Business Readiness Webinar Series

Greg Singer is a Senior Vice President and Investment Director for Capital Group Private Client Services. In addition, he leads our Wealth Advisory Group, is a member of the Management Committee, and a member of the Portfolio Strategy Committee. Before joining our firm in 2012, he spent seven years at Bernstein Global
Wealth Management, where he was a senior managing director and head of the Wealth Management Group, with responsibility for investment planning and asset allocation. Prior to that, he held strategic planning and marketing roles at PepsiCo and was an analyst at Lehman Brothers. He has an MBA in finance from Northwestern University, along with a BS in finance and BAS in computer science
from the University of Pennsylvania. Greg is also a member of the investments editorial board for Trusts & Estates magazine and is based in our New York office.

Marsel Watts has a passion for helping the less fortunate and underserved, and addressing the unique challenges facing minority, women-owned businesses, in particular. Her primary role is providing business consulting and outreach. She has trained thousands of entrepreneurs with an aggressive multi-state growth component in providing outreach and risk education to small business owners in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta. In 2014, Marsel was acknowledged in a Forbes article highlighting her consulting skills. She served 3 years on the Board of Directors of the Association of the Women’s Business Center (AWBC). The AWBC is an advocacy group for women entrepreneurs. She worked to secure economic justice and entrepreneurial opportunities for women by supporting and sustaining a national network of over 100 SBA Women’s Business Centers. She holds a BS in Marketing from Grambling State University in Louisiana. She has continued her education at UCLA Extension in Non-Profit Management.

Ashley Carr has business in her blood. Raised in Southern California, her father and grandparents were small business owners that instilled a tireless work ethic in her from a young age. Her skill and passion for business were clear early on in her education and she started her career in Corporate and Commercial banking right out of undergrad. Ashley now has 20+ years of experience in business banking and sales leadership. Through professional development, she is trained in sales metrics, credit, call acumen and customer service management. She is passionate about supporting small business owners throughout Southern California as the Senior Vice President for Small Business Banking for PNC Bank where she leads a team of 7 across the Southern California region. She has been with PNC Bank for 3 years. She earned her B.A. from USC and M.S. from Harvard in Management. When Ashley is not helping small businesses succeed, she is spending her spare time enjoying a walk or run or reading a good book at one of her favorite LA foodie destinations.

Brian Willmer is a Vice President at TELEO Capital. Brian’s primary responsibilities include deal origination and qualification, operational support, debt capital origination, leadership training and helping build / maintain the firm’s culture. Prior to joining TELEO Capital, Brian coached college football for 19 years (four of those years as a head coach).

Brian earned a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Higher Education and Organizational Change from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was the captain on the 1997 UCLA football team and the Defensive MVP on the 1996 team.

He is passionate about coaching others and has spent a large portion of his career helping coach adults and young adults in their professional, personal and leadership growth. Mentoring and counseling business leaders, college football coaches at all levels, pastors, professors, teachers, college, and high school student-athletes for over the past 20 years.

Spoken publicly to thousands of people, regarding spiritual formation, leadership growth and professional development. He is a frequent speaker with the UCLA football program and has shared with UCLA’s Anderson Graduate Business School students on numerous occasions.

Proud father of five children (Emma 20, Addie 18, Titus 15, Gwenyth 13, and Nehemiah 13) and married his college sweetheart (also a UCLA swimmer).

Dr. Tora Brown is an Organizational Psychologist and Coach who has spent the last 16 years of her career coaching, training and empowering leaders. Along with one-on-one coaching, Dr. Tora conducts trainings within organizations on topics of branding, diversity, unconscious bias, overcoming impostor syndrome, wellness, and living your best life. She has coached individuals using various spectrums of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) to help people find their ability to manage stress and communicate with clarity and understanding. Giving them the tools to advance or make pivots in their professional careers.

Dr. Tora is the creator of the “Build Your Best Brand” training series, and the “Becoming an Entrepreneur” a 4 week program created for the Entertainment Community Fund’s Creative Entrepreneur Program. She holds a Doctor of Psychology in Organizational Management and Consulting from Phillips Graduate University, a Master of Science in Public Administration along with numerous certificates for continuing education programs including the Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Along with running a thriving Consultancy, she is the Public/Government Relations Business Advisor for the College of the Canyons Small Business Development Center. Her dedication to helping people create a life of balance, growth and purpose led her to become a Brand Ambassador for Oola. She is also a Brand Ambassador for the Boisset Collection, a Global Luxury Lifestyle Company.

Committed to giving back to her community, she currently serves as the Vice President of Administration for the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, an Advisory Committee Member for the Entertainment Community Fund Western Region Career Center and Accountability Coach for the Good Vibes Women’s Business Roundtable.

Dr. Tora enjoys living life to the fullest and can be found enjoying wine with friends or exploring the many restaurants, art and nightlife in her DTLA Community.

Leila currently serves as the Director of Small Business and Policy for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s Office of Business and Economic Development. In this role, she is responsible for developing economic development initiatives, programs, and policies that support the establishment and growth of businesses in Los Angeles. Most recently, this includes the move to transition the Al Fresco outdoor dining program into a permanent program, procurement reform, and the signing of Executive Directive 4 by Mayor Bass in which the Mayor directs City Departments to review and assess taxes, fees, processes, and timelines to help remove barriers to economic development in the City.

Previously, Leila served as Director of Small Business & Entrepreneurship as well as Director of Economic Policy under former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Her work under the administration led to the provision of regulatory and tax relief, small business inclusion in procurement, legal assistance, credit and debt counseling, street vendor technical support, integration of businesses to the digital marketplace through a program called LA Optimized, and $80 million in grants to name a few. She also helped the Mayor lead equity and inclusion initiatives for women and minorities such as AAPI LA, Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, and Contract Ready LA.

Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Leila was both an entrepreneur and business owner, founding and operating several businesses in the food, logistics, beauty industries, fashion wholesale e-commerce and children’s accessories.

John L. Reamer, Jr. has been the Inspector of Public Works, Director of the Bureau of Contract Administration since August 2004. The Bureau, one of five operating Bureaus in the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works, protects the City’s interest through serving as an independent quality control and contract compliance agency.

As the City’s Inspector of Public Works, Mr. Reamer ensures safe and quality public works construction for all work performed in the City’s Public Right-of-Way. This includes construction performed by private contractors under permit and over $6 billion in construction contracts awarded through various City departments.

Mr. Reamer, as the Bureau’s Director, has City-wide responsibility to monitor and enforce federal, state and local wage and contracting laws. These responsibilities include overseeing the City’s state-approved Labor Compliance Program, negotiating and administering the City’s Project Labor Agreements, and administering several city ordinances such as Living Wage, Minimum Wage, and the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring (Ban the Box).

His responsibilities also include coordination on the City’s Business Inclusion Program, promoting opportunities for those who work on City projects by certifying minority, women, local, and small businesses and serving as the City’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Liaison Officer.

In January 2019, while operating in the BCA Chief Executive role, Mr. Reamer served for one year as the Interim General Manager of the Economic and Workforce Development Department. In this role John led efforts to finalize a Citywide Economic Development Strategy that included establishing a Small Business Commission and coordinating the City’s BusinessSource Centers to provide economic development assistance to small businesses. John also partnered with the City’s Workforce Development Board and coordinated the City’s WorkSource Centers to enhance workforce development opportunities for Transitional and Youth workers.