Our Experts List

We had the pleasure of working with many experts to help inspire you. In this section, we have invited our experts to post their biographies and make it easy to find them, should you choose to connect or learn more. Please search for them by name or keyword using the search below.

Jane Applegate

Jane Applegate

Featured in Chapter One: Wealth Building

Jane Applegate is one of America's most respected small business experts. She's the author of four books on small business management, including 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, published in all formats by Bloomberg/Wiley.

Applegate is an experienced writer/producer who creates original web and video content for corporations selling products and services to business owners.

Clients include: Pitney Bowes, Microsoft, Bloomberg and Cox Business. She's the producer and host of Tech Essentials, an online talk show sponsored by Microsoft. TE is available on demand, 24/7 at: www.myfirstserver.com.

The Applegate Group Inc. also provides original content for OpenForum.com, CoxSBN.com and Bloomberg TV. Applegate is the leading small business speaker for Bloomberg TV's 'Idea Exchange' speakers' program.

She's a former syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Applegate has s produced small business programming for USA Networks, CNBC, Discovery, CNN,Bloomberg TV, Lifetime and NBC.

When she's not producing business content, she produces documentary and narrative films. Her most recent short documentary, Much Ado in Mostar, about a theater program for teenagers affected by war, has won five film festival awards.

Brief Reunion, a psychological thriller, premiered at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and won the Audience Choice award at the
Gotham Film Festival in 2011. She's currently at work on her fifth book, The Power of Personal Connection in an Impersonal World.

Website: www.theapplegategroup.com

Marsha Firestone

Marsha Firestone

Featured in Chapter One: Wealth Building

Dr. Firestone is the author of The Busy Woman’s Guide to Successful Self-Employment and has published research in business and educational journals on adult learning theory, nonverbal communication, and managerial competency.  She also serves the worldwide women’s business community as a frequent guest speaker, with recent speaking engagements at Tulane University, Women’s Leadership Network of APEC, Syracuse University, The Center for Women’s Business Research Roundtable, and Unicul International in Tokyo, Japan. She was an official U.S. representative to OECD in 2003 in Turkey and to APEC Women’s Network in Viet Nam in 2006.

Dr. Firestone has been honored with a special achievement award from Woman Inc. of Jamaica; the Applause Award for breaking down barriers for women in business from Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC); The Hall of Fame Award from Enterprising Women; 2004 WMBE Outreach Award from the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce; the Outstanding Alumna Award 2003 from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University, and as one of three finalists for Entrepreneurial Supporter by Ernst and Young.  The Women Presidents’ Organization was also named Women’s Business Association of the Year in 2010 at the 7th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

Dr. Firestone shares her professional knowledge by serving on numerous boards and advisory councils including: the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), Enterprising Women Advisory Board, Forbes Executive Women’s Board, Newcomb College Institute Director’s Advisory Council, the International Women’s Forum, and The Key Bank Women’s Advisory Council.  She also serves as a special advisor to the Chair of the National Women's Business Council Board.

Dr. Firestone earned a Master’s degree in Communication from Teacher’s College of New York and a Ph.D. in Communication from Columbia University, where Margaret Mead sat on her dissertation committee.

Professional Website: www.womenpresidentsorg.com

Ana Harvey

Ana Harvey

Featured in Chapter One: Wealth Building
 
As the U.S. Small Business Administration’s assistant administrator for women’s business ownership, Ana Recio Harvey is the director of the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership.  She oversees the agency’s efforts to promote the growth of women-owned businesses through programs that provide business training and counseling, access to credit and capital, and multiple business and networking opportunities.  
 
Harvey manages a nationwide network of women's business centers that provide training and counseling to hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs in nearly every state and two U.S. territories. Her office also works with representatives in every SBA district office to oversee operations of the women’s business centers and to coordinate services for women entrepreneurs.

After working as a translation consultant from 1991 to 2000, Harvey established Syntaxis, LLC, a highly successful SBA 8(a)-certified multilingual communications company with clients from Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.  Harvey successfully grew her company from a single English-to-Spanish translation agency into a full-service multilingual communications firm with 75 employees handling communications and translations in 25 languages.
 
While still managing her company, Harvey served for two years as Latino programs director with Latino Programs Director for Cultural Tourism DC, where she developed relationships with community-based organizations and Latino audiences in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area.  She developed and implemented tourism promotions and activities that highlighted Latino-based cultural tourism sites and programs in Washington’s historic neighborhoods.
 
In 2007, Harvey was named president and CEO of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a post she held until President Obama appointed her to lead the Office of Women’s Business Ownership.  At the Chamber, she set the direction and provided the leadership that helped the organization fulfill its philosophy, mission and strategy, and enabled it to achieve its annual financial goals and community objectives.
 
Harvey holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston.
 
Professional Website: www.sba.gov
 
Favorite Charities: Capital Area Food Bank, Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce & Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care
 

Barbara Taibi

Barbara Taibi

Featured in Chapter One: Wealth Building

Barbara Taibi is a Director in the Personal Wealth Advisors Group. She has more than 20 years of public accounting experience and more than 15 years of experience in income tax planning and tax return preparation. Barbara focuses on helping clients plan for and meet their financial and tax goals.

Barbara works extensively in the areas of succession planning, retirement planning, estate planning, income tax and gift tax planning, and cash flow planning for high net worth individuals, families, corporate executives of major companies and closely held business owners. She has represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities.

Barbara is a graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.S. in Accounting and a minor in Economics. She frequently speaks to professional groups on current tax issues and has been published in several professional publications. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA)
 
Professional Website: www.eisneramper.com

Cora Bett Thomas

Cora Bett Thomas

Featured in Chapter One: Wealth Building
 

In 1995, at the pinnacle of her career, Cora Bett Thomas launched her eponymous real estate firm, with a vision of leading an industry founded upon uncompromising integrity, unparalleled professionalism and unmatched expertise in the field of real estate.

Today, Cora Bett presides over the leading real estate company and oversees a talented team of sales associates and property management experts along the Georgia and South Carolina coast, with offices based in Savannah, Ga. and Bluffton / Hilton Head Island and Beaufort, S.C. Through her efforts, Cora Bett Thomas Realty is an exclusive affiliate of Christie’s Great Estates (Savannah, Ga. and Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, S.C.) and Mayfair International Realty and a longtime member of Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, The Board of Regents, Luxury Portfolio, and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (formerly RELO).

The firm has cultivated relationships with repeat customers over the years, which is the highest measure of success for any company. People repeatedly list their residential and commercial properties with Cora Bett Thomas Realty Company because they know that the firm gets results. Clients including the Savannah College of Art and Design, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and an extensive portfolio of international investors also consistently seek after the firm for marketing expertise.
 
Professional website: www.corabettthomas.com

Jacki Zehner

Jacki Zehner

Featured in Chapter One: Wealth Building
 
Ms. Zehner was in 1996 the youngest woman and first female trader to be invited into the partnership of Goldman Sachs. Most of her career at Goldman was in mortgage-backed trading, followed by two years spent in the Executive Office working in human capital management. After leaving the firm in 2002, she became a Founding Partner of Circle Financial Group, a private wealth management operation consisting of a small group of women committed to effectively managing their families’ assets and philanthropic activities. Upon leaving New York to live in Park City in 2010, Utah she began her own consulting practice. An impassioned philanthropic visionary committed to the social and economic empowerment of women, she serves as President of Women Moving Millions, a global philanthropic initiative which encourages and supports gifts of a million or more to organizations that work for the advancement of women and girls. She is a former board member of The Women’s Funding Network, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The National Council for Research on Women, The University of British Columbia and The Center for Work Life Policy. In addition she serves as an adviser for many other for profit and non-profit organizations that are working to advance gender equality for women and girls including the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media, the PAX World Global Women’s Equality Fund, and the Women Effect Investment Initiative. She is a frequent media commentator and speaker on women’s success in the workplace, women and wealth, investing, financial current events and high-impact philanthropy.
 
Professional Website: www.jackizehner.com

Favorite Charities: Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media, Spark, and The Global Fund for Women.