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Published: July 28, 2008
Evening with 8-- Plus Smitty! Returns for Fall 2008 Session and continuation of its 8th Year
You've Got a Dinner Date with 8 – Plus Smitty!
Intelligence. Humor. Good Conversation. You're invited!
Want an inside look at all the latest and greatest happenings in Winston-Salem straight from the folks in the know? Interested in hanging out with a unique bunch of people, connecting with community leaders and exploring fascinating subjects – all while having casual fun over dinner?
Consider yourself invited to Evening with 8 -- Plus Smitty!
Evening with 8 -- Plus Smitty! is a different kind of dining experience, one where you can meet and mingle with cool people in a casual atmosphere. Plus, the food is first-class and can open your mind to new things. Just ask any of the 1000 or so folks who have met, hung out and forged new friendships and contacts with Smitty over the past eight years. We like to think of it as building social capital in Winston-Salem – one meal at a time!
The dinner program features 16 to 24 people or more (tables of 8, get it?), twice a year during Winter and Fall. Smitty invites guest speakers to address topics of interest expressed by invitees.
To find out first hand out about Evening with 8 -- Plus Smitty! check out What Folks Are Saying.
This season Evening with 8 -- Plus Smitty! continues with a diverse and interesting group of speakers. They include leaders in regional economic development, newspaper publishing, community-wide Internet and technology initiatives, a local arts higher education school that makes a big slash nationally, and a locally headquartered top ranked financial institution in the country which has got into sports marketing in a big way.
To find out past speakers who have taken part in Evening with 8 -- Plus Smitty! check out Past Speakers
The best part about Evening with 8 -- Plus Smitty! is that everyone gets the chance to mix good conversation and good food--and all for a registration fee of $25 plus the cost of dinner. All dinners are held at the - The Piedmont Club located on the 19th Floor a top of the BB&T Financial Center in downtown Winston-Salem. You are promised the best sunset view of the city at each dinner, which will consist of a fix prix three course (salad, entree and dessert) meal for $20.
The concept is considered a dinner networking event. We encourage everybody to come with an open mind and enjoy meeting new and interesting people as friends, expanding both your personal and professional network. Whatever type of connections you make is totally up to you. There is NO age restriction in signing up.
If this sounds right up your alley, sign-up now! Seating is limited and spaces will fill up fast. Check out our Web site for more interesting news and up-to-date information at EveningwithEight.com
Fall 2008 Schedule
August 14 - The Piedmont Club @ 6:30 p.m Stan Mandel, Executive Professor, Founding Director of the Angell Center for Entrepreneurship at the Babcock Graduate School of Management, Wake Forest University
Stan is an executive professor and the founding director of the Angell Center for Entrepreneurship at the Babcock Graduate School of Management, Wake Forest University. In this capacity, he has been successful in: creating an MBA concentration in entrepreneurship; developing student competitions (The Elevator Competition and KACE); expanding student internships within entrepreneurial firms; launching the Babcock Demon Incubator; and starting a family business membership organization. Recent honors for the Angell Center include: top (1 of 12, 1 of 25) national ranking by Entrepreneur Magazine and Princeton Review; Winner of the Model MBA Program in Entrepreneurship by the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship; and as a NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center of Excellence by the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. Personal honors include: recognition for contributions to NCEC (2005); #3 program director by peers, Entrepreneur Magazine (2004, 2005); winner of the Irwin McGraw-Hill award for "Innovation in Entrepreneurial Pedagogy," (AOM, 2001); selected as a USASBE Fellow for contributions to field (2008). He teaches a number of entrepreneurial courses in the full-time and working professional programs, and serves as a mentor to student organizations, competitions, and start-ups.
Career Progression. Stan's personal entrepreneurial experience includes startups of three family businesses (retail apparel), a financial institution, a mobile diagnostic health care provider, and several non-profit organizations. He is currently involved as an advisor or director in the start-ups of new ventures of students, faculty in the medical school, alumni and area entrepreneurs. As a result Stan has a passion for being a part of family and entrepreneurial activities in a variety of organizational settings.
Stan began consulting with Ernst & Young early in his career (health care organizations, governmental institutions, manufacturing firms). He continues to consult today in his own practice with domestic and international firms in such areas as strategic planning, family business dynamics, acquisitions, and corporate (family) governance. During his career, Stan has also served on the boards and as an officer of over 30 organizations in such industries as education, health care, finance, retail, manufacturing, e-commerce, and not-for-profits. He is a CPA and a professional engineer (PE).
He is a frequent speaker in a number of venues and has been published/quoted in a variety of business journals (examples include: WSJ, Business Week, and the Harvard Business Review).
Stan will discuss the growing interest in social entrepreneurship. A social entrepreneur is defined as "someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change" For background on how it is being applied view Fast Company magazine's 2008 Social Capitalist awards "45 Social Entrepreneurs Who are Changing the World"
August 27 - The Piedmont Club @ 6:30 p.m J. Dudley Watts, Jr., County Manager – County of Forsyth and Lee Garrity, City Manager – City of Winston-Salem
Dudley Watts is the County Manager and has been that role since 2007 replacing previous Manager Graham Pervier. He graduated with a BS from NC State in Economics, with a technical option in computer science. Attended graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill and received a Master degree in Public Administration. He worked for several years with a national consulting firm conducting operations reviews and other studies for local government clients. Previously he served as an Assistant County Manager and Finance Officer for Pender County (on the coast) for about three years and as County Manager in Granville County (North of Raleigh and Durham) for 9 years before coming to Forsyth County.
Lee Garrity is the City Manager and has been that role since 2006 replacing previous Manager Bill Stuart. He graduated from George Mason University with a BA and Master degree in Public Administration. He has also completed continuing education work at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Institute of Government. Lee worked a number of years in Washington, DC for the United State Senate Committee on Finance and Federal Election Commission. He began working for the City of Winston-Salem in 1992 holding various roles including Senior Budget and Evaluation Analyst; Director of Office of Organizational Effectiveness; and Assistant City Manager.
Dudley and Lee are contemporaries who both started in their roles relativity at the same time replacing two long serving and respected managers in local government. They also are leading their respective organizations through change such serving the citizens through e-government, trying to maintain the current level of government services with raising taxes as a last option. Along with dealing with the change of economy and demographics in our community.
Come enjoy this opportunity to have both local government leaders in the same room and hear their different perspectives and challenges in serving in their roles.
September 10 - The Piedmont Club @ 6:30 p.m. Kevin Terry, President – Winston-Salem Baseball Downtown
Kevin Terry begins his 15th year in professional sports, being named President of Baseball Downtown and the new ballpark in Downtown Winston-Salem in April of 2008. Kevin started his sports career in 1991 with the Phoenix Suns/Phoenix Arena Sports starting as an Account Executive selling season and group tickets for the new America West Arena. For 3 years Kevin was the leading salesman for the Suns and was promoted into sales management in 1994. He led the charge for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena football League, selling out every game in the franchise history.
In 1996, Kevin left the Suns and joined American Golf Country Clubs where he served as General Manager of Arrowhead Country Club, a private 36 hole golf course designed by Arnold palmer. In Kevin's 3rd year with the organization, he was named General Manager of the year for the Private West division and oversaw the construction of a 20,000 square foot athletic club
In 2000, Kevin went back to his roots in the NBA joining the NBA's Golden State Warriors as Executive Director of Sales and Service. In Kevin's first year with the team, the Warriors led the league in increased attendance, despite only winning 17 games. In the 2003-04 season, his sales and service department was named as the "Best Practice" in the NBA by the NBA's Sr. Vice President of Business Operations, Bernie Mullin. The team finished in the top 5 in new sales for 4 straight years, despite only winning on average 19 games per season. During this period Kevin became known as one of the most innovative sports marketing executives in the industry, developing ticket packages, marketing plans and innovative service initiatives that were recognized as tops in the league.
After completing a one year consulting position with the Seattle Sonics, Kevin joined the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League baseball as their Vice President of Sales & Marketing. During Kevin's tenure, the team saw an increase in attendance of over 350,000 fans and led the league in partial plan ticket sales. The team sold out its home opener in 2005 for the first time since the inaugural year of the team and his marketing initiative "Under Construction" won numerous marketing awards within the industry.
Kevin's most recent position was serving as the Vice President of Ticket Sales and Services for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets. Under Kevin's leadership the Hornets finished 2nd in new season tickets sold in the NBA, despite the recent devastation to the area of Hurricane Katrina. The team sold more season tickets and partial plans than any other time in the history of the franchise since its relocation to the New Orleans market under Kevin's direction.
Kevin will discuss the new baseball park being built, changes on how the local minor baseball team will market to the community and the entire new fan experience. You might even get some insight on the new name of the team which will formerly be known as the Winston-Salem Warthogs at the end of this season. The new team name may be announced by the time of his dinner.
September 25 - The Piedmont Club @ 6:30 p.m. Portia Mount, Vice President of Global Marketing – The Center of Creative Leadership
Portia Mount is Vice President of Global Marketing at The Center for Creative Leadership® (CCL®), a nonprofit institution that develops better leaders through its exclusive focus on leadership education and research worldwide. She directs the Center's global marketing, communication, and customer satisfaction initiatives. Portia also oversees the Center's Client and Assessment Services Group, which manages interactions with many of CCL's clients globally.
Before joining the Center, Portia served as a director at Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's leading public relations agencies. She co-led the firm's office in Shanghai, China, where her clients included JPMorgan Asia-Pacific and Turner Broadcasting. She has also served as a vice president at Edelman, a global public relation firm headquartered in Chicago and New York. Prior to her career in public relations, Portia was director of community leadership programs for the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts.
Portia holds a B.A. in Visual Anthropology from Mills College in Oakland, Calif., and an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology with a concentration in East Asian studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also studied at Nagasaki Wesleyan College in Japan. Portia is involved in numerous civic activities including sitting on the board of the Women's Fund of Winston-Salem, which awards grants to local non-profit organizations servings women and girls.
Portia will discuss the Center of Creative Leadership experience and how this region's leadership development institute has had many well known business, education, non-profit and government leaders pass through their doors. A number you read about, see on television locally, or on the national and world stage on a daily basis.
October 16 - WSPrime Restaurant @ 6:30 p.m. Oktoberfest Beer Dinner featuring Spencer Davis - Partner, City Beverage and Timothy Grandinetti - Executive Chef, Twin City Quarter
Spencer Davis is a Partner with City Beverage a popular independent beer and wine shop in Winston-Salem carrying beers, wines and home brewing supplies. Established in 1946, they are considered one of the best kept secrets in the city and Triad. They host a number of beer and wine tastings and dinners through the year lending their expert knowledge to the novice or connoisseur.
Executive Chef Timothy Grandinetti, C.E.C., arrived in 2007 at the Twin City Quarter from the St. Louis Renaissance Grand Hotel, and previously, the award-winning Washingtonian Center Marriott in Washington D.C., with the aim of repeating his success in achieving accolades for the food and beverage program.
Chef Grandinetti, leads a combined culinary brigade of 46, manages the hotel's recently acclaimed W-S PRIME Restaurant, a total of seven kitchens and 170,000 square feet of banquet facilities.
Previous to Grandinetti's success with Marriott International, he gained valuable experience as a leader on an opening task force with Lettuce Entertain You, Inc. where he played an instrumental role in bringing the newly created conceptual restaurant, "Big Bowl" to the Mid-Atlantic Region. Chef Grandinetti's work experience also included an externship with world-renowned Chef David Kendrick at Kendrick's Restaurant in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, post-graduation from the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, NY with a B.S. in Hotel/Restaurant Management.
This will be an Oktoberfest dinner which will pair German beers presented by Davis with the culinary skills of Chef Grandinetti and the Twin City Quarter staff of German dishes. So, bring your friends for a great night of beer and fabulous food! This will be a set price beer dinner.
Sign up for your dinner choice(s) here
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