Economics

Stephen De Bever - President & CEO, Standard Precast Inc.

Stephen has 20+ years in executive positions with sales, manufacturing, distribution and construction related business success, including P&L responsibility for private, public and PE held companies based in both the US and Europe. Accountable for multi-site manufacturing operations, focused on creating shareholder value through product innovation, sales growth and operational profitability.

Owned by private equity, SPI is a concrete precast manufacturing company with operations located in both Jacksonville and Tallahassee. The Company serves the North Florida area producing products for site contractors, municipalities and private developers in the applications of storm and sanitary infrastructure. The Company started in 1965, and recently sold to a private equity firm. Stephen is commissioned with the objective to grow the business organically and acquisitively for the current investment partners, and successfully transition it through a sales transaction under new ownership in the future.

Abel Harding - North Florida Market President, IBERIABANK-First Horizon

Recent Work Experience

North Florida Market President, IBERIABANK-First Horizon (2015-Present)

• Leads the bank's commercial, business banking, private banking and retail banking teams in the greater Jacksonville market.

Senior Private Banker, Wells Fargo (2013-2015)

• Served as a credit advisor to high net-worth families. Developed solutions for investment real estate acquisitions and provided jumbo residential mortgages, lines of credit and other specialty credit products.

Commercial Lender/ Vice President, First Citizen Bank (2004- 2009, 2011-2013)

• Served as a solutions provider for small and medium-sized businesses seeking to acquire real estate, equipment, or expand operations. Clients included: religious institutions, medical practices, manufacturers and professional service providers.

Director of Communications, City of Jacksonville (2011)

• Served as senior advisor to the mayor. Developed communications strategies for the mayor of the nation's 11th largest city and managed a communications department of 15 professionals that spanned numerous city departments.

Journalist, Florida Times-Union (2009-2011)

• Award-winning reporter, covered politics and business and investigative stories. Wrote twice-a-week columns on local and state politics and appeared regularly on First Coast News, and WJCT.

Board/Community Experience

• Member of the 2020-2022 class of Leadership Florida

• Board of Directors—Jax Chamber (2014- Present)

• Chair of JAX Biz- Political Committee of Jax Chamber

• Secretary, Board of Directors—Jacksonville Humane Society (2018-Present)

• Served as Mayoral Appointee- Jacksonville Planning Commission (2015-2018)

• Board of Directors—Operation New Hope (2013-2017)

• Chairman, Board of Directors—Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville (2012-2015)

• Member, Florida Banker’s Association Government Affairs Committee

• Community Board, Cathedral Arts Project (2012-2015)

• Co-Chair, United Way’s first Atlantic Circle class

• Founding Member, Rotaract of Ponte Vedra

• Graduate of Leadership Jacksonville (2013)

Educational Background

Bachelors, Education—Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Joey Janssen - Chief Employee Benefits Specialist, Benefit Advisors

"Benefit Advisors allows me to make an impact in my community. Day by day, business by business, we partner with our clients to build benefits, to engage our community, and to change lives."

Joey’s lifelong passion has been connecting people. His belief that collaboratively, our community can build something great have allowed him to flourish at Benefit Advisors. Connecting clients with the right support team is at the heart of all he does.

Born in Orlando, Joey is a rare native Floridian who may love the Red Sox, but would never trade in his flip-flops for snow boots. A graduate from the University of North Florida, Joey and his wife Adrienne live in Jacksonville while raising their two young daughters.

Dedicated to challenging the status quo, Joey can often be found on his computer scouring professional literature at all hours of the day to learn everything he can about his profession. Or he’s setting his fantasy football line-up. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.

Faris Kishek - McKennson, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Faris Kishek is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt at McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 500 company. McKesson distributes pharmaceuticals and provides health information technology, medical supplies and care management tools. Faris has worked high complexity, cross-functional process improvement projects which generated millions in financial savings, mentored and coached Green Belts on award-winning projects, and trained hundreds of Yellow Belt and Green Belts on Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. Also, Faris is an Adjunct Instructor at Florida State College at Jacksonville where he teaches in the areas of Project Management, Logistics, Operations Management, and Supply Chain Management. In 2013, Faris achieved a Bachelor in Business Administration degree, with a concentration in Transportation and Logistics, from the University of North Florida. He was a board member on the Transportation and Logistics Society. In 2015, Faris achieve a Master of Business Administration degree from Jacksonville University.

Lesley Mace - Senior Economic and Financial Education Specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta | Jacksonville Branch

Lesley Mace joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta-Jacksonville Branch as an Economic and Financial Education Specialist in June of 2010 and was promoted to Senior Specialist in 2014. Lesley currently serves as Lead for the District’s Educational Technology Workgroup and is a member of the Federal Reserve’s System Economic Education Technology Workgroup. Lesley is a frequent contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Extra Credit newsletter for educators, and as Technology Workgroup Lead was responsible for overseeing the production of the Classroom Economist. She serves as Board Chair for Duval County School’s Academies of Finance Advisory Board, and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Gus A. Stavros Center for Free Enterprise and Economic Education at the University of South Florida. Lesley also currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Lesley has taught college level Economics and Business classes at both Auburn University’s Montgomery and Auburn campuses, including Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics, Global Trade and Finance, Cornerstone of Business, and Women and the Economy. Lesley also taught Dual Enrollment Economics to students in three Alabama counties and was a high school Economics teacher. In her role as Director of Auburn University Montgomery’s Center for Economic Education, Lesley conducted numerous workshops for local teachers, students, and community groups, working in partnership with both the Alabama Council for Economic Education and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta-Birmingham Branch.

Lesley has presented at several national and regional conferences, including the CEE, NCSS, NCEA and FCSS Annual Conferences, and had her economic research published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Southern Business and Economic Journal, the Florida Historical Quarterly, and the International Review of Economics Education.

A native of Auburn, Alabama, Lesley holds a B.A. in Economics and Foreign Language and a M.S. in Economics from Auburn University.

Samuel Peluso, Retired Director, Risk Manager - Merrill Lynch and Co.

Experience:

Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation • Director/Manager of Securities Based Lending Department, Jacksonville, FL

Responsible for managing and leading the loan pledge process for MLCC's mortgage customers.

Director, Risk Manager

Secondary Marketing Department, Merrill Lynch Credit Corp, Jacksonville, FL

Designed and executed hedging strategies for mortgage pipeline and warehouse.

• Created new Risk Management function within Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation. Responsible for developing a risk plan and trading limits.
• Successfully managed one billion dollar long and short hedge position.
• Achieved zero trading errors for years consecutively.

Director BCC, Head of Trading

Broadcort Capital Corp., Fixed Income & Equity Trading Desk, New York, NY

Coordinated and executed orders for BCC's introducing Firms, as well as Citation soft dollar accounts.

• Recognized as one of the top three soft dollar firms on Wall Street.

Vice President, Head of Trading

Government Retail Trading Desk, New York, NY

Managed short and long position limits and Profit and Loss for Trading Desk.

• Managed and trained six traders.
• Never had a year where the desk lost money.

Vice President, National Product Manager

Corporate, Government, and Mortgage Bonds, New York, NY

Responsible for coordinating each of the trading desks with the institutional sales force.

• Staffed, managed, and trained 18 specialists to market desk inventory to Merrill's accounts.

Vice President, National Sales/Marketing Manager

Federal Financing Department, New York, NY

Directed the national sales/marketing and origination effort for all Federal Financing Programs, including SBA, Farm Credit, and Title XI Ship Financing.

Assistant Vice President

Government Securities Trading, New York, NY

As a Market Specialist, key area of responsibility was to expand government coverage nationally.

• Developed and conducted a 5-day Bond Seminar for Merrill Fixed Income sales force and clients.
• Trained over 2000 portfolio managers representing Banks, Savings &Loans, Money Managers, Insurance Companies and International Governments.
• Created a highly effective 15-minute training tape for Ginny Mae securities for sales force and clients.

Retail Sales Department, Newark, NJ

Responsible for successfully developing and maintaining accounts at the retail level.

• Ranked in top quintile for both production and opening new accounts.

Education and Licensure and Military Service:

Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH

• Bachelor of Science; Economic Major, Accounting Minor

Licenses

• Series 7, Series 63, Series 66, Series 24 General Principal

United States Naval Officer

Professional Associations:

• Member Merrill's Quarter Century Club
• Member of Board of FINRA Arbitrators
• Member of the Navy League of the U.S.
• Past Member of Foster Care Citizen Review Panel in Jacksonville

Tony Rummans, Former Vice President of Global Sales - ProQuest 

Tony Rummans was most recently Vice President of Global Sales at ProQuest. He leads the Global Sales organization and assists in driving the strategic transformation of ProQuest’s integrated go-to-market approach. In addition, Mr. Rummans serves on the Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience leadership team.

Zachary Schwartz - Founder & CEO, intoGo

With 14+ years creating and developing businesses, Zachary holds a BS in International Business from the University of Cincinnati's College of Business, ranked top 50 in the nation.

Upon validating the need for his latest venture by winning most votes in the Technology category at the world's largest crowd-funding festival, One Spark 2015, Zachary is now set on changing the world through intoGo - What you're into. Where to Go.

Using Data Science, Machine Learning and Predictive Modeling, intoGo is going to shift the entire foundation upon how our world finds fun. intoGo is available on both the Google Play and Apple App store today!

Jim Simak, Harris Computer

As Senior Executive Vice President, Jim is responsible for Harris Computer’s Innovation Strategy and Organic Growth Initiatives. Jim works closely with over 40 business units to deliver new innovative products and services in diverse software markets.

Jim brings more than 25 years of experience in commercial software development, innovation, business development and strategy. He joined Harris Computer in 2008 as CEO of System Innovators Inc. Jim continued his leadership role as General Manager within the acquired System Innovators business unit. In 2011, he added responsibility for the Harris’ local government ERP and CAMA business lines. In 2014, Jim led M&A and growth for Harris’ public safety business portfolio as Senior Executive Vice President.

Jim earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and continued graduate studies in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Texas at Arlington. He earned his MBA from Jacksonville University in 2007 and his Doctorate in Business Administration in 2018 with concentrations in Economics and Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Harris, he held leadership positions in several startups as well as Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Computer Science Corporation, ECI Telecom and General Dynamics.

Contact Jim. jsimak@harriscomputer.com