The Velvet Note Board of Advisors

A sustainable jazz club is a true gem in any community, and it requires a village of support and advice. We are fortunate to receive both from our stunning board. In their service as advisers, I sk that each of these individuals teach me at least one thing each year. We are proud to share the backgrounds of these outstanding men and women, and the areas in which they concentrate their invaluable input.

— Tamara Fuller, Owner, The Velvet Note

BOB BAKERT

CONCENTRATION: PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGIES

Bob Bakert’s earliest remembrances of his father were of him singing in a beautiful baritone in the style of Bing Crosby… to this day every time Bob hears Bing Crosby he can see his dad. As an adult, Bob continued his music appreciations studies as a performance major in the jazz department of Georgia State University, all the while taking private lessons in voice and guitar. Bob spent 30 years as the leader of high-end professional sound electronics enterprise, and is responsible for the extraordinary sound system that supports each artist who performs on The Velvet Note Stage.

SCOTTY BARNHART

CONCENTRATION: NATIONAL ARTIST RELATIONS

Scotty Barnhart is a two-time GRAMMY- Award winner, acclaimed jazz trumpeter, leader, composer, arranger, educator, author and the Director of the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. Scotty has over ten recordings with the likes of Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Ray Charles, and Tito Puente. Scotty released his debut solo CD Say It Plain on the Unity Music label. He invited Clark Terry, Ellis and Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Jamie Davis and Etienne Charles to share his compositions and love of standards on “Con Alma”, “Giant Steps” and Barnhart’s own, “Dedicated To You”. Say It Plain achieved No. 3 in the Jazz Charts and has received celebrated reviews. When Scotty Barnhart is not touring with The Count Basie Orchestra or teaching at Florida State University, he performs with his own quintet-sextet, lectures and demonstrates at schools, colleges, universities, conferences around the world, spreading jazz music to ensure its future for others to explore and enjoy.

LARRY AND AMANDA FICHTER

CONCENTRATION: GUEST EXPERIENCE AND SPONSORSHIPS

Larry and Amanda Fichter are husband-and-wife owners of Fichter Financial Group, LLC, established in 1998. Their company handles both institutional investments and personal financial advisory services. Amanda holds a certified financial planner (CFP) designation and Larry has served on the Estate Planning Council of Los Angeles.

DANA HALL

CONCENTRATION: MARKETING STRATEGIES

Dr. Dana Hall is an Associate Professor in the McCamish School of Business at Reinhardt University and serves as coordinator for the Reinhardt MBA Program and Faculty Senate Chair. She teaches a variety of courses that draw on both her academic credentials and corporate experience, including graduate-level courses in organizational communication, global management, research methods, and quantitative decision-making, as well as undergraduate courses in business statistics, marketing principles, digital marketing, and consumer behavior. She was honored to be awarded the 2017 Vulcan Materials Award for Teaching Excellence, chosen by her peers. In addition to a Ph.D. in Communication Studies, an M.B.A., and a B.A. in Art, she brings 25+ years of corporate experience to her teaching. She spent most of her career working in the advertising industry and was a Senior Vice President and Management Representative with McCann-Erickson Worldwide in the New York office and managed global advertising accounts that included L’Oréal and Lufthansa. While at Bernstein-Rein Advertising, she led the advertising launch team for Bayer Animal Health’s Advantage Flea Control. Her areas of research interest are focused on organizational identification and organizational commitment.

BILL KILLEN

CONCENTRATION: NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Bill Killen is a businessman, strategist, entrepreneur, innovator, and a music lover.

He made his mark in the business world by combining a strategic vision of what is possible with the financial and business plans needed to implement that vision and make those dreams come true. He is currently the Principal of Intelligent Growth Group in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bill started down this path with an Electrical Engineering degree from Union College in Schenectady, New York and an MBA in Finance from Wharton School of Business.

Upon graduation he began his career in New York City at RCA Corp as an internal auditor and business planner, and then moved to its subsidiary NBC Television. While at NBC his assignments included a stint as a Production Unit Manager on Saturday Night Live (1979), and on various Sports remotes and features. He also helped prepare bids for the rights to televise live sporting events.

In 1980, Bill decided to move to Atlanta to join Cox Enterprises Inc. where he spent twenty years investing in, acquiring, and creating new businesses for Cox in the fields of media, telecom, and internet. He was instrumental in positioning Cox to thrive in emerging opportunities such as telephone over cable-tv, cellular and pcs wireless phone service, internet access over cable-tv, and numerous internet web site businesses. He championed and started Cox’s Auto Trader.com which became the largest used car website on the Internet.

While at Cox, Bill also invested in digital special effects pioneer Digital Domain of Venice, California. He served on the Board alongside its Founders, Hollywood luminaries Jim Cameron, Stan Winston, and Scott Ross. Digital Domain won numerous Academy Award nominations for movies such as Apollo 13, and won the Oscar for best visual effects for the movie Titanic.

To scratch his entrepreneurial itch, Bill left Cox and co-founded and built Blue Ridge Mountain Water Inc. from a start-up to become Atlanta’s second largest provider of bottled water service. BRMW delivered 5 gallon bottles of spring water, “Bottled at the Source” at the Company’s spring in the mountains of North Georgia. The Company grew to serve a subscriber base of over 14,000 homes and offices from a fleet of 20 delivery trucks and 65 employees. “Premium mountain spring water delivered fresh from the mountains to You!” BRMW was sold in 2008.

Since then Bill has helped various small growing businesses, including several juice store chain startups in Charleston SC and Atlanta, an organic produce home delivery subscription service in Atlanta, and a sod farm in Ocala, Florida. He is also the Business Manager for a Contemporary Jazz Guitar recording artist and performer, Eric Essix, of Birmingham, Alabama. In his spare time, Bill noodles on his Hammond B-3 organ, and he rides his bicycle in locales all across the Southeast while attending various music concerts.

STEPHANE LE GOUILLE

CONCENTRATION: GUEST SERVICE

Stephane Le Gouille hails from Brittany, France, where he attended pastry school and then went on to receive his degree in restaurant management. For the past 20 years, he has served as the Dining Captain/Maitre d’ of the acclaimed Patroon restaurant in New York City. Each year, Stephane and his restaurant team serve corporate executives, politicians, and an array of noted celebrities.

“Advertising, location and word-of-mouth will drive guests into your living room,” he says, “but it is meticulous focus on each and every table that will keep them coming back. It is fun for me to provide guests with outstanding service and I feel grateful to be able to do this for a living, but you cannot fake your way through it. It is the real knowledge of wines, handling problems, maintenance, décor, and a service personality that mean the difference between being good and truly being viewed as world class.”

WILLIAM GREEN

CONCENTRATION: MUSIC DIRECTION

William Green is an extraordinary musical artist that captures and expresses the sentiments of a generation. He is continuously expanding his horizons to make an impact on society by creating a union between music and life. Through his music, he has allowed different genres of contemporary jazz, rhythm and blues, pop and gospel to integrate into a new and unique form. In 2018, in celebration of 40 years in the music industry and a ‘thank you’ to his fans and newcomers, the legendary jazz icon recently held a special 40th anniversary celebration at City Winery Atlanta and performed before a sold-out crowd.

A full-time musician, composer, songwriter and producer, Green is passionate about his piano, and he puts his heart and soul into his performances. He delivers funky, upbeat, soulful and contemporary jazz sounds, and exudes unforgettable stage appeal and showmanship. He possesses one of those rare, “instant classic” voices — forceful, yet gentle. Green’s music is beautiful, lyrically refreshing, vocally and melodically unique, timeless, rich and jazzy. His four albums, possessed an exceptionally well-composed body of original songs, written and produced by Green. He released his fourth album on July 11, 2018 and is currently working on his fifth album and will release it in early 2020. “I pride myself on creating timeless music that can be shared with the world for a lifetime. It’s important to me to create timeless music because of recognizing the lack of musical integrity that now exists in the music industry” says Green. He has written and produced for numerous artists.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, the extraordinaire pianist/singer/songwriter grew up with music all around him, and Green’s love affair with the piano was obvious at an early age. “As a child growing up, I listened to Gospel, Pop, Soul and Jazz music. My parents didn’t play music, but they allowed me to play music” says Green. “Some of my influences include Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Joe Sample, Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones.”

He added, “I played throughout high school and college. I learned by ear on my own. Then, I took piano lessons while in grammar school. Once I attended high school, I then learned music theory and composition. Once I entered college, I learned how to perform musically. William graduated from Chicago Vocational High, where he learned how to read, write and compose music. He later furthered his education at Morehouse College and Georgia State University majoring in Commercial Music.

William continues to provide his audiences with not only quality music but a display of great showmanship that captures the imagination.

RAKESH SAPRA

CONCENTRATION: BRAND MANAGEMENT

Rakesh is a native of India and came to the US to pursue a master’s degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After receiving an MBA, Rakesh has had an extensive career in marketing and brand management starting with Standard Brands Foods in New York. He then worked at the Hershey Chocolate Company, where he was responsible for introducing Reese’s Pieces. Next, he worked at Diageo where he managed various brands of alcoholic beverages such as The Famous Grouse Scotch Whiskey, Bisquit Cognac and Pernod.

Most recently, Rakesh was a Director of Marketing at UPS. During his 27 year career at UPS, Rakesh held a variety of positions in US Domestic, International and Customer Technology Marketing. During this time, Rakesh also managed UPS.com, directing several redesigns to establish it as an award winning website.

Rakesh is passionate about providing customers an exceptional experience by optimizing their experiences at every point of customer interaction, whether in-person, on the phone, web or on mobile devices. He believes that businesses succeed by building relationships with their customers and delivering on their brand promise.

Rakesh’s love for jazz began at 16 while attending an engineering school in India where he listened to the Voice of America on the radio almost every night. This led to Rakesh playing alto and tenor saxophones in the college band. He also listens to Indian classical music which emphasizes improvisations and is thus similar to jazz in some respects.

Currently, Rakesh continues to pursue his passions in technology, entertainment and design by advising technology startups and small businesses.

LINDSEY THORNHILL

CONCENTRATION: INDUSTRY RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

Dr. Lindsey Thornhill is a Vice President and Division Manager for Integrated Solutions for Systems, a small business engaged in a variety of engineering R&D projects. Prior to joining IS4S, Lindsey was a Senior Director for Program Management and Division Manager in the Global Markets and Missions Sector of Science Applications International Corporation. Lindsey manages a diverse staff of scientists and engineers engaged in a broad spectrum of defense-related research and development projects. He earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, where he currently chairs the Woodruff School External Advisory Board and serves on the College of Engineering Advisory Board. Lindsey also serves on the the Parent Leadership Councils at both Belmont University and the University of Georgia. Lindsey has authored more than 50 publications, served as a reviewer for peer-reviewed journals, and delivered invited talks at international conferences and before the JASON Panel of the Department of Defense. He has served on dissertation reading committees, he co-directed student paper competitions at Georgia Tech and at Clark Atlanta University, and he has mentored students from a local magnet high school for the sciences.