Our March speaker will be Algenon Cash.  Algenon is the Managing Director of Wharton Gladden & Co. A native of Winston-Salem and a graduate of NC State, Algenon started Wharton Gladden & Co. in 2003. Over the years Wharton Gladden has transitioned into a boutique investment bank providing small and middle market investors and developers with capital markets advisory, underwriting, placement, asset management and private equity solutions.

Algenon will speak to the past, current and future financial situation along with a view of the current rental market.

Our February speaker will be Mr. James Surane

Mr. Surane is the lead attorney for the Law Offices of James W. Surane, PLLC. After graduating from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1988, Mr. Surane served as a patrol officer with the Shreveport/Bossies City Police department for approximately five years. Upon Mr. Surane’s wife’s graduation from nursing school, Mr. Surane resigned from the police department to pursue his life-long ambition of becoming an attorney.

Mr. Surane attended Whittier College School of Law where he graduated in 1992 with honors. Following graduation, Mr. Surane immediately went to work for the State of North Carolina as a Civil Magistrate. During Mr. Surane’s term as a Magistrate, Mr. Surane adjudicated approximately 12,000 landlord tenant cases per year. Mr. Surane’s experience as a Magistrate allowed him to gain a very thorough understanding of the landlord tenant laws in North Carolina and the manner in which these laws applied to the facts presented in the thousands of cases over which Mr. Surane presided.

After serving for a term of  four years as a Magistrate, Mr. Surane successfully built a state wide law practice that services areas of law pertaining to residential and commercial landlord tenant matters, foreclosure defense and, business and real estate transactions. Mr. Surane has been a practicing attorney for 19 years. Mr. Surane’s focus has been in the litigation of summary ejectment matters. Mr. Surane has represented landlords across the State of North Carolina in more than 200,000 cases. Mr. Surane’s paralegals have worked with Mr. Surane for as few as 8 years and as many as 19 years. When it comes to experience in understanding, processing and appearing in court for landlords, Mr. Surane and his team present a very seasoned and accomplished staff of professionals that take great pride in serving their landlord’s interests.

With His years of experience Mr. Surane's should provide us with a lot of very valuable information.

We hope to see everyone there.

Greensboro Landlords Association

Our speaker will be Sue Achwartz with the city of Greensboro.

Sue, has been a professional planner for more than 25 years most of that time working with neighborhoods to facilitate reinvestment in their communities. August 1, 2011 she was named Director of the Department of Planning & Community Development for the City of Greensboro, North Carolina where she has won numerous awards for her redevelopment efforts.  She was the Project Manager for Southside, an infill Traditional Neighborhood Development of the edge of Greensboro’s downtown which was recognized by the Sierra Club in 2005 in its “Building Better: A Guide to America’s Best New Development Projects” report. Southside had previously won US EPA the 2004 Smart Growth Award for Built Projects and the American Planning Association’s Outstanding Planning Award for Implementation in 2003.

She was also instrumental in focusing attention on East Market Street in Greensboro which was once the hub of the African-American business district in the city that had been the subject of urban renewal in the 1950’s and 60’s. These efforts included bring a team of volunteer planners to the corridor for 5 days of workshops and meetings with the community. As a result the East Market Street Development Corporation was created, at $12.5 million streetscape and traffic management project was implemented and $2.5 million in redevelopment funds were committee to the area to leverage private investment.

She has been active in the American Planning Association at both the state and national levels. The many offices she has held include President of the North Carolina Chapter of APA, two terms on the American Institute of Certified Planners Commission, serving as Secretary-Treasurer all six years.  From 2006-2008 she served as the President of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the professional institute of APA.  During her tenure she has successfully launched the AICP Community Assistance Program which will provide planners pro bono to areas to work on social equity issues. She has a B.S. in Geography and Urban Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Arts from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.  In 2003 Sue was inducted into the AICP College of Fellows, the youngest person to be inducted to date.

The next GLA meeting will be held Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 6:00pm at Mahi's Restaurant. We will have our annual Holiday Social. We invite all members and request they bring a Guest. There will be a meet and greet session followed by a buffet style meal with a cash bar available.

This month's meeting is being sponsored by the following vendors:

Got You Floored

Pest Management 

Commercial Service Systems

Godwin Insurance

If you speak with any of these vendors please thank them for their support and please support them in return. 

Next Meeting November 8, 2011 at First Presbyterian Church at 6:30 PM.

Christopher Musial will be the speaker.  He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007 and received his J.D. from Elon University School of Law in 2010 and is currently collections manager for Rent-A-Home of The Triad.

His presentation will cover the ins and outs of collecting on unpaid rent, including the filing of small claims court actions, the expected time and effort involved in preparing for and presenting issues in small claims court, and suggested methods of going about receiving money if a judgment is entered against the tenant. Additionally, the presentation will discuss various collection agencies and their assistance in collecting on outstanding balances.