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ACE Staff
Grace Fricks President and CEO Joshua Brackett Chief Financial Officer Linda Davis Jameson Chief Operating/Credit Officer Sandy Headley Vice President/Commercial Loan Officer
Kevin McGee Vice President, Business Development, Atlanta Region
Maria Peck
Metro Atlanta Loan Officer
Courtney Lynn
Small Business Underwriter
Eric Swilling
Commercial Underwriter
Karen Davis
Strategic Initiatives Director
Karen McLain
Accountant
Guy Ramos
Client Counselor
Executive Assistant to the President
Candace McClure
Accounting Assistant
mcclure@aceloans.org
Jeff Moody Grant Writer Isaiah Brown Business Development Assistant Randal LeDet Small Business Specialist SBRE Siqi Yuan, Atlanta Intern Emory University
Chelsea Cardenas, North Georgia Intern University of North Georgia
Andrew Thurston AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer
Stella Kilpatrick AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer
Marquasha Law
AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer
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Many thanks to our partners for your ongoing support of ACE and its mission!
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Reaping what they sow: The Market Garden nourishes a community
For Khiree Wanzu, a healthful, holistic approach to eating works as both a family tradition and a sensible business model.
"My father ran a health-food store, so I grew up learning about herbs and nutrition," says Wanzu, who opened The Market Garden in June. "I was a business major at Savannah State, and I wanted to do something entrepreneurial. So this idea just made sense for several reasons."
The Market Garden, located at 5790 Old National Highway, College Park, sells vitamins, herbs, locavore produce, meat substitutes, and smoothies from its juice bar. Wanzu also is breaking ground on a community garden where he will rent plots to customers for a monthly fee. "I'm already selling the crops that I grow in my personal garden, and we have a waiting list for the community garden, so people are very receptive to what we're doing," he says.
 The surrounding neighborhoods, on the south side of Atlanta, has been building an appetite for fresh groceries. "This is a food desert," says Wanzu, who is partnering with his brother-in-law, Christopher Kendra. "There's a Kroger not far away, but its healthy foods aren't on the scale of what we're trying to do. We want to make a contribution to the community and make it easier for people to take better care of themselves. If people don't know how to grow food, we'll teach them."
Wanzu acquired a loan through the Healthy Food Finance Initiative, an ACE program that provides direct investments and guidance for retail businesses to increase access to nutritious fare in low-income areas. For reasons of supply, budgeting, and transportation, residents of food deserts tend to rely on fast, highly processed, empty-calorie foods. Studies show that nearly two million Georgians, including about 500,000 children, lack access to fresh foods.
"My father, who is retired, will be helping out, too, so we're going for a mom-and-pop feel," Wanzu says. "A corner store where everything is good for you. We're excited about this, and the community is, too."
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ACE gifts will be WISE-ly spent
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Pictured from left to right are: Michelle Shook, AVP, Cleveland Branch Manager, South State Bank; Michelle Elder-Gilreath, Vice President, CRA Officer, South State Bank; and Grace Fricks, ACE Founder and CEO.
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Pictured from left to right are: Back row- Antonio Henson, PNC Bank, ACE Loan Committee; Tim Griffis, Regions Bank, ACE Loan Committee; Charles Whatley, UrbanIS USA, ACE Loan Committee; Candace McClure, ACE Administrative Assistant. Front Row- Maria Peck, ACE Loan Officer; Courtney I. Smith, PNC, ACE Loan Committee Chair; Linda Jameson, ACE COO; Courtney Lynn, ACE Underwriter.
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Many thanks to ACE supporters, South State Bank and PNC Bank, for their generous donations of $10,000 each, to help support the Women Investing in Successful Entrepreneurs (WISE) initiative. Your contribution will help ACE provide access to capital and business advisory services for our targeted populations of women, minorities, and low-income entrepreneurs. |
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Do you need a $150K small-business grant?
Here's your chance to win a $150,000 grant for your business! Chase and Google have joined forces to commit $3 million to develop and strengthen 20 small businesses through the Mission Main Street Grants Program. To apply, your business must have been in operation for two years or more, and your business should have fewer than 100 employees. Application deadline is Oct. 3. For more information, and to apply, please visit their website at www.missionmainstreetgrants.com.
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Davis and Peck talk business on radio
ACE's Strategic Initiatives Director Karen Davis and Loan Officer Maria Peck discuss financial literacy on "Let's Talk Small Business," a show on Business Radio X. Listen to their informative and entertaining conversation here.
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Halo or horns: Just how ethical are you?
BB&T and the Mike Cottrell College of Business presents The ROI of Ethical Leadership in Business on Friday, September 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Forsyth Conference Center in Cumming. Symposium speakers include business ethicists Joel Manby, Bruce Weinstein, Mary Gentile, and Chuck Gallagher, who will discuss strategies for successful, values-driven leadership. General admission tickets are $99, which includes lunch, or receive CEU credits for $129. Click here to register.
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Can-do spirit: ACE welcomes three
AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers
AmeriCorps celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, with 900,000 Americans logging more than one billion hours of service to their communities, through nonprofits and public agencies. Among this year's hard-working volunteers are three students who bring their optimistic vision and elbow grease to ACE.
 Crystella "Stella" Kilpatrick
Kilpatrick has chosen to explore the non-profit sector by donating a year of service to AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America). Kilpatrick's service will assist community development in Northwest Atlanta as it relates to financial sustainability and self-sufficiency. Kilpatrick is a recent graduate from Mount Mercy Unversity in Cedar Rapids, IA. She has been the president of her schools finance club and a contriubuting member to many other various groups in the Eastern Iowa region. She started her career as an intern at Aegon Realty Investors working as an asset management and commerical lease analyst. Post internship she held a position with Energy Data Resources (EDR) as an International Account Manager and Client Liason.
Andrew Thurston
Thurston joins ACE from Upstate NY to work on a year-long project sponsored by AmeriCorps VISTA. He is tasked with designing and implementing a business education training program for current and prospective entrepreneurs in the English Avenue and Vine City neighborhoods of NW Atlanta. Andrew has worked in the investment management industry for the past four years, first as a financial analyst at The Ayco Company, a Goldman Sachs company, and then as an equity research analyst at Strategic Financial Services. He graduated magna cum laude from Siena College with a degree in accounting and received the Major Field Award in Accounting, which is awarded annually to the top accounting graduate. Andrew is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder and member of both CFA Institute and the Atlanta Society of Finance and Investment Professionals.
Marquasha Law
Law has chosen to explore the non-profit sector by donating a year of service to AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America). Law's Service Project is working on a sustainable Marketing and Public Relations strategy with Access to Capital for Entrepenuers in Decatur, GA. Law is an Ohio native and recent graduate from Valdosta State Unversity in Valdosta, GA.
She founded an organization at her school which was dedicated to mentoring young women in the Valdosta area. She began her career as an intern at Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce with the Marketing and Communications department. Post internship she held a position with the president of the 100 Black Men of Valdosta as Assistant Project Manager.
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WISE Speed Coaching Event
 Join us for an amazing opportunity to meet face-to-face with some of the top successful business leaders and expert coaches in the Atlanta area! No other event in Atlanta will give you this type of intimate access to business, financial, and marketing experts under one roof. They are here to listen to YOUR story and help YOU grow and develop YOUR business within a variety of fields. Learn: - How to get funding
- How to sustain your business
- Marketing 101
- Getting Started with a Business Plan
Date: November 5, 2014
Time: 5pm-7pm
Location: The Loudermilk Center
40 Courtland St. NE Atlanta, GA 30303
Meet a Few of The Coaches
Susan Nethero Founder of Intimacy, a specialty lingerie chain with $38M is sales and managing director for Golden Seeds Angel Network, the largest angel firm in the country dedicated to funding women;s owned and managed businesses in the USA. | 
Lara Hodgson Rocket scientist turned entrepreneur, Lara is the Founder and CEO of both NOWaccount, which offers interesting financing options for businesses and Nourish, Inc., a prepackaged nutrition drink for children. | 
Mary Parker President and CEO of All(n)1 Security Services, Inc., a thriving, multi-million dollar security enterprise with a workforce of more than 200 employees. Mary is also the Board Chair of the Atlanta Business League. |
Refreshments will be served as well as WISE signature drink
Va Va Vixen!
THE EVENT IS $15.00. SPACE IS LIMITED AND
Thank you to our sponsors!
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