The responsibility to create, change, monitor and develop new member programs and policies for our organization.
Kettering Board of Directors
Kettering is operated as a volunteer organization under the coordination and guidance of a Board of Directors selected for their experience, leadership abilities, and willingness to ‘pay it forward’ for the entire Kettering membership.
The Board is made up of members who chair key committees within the Kettering organization. The Board also has the responsibility to create, change and monitor the policies of our organization, and develop new member programs.
Cornell Hazleton
President
Give Back
Cornell Hazleton
President Elect – Give Back
Cornell Hazelton is a senior business executive with more than 20 years of experience devising and implementing enterprise growth strategy, strategic partnerships, and assisting both public and private organizations raise over $4BN in capital.
As Managing Director and Head of Advisory at Lambert & Co, Cornell provides strategic counsel to small emerging and mid-cap companies regarding growth strategy, investor preparedness, strategic messaging, and capital raising efforts.
Cornell holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from Emory University, and a Bachelor of Arts in finance and economics from Morehouse College.
Michael Thompson
President Elect
Treasurer
Michael Thompson
Treasurer
Michael Thompson has over thirty years of diverse financial leadership experience, retiring from Equifax in 2019 after serving in numerous Divisional CFO roles. He has since established his own financial consulting practice to deliver fractional CFO services to his local clients. He has significant financial modeling/financial planning experience, extensive experience in M&A and divestitures, and practical experience in managing small business administrative tasks (payroll, benefits, tax, insurance, banking).
Michael earned his undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Science in Chemistry) from the University of Georgia, and also earned his MBA from the University of Georgia. He lives in Atlanta with his wife of 32 years, and together they enjoy traveling to new destinations, live music, as well as spending time with their two adult children. Michael also serves as Assistant Treasurer for the Redcoat Band Alumni Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the mission of the band at the University of Georgia.
Mark Scott
Past President
Membership
Mark Scott
President
Mark’s corporate and executive career spans several leading global performance apparel and accessory companies in sales leadership and divisional leadership capacities. He’s recognized as an industry thought leader, who identifies market opportunities and enables and empowers his teams to do their greatest work. Mark’s most recent focus in the apparel industry is on reshoring initiatives to bring sustainable textile and apparel manufacturing at scale back to the US through technology and leading ESG initiatives.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Florida. ‘Go Gators’! Since joining Kettering in 2018, he has served on the Lifelong Learning committee, served as the Membership Chairperson, and continues to serve as a membership committee member. He’s a strong advocate/membership sponsor and currently serves as the Board liaison to the membership committee.
He has spent several years living on and around Lake Lanier in northern Atlanta with his wife and two grown sons and families.
Rhonda Taylor
Secretary
Rhonda Taylor
Secretary
Rhonda Taylor brings over 30 years senior human resources executive experience to her independent consulting practice supporting HR and business professionals. Prior to consulting, she worked in a variety of industries including financial services and telecommunications. Most recently, Rhonda served as Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer for Cox Communications. She was responsible for all aspects of Human Resources.
Prior to Cox, Rhonda worked with Citigroup for 21 years where she held various HR leadership roles, including her most recent role as Senior Vice President of Human Resources.
Rhonda supports the community at large through non-profit board membership and participation in local organizations. To name a few, she serves on the Board of Directors for Hope Atlanta. Hope Atlanta’s mission is to help Georgians avoid homelessness & hunger through a comprehensive approach that equips them with the tools for lifelong stability. Also, she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., where she provides services supporting the North Fulton, Georgia community. Further, she serves as Board Director for Friends for Life Foundation (FFL), Inc. a community focused foundation of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Phi Phi Omega Chapter. The FFL mission promotes education of the family and provides economic empowerment to youth and those who are disadvantaged.
Rhonda holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and is a graduate of the University of Michigan – Citibank Banking and Financial Services Program.
Rhonda and her husband enjoy spending time with their daughter and her family including their three adorable grandsons, friends and traveling.
Donna Moore
Executive at Large
SIGs
Donna Moore
SIG Liaison
Donna Moore has built a 30+ year career in both the public and private sectors in industries including hospital products, telecommunications, natural gas distribution, engineering services, environmental remediation, consulting, vital records management, and senior living communities.
She is a seasoned and skilled operations leader with a proven record of success in organizational transformation. Ms. Moore fashions herself as a “creator” rather than a “maintainer” and has a knack for accelerating growth across an organization and collaborating with leaders to drive enhancements, effectiveness, and efficiency. She is a systems thinker connecting people, processes, and strategy. She develops powerful teams and collaborations by establishing expectations, communicating vision, directing the plan, and escalating performance to maximize performance. She leads teams to think innovatively to advance business operations and to always challenge the status quo to make things better.
She has been recognized for her leadership by the American Marketing Association, Platt’s, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, EPA, Georgia Department of Public Health, the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS), and LeadingAge of Georgia.
Ms. Moore leads from the front, the middle, and the rear depending on the situation. She is known as a passionate, mission-oriented, and values-driven leader. And, Monday is her favorite day of the week!
Dale Herndon
Special Events
Dale Herndon
Special Events
Dr. Dale’s financial experience spans several years with PwC, Daiwa Capital Markets, and GE Capital. Dale worked on over 40 international and domestic M&A and strategic finance assignments in those companies. Today, he is an assistant finance professor, teaching undergraduate and graduate students corporate finance, investments, fintech, and capital markets.
Since joining Kettering in March 2020, Dale has been an active leader in the organization’s Lifelong Learning Committee, the team responsible for organizing the Friday morning education and networking sessions.
Dale holds a BBA from Emory University, an MS in Finance, and a Doctor of Business Administration from Georgia State University. In his spare time, he likes to travel and experience unique cultures, exercise, and support his two adult daughters.
Diane Nix
Lifelong Learning
Diane Nix
Lifelong Learning
Diane Nix is a Certified Health and Transformation Coach with a mission to help Americans (and the World) get healthy. Diane always had a passion for health, wellness, and personal transformation.
Diane decided to pivot her passion for improving people as a Human Resources Executive leaving the corporate world in August 2019, to pursue the passion for health full-time. Today, she consults clients from all backgrounds, helping them to create better health in their life, one healthy habit at a time. She shares a holistic approach to health through the Habits of Health Transformational System, developed by Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen.
Diane achieved her Certification from the Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, and the MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention & Education in 2019.
Ed Ciechoski
Kettering 2030
Ed Ciechoski
Kettering 2030 Lead
Ed Ciechoski is a Transformational Executive who develops strategies to meet business goals and creates programs and systems to execute on those strategies. He is experienced at helping companies, divisions, and business lines transform their operating model and their culture to turnaround performance, scale for growth, and reinvent themselves to win in an evolving global economy .
Ed is passionate about transforming businesses and their cultures by motivating others to “achieve the impossible”. He seeks out challenging problems instead of running from them and sees innovation as a necessity in a business world where economic shifts and competitors never cease.
Ed lives in Sandy Springs, GA with his wife and three children. He is active with HOPE Atlanta, Cub Scouts, and Kettering Executive Network.
Michael Young
Marketing
Michael Young
Marketing
Michael Young enjoyed leadership roles in both B2B Sales and B2B Marketing teams for over 20 years with expertise in various markets, including IoT, technology, manufacturing, software, industrial, and more. Working with domestic and international companies, he loves developing and executing new strategies that drive record revenue and profit levels, new market entry, and new product development.
Michael holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Emory University. He loves to travel and is passionate about exploring new cultures through their food.
Paul Mendel
Partners
Paul Mendel
Sponsorships
Paul Mendel, a native Atlantan, is Senior VP of Richard Bowers & CO who sports over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate consulting and transactions representing companies in their office space searches and lease negotiations as well as buying and selling of office properties completing over 900 projects. Notable long-term clients are the American Cancer Society, Crawford & Company and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Paul is also a Certified Commercial Property Manager (CPM) which is a designation from the industry association of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and served as the 2018 Georgia chapter president.
Paul has published numerous articles in national commercial real estate publications including the Journal of Property Management as well as columns for the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Paul was a member of the Multiple Sclerosis Leadership Class of Georgia where he raised enough money to achieve Hall of Fame status. In addition, Paul served as president of the Georgia State University Alumni Association from 2007-2009 and continues to mentor GSU graduates. Paul is a graduate of the United Way Volunteer Involvement Program (VIP) which prepares attendees to be proficient and effective board members for non-profits.
Paul believes comedy brings people closer together and he backed it up by graduating from the Whole Word Theatre improve comedy program where the final exam was performing in front of a live audience.
Paul is a certified Skywarn Weather Spotter for the National Weather Service. He is an avid investor and reader. He loves to travel, snow ski, hike, play tennis and poker.
Solomon Shields
Events / Social
Solomon Shields
Events / Social
Solomon Shields is a 20 year investment banker and former Nasdaq executive that currently serves Private Families and Mid-Market businesses.
In 2022 he moved to Atlanta from Manhattan to be closer to his family who are 6th generation Georgians from Cobb and Forsyth counties. An avid athlete and auto racing enthusiast, Solomon also spends time serving youth since 2007.
Solomon holds a BS from Coastal Carolina, MS from Illinois Tech, and Executive Degrees from MIT and UC-Berkeley.
Trip Jobe
Governance / IT
Trip Jobe
Past President / Governance
As ResourceWise’s VP Sales, Forest Value Chain, Trip helps clients in the Forest Value Chain maximize their growth and strategic objectives through our market intelligence platforms and consulting practice. These capabilities enable us to assist clients in the timber, pulp, paper and packaging markets in making both daily operational and longer-term strategic investment decisions.
Prior to joining ResourceWise, Trip was the Chief Commercial Officer for Rand Inc., a strategic marketing and analytics firm. He began his 25-year forest products career at International Paper, before joining Kimberly-Clark. In 2004, Trip was leading the Marketing organization when Neenah Paper was spun-off from KCC and led significant growth and helped to reshape the Fine and Technical Products businesses over the next 9 years through various acquisitions, joint ventures and new market entries.
Trip earned his MBA from Emory University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Davidson College. He has been a Kettering member since 2015 and is an avid golfer and enjoys networking at many of Atlanta’s microbreweries.