Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Corporate Growth During Economic Downturn - It's Still Possible -- MARCH 26‏

The Wharton Club of South Florida
and the
Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), South Florida Chapter
is pleased to invite you to
a Cocktail Reception and Discussion Panel Program on


CORPORATE GROWTH DURING
ECONOMIC DOWNTURN


IT'S STILL POSSIBLE


Moderated by
Lisa Gibbs
Business Editor
Miami Herald

on
MARCH 26, 2009

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Networking Reception

7:00 PM - 8:45 PM
Discussion Panel Program and Q&A

at the
Knight Auditorium, H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business
Nova Southeastern University
3301 College Avenue
Davie, FL 33314

Cost for this event:
Wharton Club of South Florida Members (plus 2 guests): FREE
Non-members and Guests: $25.00 (per person)

All guests must pre-register no later than Tuesday, March 24, 2009 via our website at www.whartonsouthfla.com. All ticket purchases are non-refundable. If you have any questions, please contact Gabriela Sanchez, Club Administrator at admin@whartonsouthfla.com or (786) 206-4867.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



PANELISTS:

Guest Panelist: Colin Campbell, President and CEO
Colin Campbell has served as President/CEO of Hostopia since November 2005. He was Chief Operating Officer from January 2001 to November 2005. From November 1999 to December 2000, Mr. Campbell held the position of Senior Vice President, Internet Services at Look Communications Inc., a communications service provider, where he was responsible for leading the Internet team, guiding Internet product and services development, and for mergers and acquisitions in that product area. Mr. Campbell was a founding member of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority and served as a board member from June 2001 to January 2003. Mr. Campbell was Chief Operating Officer of TUCOWS Interactive Inc., a web services and online software delivery services provider, from 1997 to 1999 and was Chief Operating Officer of Internet Direct, an Internet service provider which later merged with I.D. Internet Direct Inc., an Internet service provider from 1994 to 1999. Mr. Campbell has a Bachelor of Arts in Commerce from the University of Toronto.

HOSTOPIA
Hostopia.com believes that service and the Web should be synonymous. The company provides Web services that enable small and midsized businesses to establish and maintain an Internet presence. Hostopia's customers include telecommunication carriers, cable companies, Internet service providers, and Web hosting providers. Clients typically purchase Hostopia's services on a wholesale basis and resell them under their own brands to end users, which are most commonly small and midsized businesses. The company's services include Web site design, e-commerce applications, managed e-mail services, and Web hosting. In mid 2008 the company was acquired by Deluxe. For more information, please visit www.hostopia.com.


Guest Panelist: Bubba Kassal, Chief Executive Officer. Bubba Kassal was born and raised in Florida's wine & spirit industry. Before college he became a realtor and soon after became a real estate broker. After graduating from the University of Florida, Bubba spent 5 years learning every aspect of Crown's operations, initially working side by side with managers and stockmen.

Afterwards, he joined the executive team to restructure and expand the operations of the company. Over the last 2 years, Bubba has re-created the CEO role at Crown. Bubba's contributions, along with a new operating team and various technological improvements, have transformed Crown into a 21st century, highly streamlined operation, radically different from 50 or even 5 years ago.

CROWN WINE & SPIRITS
Crown Wine & Spirits is a chain of wine, spirit, & gourmet food stores that has flourished in Florida since 1955. Crown has over 30 locations and a flourishing Web presence. Revenues in the current year will surpass $75 million.

In addition to the store operations, Crown owns 15 pieces of real estate in Florida, manages properties and sells liquor licenses.

The ownership of Crown Wine & Spirits today is the same family that founded the chain in 1955. The Kassal family has owned and operated businesses within the wine & spirit industry since prohibition. Stanley Kassal, as president, along with the help of his son, Michael Kassal, Vice President and COO, and son Bubba Kassal, CEO are still currently operating this dynamic company. For more information, visit http://www.crownwineandspirits.com/.


Guest Panelist: Doug Feirstein, Founder. Mr. Doug Feirstein, founder of LiveOps, re-invented how call centers work by letting people work from home instead of showing up to a huge call center. LiveOps has gone on to become the largest virtual call center platform in the world, backed by Menlo Ventures, Benchmark, and August Capital. Doug has a unique talent for taking old business models and radically turning them around to benefit everyone involved. He has since contributed to many new startups through his Angel Investment activities. He holds a Bachelors degree in Finance from the University of Florida.

LIVEOPS
LiveOps provides best-in-class on-demand call center technology, as well as virtual call center services through its network of over 20,000 independent home agents, to hundreds of companies in both the direct response and enterprise industries. In the direct response sector, LiveOps has gained the undisputed reputation as the best performing virtual call center, with 30% more revenue per campaign than traditional outsourcers. For the enterprise market, LiveOps helps companies transform their traditional call center into a more flexible, highly scalable, and cost-effective virtual call center model. For more information, please visit www.liveops.com.


THE ENTREPRENEURS' ORGANIZATION (EO)
The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) - for entrepreneurs only - is a dynamic, global network of more than 7,000 business owners in 38 countries employing nearly 1,000,000 workers. Founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs, EO is the catalyst that enables entrepreneurs to learn and grow from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life. Total sales for all member companies is over $100 Billion. Some of the world's top executives are or have been members of this organization.

With membership approaching 100 companies, the EO South Florida chapter is proud to be the largest EO Chapter in all of Florida. Total sales of all chapter members is more than $1 billion and the chapters employ more than 25,000 people across a wide range of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, construction, telecom & others. For more information, visit http://www.eosofla.org/.

No comments: