Julie Turner is a Professor of Nonprofit Administration. She earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, her M.A. in Adult and Continuing Education at Michigan State University, and her B.A. in Sociology and Religion at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Dr. Turner has over twenty years of experience in education and nonprofit leadership, having served as a K-12 teacher and administrator, fund development/grant writing expert, and serving in a variety of leadership capacities through organizations such as Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Greater St. Louis, Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis, Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation, and Washington University in St. Louis.

She serves on the board of directors for Community Council of St. Charles County and is the Regional Chair of Thrivent Financial-Heartland Region and is actively involved as a community volunteer in a wide range within school, nonprofit, and church settings.

Dr. Turner was recognized as “Professor of the Year” by the Lindenwood Student Government Association (2020); received the "Emerson Award for Teaching Excellence" (2015) and the "Lindenwood Service Award" (2018) as well as serving as a Faculty Fellow for Student Engagement in 2019.

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Melissa, a dedicated educator with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in education, began her career as a public school teacher for the City of St. Charles School District. She transitioned to key operational roles in higher education and entrepreneurial settings, where her innate understanding of classrooms allowed her to infuse empathy into her leadership style, build enduring relationships and become a trusted advisor. As a Regional Director of Education Operations, she consistently delivered outstanding student-centered results and excelled in accreditation with three local career education colleges. Outside work, Melissa is a proud mother to her son who attends St. Charles High, enjoys 5K runs, travels with friends, and passionately supports the Kansas City Chiefs. Born in San Diego, CA, Melissa has called St. Charles “home” for the past 25 years.

As co-founder of Tallyfy, Pravina helped raise $2.6m in seed funding from investors in St. Louis and Silicon Valley and went through accelerators 500 Startups and Alchemist in San Francisco. 

Pravina has deep experience of UX, product management and scaling a tech startup with a remote workforce. Through Tallyfy, Pravina has consulted and helped other tech-enabled companies unlock further economic efficiencies and scale their operations. Pravina is currently serving on the Board of Directors at Saint Louis Zoo.

Prior to Tallyfy, Pravina spent 10+ years as a pediatric intensive care nurse with the NHS in England, setting up intensive care units in rural Africa and carrying out international clinical research trials in Australia.

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Jeff is passionate about helping startup, early-stage, and small to mid-cap companies achieve their goals. He's worked with over 400+ companies in the past three years and helped many of them achieve milestones such as successful exits, acquisitions, raising capital, strategic planning, branding/marketing, sales strategy and execution, project management, product development and most importantly, establishing and fostering positive company culture.

He has thirty years of leadership experience from CEO (twice) to startup entrepreneur (six startups), yielding a broad background from which to help company founders achieve their potential. Jeff has enjoyed two successful company exits and was part of a startup team that raised $127m in venture capital. He's also served as CEO during the acquisition of multiple companies.

The list of industries in which he's had experience is broad:

• Business intelligence (BI)
• Cybersecurity
• Software development
• Healthcare & medical device
• Retail
• Hospitality
• Finance
• Educational Technology
• E-Commerce
• Non-profits

Other skillset include experience with EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), the Business Model Canvas, Agile Development, and methodologies that help companies scale.

Ultimately, Jeff enjoys working with business owners and their teams to customize the best way forward to scale their growth.

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Alex Elias is a dynamic entrepreneur, executive leader, and consultant.  He has driven several exits and numerous raises across various sectors. His efforts have spanned from start-ups to large corporations/organizations with a focus in sales, marketing, advertising, technology, software development, strategy, operations, manufacturing, sourcing, logistics, fundraising/capital raising, real estate, healthcare, education, emerging technologies, among other disciplines.

Devon Moody-Graham, MBA is an International business strategist, author and community leader dedicated to seeing a positive shift in economic development through entrepreneurship in underserved communities. She’s the Chief Solutions Officer of CEOMom Empire LLC and Lead Strategist in Business Development to several companies, non-profits, and universities. She creates and facilitates transformational entrepreneurship programs and experiences.

Her experience and partnerships have brought over $4M in capital to small businesses. Devon created a community for mothers that aspire to start businesses and develop professionally. She has worked with over 500+ businesses and 15,000 youth and young adults in entrepreneurship and professional training over the last 13 years to bring awareness to the feasibility of wealth building. She has served on a select White House committee on technology and entrepreneurial resource access. In 2018, she was selected to represent the state of Missouri in the SCORE and Sam’s Club America’s Small Business Championship competition with her business and social development group CEOMom.

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