Executive Women’s Day presented by Hancock Askew & Co. and Bank of America

Brad Harmon has served as managing partner of HunterMaclean since 2016. At age thirty-eight, he was one of the youngest managing partners elected in the Firm’s history. In this position, Brad leads the HunterMaclean management committee, which guides Firm strategy, sets long-term vision, and directs Firm operations. He continues to maintain a robust business litigation practice in addition to his Firm leadership duties.

Brad has received a number of honors and awards in connection with his law practice. He was named an “On the Rise” attorney by the Fulton County Daily Report in 2013, one of “40 Under 40” by Georgia Trend in 2015, and a Legal Elite by Georgia Trend in 2016, 2020, and 2021. He has repeatedly been honored as a Georgia Super Lawyer, a Rising Star, and one of the Best Lawyers in America.

Originally from Sevierville, Tennessee, Brad earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and his J.D. from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law.

Brad and his wife, Heather, have one son, named Will. In his spare time, Brad enjoys running, reading nonfiction, and supporting Will in his swimming competitions.

Jennifer Abshire is CEO of Abshire Public Relations, selected best PR firm since its inception in 2015 by the readers of Savannah Magazine. Jennifer is a past recipient of Georgia Trend Magazine’s 40 Under 40 leadership award and was former Alumnus of the Year for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for Georgia Southern University, where she received her B.A. in Public Relations.

A native of Marietta, GA, Jennifer came to Savannah upon college graduation in 1988 and began her professional career in the non-profit sector. From 1992-1996 Jennifer served as the Executive Director of Savannah’s Olympic Committee, helping Savannah prepare for a successful 1996 Olympic Yachting Competition.  In 2000, Jennifer created Abshire Public Relations, and to date has provided counsel and strategy for over 150 regional companies and municipalities.

Jennifer was selected one of 40 prominent Georgians to serve as a member of the Board of Governors for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and serves on the Georgia Southern University’s Parker College of Business. Abshire chairs The United Way of the Coastal Empire Women United Committee, and is past chair of Savannah Technical College’s Foundation Board. Abshire, a graduate and past program chair for Leadership Georgia and Leadership Southeast Georgia, has two grown children and resides in historic Savannah.

Kendria Lee serves as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President for Georgia Southern University.

In her role, Lee manages the Office of Special Events and Protocol and oversees economic development and community relations for the university, working closely with economic development officials; city and county officials; and key stakeholders throughout the region to establish new ways to align the strategic goals of the university with the initiatives of the University System Office.

Prior to her current role, Lee held the position of Operations Manager and Executive Associate for Government and Community Relations – both with the Office of External Affairs.

Lee is a “Double Eagle” graduate of Georgia Southern University earning a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Information Systems from the Parker College of Business. She is a graduate of Leadership Georgia Class of 2020/2021. Engaged in several community initiatives, Lee, an alumna of the regional program, Leadership Southeast Georgia, is currently serving on the Board of Directors. She also serves on the board of Synovus (Statesboro) and Junior Achievement of Savannah. Lee is a certified Protocol Officer and is a member of the Protocol and Diplomacy International – Protocol Officers Association.

Marci McGregor is a Managing Director and Senior Investment Strategist supporting Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank for the Chief Investment Office (CIO) within Bank of America Corporation. In this role, Marci provides macro-economic and market insights, as well as investment guidance and portfolio positioning across the wealth management businesses. Marci helps set the wealth management businesses’ tactical asset allocation and investment policy decisions as a voting member on the Global Wealth & Investment Management Investment Strategy Committee (GWIM ISC). She is also a regular contributor to CIO thought leadership content. Marci regularly appears on CNBC, Bloomberg television and radio, and other media venues.

Previously, Marci led the team of regional investment strategists for the Portfolio Solutions Desk, and was responsible for

communicating the economic and market outlook to advisors and clients. Marci also managed the execution of a regional coverage model that connected advisors with BofAGlobal Research and investment thought leadership. In this role, Marci managed a suite of publications for advisors that focused on market commentary and investment insights.

Marci began her career in Alternative Investments focusing on hedge funds, managed futures, private equity and non-traditional mutual funds.

Marci earned her B.A. degree from Rutgers University.

Dawn Morgan was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and holds a General Contractor and Real Estate licenses in both Georgia and South Carolina.

Dawn is the President and CEO of Collins Construction Services, Inc.  Collins Construction has been in business for over 30 years and specializes in Commercial and Industrial Construction Projects, along with supporting our military with several government contracts throughout the Southeast.

Dawn was one of the founders of the Coastal Georgia Chapter of NAWIC (National Association of Women in Construction) and served as Chair for the SDRA (Savannah Development and Renewal Authority) and is a graduate of both Leadership Savannah and Leadership Southeast Georgia.

She was nominated for the Savannah Business Journals Top 40 Under 40 Young Business Leaders in 2009 and in 2011 was featured in Savannah Magazine as one of its GenerationNEXT Top 20 Under 40 Business Leaders in the community.

She is also the proud mother of a 14 year old son and two four legged fur babies (dogs).

Jay Neely currently serves as Vice President, Law & Public Affairs for Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. His Law responsibilities include management of the Legal Department, its lawyers and other personnel, and his Public Affairs responsibilities include management of State and Local Government Affairs and Community Relations.

Before joining Gulfstream in 1999, Neely was an attorney in the Atlanta office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP. He served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Dudley H. Bowen, Jr., U.S. District Court, Southern District of Georgia, Augusta.

Neely received a J.D. in 1992 from the University of Georgia School of Law, and a B.S. in 1989 from Vanderbilt University. He has been married to Courtney Parks Neely since 1993, and they have two children – Laura and John. He and his family attend the Community Bible Church. Neely holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot Certificate and has been granted a Flight Instructor Certificate with Instrument and Multiengine Instructor ratings. He has approximately 3,600 flight hours, over 1,200 of which are in multiengine aircraft.

Neely serves as Chairman, Georgia Department of Economic Development Board of Directors, and on the boards of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Telfair Museums, the Russell Foundation, the Georgia Association of Manufacturers, the Manufacturers Education Foundation and the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. He is a past Chairman of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. In 2018, Neely was appointed by the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia to serve on the Search Committee for a new President of Georgia Southern University (over 18,000 students; third largest in Georgia). He has served on the Leadership Georgia Board of Trustees, as the Leadership Georgia Chairman of Selections and as President, Leadership Savannah Board of Directors.

First Lieutenant Mara Tazartus is an Armor officer stationed at Fort Stewart, GA with the 3rd Infantry Division. She commissioned from Northeastern University Army ROTC in May of 2020. She has served at Fort Benning, GA, Fort Stewart, GA and Camp Casey, Republic of Korea. She recently deployed to Germany in support of Operation Assure, Deter, and Reinforce from March-August 2022 in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine. Mara is a tank commander currently serving as the Executive Officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-64 Armor Battalion, 1^st Armored Brigade Combat Team.

Alexi Venneri is the co-founder and CEO of Digital Air Strike, the award-winning social media, intelligent lead response, and consumer engagement technology company. A pioneer in digital response, social media technology, and online reputation management, Digital Air Strike improves consumer engagement for over 7,700 businesses nationwide. Because of Alexi’s leadership and vision, Digital Air Strike has grown to over 160 employees with three offices nationwide and was named to Inc. 5000’s list of Fastest Growing Private Companies.

Alexi’s prior positions include President of Auto Media/Blue Flame 6 (part of The Van Tuyl Automotive Group), VP of Marketing, PR & Investor Relations at Dealertrack (now part of Cox Automotive), CMO at Who’s Calling, Director of Marketing for Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners, and Director of Sales & Marketing at Clipper Transportation. Alexi is an accomplished public speaker and author of the best-selling book “BALLS! Six Rules for Winning Today’s Business Game.” She was honored by Automotive News as one of the Top 100 Leading Women in the Automotive Industry, including General Motors CEO Mary Barra. She received the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Award, was named the Innovator of the Year by the American Business Awards, was awarded the Arizona Top Technology Executive of the Year Award, and was named one of the Most Influential Women in Arizona.

Alexi has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Marketing and Administration from the University of Calgary and is an accredited trainer at the University of Washington as well as The Pacific Institute. She supports numerous charitable organizations selecting one or more each month while working closely with ARME and Beagle Freedom Project, nonprofit organizations that rescue and rehabilitate animals.

Abby Wolfe is the V.P. of Commercial Banking at Queensborough National Bank & Trust. She has enjoyed 7 years so far with Queensborough and looks forward to many more. Previously, Abby worked in Wealth Management for SunTrust Bank before deciding on a career change to Commercial Lending. She loves what she does as she gets to work closely with local business owners and individuals to start new ventures, manage current operations, and grow or expand their current businesses. Abby learns a great deal from her clients and truly enjoys hearing about their unique ideas and helping them make them a reality.

Abby was born and raised in Savannah GA and attended St. James Catholic School and St. Vincent’s Catholic School. She was very involved in athletics and still enjoys playing sports and being part of a team today. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of GA and moved back home to Savannah as she missed the water dearly. Some of her favorite activities are going to the beach and boating, and almost anything that takes place on the water.

Abby strives to give back to our community and is very involved with the Folds of Honor Savannah chapter and serve on the Board of the First Tee Savannah.

Carol Yancey served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC), a Fortune 200 Company with approximately $20 billion in annual sales and 53,000 employees. Genuine Parts Company is engaged in the distribution of automotive and industrial replacement parts and celebrated its 94th year in business in 2021.

During her 31 years at Genuine Parts Company, she held a variety of key financial positions.  Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President and CFO from March 2013-April 2022.  She was the first female corporate officer and was the most senior female corporate officer when she retired. In her role as EVP and CFO, Carol served on the Company’s Executive Leadership Team, Capital Allocation and Investment Committee and Cyber Security Committee. Carol was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as the “Public Company CFO of the Year” in 2020.

Carol currently serves on the BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BXC) Board of Directors and is the Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominating & Governance Committee since 2020. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Oxford Industries Inc. (NYSE:OXM) since 2022.

Carol currently serves as a director of the Atlanta Area Council -The Boy Scouts of America since 2015 and as a Trustee of the Woodruff Arts Center since 2020. She has previously served on various boards including Truist Advisory Board, The Salvation Army, Emory Healthcare Advisory Board, and others. She actively participates in various Board member; CFO networking and corporate governance events.  In addition, Carol has served as a guest speaker at numerous education and leadership development classes.

Prior to joining Genuine Parts Company, Carol began her career at Ernst & Young.  She served audit clients for six years and left E&Y as a Manager.  Ms. Yancey is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a BBA in Accounting, with Honors.

Ms. Yancey and her husband reside in Atlanta and have three grown children.