Featured Speakers

Kelly Kerner is the President and Chief Philanthropy Officer of the Piedmont Healthcare Foundation. In his role, Kelly leads and coordinates efforts among all philanthropic programs at Piedmont Healthcare and positions philanthropy as an important and functional part of its culture. With more than 30 years of expertise in nonprofit fundraising, Kelly serves as a member of the Piedmont Leadership Team, providing counsel to System Leaders and Foundation Leads regarding the system's vision, strategic plans, and philanthropy operations.

Prior to joining Piedmont in 2023, Kerner served as vice president for development and alumni relations and as executive director of the University of Georgia Foundation. At UGA, he worked with the university president to set the university's philanthropic objectives for increasing the endowment and annual support and strengthening relationships with the university's top donor prospects. He also served as the primary contact with the university's board of trustees and oversaw a team of more than 250 development/alumni relations professionals and support staff. His tenure at UGA began in 2014. Before joining UGA, Kerner served in various roles in development offices at small colleges in the Northeast.

Kerner received his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado Boulder. He resides in Atlanta and Athens, Ga., and recharges by traveling with his wife and two adult children, fly fishing, and serving in his community. Among his volunteer roles, Kerner served on the Classic City Church Board of Deacons and, from 2009 to 2014, served as a parent leader of Boy Scout Troop 35 in Yarmouth, Maine. 

Jerry D. Parrish, Ph.D. is the Chief Economist at the Metro Atlanta Chamber.  Dr. Parrish was previously the Director of State and Local Policy Analysis at the Florida Institute of Government at Florida State University.  Dr. Parrish was also on the faculty in the Master’s of Applied Economics Program at Florida State University for the past 12 years. 

He previously was the Chief Economist and Director of Research for the Florida Chamber Foundation.  Previous to that position, Dr. Parrish was the Chief Economist and Director of the Center for Competitive Florida at Florida TaxWatch.  Prior to that position, he served as the Associate Director of the Center for Economic Forecasting & Analysis (CEFA) at Florida State University.  He has many years of experience in the private sector in management roles at international manufacturing companies.

He earned a B.S. in Agricultural Business and Economics from Auburn University, an M.B.A. from Bellarmine University, and M.S. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Auburn University. 

Max Oligario is the Global Commercial Banking Market Executive for Georgia and has been with Bank of America since 2015.  The Georgia Global Commercial Banking team works with Middle Market corporations to deliver a wide range of custom solutions including credit, treasury, risk management, financial life benefits and investment banking services.  Prior to his role as Georgia Market Executive, Max was the National Client Acquisition Executive for Global Commercial Banking where he oversaw national initiatives and strategy around client acquisition.  Max has extensive experience in commercial lending, commercial real estate lending and retail banking.

Max has a B.S Degree in Finance with a Minor in Communications from Florida State University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of South Florida.  He currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors for the Florida State University College of Business as well as the Junior Achievement of Georgia Board of Directors.  Max is a proud supporter of ACG and recently served as Chair of the ACG M&A South committee, assisting in the planning and execution of the 2025 Atlanta ACG M&A South event.

Max holds NASD Series 7, 24 and Series 63 licenses and resides in Atlanta after relocating from Tampa, Florida in 2023.