Mentors: MARKETING

Tom Lawrence

Tom Lawrence

Summary of Qualifications In Tom Lawrence’s forty-year entrepreneurial career, he has progressed from owner of a Valpack franchise, to President of the Valpak Dealers’ Association, to VP of franchise operations for Valpack. As founder and CEO of Richmond-based FranNet, Tom makes time to consult, teach, and speak at the Small Business Development Center, the SBA, and SCORE. He enjoys putting his experience to use helping others who wish to start their own business. Tom began his entrepreneurial career in 1975 with the purchase of Valpak of Virginia. Initially specializing in direct sales, in 1981, he became President and the sole owner of that business. Valpak of Virginia was repeatedly ranked in the top 5% of the over 200 Valpak franchises. In 1987, Tom was elected President of the Valpak Dealers’ Association and served three terms in this position. In this role (held concurrently with ownership of his own franchise), Tom represented, to the franchisor, the interest of all Valpak franchisees, heading policy-making and marketing committees and was the chief adjudicator of intra-franchise disputes. In 1991, Tom sold the Valpak of Virginia franchise and was hired by Cox Enterprises, the corporate parent of Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, Inc. His new role involved the design and implementation of Valpak’s first Field Support program and involvement in the recruiting of potential franchisees. In 1994, he was promoted to Vice President of Franchise Operations. In this position, he retained responsibility for field support, had increased involvement in franchisee recruiting and was given management responsibility for Valpak’s five franchisor-owned operations. Additionally, he assumed responsibility for designing training programs for new franchisees as well as...
Jerry Fox

Jerry Fox

Jerry Fox is a Managing Partner and Market Leader of Richmond Practice at Cherry, Bekaert, & Holland, LLP and the Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee and Chairman’s Circle of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

Andrew Davies

Andrew Davies

Summary of Qualifications Andrew Davies’s multifaceted interests have taken him from small beginnings in advertising at the largest agency on the island of Barbados, to the bowels of Mississippi where he helped build the ad agency now known as MadGENIUS Creative Fusion. In between, he managed to throw in some stints at The Weather Channel, Eyevox Film and Video Production and co-found award winning, multi-disciplined design firm Paragon Design Group to boot. As “the most Jamaican person at Paragon”, Drew now leads the creative team where, in addition to speaking to groups on matters of design and creativity, he straddles the worlds of print, web and motion graphics, working in concept and production of all three. He’s also managed to convince venues like the One Showcase, Layers magazine, American Corporate ID, Hoffstra University Press and the Travelling Caribbean Film Festival to show his work, somehow. He’s recently released his own DVD of animated Jamaican folk stories while working on a few high falutin’ projects for clients like American Express, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, CNN International, Gulfstream Aerospace and Anthem Healthcare, along with some top-secret ones that he can’t even mention. While those are fun, he likes to stay grounded by changing the world, working for non-profits like TEDxCreativeCoast, Deep Center, AWOL (All Walks Of Life) Inc. and CAVU (Clear Air Visibility Unlimited). Ready to meet with this Lead Mentor? Schedule An...
Larkin Garbee

Larkin Garbee

Summary of Qualifications Larkin is the Chief Imagination officer of 804RVA, a Richmond based technology coworking space. She is a civic instigator, a professional community curator and a full stack ecosystem builder. Larkin is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for small businesses, growing the technology sector in Richmond, and community building. Larkin has a diverse background with careers and businesses in real estate, the spa industry, construction, and technology. Within one year of graduating, she purchased her first business, James River Tile & Stone Art which she owned and operated for eight years until 2012 when she caught the startup bug and decided to closed down to focus full time on launching 804RVA, a technology coworking space. As the founder of 804RVA, Larkin has proven her business acumen and professional community building skills by turning 804RVA into a sustainable business. Within two years, 804RVA has become a leader and educator in the technology sector. Larkin has grown the membership base to 80 paid members and hosted over 350 meetup events with a growing community of more than 1,300 attendees. Ready to meet with this mentor? Schedule An...
Brian Forrester

Brian Forrester

Summary of Qualifications Brian Forrester is the founder of Dynamic Web Solutions, a digital marketing company located in Richmond, VA. After leaving a consulting position, Brian built Dynamic Web Solutions from a one person shop to a 16 person firm in just under three years. He has guided DWS to 3-year revenue growth of 755% and helped DWS average a yearly revenue growth of over 120% per year each of the last three years. He’s done all of this without a single loan, no outside investment, and zero debt while maintaining 40%+ profit margins. In 2015, Brian merged Dynamic Web Solutions with another local digital marketing firm to form Workshop Digital. When not at work, Brian is passionate about giving back to the RVA community, hiking and fitness, traveling, and finding good food and wine. Ready to meet with this mentor? Talk with your Lead...