Eric C. Cook
Certified Internet Business Consultant, WSI Internet Consulting
Eric-cook-headshotAfter graduating from college, Eric began his professional career in the banking industry where he started as a teller, eventually moving into marketing, human resources a “little bit” of lending and various roles in technology and operations. Most recently he was Chief Operating Officer and Regional President for a publicly-traded, Michigan-based community bank. Over his 15-year career, he discovered a love for the Internet, building the bank’s first website in 1995 and starting a business in 1999 to take care of small business web development needs.
Following his passion for the Internet, in August of 2007 Eric stepped away from his banking responsibilities and started his own Internet Consulting Practice, focused on helping organizations better understand and leverage the power of the Internet. As part of the global franchise, WSI (which stands for We Simplify the Internet), Eric combines his years of banking and real-world business experience with industry-leading Internet knowledge to help not only his banking clients, but other businesses and non-profits to compete more effectively on the Internet.
While in banking, Eric served his industry through a variety of committee positions with the Michigan Bankers Association, most notably as chair of the Operations & Technology Committee for the three years prior to starting his own business. Eric holds a double-major BA in Business Administration and Psychology from Alma College, earned his MBA from Western Michigan University and is a 2003 graduate of the prestigious Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he currently serves as a faculty member and teaches Internet strategy and social networking.
One of only a handful of “award winning” consultants within WSI, Eric earned a Web Marketing Association WebAward in Financial Services Standard of Excellence in 2008 for his project with Wolverine Bank. His project for Isabella Bank was also a finalist in the 2008 WSI WebAwards. He continues to use his banking expertise and in-depth understanding of the Internet to help community banks benefit from their website beyond simply being a place to “log in” to online banking.
Eric and his wife Alicia reside in Western Michigan with their two golden retrievers. In addition to his love of technology, he is an avid cyclist and competes in endurance-distance mountain bike events and triathlons. In 2006 he founded Pedaling with a Purpose, a charitable effort designed to help fellow cyclists raise money for worthy causes while competing, and has raised over $25,000 to fight childhood cancer.
Jeffsimpkins Jeff Simpkins
Community Bank Consulting, Inc.
Jeff Simpkins is the Chief Principal of Community Bank Consulting. He has over seventeen years of experience working in community banks and with community banks through technology companies that serve them. Jeff has worked with community banks of various sizes, from de novo banks prior to and after opening, to well established institutions with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and an extensive branch network, to multi-bank holding companies.
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Bea Fields
President: Bea Fields Companies, Inc.
Beafields3Bea Fields is the President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. and the Founder of Five Star Leader Coaching and Training, a leadership consulting firm currently serving over 800 clients world-wide. Along with Scott Wilder, Jim Bunch and Rob Newbold, she is the co-author of Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders. The new book explores and analyzes Generation Y – the young adults currently between the ages of 18 and 30 – from a socio-economic standpoint. The book highlights 25 members of this generation who have already made a name for themselves, and provides crucial insights for business and political leaders seeking to tap into this demographic. Along with Corey Blake and Eva Silva Travers, she is also the author of Edge: A Leadership Story, which was named a finalist in the 2008 National Best Book Awards in the category of Business/Motivation.
Fields’ educational background includes a bachelor’s degree from The University of Alabama, and a certificate degree in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She holds several important certifications which include The International Coach Federation’s Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation and the Guerrilla Marketing coach certification. Fields received the Thomas Leonard Award in 2006, which is an honor bestowed on a coach who has exhibited mastery in the profession of executive coaching.
Fields maintains an active role in her community. She has served on the Board of Visitors for The University of North Carolina’s Children’s Hospital, and the board of directors for The Sandhills Children’s Center in Southern Pines, North Carolina. She has also served as a director for The FirstHealth Hospice Foundation in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and The Episcopal Day School in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Fields is the Chief Principal of The Gen Y Project and the Become a Blogging Maniac Project.