Interview with Amber Shepherd

You're listening to One Sharp Sword cutting through to what Matters Most with outfluencer Dr. Wayne Purnell. Welcome to One Sharp Sword Cutting through to what Matters Most. I'm your host, your guide and your coach on this journey. Dr. P. Dr. Wayne Purnell. Today we have with us a special guest. Amber Shepard is the Strategic Alliance Alliances business partner at the. Here's a mouthful. At the Northeast Florida Economic Development Corporation, there is an acronym for that which is like, it's really long anyway. I don't even know if you're supposed to say it out loud. Northeast Florida Economic Development Corporation is involved in building the, the business community in Northeast Florida. Amber is going to tell us more about that. She has 15 years doing workforce development and oh, so much more. I'm going to flip it over to her and she can tell us a little bit about herself. Amber, welcome to One Sharp Sword.

Thank you, Dr. P. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. It's a pleasure to join the acronym. We just spell it out, nef, edc. Just makes it easy, right? There's acronyms in the state of Florida.

There's so many acronyms everywhere. Acronyms and initialisms. Okay, so here's a question. You're doing economic business development, which means you're reaching out to businesses. You're telling them how valuable it is to be part of a larger community, share resources, information, etc. And, and you're responsible. You're like a sheep herder. You're responsible for gathering all of them together and, and, and actually developing them by giving them programs, etc. So my question to you is, how did you get there? Like, you didn't just wake up after high school and go, this is the thing for me. So talk a little bit about your journey. What did you study? Like when you went to college, you studied something and then that took a turn. And that took a turn. Talk about that. I love that kind of journey stuff.

Sure, happy to share. So I think you said it very well. It is perfect last name for me being a shepherd. But I would have likened this more to herding cats. But yes, still, definitely herding everything in the same direction. So a little bit about my background. I actually grew up in rural Florida on a dirt road out in a little town that nobody has probably ever heard of called Middleburg. I grew up in a single family home and my mother actually worked about 80 hours a week to make sure that I could have the things that were necessary for life. You know, have a roof over our head, food on the table. And sadly, she was not able to go to college. And that was one of the things that she really had focused on early on in my childhood was pushing me to get an education, making sure that I excelled in all of my classes. And, um, that was always something that was very valuable to her. She used to tell me as a child, that was the one thing that nobody could ever take away from you. So always, always, always focus on education. And so growing up, I had envisioned becoming a brain surgeon and a lawyer, and I did none of those things. I actually went to the local community college and finished an associate degree through high school. I was involved in the dual enrollment early admissions program and that focus was on accounting. And I thought I was going to go get a bachelor's degree. Obviously I wasn't going to be a lawyer or brain surgeon at this point, neurosurgeon at this point. So let me, let me do something that was familiar. And my family had a background in accounting. And so I thought, well, I'll do that. And turns out I didn't really care for all those T accounts reconciliations and all of that. And so I found that I'm more of a people person. And so I took some time off after graduating with my associate degree and started working administratively, doing what I knew how to do. And then came an opportunity to work in career development and workforce development through a local for profit technical college. And so I started out as a career services advisor and I worked my way up demonstrating skills and capabilities. And I think there was some, probably some divine gifting that was given to me because I just seem to understand things at a different way. That really created opportunity for me to create new policy, new procedure that really helped our graduates to truly be successful. And so from there I grew into the manager of career services. Then I, I transferred over to another college and served as the director of career services. And when I first got there, the program was really struggling. And I found in my life that I have been called in to be part of the cleanup and fixer crew. And so this is kind of a common theme even when I was involved in accounting people. I would get hired for a role and then I would be that one individual that was able to find where was the hang up, what was keeping the accounts from reconciling and saying same thing here. And so moved into that director role in career services, was able to help bring that placement rate from probably close to 40% up to 75, 80% in graduate employment that year. And then from there began really building out a program of success. And it was while I was in that role that I finally decided, let me go back to school and let me get my bachelor's degree. I went back to my alma mater and secured a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership, which I felt was very fitting. I wanted something that aligned with the roles that I was already in. And then further, I finished out a master's degree in human resource management. And so in total, I worked approximately about 13 years in career development, working to build relationships with local employers and helping graduates to perfect the art of present in their presentation, presenting their resume, presenting a portfolio, helping them to build confidence in themselves, recognizing that they have value. So many of our students that come into technical colleges, they. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds, many of them starting out in hospitality industries, quick service industries. And so they're. They feel like the work that they've done has been part of a chain, and they lose sight of the value that they bring to that role individually. And so a big part of what I did was really helping our students, helping our graduates realize the value within themselves and being able to take that value and grow it forward.

So this is a great place to interrupt you, because that last piece especially is, I think, really important for any of our listeners, no matter what level you're at or where you are on your career path or. Or life journey, to recognize what you just said is that each person has. I'm saying it differently than you did, but essentially, it's that each person has their own unique gifts and their own qualities, and it's really important to bring those out. Like, you're the only one that can be you is one of the things that I'm like, that's. I'm a champion of that. Right? You can be you. And so if you have an idea, if you have a desire, you have that desire because it's uniquely yours. It's not like, you know, sure, there are fads and things, yes, I want this thing, but it's like if you are drawn towards something, it's because you're uniquely you, the same way you, Amber, were. You know, you went down an accounting path that gave you good skills. You found out you were pretty darn good at the people thing. You blended the accounting thing where it was needed, but it was the people thing that gave you the leverage. So I just. I want to underscore that, that. That it's like you're there helping others to find their unique path. And even in your current role, you're Doing the same with as a, for businesses. What's your unique voice? What's your unique value that you're bringing? And that's the kind of thing that I want each of our listeners and audience members to be thinking about. What's your unique voice and what unique value are you bringing to others? Because that's like, that's how you make, that's how you move from feeling successful to feeling really significant, like you've made a difference.

Absolutely. And I will say, to your point, the accounting portion really did actually play a significant role because accounting numbers don't lie. Right. And so there's a certain level of accountability required with accounting and reconciliation. And so that really served me well being in the director role. Every year we would have audits and our audits consistently had zero findings. Because when you're in accounting, you're not allowed to have discrepancies. You cannot move forward until everything has been reconciled. And so having that background and that mindset really did prepare me and even further, growing up in a very similar environment in, I would say a very low income family, we were at poverty level, really gave me an understanding of where my graduates were. Many of my graduates, many of my students were from families that, you know, that came from poverty level, middle class, low middle class. And so, you know, being able to have a shared history in a certain sense, it also gave me the ability to connect with them on a personal level because I, I wasn't just somebody living in an ivory tower telling them what to do. They recognize this individual. This person is speaking to me from experience. They came from a very similar background. And so a lot of the work that I did was teaching them and overcoming mindsets and teaching them how to be successful. And we know that if we want to be successful, we have to surround people who have demonstrated that level of success. And so it created an opportunity to help them build their network. I would tell them, go sign up on LinkedIn and I'll be your first LinkedIn connection. And so it was really about building that ecosystem. And then from there, in 2019, I had graduated with my master's degree and I really had reached the pinnacle of my career working in career services for a local school. There are wasn't much opportunity for growth in the organization. I could have looked at like the, the regional and the national roles, but there were actually some people who were really well positioned in those roles. And so I'm not the type of person to vie for somebody's position. And, and so I thought, you know, what this is a great opportunity for me to move up and outward. And I had a campus president who was very supportive of my growth. And even if that meant me rolling into a different role, he was always and is still always to this very day. I could reach out to him and he would be a reference for me in any new role. And so that opportunity opened the door for me to get my feet wet in data systems management. I took on a role with a local nonprofit that was looking to build an integrated data system to manage all of their data sets. They were a combination of non medical and medical. And so how do we combine all of this information into a system that makes sense and have a CRM and. And things are rolling along quite nicely. And then Covid hit and every non essential role was pretty much cut. And that included mine because they were capable of operating how they were. So that kind of left me in a really tough situation. I had hesitated, if you're keeping track of the math, you know, I had been in this, at this college for nine years, very comfortable, very secure in that role, and then stepped out on that ledge for a new opportunity. And then things kind of fell apart, or so it felt like they were falling apart. And so we had actually started as a family, started our own home business. My husband had been a construction superintendent for custom homes in very affluent areas and decided that he wanted to have more of a ministry component to the work that he did and serve elderly and widows. And so he had started Todd's Handyman Services. And I used my, my business knowledge to help him build that organization from the ground up and had a grassroots effort of growing that business. It was very successful and thankfully that kind of gave me something to fall back into. Wasn't necessarily my ideal dream job, but I actually got out there and started helping him start swing hammers and using saws. And we worked on a number of projects together. Talk about team building for your marriage.

That can make it or break it, right?

It did. It tested and stressed us on all sides. But thankfully we were secure in our relationship and came forward through that and even got us one of those Corona babies through the process. And so the door opened. During that season, I was continually applying for opportunities on Indeed. And I came across a group based out of California and they were hiring for a director. And I applied for the role and I did not get that role. But he appreciated me and liked my personality so much that he brought me on, gave me a shot as a business analyst. And quickly I flew through the ranks and was promoted to the director of consulting, whereas he was hiring originally for the director of business development. And so I, he created a new role for me in that organization. And the first project that we worked on together was actually providing support to the Korean government and helping them to identify manufacturers that they could have meetings with. And then also a secondary project was helping them to identify investors that they could introduce their manufacturers too. And so we work to set up investment meetings, kind of like an investment speed dating for these South Korean entities that we're looking to expand, helping them to connect with investors who might be able to support that growth and also have some foreign direct investment into South Korea. And so I started looking at the presentations that the government entities were sharing with the manufacturers and realized they were actually trying to attract businesses from the US into South Korea in the fourth Industrial Revolution, as they call it. So all of these high tech, smart battery, electric vehicle, all of these things, they were recruiting manufacturers over to South Korea. And this was during the shift in administration, so about 2021 time frame. And I recognized this is when the pipeline had closed down and there was some volatility here in the US And I was really concerned internally about what that meant for employment, what that meant for, you know, economic growth, GDP here in the US and also specifically to be a little selfish and honest. Florida. And so being a woman of faith, I feel like my faith has guided me throughout my entire life. I, I just began to pray and ask the Lord to open doors of opportunity for me to bring economic development to Florida. And so my goal was to create stability in the marketplace so that no matter what happened, I recognized we have ports all over Florida. We could be a gateway to the US if everything else shut down. And so I waited for these opportunities and just kept working through where I was. Those two projects led into a third project with the Korean Business Development center in Washington D.C. being a consultant to them and helping them with their business growth. And I was able to bring my first delegation from the Korean Business Development center, which is organizations that were initiated in South Korea, getting a soft landing in an accelerator in Washington D.C. but then looking, where are we going to grow? Where are we going to land when the baby bird gets pushed out of the nest? And so I brought a delegation down to Florida and I had no idea what I was doing. So I reached out to everybody that I knew in my local area and was like, hey, I have this agriculture bio supplement product organization coming to take a look at the area. Who can I put them in touch with? And that's how the door opened for me to be involved in economic development. So it just so happened that the individual who was leading the Bradford County Development Authority was available to have a meeting with the delegation when they came. And at that time, Governor DeSantis was making some changes to our tax districts due to the things that were going on with the mouse down south and Reedy Creek. And so the Bradford County Development Authority was being dissolved as a private entity and was being reformed as a. Or excuse me, it was being dissolved as a public entity and being reformed as a private entity. And so I came on the board of the new entity as a director, as a founding director for the Northeast Florida Economic Development Corporation. And that was in July of 2023. Now, my background during that time of working in the consulting group, I expanded my skills and was really working in addition to supporting South Korea, helping many businesses globally expand their footprint into the United States, and had developed some niche skills and understanding and develop some really excellent tool stacks that could help these businesses accelerate their reach and accelerate their growth and had seen a lot of success. And so as we were forming the NEF edc, we recognized that there was a need for some real business development. Now In January of 24, this need became very apparent to me so strong that I decided to resign from my role as a board director and take on a more operational support role. And from there, I helped the Bradford county secure a grant through the State of Florida through Florida Commerce for Community Planning Technical Assistance grant that afforded us the opportunity to create the comprehensive Economic Development Strategic Plan. I wrote that plan in collaboration with many of the leaders across many industries in the region and then also developed marketing materials and implemented our go to market strategy. And so I put all of these things together for the organization and just really have been working to execute on that strategy and execute it well and build relationships and pull businesses into the community. And so we are on the cusp of two pretty significant opportunities coming to the community. One will be a 6 to 700 acre R&D innovation manufacturing hub out at our airport. It'll focus on aviation, aerospace, and it'll be broken into three phases. Phase one will be 100 acres with a $400 million capex investment and the creation of 400 new jobs. The other project that we'll be working on is a renewable energy project that will take biomass and convert it into diesel and that we're hoping to bring that one to fruition very soon, probably within the next 18 months. And that will be a capex investment of 125 million and the creation of 100 new jobs. So all in all, we're moving right along and building the, building the dream.

You are building the dream. That's amazing. Let me ask you to do some reflection because you've told your story and it is exactly what I asked, which is how did you get here? So now I want you to, to think about some of the hardest challenges that you faced along the way. And not, you know, the kind of you're in an interview for a job kind of what was the hardest challenge and how did you overcome it? But more like, okay, this was a leadership challenge. And in approaching this leadership challenge, I needed to think about the following. And, and it could be whatever it was that, that helped you make decisions, because I think this is, it's like everybody has a path and your, your path. You listened, I call it the whispers. You listen to the whispers. That's your faith. And you were like, okay, if that's the next step, that's the next step. Which is awesome because a lot of people. Yeah, but that voice. So my question for you is when. Where were the challenges? How did you wrestle with them and, or surrender to them? Because it's a little of both sometimes. And, and like, what were some key learning points for you as a leader along the way? Because you've really, what you did was you found, you found industry adjacent opportunities and you leveraged where you were and you never step so far away from your path that really, that it's, for lack of a better term, it felt right to you, which I think is really important. So you acknowledged kind of your gut along the way too. Your gut aligned with your faith. And anyway, all of that is woven together. And I'm just curious, what do you think the leadership lessons were? What were the challenges? How did you do your decision making?

I think number one to your point, learning to listen to those whispers. And I did not do that very well early on in life. And I had some really tough lessons that I had to learn. One actually involved riding a horse. My husband and I had rescued a horse and he was wild and crazy and my husband had him trained for him and I thought he was trained for me. And I was a new, new horse rider. And I kept hearing that gut, get off the horse, get off the horse. And I was like thinking I was psyching myself out, but really it was that whisper. And it ended up being a very bad accident, could have been potentially fatal. The horse reared up and, well, he bucked me off. I jumped and landed the tuck and roll very nicely. But then he fell back on me and I ended up breaking my back. But fortunately I didn't require surgery and I literally walked out of the hospital after a CT scan that night, albeit there was some medication involved, but. But I was able to walk and it was really miraculous. But that was really a defining moment in my life because, you know, to be honest, the next day I'm sitting on the couch crying because I was in so much pain, and I'm asking God, like, why did this happen? But during that time season, I had been actually praying to be able to know that I was hearing God's voice. And like, just so subtly and so directly I heard this. Do you hear me now? And so it was like learning to recognize that voice, learning to be obedient to that voice, following the path forward. That was the number one challenge. The number two challenge, I think, is gaining buy in and avoiding the echo chamber. So it's really easy to get into conversation with people that are in agreement with you, and that'll get you a pretty good distance. But there's always going to be naysayers. And so I have learned to appreciate the naysayers and I, I like the challenge of turning them into believers. And so when I have those individuals who are naysayers and I recognize them in the audience of who I'm trying to persuade into a project or the next move, I appreciate their skepticism. I appreciate that they are very blunt and very honest. And here's the list of reasons why we disagree with you. And it gives me the opportunity to hone and sharpen my skills on presenting it well enough so that if I can turn them into a believer, then I know the project is real. I know that it's valuable and that it's going to be a benefit.

This is amazing. So a lot of people would fight against the naysayers. It is so important to, it's a, it's a delicate balance to acknowledge without encouraging because, you know, behavior that gets, that gets attention grows. And that's true with children, with adolescents, and with adults who act like adolescents. That said, you want people around you, that's, that have a different perspective and, and that's where a dialogue comes in. And I think that that's really important because it's not. Well, this is the way we're going through, you know, and it's. You're not going to, you're not going to win them over. And, and it's not always necessary to win over naysayers. It is important to hear their perspective because you might be missing something.

Absolutely right.

So one of the, one of the things that I talk about is I'm a big fan of making no assumptions, except for one. And I talk about this in my TED Talk. And, and the idea is that we, we are, we have what's called perceptual bias, which means we look for things to that agree with our point of view. And to get past that, you need to make this one assumption, which is you're missing something. You might be missing something, right? You're missing something about the context, the other person, or even blind spots in yourself. What am I missing? And that's the assumption. And it's like, okay, if I can explore from curiosity, then I'm going to, I'm gonna get a whole lot more out of the direction I'm headed. Right. And, and so with naysayers, it's great. Good for you. Like, I just, I wanted to underscore that, that that's a, that's actually a skill.

And to your point, not. You're not going to convert every naysayer, right, Then the next step is not allowing yourself to be discouraged by it. Because I'll tell you, there's a lot of big projects that when people haven't ever experienced something like this, they've never been involved in this kind of work. It's kind of like a David and Goliath thing where people really doubt, is this really going to happen? Is this real? This can't be. Like, who is this person? They don't have the capability, they don't have the clout. And it's really only through the demonstration of consistent behavior and performance and bringing things through to the finish line. So I would say that's point number three, is really being able to pull things through to the finish line. Having that commitment to excellence and that commitment to follow up and follow through and pulling it through to completion is really how another way that I've been able to take those people who weren't believers. And you have to be willing to say, okay, you're not going to believe right now. Kind of like the little red hen. Will you come help me bake some bread? Nobody wanted to bake the bread, but then at the end everybody wanted a piece. And so the work that we're doing, fortunately, it's going to be a benefit for everybody, even in the end for those people that didn't necessarily come on board and believe. But I found that when you shift, help people shift that mindset and you demonstrate through success, those people that stood opposed, that have now become believers, are oftentimes your biggest advocates, your biggest, you know, proponents and evangelists and help you grow further.

That is so true. Well said. Really well said. I want to echo something you said just to put it back out there, because I think it's really important. There's a commitment that's needed to pull through to the finish line. Commit to excellence and don't be discouraged. And it's the commitment to excellence that is really tough because it is so easy to tolerate just a little thing that's out of place. It's okay, we're gonna get through. And it's like, no, no, that's not excellent. So it doesn't belong. Right. And if you're committed to excellence, your path gets cleaner and clearer. And too often, what I've seen in consulting with organizations is that they're so driven to get through that they miss the one piece that ends up falling apart later and almost is the thread that unravels everything else they've built on. So you've got to commit to excellence all the way through. Doubt will show up. And I, I heard and have adopted this great saying, which is, it doesn't get a vote. Right? The. The voice will be will is there, but it doesn't get a vote. And so. Right. Isn't that great? I love that saying. And, and it's like, okay, so it's not like you have to ignore the doubt or ignore the old stories. It's. They're there, but they don't get a vote. I'm committed to this project. I think also, you know, for you, your background and your history allows you a level of compassion and understanding that also allows you the leverage up. Right. You've moved to. You've moved to excellence through commitment, and you knew there was more for you and you went for it. And so often it's like, well, maybe there's more. Yes, I feel like there could be more, but this is my lot in life. It's like if you, if you have that desire, you have it for a reason. Right? So that's a. That's a big part of what I focus on when I'm working with people. And it sounds like you're in that parallel place with, as you lift organizations and organizational leaders, you serve to inspire to that next level through excellence.

Absolutely. I actually started my own consulting agency and named it Next Level Consulting. So you hit the nail right on the head. Like that is. That has been a common theme for me is I recognize That I am part of a much more grand purpose and plan. And I have to play my part, I have to do my part, and I enjoy being a part of that bigger plan and that bigger purpose. And you know, on a spiritual level, I feel like there's more to this work of attracting businesses here than just building business. We really have the potential to change the trajectory of an entire region, an entire community. And it's interesting, when I first started in economic development, I started taking some certified economic development coursework and they told us that 40% of the economic development opportunities would be attained through site selectors. And so being the analyst mindset that I am, I'm like, okay, well where does the other 60% come from? Because to be honest, we lacked the infrastructure at the time to really be appealing to those site selectors. So what you were, what they were saying to me in essence is we weren't going to be successful. And I just couldn't accept no for an answer. So, all right, well then what's my alternative? What's my other option? And when I asked that question, they said, well, the other 60% comes from growth in the community. And again, we're predominantly rural and agriculture. And so again, like that just equated to 100% failure for me. I mean, we would have some growth, but I wouldn't say it was going to be 60%, not booming.

Right.

It's like, no, like the whole of the work that I'm doing is to attract business. And so it was in that season that I just, I heard that whisper saying, you know what to do. You've done this already. You've helped businesses grow. Economic development is sales. It's sales of a community. And I will tell you, business development for a community is probably the longest sales cycle of any role. It is the, that's not probably. It is the longest sales cycle of any role that I've ever held in my entire life. You know, you're used to, to short term gains, right? Like even in software development and sales, you're looking at six months to a year conversation and building in economic development, you're in it for the long haul. I'm reaching out to people saying if you're considering expansion in the next five years, we should have a conversation because that's where the vision begins. Where are you thinking about going? Let me get Florida on your radar from the very beginning. Let's talk about some of those incentives. Yes, they're going to change from year to year from leadership team to leadership team. But I'm going to be here to be that partner with you. And so it really has developed into a labor of love and an opportunity to grow that network. One of the groups, the first project that I mentioned to you, that group is based out of India. So that is all new revenue coming to the US that has not been in the US before. That's when I think about the ripple effect of that, it blows my mind. It's miraculous to me. And of course, I don't want to count my chicks before they hatch. So until that, that groundbreaking, until the building is built, it's still in a project in process for me. The other project, the renewable energy project, is from North Carolina. I intentionally focused outside of the state of Florida because the last thing I wanted was my team members here in the state of Florida to think. Now this group is, you know, scavenging to bring business to the community from within the state of Florida. So I had a number of obstacles that I really had to think through and identify, like what really is going to be best for everybody in my community and in my country is for me to reach out beyond my local circle and attract business, business interest that way. And you know, as I shared with you before, Dr. P, I am looking for a needle in a haystack, right? I'm reaching out to businesses that are in manufacturing, in every vertical of industry, saying, if you're looking to expand in the next five years, let's start a conversation. And many businesses are quite content where they are. And so it's a lot of outreach and a lot of follow up, a lot of follow through. And there's a lot of businesses that I come in contact with that just aren't ready. They have a good, solid business plan. Some are in revenue mode, many are capital raising. And so I just, I recognize the value of relationship. If you build relationship and you do the right thing for people and you help build connection and you don't charge for those connections, you just build relationships. Everything else falls into place.

So good. That's so good. This is actually a great place to kind of wrap for, for our session today. This is so many kind of there, the nuggets are buried in there. And I think I'm hoping that as our, as a listener to this podcast that you've pulled out how much Amber is really modeling the way what you've done. Amber is tell your story of I found a path, I tried new things, I honed the direction and leveraged. I reached out beyond the bounds of whatever that was and I kept going because I'm committed. And you know, for most of us, thinking about a five year sales cycle is like, oh my gosh, that's, that's way too far. And the truth is it is the last one of the last things you said. It's about relationships and. Right. So you never know, you never know where the next big next is coming from. And you know, build the bridges, stay in there and keep expanding. All right, so with all that, that's my reflection on, on what we just talked about. With all that, if people want more about the Northeast Florida Economic Development Corporation or Next Level Consulting or the amazing Amber shepherd, how do they find you?

You can find us on our website. I've got the link above any F. Okay.

So yeah, spell it out. N-E-F-E-C.com.

That'S correct.

Okay.

And we have a contact us button on the page. I am in this season as we, as I mentioned, we are a startup so I am the lone ranger managing that at this time. We're hoping to grow soon but we have to do it responsibly. So in this season you message that you'll get me directly and happy to provide support. I'm also on LinkedIn. Feel free to look me up. Amber shepherd comma MHRM, happy to help out any way that I can provide guidance and strategic support. And if you are looking to come to Florida or looking to expand, I'm happy to give guidance where I can.

That's awesome. Very good. Www N-E-F-E-C.com and on LinkedIn, Amber Shepherd, MHRM, Masters of Human resources management. Excellent. Cool. Very good. Amber, thanks for being here. I appreciate you appreciate the conversation.

My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Alrighty. This is one sharp sword cutting through to what matters most. My guest Today, Amber Shepard, Dr. P. Dr. Wayne Purnell, your host, guide and coach on this journey. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you here next time. Thanks for listening to one sharp sword cutting through to what matters Most with outflancer Dr. Wayne Purnell. For more information please go to onesharpsword.com.