard problems is more fun than retirement, and his wife would strongly prefer he stay busy.

Scott is a health tech and healthcare executive and advisor with 30 years of experience across health tech, digital health, provider services, and risk bearing organizations. He has built markets and led go to market efforts, working with founders and leadership teams to turn complex products into solutions that can be sold, implemented, and adopted in real world healthcare environments. He stays closely attuned to healthcare policy and payment model changes so companies can align product, sales, and customer experience with how the market is actually evolving.

Ugochi believes that understanding personal finance is a powerful advantage for founders, giving them the clarity and confidence to pursue their vision without sacrificing their wellbeing. When she’s not working, she can be found visiting new restaurants or planning her next adventure.

Ugochi is a Financial Coach and Consultant dedicated to helping people build strong money management skills. With years of experience coaching clients from various backgrounds, Ugochi helps individuals understand their spending behavior, manage cash flow, tackle debt, and create practical money management systems that support growth and peace of mind. She also partners with nonprofits, corporations, and universities to design financial wellness programs. Known for making money talks fun, practical, and approachable, Ugochi helps clients reduce money stress and build lasting financial confidence. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University.

Weaver is a growth marketer and former VC partner who helps startups scale through clear strategy, deep technical expertise, and ROI-focused marketing systems.

Weaver has built and scaled go-to-market systems inside fast-growing startups (QGenda), Fortune 500 firms (NCR), and venture capital portfolios (Rule1). Today, he leads Dodeka Digital, a marketing agency that acts as an embedded growth team for B2B companies. His work spans paid acquisition, website strategy, and analytics—always with a focus on measurable business outcomes. Prior to Dodeka, he served as a VC partner and led marketing for high-growth SaaS companies.

Will is girl dad, avid kitesurfer, aspiring club champion golfer, and passionate about entrepreneurship.

Will began his entrepreneurship journey at the University of San Diego, where he founded Snap and grew it from an early idea into a successful company that was acquired by Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange in October 2024. He holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Accounting from USD, is a member of YPO, and credits much of his success to the early mentors who guided him and shaped his approach to building and scaling businesses.