Harbert Podcast

Kella Farris, who has a degree in finance and an MBA from Harbert,  sees the creative and the financial sides of the music business. In this podcast, she discusses how her company helps recording artists and songwriters deal with the business side of music as their streams of creativity lead to streams of income.

As chief commercial officer of Play Monster Group, Scott Flynn has serious responsibilities, but he also enjoys his title of Chief Fun Monster at the toy company. The 1985 Harbert management graduate discusses the intersection of sales and marketing and the healthy development that toys can provide for children.

Before founding the craft brewer Wild Heaven Beer, Nick Purdy was founding publisher of Paste, a music magazine nominated four times for a National Magazine Award. The 1993 Harbert marketing graduate made his move into the craft beer business and has seen the industry grow significantly, despite the competition from major national brewers. It’s a long-term business model that requires investors to be patient.

The data-driven approach Andy Garlington followed in the for-profit sector still applies in his new job as CFO of Centerstone, a not-for-profit behavioral health care system. Because “what gets measured gets done,” he said, it’s important to consider data even in a not-for-profit organization that uses its revenue to sustain and further its mission rather than to generate profits paid to individuals. Garlington holds dual bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance from Harbert. 

An emphasis on “work, workers, workplace” helps Steelcase focus on the business office of the future, says Ron Martere, vice president and leader of the company’s North Business Group. The 1987 Harbert graduate expects a hybrid model – work in the office and at home – to become even more common as businesses transition from pandemic operations into a changed marketplace.

As vice president and chief medical officer of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Dr. Latonya Washington has gone from helping “the patient in front of me” to helping improve care for hundreds of patients served by the system. Her Harbert MBA prepared her to move from the clinic to the executive level, caring for people through the business side of medicine.

People don’t live in buildings, they live in communities, says Gizman Abbas, principal at Direct Invest Development. His sustainable real estate development company works to create opportunity in communities by providing services such as job training and early childhood education along with residential space. 

And it does so profitably. “We do really well by our investors, but we also do good in the community,” says Abbas, an Auburn engineering graduate who expanded his business horizons by shifting careers into investment banking and development. 

Tara Wilson’s latest venture, Fierce Lab, aims to give women insight and information in a variety of business and life areas. Owned by her agency, Fierce Lab offers networking, conferences and an app.

The 1997 graduate was named Harbert College’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018. In this podcast, she outlines the thinking behind Fierce Lab and discusses how hard work and innovation have shaped her career.

For Parker Duffey, chairman and co-founder of Tailgate Guys, having “your back to the wall” isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, it can lead to creative thinking and that mindset is useful even when your business is operating successfully.

Duffey also advises seeking business partners who are different from you and know how to do different things than you. Overlapping skill sets can create conflict and impede a company’s growth.

Kurt Ford says he “still looks up when an airplane flies overhead.” He follows his passion for the aviation industry as international network planning director for Delta Air Lines.

When the COVID pandemic halted many of Delta’s international routes, Ford was part of a management team that sought ways to keep the airline’s employees and passengers safe while looking for opportunities to begin restoring service and opening new markets. 

Ford has a degree in aeronautical science and is a 2005 MBA graduate of the Harbert College of Business.