Advisors (SMEs)
The Village community includes a number of highly skilled Advisors (subject matter experts) who have committed to “pay it forward” to help startup Founders achieve their goals. They lend their expertise and guidance free of charge.
Our Advisor Program is full of super smart lawyers, marketers, accountants, salespeople, and techies. These subject matter experts commit to being at the Village at least one Friday a month from 10am-12pm in the Community Center. You can utilize them as you would a tool to build your house – for a specific purpose. You can touch base with an Advisor one time or ten times; it all depends on what YOU need! You can just stop by, but we recommend scheduling an appointment with a specific Advisor in advance.
Making an Appointment
Click on the Advisor’s picture to view their bio and more information. Then swipe right… just kidding! Click “Make an Appointment” to email them, and schedule a time to meet. You won’t regret it.
Questions? Let our Mentor Coordinator Julie know! julie@atlantatechvillage.com.
advisors

Arthur Morrissette
Make an AppointmentArthur is an engineering and product leader with experience building AI and machine learning powered consumer and business software.
Arthur was previously CTO of SkinIO, helping to build intuitive skin cancer screening software using computer vision technology. He is an academic at heart - earning his undergraduate and doctorate degrees from Georgia Tech and Emory, respectively. Arthur grew up in Virginia outside of Washington DC, but has called Atlanta his home for over a decade and currently lives in Grant Park with his wife Megan and their cat Harper.
1. Identifying where AI/ML can enhance product value and efficiency
2. Strategic technology and product development
3. Secure and compliant applications in healthcare and other regulated industries
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Christa Patrylak
Make an AppointmentChrista is a seasoned marketing leader that bring an infectious enthusiasm to guide Founders and CEOs through the changes required to compete in dynamic markets. She is deeply passionate about bringing the rigor of CX product development to marketing, shaping valuable customer experiences that live at the intersection of storytelling and data-driven marketing. Christa is an Atlanta transplant who continues to be impressed by the unique soul of this city and community. Her greatest joy is spending time discovering new spaces and places with her husband, two kids and wildly adorable puppy.
Christa Patrylak is a Fractional Marketing Leader whose career is defined by transforming iconic consumer brands and fast-moving tech startups into success stories—like HBO, Paramount, Ubisoft Games, SoulCycle and SoftBank-Backed Compass. She currently partners with B2B and B2C subscription startups and digital product companies to marry their mission with margin. Christa focuses on transforming growth strategies, shifting businesses away from a growth at all costs mindset to customer-focused growth that prioritizes lifetime value.
1. Customer Strategy
2. Go-to-market
3. Positioning & Brand Narrative

Cindy Hancock
Make an AppointmentCindy is a seasoned Revenue Operations leader with expertise in scaling hypergrowth SaaS businesses from $10M to $200M+ ARR. When she’s not optimizing go-to-market strategies or building high-performing teams, she enjoys cheering on her son at soccer games, listening to music, and going to the beach.
Cindy is a Revenue Operations leader who has helped startups like SalesLoft and Highspot scale to unicorn status. Her superpower is building high-performing teams that thrive in fast-paced environments. She excels at aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to create seamless go-to-market strategies, designing and implementing GTM systems to drive revenue growth and operational efficiency. Her expertise includes designing data-driven processes, forecasting models, and enablement programs that empower teams to perform at their best. Passionate about creating scalable foundations, Cindy helps organizations optimize their customer journey, ensuring sustainable growth and exceptional customer experiences.
1. Aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams to optimize the customer journey and drive operational efficiency.
2. Designing and implementing go-to-market (GTM) systems for sustainable growth.
3. Building and scaling high-performing Revenue Operations teams.

Corean Canty
Make an AppointmentCorean believes life is happening now–not someday, how we show up matters, and play is a superpower. When she’s not helping to build better leaders and businesses, she is making people laugh on the improv stage and helping people eliminate end-of-life regrets through her Remember to Live podcast.
Corean is an executive leader and strategist with 20+ years of experience scaling advertising, marketing, and operations teams at hypergrowth organizations. As a founder and Executive Coach specializing in speaker development and thought leadership, she helps companies build high-performing cultures and develop authentic, impactful leadership. Drawing from both corporate leadership and play-based innovation, she brings a unique perspective to organizational transformation. Based in Atlanta, she's usually found sipping matcha and sharing belly laughs with good people.
1. Strategy - Planning, Growth & Innovation
2. People/Culture - Leadership, Team Building & People Operations
3. Storytelling/Branding - Thought Leadership & Messaging

David Rubini
Make an AppointmentI have a passion and track record integrating customer-centric analysis and design for ease of use with product management/marketing and delivery. My leadership focus is on enabling organizations to capture, represent, and integrate the user perspective of a problem or goal, resulting in highly effective, efficient and satisfying market solutions.
David Rubini is a Senior Manager of Online Product Management at The Home Depot, where he leads initiatives responsible for several high consideration/complexity online customer journeys on homedepot.com. He is currently focusing on the role of visualization technologies and generative AI on the shopping experience. With more than three decades of experience in product management and user experience design, David specializes in creating solutions at the intersection of design, business, and technology. Previously, he held senior product management roles at Intuit, Digital Insight, NCR, as well as at several early/mid-stage startups (VerticalOne, Brickstream). David holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor's degree in Human Factors Engineering from Tufts University. He brings a unique perspective in integrating customer-centric design with product strategy, focusing on delivering effective market solutions that enhance user satisfaction.
1. Building a user centered design culture
2. Product Management and Agile best practices
3. Product Strategy

Joelle Wasserman
Make an AppointmentJoelle is a customer experience expert turned entrepreneur who loves working with early-stage founders passionate about building exceptional businesses and staying close to their customers.
Joelle is an experienced Founder and CX leader who has built and scaled customer experience teams, transforming them into strategic growth drivers. With a deep background in customer support and operational excellence, Joelle founded SomethingCX to help startups create scalable systems and turn support into a path to revenue. Previously, Joelle led initiatives at companies like Calendly, where she scaled the support team from 5 to 25, reduced response time to 15 minutes across all channels, and Biteable, where she built a Customer Success organization from scratch, driving satisfaction rates from 72% to 94%. Now, Joelle partners with founders to establish impactful customer experience strategies that free them to focus on growing their businesses.
1. Navigate the CX tools space to understand the best option for their business
2. Help discuss processes and roadmaps to align with goals around CX
3. Help resolve customer experience related issues like lacking proper feedback channels, unexplained churn, etc.

Kaitlin Sitchenko
Make an AppointmentKaitlin lives in Reynoldstown with her two German Shepherd rescues and adventurous partner. She balances her time between caring for pets through Leashes & Litterboxes, outdoor adventures on her e-gravel bike and backcountry hikes, and developing PawKitBook, inspired by her passion for helping pet lovers plan for life’s surprises.
Kaitlin’s background is in clinical research, tech, and service operations. She joined Florence Healthcare, an Atlanta-based SaaS startup, as one of fewer than 10 employees and played a key role in scaling the company to 250 employees. Over five years, she built the first compliance, regulatory, and data protection programs, coached executives for audit readiness, and provided regulatory and operational consults to academic medical centers and pharmaceutical companies. Kaitlin is known for translating regulatory jargon into startup-friendly language, simplifying complexity, and building scalable systems that align with rapid growth. She holds an MBA in Operations Management from Emory University and certifications as a Clinical Research Coordinator, a Six Sigma Green Belt, and in Pragmatic Management.
1. Simplify Complexity: Design scalable systems and processes. Leverage product management principles—even workarounds can be elegant solutions.
2. Bridge Startup Hustle and Regulation: Translate complex requirements into practical strategies that align with business goals. Compliance becomes a quiet hero—not a source of burnout.
3. Coach for Growth and Turnover: Build repeatable, scalable systems with subject matter experts and contingency plans. Rapid growth and turnover become part of progress—not an attribute of chaos.

Michael Howley
Make an AppointmentInternational Business Development
As an international business development and consulting professional with more than 25 years in the public and private sectors, Michael brings a wide range of experience to our team. He has had major successes growing export markets, establishing overseas offices, and attracting foreign investment for economic development organizations in the US. He has set up and managed international distribution networks for biotechnology and manufacturing companies. A graduate of the University of Maryland in International Affairs and Chinese Studies, he also has an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Native English-speaker, fluent in Spanish.
1) Access to reports on conditions in foreign markets.
2) Carry out international business partner searches.
3) Assistance with state grant applications.
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Nandu Shah
Make an AppointmentNandu currently serves as President of the Atlanta CTO Club.
Nandu is a lifelong technologist with over 30 years of professional experience leading software engineering, DevOps, IT, and cybersecurity in organizations of all sizes. He loves to build, and he's interested in just about everything (seriously, ask him to tell you the story).
1. Software Engineering, DevOps, and Cloud Infrastructure
2. Recruiting, hiring, and organizational planning
3. Hot takes on tech trends

Nick Hasty
Make an AppointmentNick is a product developer with a strong technical background focused on machine learning and artificial intelligence who specializes in finding product market fit and growth.
Nick Hasty is a technologist and entrepreneur who has created products used by billions. He is the founder and CEO of Luz Labs, whose product Linda is a voice-powered AI assistant and automatic podcast creation app designed to turn seniors into podcasters. He was the founding engineer of GIPHY, which was acquired by Meta in 2020. While at GIPHY, he worked on both product and engineering and led the company's AI initiatives. Before that, he worked with arts+cultural organizations such as Rhizome.org and the Alan Lomax archives. Nick has been a tech and product lead for over 15 years and has consulted for dozens of early stage startups.
1. Finding product market fit
2. Integrating AI/ML into products
3. Growth strategy.

Ryan Mack
Make an AppointmentRyan is a seasoned go-to-market strategist and revenue leader with expertise in helping startups scale through effective sales, marketing, and customer success alignment.
Ryan Mack is a growth strategist with over 15 years of experience leading revenue operations across SaaS, digital marketing, and technology companies. He has held executive roles, including CEO, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Head of Product, and Head of Strategy, driving companies from early-stage growth to successful exits. Most recently, as the former CEO of Peer (a GTM agency), he bootstrapped and scaled the firm to $7.5M in revenue, doubling its growth annually. Ryan specializes in go-to-market strategy, revenue growth, and sales & marketing alignment, working with startups to refine their messaging, optimize customer acquisition, and build scalable revenue models.
1. Go-To-Market Strategy – Helping startups craft an effective GTM playbook, refine their ICP, and align product, marketing, and sales for faster revenue generation.
2. Revenue Operations & Sales Strategy – Providing hands-on guidance on lead generation, pipeline development, and sales process optimization.
3. Customer Retention & Growth – Advising startups on reducing churn, increasing customer lifetime value (LTV), and leveraging referral strategies to drive sustainable, long-term growth.

Stephanie Hodges
Make an AppointmentStephanie has spent the past 10 years at Airbnb, building the first partnerships team for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, leading global institutional engagements, and launching civic and economic empowerment programs worldwide. An avid traveler, she’s excited to be back in Atlanta with her husband and four young kids.
Stephanie has nearly 20 years of experience in public-private partnerships, campaigns and civic engagement, including a decade at Airbnb during a transformative period of growth. She specializes in building strategic collaborations that drive impact at the intersection of policy, community, and business. Stephanie is also the co-founder of Once Upon Our Time Capsule, a nonprofit reimagining the time capsule to support youth nationwide.
1. Communications: pitch decks, positioning, press
2. Partnerships: strategy and negotiation
3. Policy: evaluation and strategy

Thibault Corens
Make an AppointmentOriginally from Belgium, Thibault is building the future of automated garment care through robotics as Presso’s Co-Founder & CTO.
Coming from a manufacturing background, Thibault brings both the technological vision and the financial savviness needed to bring Presso to reality. He assembled a team and is leading them with precision to build the technology that is fundamentally changing how we approach garment care.
1. Hardware Validation & Manufacturing Strategy & Financial planning for hardware.
2. Technical Team Building & Leadership
3. Be a founder-to-founder sounding board for the issues you are facing, and challenge your ideas.