Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, September 15, 2021/Page 10A
Stye Aiiuancg
Chamber’s Business Solutions Summit
Will Cover Cutting-Edge Strategies
By Deborah Clark
Regional Editor
dclarkadvance@gmail. com
The Greater Vidalia
Chamber’s Business Solu
tions Summit will cover
cutting edge strategies
business owners need to
succeed - from how to at
tract customers and find
talented employees, to how
to dodge cyber attacks and
make the most of social
media. The event is sched
uled for Thursday Septem
ber 23, from 8:15 a.m. until
2:15 p.m. at First Baptist
Church.
Keynote speaker is
Dee Ann Turner, author of
Bet on Talent, whose pre
sentation will cover how to
create a successful business
culture, and learn how to
recognize the differences
between just hiring people
and selecting real talent.
Breakout Sessions
During the summit,
breakout sessions will fo
cus on timely topics in
cluding, “How Close Are
You to Becoming the Next
Ransomware Statistic?”
In this presentation,
Steven McComas, Tom
Glover, Mike Livingston
and Alex Muzafarov from
Responsive Technology
Partners, Inc., will uncover
how vulnerable most busi
nesses (and individuals)
are to today’s cyber attacks
and will provide 10 steps
that anyone can take to im
mediately improve their
chances of avoiding an at
tack.
McComas is an execu
tive with 30 years of global
experience in a variety of fi
nancial management, busi
ness leadership and cor
porate strategy. He is the
Chief Executive Officer for
Responsive Technology
Partners, Inc., a managed
information technology
consulting and services
firm operating throughout
the Southeastern United
States. Under McComas’s
leadership Responsive
Technology Partners, Inc.,
has quickly grown to a
ranking by Inc. Magazines’
5000 as the 509th fastest-
growing private company
in America in 2021. Mc
Comas also serves as the
Chief Financial Officer
for Pineland Telephone
Cooperative, Inc., a rural
telephone and broadband
cooperative based in Met-
ter, and is responsible for
all the company’s financial
functions.
Glover is Respon
sive Technology Partner’s
Georgia President and a
veteran IT professional
who has spent the last 30
plus years solving tough IT
cyber security and compli
ance problems for clients
worldwide. Glover has im
plemented cyber security
solutions for clients rang
ing from small healthcare
facilities to schools, local
governments, and even the
Bahamas Ministries of Im
migration and Foreign Af
fairs.
Livingston is a VP for
Business Development and
leads Security Solutions
for Responsive Technol
ogy Partners, Inc. He is an
accomplished professional
in IT Governance, IT Risk
management, IT Audit and
Compliance and Informa
tion Security, and works
Nadia Osman
closely with leadership to
promote best practices,
process improvement and
high return on security in
vestment, risk mitigation
strategies at all levels of
the organization. He has
over 30 years’ experience
in solid conceptual and
analytical thinking com
bined with proven success
in highly regulated indus
tries including financial
services, energy/utilities,
manufacturing, and pay
ment card.
Muzafarov is Respon
sive Technology Partner’s
Director of Georgia Opera
tions. He is a Microsoft cer
tified IT professional who
has been servicing busi
nesses of all sizes through
out Georgia with their IT
needs for over 20 years. As
an IT specialist, Muzafarov
focuses on server infra
structures, cloud comput
ing, communications, and
in protecting an organiza
tions’ computer systems
and networks. Muzafarov
is highly skilled in project
management of large-scale
IT networks.
Business consultant
Nadia Osman will cover
“How to Become a Social
Media Superstar.” In this
session, Osman will focus
on tips and tools to help
business owners conquer
social media and reach
their customers. She will
discuss where, when and
what to post online so busi
ness owners can take their
digital presence to the next
level.
Osman joined the
UGA Small Business De
velopment Center (UGA
SBDC) in 2020 and has
over a decade of experience
designing, marketing and
implementing programs
for public-private partner
ships, startups, nonprofits
and the U.S. Air Force, val
ued at over $6 billion.
Her career prior to the
UGA SBDC included de
veloping affordable hous
ing, new businesses and
public events in the Central
Georgia region, as well as
launching the Shop Local
Macon initiative, the area’s
first makerspace and Geor
gia’s first Young Entrepre
neurs Academy.
Her areas of expertise
include business plan de
velopment, data analysis,
digital marketing and ad
vertising, email marketing,
graphic design, print mar
keting, financial projec
tions, marketing strategy,
search engine optimiza
tion, social media market
ing, and website optimiza
tion.
Taylor Insurance Ser
vices is also scheduled to
make a presentation during
the business summit.
To register for the
event, call the chamber at
912-537-4466.
Crossword Puzzle
Solution, page 14A
CLUESACROSS
1. Religion native to some
37. By and by
in China
38. A way to sell
5. Nursemaids
40. A line left by the passage of
10. Coats a porous surface
something
12. Garment of long cloth
41. Indicates near
14. Containing a broader message
42. Where wrestlers compete
16. University of Dayton
44. Prosecutors
18. Patti Hearst’s captors
45. Body part
19.Insane
48. Soluble ribonucleic acid
20. Bristlelike structures in
50. Indicates silence
invertebrates
52. NFL’s Newton
22. Taxi
53. Ancient Roman garments
23. Trainee
55. Dmnkard
25. Comedian Carvey
56. Expression of satisfaction
26. Some couples say it
57. Thus
27. Belong to he
58. Noisy viper
28. High schoolers’ test
63. Plants of a particular region
30. Young goat
65. Communicated with
31. You drive on one
66. Latches a window
33. Denotes a time long ago
67. Swarm with
35. Space between two surfaces
CLUES DOWN
1. Split pulses
29. Fantastical planet
2. Brew
32. S. American plant
3. Ask humbly
34. Domesticated animal
4. Distinctive smells
35. The tops of mountains
5. Digressions
36. Expression of disapproval
6. Partner to cheese
39. Skeletal muscle
7. Father of Araethyrea
40. Game show host Sajak
8. Made a cavity
43. One’s interests
9. Tin
44. Identify the existence of
10. Appetizer
46. Partner to “oohed”
11. Presenting in detail
47. Does not accept medical
13. Compound in guano and
help (abbr.)
fish scales
49. Hammerin’ Hank
15. Cool!
51. Lowest point of a ridge between
17. “ than a doornail”
two peaks
18. Popular literary form fi
54. Elaborately draped garment
21. Be the most remarkable
59. Check
23. “Final Fantasy” universe
60. Car mechanics group
character
61. One point east (clockwise) of
24. Buffer solution
due north
27. Muslim physician using
62. Austrian river
traditional remedies
64. A command to list files
Guest
continued from page 6A
afraid of something —
imaginary or not — may
it then control your life
completely in order to
guarantee FDR’s “free
dom from fear”? Does de
pending on government
to ensure “freedom from
fear” not incentivize gov
ernment to invent new
fears that only additional
government powers can
vanquish? Does this not
subsidize fear with tax
payer dollars and guaran
tee that government will
always strive to make citi
zens afraid? Can it really
be true that individual lib
erty should be “allowed”
to exist only when there is
nothing that can hurt us?
Isn’t that what a master
might tell his slaves?
If truth exists inde
pendently from govern
mental decree, and sci
ence is a process in search
of truth, then why are
governments working
with Google, Facebook,
and Twitter to censor sci
entific debates? Is truth so
fragile that it will not sur
vive false attacks? Is sci
ence so dependent on “of
ficial edicts” that it must
be regulated and practiced
only by a small priestly
caste? If scientific con
sensus depends on gov
ernment creating a mo
nopoly over information,
does this mean that truth
is whatever government
deems it to be? Since gov
ernment is incentivized
to invest in fear, is it likely
that government will ever
declare a truth that isn’t
also scary?
If government power
grows by monopolizing
information and weapon-
izing fear, then isn’t the
greatest threat to govern
ment an independent
citizen unafraid of think
ing for himself? Is it not
true, then, that every
single person is capable
of destroying the illu
sion of total government
control? Is it not true
that leaders can rise from
anywhere — whether at
local school board meet
ings, in football stadiums,
or even from spontaneous
testimonials during Red
Lobster dinners? Is it dif
ficult to imagine “freedom
speakeasies” popping
up wherever freedom is
outlawed? Is it not true
that there are more citi
zens than jail cells and
that when enough people
choose to disobey unjust
laws, government must
choose either to change
the laws or lose its pow
ers? Is it not true that
every fight for freedom
throughout history has
started with a spark that
catches fire? Is it not also
true that sometimes the
worst brushfires spread,
and things get unbearably
hot for a while, but then
great growth rebounds af
ter that?
I am of the firm opin
ion that not only does
the course of history re
fuse to follow some lin
ear arrangement dictated
by those in positions of
power, but that it also of
ten ricochets against the
most concerted efforts of
those attempting to direct
its currents. During these
moments of self-inflicted
backfire, history is up for
grabs, great leaders rise,
and even greater ideas
emerge. For Americans,
the propositions that set
our ancestors free beckon
once again.
As President
Coolidge observed in his
timeless 1926 speech cel
ebrating the 150th anni
versary of America, some
truths are set in stone: “If
all men are created equal,
that is final. If they are
endowed with inalien
able rights, that is final. If
governments derive their
just powers from the con
sent of the governed, that
is final. No advance, no
progress can be made be
yond these propositions.
If anyone wishes to deny
their truth or their sound
ness, the only direction in
which he can proceed his
torically is not forward,
but backward toward the
time when there was no
equality, no rights of the
individual, no rule of the
people.”
We didn’t ask for this
moment, but should we
have the strength of char
acter to see it for what it
is, then we have the power
to determine what hap
pens next. All we have to
decide is that freedom is
worth defending with the
time that is given to us.
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