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2021 Election Candidates

Each year, ATD Greater Atlanta has an election for the three elected roles within the organization: President-Elect, Senior Advisor, and the Chief Financial Officer. Keep reading to learn more about our 2021 candidates.

President-Elect

David Brill 

Senior Advisor

Melissa Collier 
Doug Samuels 
John Torres 

Chief Financial Officer

Stephanie Smith 

Candidates for President-Elect

David Brill

Senior Manager of Learning and Development
Rollins Inc

David Brill is the Senior Manager of Learning and Development for Rollins Inc. Think Orkin Pest Control along with 16 other pest control companies spanning the globe. It doesn’t sound like cutting edge stuff, but he and his team have their moments. 20 years’ experience in L&D has taught him one important lesson. Focus on solutions that align with business strategy and drive operational goals.

David has hosted several ATD Atlanta events over the years at Rollins. He is currently serving as a mentor in the ATD Atlanta Mentorship program.

David and his wife share three wonderful children. They all report to their benevolent poodle overlord. Every day, David endeavors to be true to his family motto..."suck less."

Candidates for Senior Advisor

Melissa K. Collier, M.Ed.

Change Management Director
CPG Digital Core Program
Georgia-Pacific LLC

Melissa is a business transformation leader who is passionate about building people – their skills, their confidence and their professional presence. Over the past 25+ years, Melissa’s own career has led her from corporate trainer to learning leader and to her current role of change management director for Georgia Pacific’s Consumer Products Digital Core program.

Melissa partners with organization leaders to uncover performance and skills gaps and develops strategies that ultimately improve team effectiveness.

Melissa is passionate about mentoring, especially for those just starting out in their careers and those who are preparing to lead for the first time. She believes that everyone has something special to impact those around them and she works to link people to purpose. Melissa’s ultimate wish is that she will inspire others to discover that the world is filled with endless possibilities… if only we are open to pursue them.

Melissa holds a Master of Education in Adult Learning from the University of Arkansas and a Bachelor of Science in Management from the University of Phoenix. She is a certified change practitioner (CCP) through Prosci and certified as a 360 Feedback Coach through Developmental Dimensions International (DDI).

Melissa and her family reside in Fayetteville, Georgia where she commits to her community via volunteerism with organizations like Growing Leaders (board member from 2019-2021), Pathbuilders, Women in Technology (WIT) and Association for Talent Development (ATD) - Atlanta Chapter.

Douglas A Samuels

Doug Samuels joined ATD Atlanta in 2007 and attended his first ATD Organizational Development (OD) Special Interest Group (SIG) later that year. He took over as the OD SIG Chair in 2009. Since then, he has held various leadership positions on the Chapter’s Executive Board (VP SIGS/GIGs, VP Programs, and President) and the Board of Directors. He served as President in 2016 and is responsible for changing the names of our SIGs to Communities of Practice (CoP). His Learning & Development (L&D) experiences range from instructing navigation in KC-135s to delivering team-building workshops across Georgia State University’s campus, where he is currently a Sr Consultant L&D/OD.

He is a world traveler who has Africa on his wish list to complete visiting all the continents (he counts flying over Antarctica as a visit there). He is a lifelong learner holding a BS in Mathematics, a BS in Computer Science, a BA Psychology, an MEd in Adult Education, and an MS in Industrial/Organizational psychology. He holds several professional certifications. He volunteers with the Atlanta Community Food Bank and Hands On Atlanta. In his spare time, he likes to play tennis and golf. His current passion is helping organizations fine tune their Vision, Mission, and Value Statements and develop Strategic Plans.

John Torres

Senior Vice President, Learning Executive

John Torres is the Learning Executive for the Staff Support control functions. In this role John drives the learning strategy and plans across the Chief Administrative Office, the Chief Financial Office, Corporate Audit & Credit Review, Global Risk Management, Legal, and ESG, Capital Deployment & Public Policy organizations. Additionally, he is the Executive Champion for the Learning and Leadership Development Measurement Strategy for the bank. With over 28 years of experience in learning and organization development, John is a passionate leader who is deliberate about aligning management, operations, strategy and culture to drive results.

John joined Bank of America in January 2019 as the Learning Executive for Staff Support. Prior to joining the bank, he served as the Managing Director of Learning and Organization Development for Rollins Inc., a global pest control services company, where he led the learning organization to achieve Training Magazine’s Top 125 award for two consecutive years. Prior to Rollins, John worked at RockTenn Company (now WestRock) and Honeywell International in various learning, organization development and operations roles.

John studied business management with a concentration in organizational behavior at the State University of New York, Empire State College. He is a Registered Corporate Coach through the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches, a Six Sigma Green Belt and has various certifications in learning and leadership development.

John resides in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his wife Darlene and his four daughters, Jillian, Justine, Kailey and Krysta. He is passionate about volunteering his time to help develop others. He is a member of the Association for Talent Development, Atlanta Chapter contributing to the redesign of their mentoring program as well as participating as a mentor, a member of the Talent Development Optimization Council focused on optimizing the learning function in organizations, and an advisory council member of the Advancement for Learning Leadership, building leadership capabilities of future learning leaders in the Atlanta Market. Where he can, John assists people in transition providing career coaching. John is a member of the Black Professional Group, Inter-Generational Employee Network, and the Hispanic/Latino Organization for Leadership and Advancement where he is the Co-Executive Sponsor for the Atlanta Chapter at Bank of America.

Candidates for CFO

Stephanie Smith

Sales Enablement Curriculum Manager &
QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor Bookkeeper

Stephanie is an experienced learning and development leader with a strong focus on innovative approaches to learner-centric training solutions including simulations, role-playing, microlearning, responsive and computer-based training, and engaging instructor-led sessions using a variety of multimedia and mobile technologies. She has created learning experiences for role-based onboarding, nationwide product launches, operational processes and guest experience initiatives for sales, service, operations, and HR teams.

Stephanie started her professional career as a high school mathematics teacher and transitioned into corporate instructional design. She has worked at multiple Fortune 500 companies and other large organizations supporting various training departments, including UPS, Asbury Automotive Group, and Cox Automotive. She is currently a Sales Enablement Curriculum Manager at Cardlytics.

Most recently, Stephanie decided to use her passion for numbers and start a bookkeeping business, AIO Bookkeeping, LLC. She works with coaches, consultants, and other small business owners to help better understand their cash flow and financial standing. She gives these business owners valuable time back by taking the bookkeeping burden off their plates.

She holds a Master of Education in Learning, Design & Technology, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in Education for Mathematics Education from the University of Georgia. She is also a QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor through Intuit.

Stephanie resides in Lawrenceville, Georgia, with her husband, Kris, and her two sons, Daniel and Jacob. She has been a member of the ATD Atlanta Chapter since 2012, and a member of ATD National since 2015. She is currently serving on the Executive Board as the VP of Technology and has served on the board in this position once before in 2015.

 Chapter ChIP Code CH9047

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