Leadership

ACE Board Chair: Courtney I. Smith, Vice President and Community Development Market Manager, PNC Bank.
Smith joined PNC Financial in 2013 and leads the bank’s Community Development efforts for Georgia and Alabama. Previously, Smith served as Vice President, Community Affairs for Regions Financial and Vice President, Community Development Manager for SunTrust Bank Atlanta. He is actively involved in the community and was named the 2014 Kappa Alpha Psi (Decatur Alumni) Kappa Man of the Year and received the 2014 Atlanta Tribune- Men of Influence Award. Smith chairs the United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Regional Community Investment Committee and serves on the Community Engagement Committee; the Community Achievement Center, Board of Directors; and the KAPSI Foundation, Board of Directors. Smith received a Bachelor in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of Memphis.

Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair:  Mitchelle Johnson, CPA, MBA.
Johnson is a retired CFO from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Georgia, Inc., where her positions included controller, Vice President Finance, Vice President Internal Audit, Corporate Secretary, and Vice President of Medicare Operations. She has served in numerous volunteer leadership positions in Atlanta including President of the Brookhaven Rotary Club and on the board of Georgia Community Health Charities. Johnson is the treasurer of the Rotary Foundation Club of White County, treasurer of Adair Mill Property Owners Association, and serves on the White County Property Tax Board of Equalization.

Secretary: Matthew D. Bozzelli, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, The Southern Company.
Bozzelli is Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at The Southern Company.  Previously, he spent twelve years as a corporate attorney at King & Spalding in Atlanta advising public and private companies on capital markets transactions, securities, corporate governance and M&A.  Bozzelli received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree, cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 1999 and his J.D., cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School in 2002.  He is a frequent author and speaker on the areas of corporate governance, public company disclosure and transactional matters.  Bozzelli is a director of The Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public interest law center with the mission to increase justice in Georgia through law and policy reform.  Bozzelli is the former director and vice chairman of the Georgia Micro Enterprise Network, a Georgia nonprofit industry association focused on economic development.

Loan Committee Chair: Tim Griffis, Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking, Bank of North Georgia – Synovus.
Griffis is Senior Vice President of Commercial Banking for Bank of North Georgia, a division of Synovus Bank.  He previously served as Branch Business Director for the Georgia-South Carolina area of Regions Bank. Griffis earned a BBA in finance from Georgia Southern University and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Since his first job with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation more than 20 years ago, Griffis has gained significant financial services experience spanning commercial, wealth management, consumer and business banking. Griffis is a native Georgian whose professional career has taken him to Macon, Valdosta and now the Atlanta area. He is currently the Loan Committee Chair and has served on the Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs board since 2015. He has additionally served his community through various civic and volunteer roles in Rotary, United Way, Boys and Girls Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Griffis and his family currently reside in Milton, Georgia.

Dr. Eloisa Klementich, CEcD, President and CEO, Invest Atlanta.
Dr. Klementich is President and CEO of Invest Atlanta, a position she assumed in January 2016 after having served as Invest Atlanta’s Director of Business Development. Previously, Dr. Klementich served as Special Assistant for Economic Development at the U.S. Economic Development Administration in the Office of the Secretary, and as California’s Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Commerce. She also has held various roles with city governments, such as consultant to Mexico’s President Vicente Fox on best practices for addressing constituent issues and requests. She has served on the Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Advisory Council since 2014. Dr. Klementich holds a bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College and a master’s degree in business administration from el Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey. She holds two master’s degrees in urban planning and Latin American affairs from the University of California, Los Angeles, and received her doctorate degree in public administration from the University of LaVerne.

Grace Lopez-Williams, CPA, PFP, MBA, CTRS, President and CEO, Grace Williams CPA P.C.
Lopez-Williams is President and CEO of Grace Williams CPA, P.C., a certified public accounting and consulting professional services firm. She has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1989 and received her MBA from Loyola University in New Orleans and her BBA in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico. Lopez-Williams was the first Latino woman appointed by Gov. Roy Barnes to the WorkForce Investment Board and by Sonny Perdue to the Georgia State Board of Accountancy. She has been awarded many prestigious awards including Business Woman of the Year of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and has been recognized by the Women Looking Ahead as one of Atlanta’s Most Influential Women in Business. The United States Hispanic Business Magazine chose her among the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States. Lopez-Williams has a passion for education and for years was the President and Founder of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.

Sibyl Slade, Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP).
Slade is a financial advisor with Waddell & Reed Financial Advisors and lends 22 years of banking & finance expertise to provide comprehensive financial planning and advisory services to small business owners and individual families throughout Georgia. Prior to joining Waddell & ReedSlade was a senior regional community development manager for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s community and economic development (CED) team based in Atlanta. Slade has received congressional recognition from Georgia’s fourth, fifth, and 13th districts for her dedication to resolving unnecessary foreclosures. Other honors include recognition by Get Checking as a leader in financial education and by NeighborWorks America’s southeastern district office as a leader of systemic change and innovative solutions. Slade is a 2010–2011 fellow of the Education Policy Fellowship Program and a founding member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Northwest Georgia. She serves as the co-chair of the City of Douglasville Housing Initiative team and also performs several other leadership roles in community and industry advisory functions. A native of Atlanta, Slade resides in Douglasville, Georgia, with her husband and three sons. Slade also holds certification in economic development finance from the National Development Council, as well as being a graduate of Kennesaw State University’s certification for financial planning program.

Lynn Thogersen, MPH, Chief Financial Officer, Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network.
Thogersen, who is the founder and former CFO for the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta, is the financial administrator of the Georgia Consumer Network. Thogersen serves on the Board of Healthcare Georgia Foundation and served as Women’s Caucus Chair for the American Public Health Association and she is a recipient of the Margaret Sanger National Award.

Grace Webster, MBA, Associate Vice President-Investments and Financial Advisor, Wells Fargo Advisors.
Webster is an Associate Vice President-Investments and Financial Advisor at Wells Fargo Advisors.  She works with entrepreneurs and individual families to provide holistic wealth planning solutions to accomplish their personal and professional goals.  Prior to joining Wells Fargo Advisors, Webster was a Relationship Manager with Credit Suisse USA’s Private Bank.  With a background in public policy and non-profit management, Webster has previously consulted for the World Economic Forum and Pacific Community Ventures.  She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Social Enterprise Alliance Atlanta Chapter and the Global Social Venture Competition, and is active in the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Junior League of Atlanta.  Webster graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in public policy analysis, and from Duke University with an MBA in social entrepreneurship and investment finance.

Charles Whatley, Managing Director, UrbanIS USA.
Whatley is the Managing Director of UrbanIS USA. UrbanIS provides economic development, finance, and real estate advisory services for public and private entities. Whatley has more than 20 years of professional experience in economic development, including positions as the Director of Economic Development for DeKalb County, Director of Commerce and Entrepreneurship and Manager of Business Development for the Atlanta Development Authority. He also spent 15 years as an independent consultant specializing in business models, strategic and marketing plans, opportunity and economic feasibility studies, and market forecasts for clients in the U.S., Malaysia, India, and Canada. Whatley is on the boards of Southface Energy Institute (Chair) and Sustainable Atlanta. He has served on the Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE) Advisory Council since 2009 and ACE’s Loan Committee since 2011. Charles is also a member of numerous professional organizations including, the Urban Land Institute; the International Economic Development Council; the Council for Development Finance Agencies; the International Council of Shopping Centers; and Lambda Alpha International, the Honorary Society for the Advancement of Land Economics. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Yale University and has completed course work for a Master of Science degree in economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Grace Fricks, MBA. ACE President and CEO.
Fricks, founder of Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs, Inc. (ACE), was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend Magazine, and also named as the SBA Georgia District Financial Services Champion of the Year for 2014. Fricks was recently awarded the 2015 Inspiration in Community Award by The Center for the Future of North Georgia, Mike Cottrell College of Business at the University of North Georgia. Fricks currently serves on the boards of the City of Atlanta’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, Appalachian Community Capital, and Atlanta Emerging Markets, Inc. (AEMI). Fricks, a small business owner for more than 15 years, is a former board member of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Atlanta chapter.

 

Advisory Council

Nancy Chorpenning, Founder of C-Suite Advisors

Essie Escobedo, Chief Executive Angel, Office Angels

Linda Hughes, President and CEO, The Great Ridge Company and CEO, AnyTrax

Dorothy Yates Kirkley, Founding Partner of the law firm Kirkley & Hawker

Sam Moss, Senior Director of Finance, CF Foundation and Executive in Residence at the Social Enterprise program at Emory’s Goizueta Business School

Peter Roberts, Goizueta’s Social Enterprise Initiative

Ed Manigault, Vice President / Wealth Advisor, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Flor Velarde, Planning Specialist, Redevelopment with Invest Atlanta

Catherine Cattles, Vice President, Small Business and Consumer Lender, BB&T

Theia Washington Smith, Executive Director, City of Atlanta’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative

Patrice C. Washington, CEO, Seek Wisdom Find Wealth