2012 WSSU Entrepreneur Summit 

SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS AT THE ENTREPRENEUR SUMMIT:

Busta Brown has 21 years of experience as a sought-after radio personality and 10 years of experience in television. For 14 years, he achieved successful #1 rankings during the afternoon drive while on WQMG and then on the morning show at WJMH. He has recently founded his own enterprise, BB LIVE, which is featured in programs such as “The Afternoon Thang” radio show on WNAA 90.1. He founded the non-profit organization, “The Next Level of the Triad,” to focus on taking local youth to the next level academically, physically, spiritually, and mentally. Mr. Brown is currently developing a new Entrepreneur Camp that is designed for middle and high school students to learn how to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

Simpson "Skip" Brown has over twenty-five years of experience in banking and, with the recent acquisition of TriStone Community Bank by First Community Bank of Bluefield, VA, he is now the president of First Community Bank’s Triad Region. Mr. Brown was the Founder of TriStone Community Bank, the first community bank to originate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina since 1996. Mr. Brown received both his BA and MBA degrees from Wake Forest University.  He is very active in the community. A partial list of his service to the community includes serving or having served on the Board of Trustees at Wake Forest University, as well as the Boards of the Chamber of Commerce, the Boy Scouts, the Winston-Salem Foundation, the North Carolina Bankers Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Winston-Salem Business, Inc. 

Algenon Cash is managing director of Wharton Gladden, a boutique real estate investment banking firm headquartered in Greensboro, NC.  He has received a variety of prestigious awards and recognitions, including being named a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary International, one of the Triad Business Journal’s “40 Leaders under Forty,” one of the “Triad Top 50 Entrepreneurs” by Business Leader Media, and a member of “Fellowship for Emerging Leaders” program of the E.A. Morris Charitable Foundation, which accepts only 15 people annually throughout North Carolina. Most recently, in 2012, Mr. Cash was named Chairman and Small Business Ambassador for the North Carolina Energy Forum, the state’s leading citizen group for domestic energy education and advocacy.

Joy Cook is Director of Strategic Communications for the Welfare Reform Liaison Project in Greensboro, NC. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Black Child Development Institute and on the Alumni Association Board of Directors for UNC Greensboro.  Ms. Cook is an experienced professional in making and fostering relationships through digital engagement. Affectionately titled “Ms. Twitter” by the front page of the Greensboro News and Record, she was selected as one of the invitees by President Barack Obama to attend the arrival ceremony of the Prime Minister of Great Britain at the White House as a live Tweetup participant in March of 2012. Ms. Cook is the Chair of the Spartan Legislative Network.

John Davenport has nearly 20 years of comprehensive experience in the field of transportation and civil engineering.  His first ten years were spent with NCDOT in various positions in Raleigh, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, and his projects can be found throughout the state. Since leaving NCDOT, Mr. Davenport has worked as a consultant throughout the Southeast, providing transportation engineering services to both public and private sector clients. His desire is always for a “win-win” – and generally that is what he achieves. Mr. Davenport’s philosophy and approach to his job is for the finished product of whatever he is working on to be satisfactory to all stakeholders. He is not afraid to suggest solutions that may be unconventional, as he believes that good engineering involves both science and creativity.

Andrew Dreyfuss is currently the Fund Executive for the Piedmont Angel Network (PAN), an early stage committed capital fund based in the Triad. PAN recently launched its third fund and has invested approximately $15M in 23 start-up companies since 2002. Additionally, Mr. Dreyfuss co-manages two real estate investment funds that are investing in residential subdivisions. He was the Placement Director for the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University from 2003 to 2008. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Dreyfuss was Director of Operations Planning for The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta. While at Coca- Cola, he led the planning process for a group with a $90 million budget and 1,200 employees and collaborated closely with HR on reorganizations and compensation plans.

Tracey McCain is the WFMY News 2 Noon Anchor and “Good Morning Show” Field Anchor on the Triad’s Channel 2 television station. She was previously a reporter for WFSB Channel 3 in Hartford, CT and for WSHM CBS 3 in Springfield, MA. While in the Northeast, She covered mostly crime and politics, and her reports helped shed light on several political scandals and crime rings. Her skill led to several regional award nominations in journalism. Now happily back in the Triad where she grew up, Ms. McCain keeps busy by volunteering for several Triad organizations and serves as a motivational speaker for local youth. Ms. McCain is the Vice President of Broadcast for the Triad Association of Black Journalists, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Nadia Moffett is former Miss North Carolina USA 2010 and an active leader in North Carolina. She represented the state in the nationally televised Miss USA Pageant in 2010, and traveled throughout the state’s public schools to inspire students to “Know Their Finish Line.” Ms. Moffett founded the non-profit organization “The Queen’s Foundation, Inc.” which helps adolescent girls state-wide to focus on character-building, life skills and servant leadership. As Executive Director, Ms. Moffett has led her organization to reach over 125 girls state-wide, awarded over a dozen scholarships, and created innumerable corporate and community partnerships. Ms. Moffett’s life mission is to lead The Queen’s Foundation internationally, inspiring young women to become “queens” around the world.