Roslyn Ridgeway, president and CEO of entertainment production company De Roz Productions Inc., was elected president of Business and Professional Women/USA (BPW/USA), the nation’s leading advocacy organization for working women on work/life balance and workplace equity issues.
Ridgeway is the 64th national president and the second African-American to head BPW/USA. She is the first person from Georgia to hold this position.
Previously Ridgeway, who also is founder of the National Council of Women in Entertainment, served in various capacities with BPW/USA for 20 years. She is also a member of the Atlanta Urban Chapter of BPW.
Ridgeway has received numerous awards for her leadership, including the Woman of Achievement Award by the Georgia Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs; Goodwill Ambassador for the State of Georgia; Outstanding Georgia Citizen; Essence Ambassador for Essence magazine; and in 1997, had May 17th named Roslyn Ridgeway Day in Fulton County.
Ridgeway is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University and a member of The Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church. BPW/USA is one of the oldest grassroots women’s associations in the country, with 21,000 members comprising 1,500 local chapters across the country.
DIGITAL BLUE
Julie Gibbons joined Digital Blue as vice president of marketing. Gibbons oversees marketing, advertising and public relations programs.
Prior to joining Digital Blue, a developer and marketer of interactive electronics for children and young adults, she was senior director of Cartoon Network Enterprises, where she was responsible for marketing and retail business development of original animation properties such as Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and The Powerpuff Girls. Before joining Cartoon Network Enterprises, Gibbons was brand manager at MTV Consumer Products.
She earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Berry College, and studied finance and accounting for nonfinancial managers at the Georgia Tech DuPree College of Management and licensing and merchandising at the NYU School of Continuing Education.
JBOSS INC.
Drew Ladner joined JBoss Inc. as general manager of its new Government Group. Ladner is the former president of advisory firm ZURI Technology and was chief information officer of the U.S. Department of the Treasury until May 2004. Appointed at Treasury to overhaul IT governance, boost IT security and launch key e-government applications, Ladner was named to the “Fed 100” within his first year for innovative reform efforts.
JBoss provides resources, technology direction, core development and support services for open source software.
WITNESS SYSTEMS
Witness Systems, a provider of work force optimization software and services, named Keith Cooley its first chief customer officer and Bill Byron Concevitch its first chief learning officer. Cooley is responsible for driving programs that manage the overall customer experience, including reinforcing consistent global processes and serving as a customer advocate in areas such as sales, services and support.
Prior to joining Witness Systems, he launched the product development division at EzGov, an Atlanta-based provider of online solutions for governments.
He previously held executive level and leadership positions at Internet Security Systems, Dun & Bradstreet Software and Management Science America.
Concevitch oversees the company’s global learning initiatives and be responsible for facilitating organizational learning and training readiness internally, as well as externally among the company’s global partners and customers. Concevitch also served as president of Mentergy, a global provider of e-learning technology, and chief learning officer for ExecuTrain,
SYNOVUS
Richard E. Anthony was named president and CEO of Synovus, succeeding James H. Blanchard, who was elected chairman of the company’s board of directors. Anthony will direct the development and implementation of Synovus’ key business strategies as well as lead the day-to-day activities of the company. Anthony previously served as president and COO for two years.
Anthony’s banking career began at AmSouth Bank, N.A. in Birmingham, Ala. in 1971. He served in various roles there until leaving his executive vice president position to become president of First Commercial Bancshares Inc. and chairman of the board and CEO of First Commercial Bank in Birmingham in 1985.
He joined Synovus when it merged with First Commercial Bancshares and served as president of Synovus Financial Corp. of Alabama until 1995, when he was elected vice chairman of the holding company and was responsible for the management of the company’s banks and its mortgage operation.
Anthony was elected president and COO in 2003 and serves as a Synovus board member and a director of TSYS.
