Meet 1-on-1 With the Experts You Need
100% VIRTUAL Format

Innovate New Albany created Expert 😎 Office Hours to make it easy for business owners & aspiring entrepreneurs to get the answers they need.

Please set all your appointments by 1 pm, Wednesday 5/21/25.

We will end registrations at 1 pm, so our Experts can plan their Thursday schedules.

STEPS

1. Review our roster of Experts, below.
2. To schedule an appointment with a specific Expert, click the link below his/her name.
3. Make individual appointments w/ the Experts you need – just ONE – or, up to a max of FIVE.
4. For each appointment, you’ll receive an email & a calendar invitation – w/ a built-in Zoom link.
5. On Thursday May 22: At the time of each appointment, click on your Zoom link to meet w/ your selected Expert

Questions? Email Neil Collins at “neil@InnovateNewAlbany.org”

Schedule up to FIVE 30-minute meeting(s) below:

Ryan Steele | Porter Wright
Startup & Emerging Business Law

Great Questions for Ryan:

Incorporating Your New Business – What forms are possible and the pros/cons of each
Capital Tables – How to structure company ownership to ensure achieving my long term goals?
Business Operating Agreements – What are these and when does my business need one?
Liability – How do I protect myself and my business?
Written Contracts – When and why should my business use them?
Regulation & Red Tape – What docs must I file to comply with laws/rules for my industry?

At Porter Wright, Ryan Steele helps early stage entrepreneurs choose optimal business structures and complete the documentation needed to establish their business foundation, grow and expand, and ultimately exit on their own favorable terms.

Ryan also handles corporate contractual matters to bring mergers, acquisitions, financing, startup operations, and other general business transactions to fruition. Combining business operations knowledge with legal acumen, Ryan efficiently executes complex business contracts so that rapidly growing companies, business owners and early stage entrepreneurs can cost-effectively achieve their growth goals.

Ryan also brings great business savvy to his client relationships. Having managed an office of over 100 people, Ryan can apply his first-hand knowledge of everyday business functions including project management, employee management, and independent contracting, providing practical counsel to fast-growing entities so they can overcome challenges and achieve their business goals.

Click here to schedule 30 minutes with Ryan.

Miglena Kotevski | Huntington National Bank
Access to Capital for Small Business

Great Questions for Miglena:

How should I finance the launch of a new small business?
What kind of financing can I obtain to grow my business?
How do Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loans work for a small business?
How should I prepare for a lending application with a bank or other lending institution?
What questions should I ask the lender during the process of pursuing a business loan?

Miglena Kotevski is a Community Lending Program Manager for the Huntington Bank‘s Lift Local Business Program, as part of the bank’s 2020 community plan commitment. Participants of Huntington’s Lift Local Business program include women, veterans, and racially and ethnically diverse business owners, as well as businesses located in LMI/MMT areas.

Miglena has over 18 years of experience in banking at Huntington, 17 of them working with businesses of different industries and revenue size. She has Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) from Franklin University and Masters and Bachelors degrees in business from Trakya University in her home country of Bulgaria.

Click here to schedule 30 minutes with Miglena.

Eric Pace | Book + Street
Accounting, Treasury, and Financial Modeling

Great Questions for Eric:

What are my options for raising capital? What is better, debt, preferred, equity, etc?
What are the benefits of having a disciplined financial process and system in place?
What is the role of a CFO in my business? What can I expect and how is it different from a standard accountant or bookkeeper?

Eric Pace has worked over 15 years in Corporate Treasury and Finance roles for financial services companies including KeyBank, Huntington, and JP Morgan Chase. Eric played an important role in managing through the 2008 financial crisis and the additional governance, regulation, and risk management practices. He developed complex financial models to improve capital, liquidity, and credit risk management and has extensive experience in stakeholder interaction in the board room and with investors and rating agencies. He has experience leading the finance function at Konzortia Capital, a SaaS startup specializing in AI/ML technology to improve deal flow management for venture capital and private equity.

Eric earned a bachelor’s in management from Case Western Reserve University with a finance concentration, as well as a bachelors in accounting and has held a Certified Treasury Profession designation (inactive).

Click here to schedule 30 minutes with Eric.

Lora Brown | Bookkeeping Simplified By Lora
Bookkeeper/Quickbooks Online Pro

Great Questions for Lora:

I don’t have time to keep track of my expenses; can you get/keep them organized?
What range of services does a Bookkeeper provide?
What’s the best QuickBooks Online (QBO) Subscription for my business?
What great new features have been added to QBO?
Can I convert my QuickBooks Desktop version to QBO?
How do I manually upload bank transactions to QBO if the bank connection is not working?

Lora Brown has over 25 years experience with QuickBooks and Bookkeeping. She offers professional bookkeeping services anywhere in the United States. Her company is called Bookkeeping Simplified By Lora. She is also a QuickBooks Online Pro Advisor. Lora has a Bachelor of Science from Ohio University.

Bookkeeping Simplified By Lora’s mission is to partner with small business owners and take the stress off of their company by taking care of the financial aspects so they can focus on what is most important – growing their business! Building relationships with clients is extremely important in this industry. She will always have your financial health up to date and accurate.

Click here to schedule 30 minutes with Lora.

Satish Albert | E2 Infosystems
Custom Software & App Development

Great Questions for Satish:

How do I turn my idea into a software product or application?
What factors influence the price of software or app development?
What are the latest trends or best practices in software/nas/content/live/innovatena development?
How can I make sure my software or app is built to grow as my business grows?
What’s a realistic timeline & what milestones can I expect when developing my products?

Satish Albert is Founder & CEO of E2 Infosystems. Satish offers a unique combination of experiences: enterprise software development and practical entrepreneurial a, the latter gained while bootstrapping and then selling his own successful SaaS startup. Satish has an advanced degree in computer science and deep experience leading development teams at premier tech companies including: AT&T, Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs), and Docomo Intertouch.

Satish launched E2 Infosystems to help emerging and scaling companies by engineering software solutions that meet their unique needs.

E2 Infosystems has developed software and mobile applications serving:

SaaS startups
Healthcare & Assisted Living businesses

Travel, Manufacturing and Enterprise Legacy Systems

Click here to schedule 30 minutes with Satish.

Ron Savoia | Stratus Innovations Group, LLC
IT Consulting, Azure PaaS Application Development

Great Questions for Ron:

What is the best way to get your first IT services customer?
Why do customers utilize IT contractors vs using FTEs?
Is it possible to have an IT contracting side-job while having a full-time job?
What is the difference between Azure and AWS from a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) applications, and why would you use one over the other?
How do you differentiate the IT services you provide vs the many other providers in the market?
How do you scale/grow a sole proprietor IT Services organization?

Ron Savoia has over 30 years of experience in IT consulting, starting with his first engagement with CompuServe in 1993 to help with their migration to WindowsNT and SQL Server for their new Email platform. He used this experience to join Microsoft’s new Enterprise Consulting Team, Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS), where he worked Nationwide, Limited and JPMC (BankOne at the time), and eventually running MCS’ Central Region Financial Services practice. He spent the last 3 years in MCS incubating the professional services needed to deploy the Microsoft offering that eventually became Office 365 and Azure.

Ron continued the focus on Cloud Services when he founded Stratus Innovations Group in 2010, working with local and global organizations to help develop their Cloud strategies, including Nationwide Childrens Hospital and Cardinal Health. Stratus Innovations Group now has a global reach of reach of working with Enterprise and Mid-Market companies in deploying Cloud Services for their IT infrastructure and line-of-business applications, including Ceridian, MKS/Spectra-Physics, Hexagon, PowerGrid Services, OrthopedicONE, BroadStreet Partners, and The Energy Cooperative.

Stratus Innovations Group’s vision is to become a software platform startup, where they recently released IT-Gig.com, which is a platform specifically for IT Service Providers.

Click here to schedule 30 minutes with Ron.

Susan Fortner | BPR International
Public Relations & Marketing

Great Questions for Susan:

How can I promote my company on a limited budget?
How do I set Marketing & PR budgets that are sufficient to drive results?
What simple steps can I take to improve my social media visibility rapidly?
Which charities, like-minded businesses, and complementary companies should I partner with?
How do I create and execute events that will differentiate my business in a crowded market?
How can I get my products featured on shopping channels like QVC and HSN?

Susan Fortner has 20+ years of experience in public relations and marketing. Her firm BPR International manages accounts throughout the country specializing in health care, talent, banking, and packaged and soft goods. In addition the firm is recognized as a broker/partner with QVC, HSN, and Evine shopping networks.

Fortner has won awards and sits on the accreditation board to advance candidates in the Accreditation in Public Relations process. In 2013 Susan received special honors for her work in crisis management.

Click here schedule 30 minutes with Susan.

Dana Allender | SUN
Sales Coaching, Advice, and Planning

Great Questions for Dana:

How do I engage new B2B prospects and get them to take a call with me?
How do I stop getting “ghosted” after I send information or a proposal?
How do I talk about “budget” with a prospect and find out their decision making process?
How can I shorten my sales cycle?
How can I do sales when I’m not really good at it, aren’t people “born” to do sales?

Dana Allender‘s career started in B2B enterprise sales. He then started his own dales advisory company, SUN, in 2013. His work today is focused on sales and growth, specifically, working with business leaders on what’s needed at each stage of a business to “get to the next level” – sales coaching, sales closing, getting alignment across an organization to grow and everything in between.

Dana has worked with businesses with millions in revenue that have been around for years and tech startups who are just getting their first customers. Dana is tied into the “Ohio business ecosystem” as well, working with economic development and venture capital partners, incubators and accelerators and professional associations in human resources, financial services, manufacturing and more. Dana likes to “connect” so if he’s not connected with someone yet, he will get to it! #TeamworkMakesTheDreamWork

Click here schedule 30 minutes with Dana.

If you register and then don’t show up for your appointment, your time slot will go unfilled, preventing other business owners from the opportunity to access advice from our Experts.