William O. Inman, III
Chairman and Founder
For nearly 40 years, Bill Inman has served as a trusted financial advisor to public and private companies throughout North America. He has worked for hundreds of business in the areas of mergers, acquisitions, capital raising and debt restructuring. His former clients are primarily private companies with values from $5-$700 Million. His work has included participation with some of America’s most prominent family businesses. He has experience as an advisor and investor in early stage companies in food and beverage, healthcare and medical device, information technology, energy, retail, wholesale, distribution, manufacturing, construction, food service, logistics, hospitality, international trade and personal service industries. He has served as a speaker for numerous trade, academic and executive groups on the subjects of raising capital, mergers, acquisitions, strategic and family business planning and growing shareholder value.
Bill began his business career with seven years as a Certified Public Accountant in public accounting. His investment banking career began in 1979 where he soon became the owner of two boutique firms and as Managing Partner in an international investment bank. He founded The Inman Company in 1995. He has been featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Florida Times Union, and the Jacksonville Business Journal. His articles have been published in Florida CEO.
He is a thirty seven year member of Rotary International where he is a Paul Harris Fellow and is a twenty year member of Vistage, an international organization of CEOs. He has served on numerous Boards and has held leadership positions at not-for-profit organizations including The Boy Scouts, The United Way, The United Methodist Church, The Bolles School, and Jacksonville University.
Bill attended the Georgia Institute of Technology and received a BBA in Accounting from Georgia State University.
Ben Dyer
Technology
Ben Dyer serves as the president of TechDrawl LLC, which produces the video blog “TechDrawl” which promotes technology development in the Southeast U.S. In addition, he consults with early-stage companies with respect to business strategy, product development and acquisitions and is currently engaged in software development for a variety of consumer internet companies. He also serves as General Partner of Cordova Intellimedia Ventures, a seed capital fund for software, datacom and new media companies.
Ben is best known as a founder of Peachtree Software, Inc. where he served as president from inception in 1977 through September 1983. The company was sold to Management Science America in June 1981. He has served as president, chairman, and a director of the de novo Enterprise National Bank, and was also a founding director of Bank of Atlanta. He was Chairman and CEO of Comsell, Inc., a pioneering multimedia development firm, from its founding in 1983 until 1988, when it was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
Ben holds a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree with highest honors from Georgia Tech, and a M.B.A. in finance from Georgia State University, also with highest honors. He has served as president of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, a director of the Georgia Tech Foundation, and Chairman of the Alumni Advisory Board for the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He also served a 30 month term as Chairman of the Georgia Tech Research Corporation. In 2006 he received the Joseph Mayo Petit Distinguished Service Award, the highest award granted to alumni of Georgia Tech. In 1998 he was inducted as a the 14th member of the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame.
Leigh Sanders
Special Situations
For 25 years, Leigh has assisted private companies in areas of family succession, competitive positioning and transition and crisis management. His work has exposed him to many industries, including robotics, manufacturing and industrial engineering, plastic recycling, international marketing, technology, joint venture structure and implementation, pharmaceuticals, motion pictures, food retailing and large agribusiness.
In recent years, he has advised corporate borrowers of banks in the restructuring of their operations and balance sheets and has worked for clients in negotiations with many banks including major institutions such as Wachovia and Bank of America. He also serves as advisor to Deloitte and Touche.
Leigh’s experience has included serving as head of corporate development for Rollins, Inc. a NYSE company, and Director of Corporate Finance in the southeastern U.S. for Bear Stearns & Company, NYC. where he was involved in IPOs’, mergers, acquisitions, and financial advisory services to public companies He was responsible for initiating the merger between Piedmont Airlines and U.S. Air.
He has also served as a business owner during which he built and sold two businesses where he had acquired 40-50 separate companies. Leigh received a Bachelor of Arts in Business from Vanderbilt University.
Dan Holden
(In Memoriam)
Dan has over 40 years experience on Wall Street, managing several New York FINRA broker-dealers, as CEO and Managing Director. He previously headed private placement trading and sales departments for major New York investment firms, including Kidder Peabody, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Prudential Securities, ABN-AMRO and Nomura Securities. Most recently he has been Managing Director of Investment Banking for Jesup and Lamont Securities and Brill Securities. He is credited with over a thousand secondary private placements valued at well over $900 million and has participated over 300 new issue private placements.
He is also experienced in strategic advisory services, conducting market research, strategy development, formulation of business plans, evaluation of organizational structure, developing marketing plans and facilitating strategic partnering.
Dan holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 65, 65, 79 licenses, and is a General Securities Principal, an Investment Banking Principal and a Private Placement Principal. He holds insurance licenses, and has the designation of AAMS from the College for Financial Planning and is the Savannah Ga. Chapter Director of the COO Forum (Chief Operating Officer’s Forum).
We are saddened to report of Dan's passing in February 2013. He will be missed.
Joe Walker
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Joe brings a three-decade track record as a Senior Executive in building successful medical device businesses in cardiovascular, neurosurgical instrumentation, interventional cardiology, gastroenterology, continence care, and advanced wound care. He has held leadership positions in medical devices with Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Joe has also led four M&A / Business Development projects including “Buy and Sell” initiatives ranging in size from $15 to $260 Million.
In 1999, Joe was named Chief Operating Officer for and became a major investor in Zassi Medical Evolutions (ZME), a start up medical device company where he directed strategic planning, capital formation, and operations. Under Joe’s leadership, ZME successfully raised $6 Million in angel investment and monetized three medical technology platforms resulting in significant shareholder returns. From November 2006 to February 2011, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of e-Zassi, www.e-Zassi.com,
the first on-line platform for Networking, Collaboration, and Technology Assessment specifically for the Medical Device industry. In addition to his work with The Inman Company, Joe is a principal with Whetstone Associates, LLC, a consulting firmserving the medical device market.
John Runningen
Advisor
John Runningen has 25 years of entrepreneurial and investment banking experience. He has conducted 80 separate investment banking and M&A transactions for 44 companies with an aggregate value of $18.6 billion. He has served clients in the IT, Healthcare, Telecommunications and Manufacturing industries. Previously, he served as a Senior Vice President, Investor Relations at WebMD where he managed the company's Wall Street research and investment banking relationships. He has also served as a partner with a $250 million venture fund and as a Senior Healthcare Analyst with several international investment banks. John was also a founder, CFO and a Director of QualiCorp, Inc., an owner and operator of medical office buildings (MOB) and nursing homes.
He received his BA degree, magna cum laude, from Luther College. He earned his MBA degree in Finance and Marketing, magna cum laude, from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. He holds Series7 and 63 security licenses.
Jeff Kilgore
Jeff Kilgore is a highly experienced consultant in the areas of business workouts, corporate reorganizations, bankruptcy, political matters and general litigation support. He has frequently been called upon to testify as an expert witness in business disputes. Previously, he was CEO of Phoenix Steel Technologies, Inc. (“PST”), a Texas firm specializing in the design, engineering, fabrication and erection of residential steel structures. Earlier, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Tri-Steel Structures, Inc. (“TSS”), an integrated manufacturer of steel frame homes and buildings.
A CPA, he is a summa cum laude graduate of Georgia State University. His experience includes service with Ernst & Young where he founded the Bankruptcy and Litigation Support practice group and served as a Senior Manager.
Philip N. Becton
Advisor
Phil Becton has more than 30 years of experience in the securities industry. He began his investment career in New York City, and served as Branch Manager of the Lehman Brothers office in Atlanta. He is a past director of the Georgia Securities Dealers Association.
He has significant experience in the formulation and private placement of securities, particularly for energy companies. He is the founder and CEO of P.N.B. Petroleum Corporation, a company that has served as corporate general partner for 11 oil and gas limited partnerships and Managing Member for 19 Caledonian Energy Auction programs.
Phil received a A.B. degree from Princeton University and served as a Naval Flight Officer. He has held Series 7, 63 and 24 security licenses.
"Griff" Griffies
Advisor
"Griff" Griffies has served as the CEO of a $300 Million NYSE convenience store chain where he managed 9,000 employees, and 1,400 locations in 33 states. In addition, he has served as head of the Georgia Tech Industrial Services Branch where he has performed a number of consulting assignments for the aerospace, automotive aftermarket, and numerous private companies. He holds an MBA and has served as a Director for a number of Private and Public companies. He is a former Chair for Vistage, an international organization of CEOs.
James Collins
Jim Collins has over 13 years of experience and has been a technology consultant for both the private and public sectors performing research and analysis, project management, and client support services. He began his career with Deloitte and Touche Tax Technologies in tax software application design, and later pursued a career with the U.S Department of State where he gained experience as an IT professional. He is a Cum Laude graduate of the Loyola University of Chicago Business Administration and has a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Chicago.
Todd Christensen
Todd Christensen is a former Arthur Anderson partner with has over twenty years experience years in large-scale mergers and acquisitions, specialty finance transactions, and complex tax structuring and restructuring services. He oversaw the practice of Arthur Andersen’s Private Client Services for the southwest region of the United States and achieved the highest regional growth margin for Arthur Andersen’s practice in the United States. He was also a lead instructor at Arthur Andersen’s worldwide training facility for fifteen years. He has long-standing relationships with global investment banks, M&A firms, and private equity firms. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting with distinction and is a Certified Public Accountant. He received his MBA at the University of Oxford. He is based in England.
Hiu Wong
Hiu has a background in conducting commercial negotiation and business analysis, with over ten years of substantive international experience, including serving at two international firms in Hong Kong, Hutchison Telecommunications and Swire Beverages. She is committed to public service and has spent a year travelling the world, volunteering to aid communities in poverty. She is an honours graduate in Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. She read law at the University of Oxford. She is based in China.
Dawne McCain
Dawne has over 20 years of experience in Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, Project Management, Team Leadership, and Training with Delta Air Lines and WORLDSPAN. At The Inman Company she is responsible for Project Management, Research, and Business Development.
Tom Underwood
Tom Underwood is a seasoned entrepreneur with 35 years of success in many industries including experience in senior management, operations, sales and marketing, business development, M&A, and strategic planning. During his career, he has directed the start-up of eight companies including three holding companies formed to acquire six operating companies. Most recently, he was the owner of a $30 million underground utility contractor.
He is a licensed real estate and business intermediary in the State of Florida.
James Inman
James Inman serves as Technology and Marketing Manager for The Inman Company. In addition to IT marketing experience with a rapidly growing publicly traded firm, he has held positions in Commercial Real Estate Sales and sports management.
James is a graduate of The Bolles School and received a BS in Marketing from the University of Mississippi. He holds a Florida real estate license.
Eddie Litton
Legal Advisor
Eddie is an experienced attorney and counselor with more than twenty-one years of providing advice, counsel and representation to companies on the issues that impact the operations of the business. In his capacity at the Inman Company he assists Inman’s clients in analyzing various and complex legal issues, dispute resolution and and avoiding expensive litigation. He has extensive experience in general business and commercial law, government regulation, labor and employment laws, workers’ compensation, workplace safety, immigration law, employment related agreements and collective bargaining matters.
Eddie has a varied professional career including having served as top legal officer of a publicly traded $500 million manufacturer and developed the business model for a start-up technology, outsourcing, and consulting firm. He has practiced business law with the prestigious firms of Troutman Sanders, Annis Mitchell Cockey, Edwards and Roehn and Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler. He holds a J.D., from Stetson University College of Law and B.S., Industrial Relations and Labor Management from the University of South Florida. He is licensed in the States of Georgia and Florida and is a member of the Georgia and Florida Bar.