Dr. Alfred R. Watkins, Director
Dr. Watkins serves as the visionary President and Chief Executive Officer of the information technology solutions company Vartech Services, Inc., a position he has held since 1998. He is a 21-year veteran in the telecommunications and information technology industries. He has considerable software design and development experience, specializing in database-driven web applications.
Dr. Watkins has served as a professor of Computer Science at Spelman College and Georgia Tech. He has performed research and development in multimedia database design and applications for Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs and AT&T Labs. He has designed systems and managed projects for collaborative videoconferencing, video over DSL, telemedicine, distance education, and wireless data networking. He is a certified wireless network systems provider and has managed both indoor and outdoor wireless network installations for schools and businesses. He has also been a quality management consultant with AT&T, helping organizations improve their business processes and co-authoring two books on Process Quality Management and Improvement.
Dr. Watkins is director of the Bronner Business Institute, a deacon at Word Of Faith Family Worship Cathedral, a member of the Association of Computing Machinists (ACM), a member of the Board of Directors of the PACE Youth Development Corporation, a not-for-profit youth science and engineering organization, and a member of the Board of Directors of Our Family Table Foundation.
Dr. Watkins earned his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned his Masters degree in Computer Science from Howard University in Washington D.C., his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, and his Bachelor of Computer Science from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Watkins and his wife Jill have two sons and have served as host family for 4 international exchange students. They operate a family-owned real estate investment company, two family investment clubs, and a home school, Watkins Academy.
Kelly G. Robinson, Network and Marketing Coordinator
Mr. Robinson serves as the coordinator of Networking and Marketing activities for the Bronner Business Institute. Mr. Robinson is currently the CEO of Archie Mae, a financial services company that develops proprietary financial instruments for the mortgage industry.
Mr. Robinson has over 15 years of financial services experience on both the corporate and consulting side of the business. Prior to his current role, he was a Senior Vice President at Wachovia Bank Corporation responsible for strategic pricing in the commercial bank. In addition, he has provided strategic thought leadership to firms such as American Century and JP Morgan while a consultant for Sapient plus he spent several years in commercial product development and implementation for Prudential Bank. He holds a B.B.A. in Marketing and M.S. in Management both from Georgia State University.
Mr. Robinson specializes in the Socratic method of teaching in which he helps entrepreneurs to derive solutions to everyday business problems.