Harbert Podcast

Mack Johnson, 2021 Harbert graduate, shares a story of tragedy to triumph. After suffering a paralyzing spinal cord injury in 2016, Mack found his home at Auburn University earning a degree in Accounting and Information Systems Management. Now, as a leader and mentor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mack expresses the importance of inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce.

Brooks Fuller is the founder and CEO of Room2Room Movers, a former member of the Auburn University Baseball Program. He is a 2022 Harbert College of Business graduate in finance.

Winston C. Tucker is a Senior Manager of Lateral Partner Recruiting at Ropes and Gray, LLC in New York. He received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2002 and his M. Ed in Higher Education Administration from Auburn University in 1999.

The CEO of Allegiance Merchant Services saw opportunities to apply technology to the movement of money by developing customized transfer services for companies. A one-size-fits-all approach may not work, he noted: “My daughter is three. She’ll never write a check. My mom is in her 70s. She’ll never pay with her watch.”

Ebony Ruffin understands that life insurance is not a popular topic, especially among younger people, but in her Atlanta-based business, Ruffin Consulting Services,  the 2005 Harbert finance graduate helps others understand that insurance is a significant component of sound financial planning. As she explains in this podcast, buying life insurance when young is a smart financial move.

The image of shipping containers falling off ships into the ocean intrigued Meghan Nicholas and prompted her to pursue a career in solving the complex problems of supply chain management. That led to her current position as vice president for operations transformation and innovation at “Fortune 1” – Walmart.

For entrepreneur Patrick Brown, a willingness to “jump into the unknown where you don’t know the end of the story” has guided a varied business career that includes forming a highly successful adult kickball league. Brown, a 1994 Harbert graduate and former Auburn SGA president, notes the importance of identifying the “core offering” of your proposed  business.

For Jamie Garverick, a Harbert degree in finance proved to be an excellent background for a career in sales, especially for high-ticket items. Garverick, chief revenue officer at Fullstory, a digital experience analytics firm in Atlanta, says “The ability to know your way around the spreadsheet is really, really important.”

For Pavan Reddy, chief counsel at Auburn Ventures, a law degree was an ideal complement to his 2010 Harbert degree. As the commercial real estate company has grown, his dual background has allowed him to see the business from a legal perspective as well as a business viewpoint.