INTERVIEWED BY MARYAN AIKEN EXCLUSIVELY FOR CITYBOX MEDIA IN COLLABORATION WITH DIOR for the Dior men series

“I feel an extraordinary sense of responsibility as an " immigrant" to reinforce the idea that immigrants are here not to use the resource but contribute to building up and add to the success of this country.” -dERRECK kAYONGO

DIOR

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Over the years, I had the privilege of developing and designing strategic marketing programs that gave me the opportunity to meet and get to know some of the most fascinating men in Atlanta.

CityBox Media’s signature Q&A interviews are designed for business leaders, pioneers, rain makers and game changers to intersect by creating a red carpet introduction with the prospect of exploring possible business alignment or collaboration.

Today, I want to revisit the highlights of our previous features to reintroduce these captivating game changers in their realm.

Jeffrey Harvey. Chief Operating Officer. SAP America Inc. Chicago, IL. Northern Illinois University. Operations Management & Information Systems (OMIS). SAP National Co-Chair, Els for Autism; TechBridge Atlanta

Who are your biggest mentors that influenced you the most personally & professionally? Jack Welch and Gary Player are two that I’ve had the good fortune to interact with while at SAP. Both are leaders in their fields of business and professional golf, respectively.

Both are also entrepreneurs that put people first and believe in candor, which is a lost art today. Most people tell us what we want to hear, but not what we need to hear. We obviously need to have an open mind to accept the constructive feedback, but without it how can we truly get better in whatever it is we do?

I try to apply this to all my professional and personal relationships, although sometimes we also need to use a filter in personal relationships that may be a bit more sensitive, if you know what I mean!

Stephen Vault. Vice President. Business Development & Planning. Wellstar Health System. Little Rock, Arkansas. University of Arkansas. Health Administration Charity Involvement. President. 100 Black Men of North Metro, Inc. American Cancer Society Board. 2018 Real Men Wear Pink Participant/Whitefoord, Inc. Georgia Chamber Board of Governors/Citizen’s Trust Bank Advisory Board

What exciting projects are you working on? Professionally, I am continuing to work on focused and intentional ways to grow WellStar. It is not enough to be the largest health system in the state of Georgia. Our continued market leadership is what keeps me up at night.

Civically, I have signed on to be a participant in these year’s American Cancer Society’s Real Men Wear Pink Campaign. I am raising money for cancer research and treatment while agreeing to wear pink the entire month of October!

Kambiz Khadem Aeronux Airways Airplane.jpg

Kambiz Khadem Aeronux Airways Porsche.jpg

Dr. Kambiz Khadem. Chief Dream Executor. Founder. Aeronux Airways. Shiraz, Iran. Computer Science & Information Technology Strategy. Humanitarian Flight Foundation

What legacy do you want to leave behind? We should live our lives to the best of our capabilities, put our heart and soul in what we do and leave behind the results that could in turn become the starting point for others to achieve great things and continue the legacy.

Chris De Ved. President and CoFounder. Self Made Insights Co. Norcross, Georgia, University of Georgia Terry College of Business. Marketing. Huntington’s Disease Society of America

What are the lessons you have gained that profoundly shifted your direction in business? Probably discerning the difference between talent and ability - with partners, employees, potential customers, and most importantly, myself.

My partners and I had a lot of faith in our own talents once we decided to build software. We went in with a lot of speed and recklessness it led to a lot of 'failing forward,' because we didn't have the experience to turn our talents into the ability of building and selling B2B software solutions.

A lot of experience was needed to turn our talents into the ability for creating viable technology products with a definitive product/market fit. And the lesson of learning what it really takes to make it happen has gotten us to where we are today and will be important for future innovations that we take on.

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Derreck Kayongo. Former CEO of The Center for Civil and Human Rights Museum. Founder of the Global Soap Project. Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy. Tufts University

What fuels your drive? I think being an immigrant in today's society, where we are questioned about our contribution to our country is what fuels my drive.

There is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to immigrants in America, and there is so much irony in that statement because immigrants-built America.

I feel an extraordinary sense of responsibility as an " immigrant" to reinforce the idea that immigrants are here not to use the resource but contribute to building up and add to the success of this country. So, I can't take my privilege for granted. It's a privilege to be in this country, and I need to use this privilege positively.

Listening to Spotify. La Mer. Chantal Chamberland