AMIR Ladan
I was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1998 and began my legal career as an Assistant State Attorney in Orlando at the Orange/Osceola State Attorney's Office in Orlando, where I met my former law partner, Keith Carsten.
Keith and I founded Carsten & Ladan, P.A. in 2001 and focused our practice on criminal cases throughout Central Florida, in both State & Federal court. We built a successful practice by providing our clients with exceptional service that combined our strong communication skills, legal accumen & client advocacy to secure the best possible results.
In January of 2013, Keith was appointed to the Circuit court bench, ending a successful partnership of twelve years. I then re-named my firm The Ladan Law Firm and continue to serve those accused of crimes throughout Central Florida.
Over the course of my legal career, I have personally handled thousands of criminal cases, ranging in severity from First Degree felonies to low-level misdemeanors in adult and juvenile court. I've won many trials, including Second Degree Murder, Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon, Grand Theft, Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer & D.U.I. (1st and multiple-offenders), among others.
Lance OUELLETTE
Lance E.L. Ouellette, “Opie,” served as Prytanis of the Zeta Phi Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon in 1990-1991. Professionally, he serves as President/CEO of Viewcast, a small publicly-traded technology shell company; and as Executive V.P., Asset Management for H.T. Ardinger & Son Co., a privately-held, investment conglomerate. He has served as a Director or Manager of numerous public and private enterprises, providing strategic management advice, corporate/finance re-structuring and/or overseeing investments and/or management in automotive retail, pharmaceutical development, computer hardware and software development and sales, environmental technology, entertainment, real estate and oil and gas companies, and non-profits.
Lance earned a B.A.- Economics, from Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, 1992, and also completed all coursework for the Masters of Theology Degree (Th.M.) at Dallas Theological Seminary in 2009. He is home-school dad of four children, and has served as a missionary in Spain, as well as a youth sponsor, mentor, and in a variety of volunteer roles, primarily with youth and at-risk youth ministries.
brian mccarthy
Brian K. McCarthy joined the Zeta-Phi chapter as an undergraduate in the Spring of 1996. After graduation, he had the honor of serving as a Knight of Apollo for the Grand Chapter of TKE.
During his two years of travel, he conducted 115 chapter visits at 90 campuses across the Southern United States. He has continued to serve the Fraternity both at the local and national levels at every opportunity, and now proudly serves as the Chairman of the Zeta-Phi Board of Advisors.
Brian's career as a business process specialist has taken him around the globe, having lived in nine countries and visited 45 (so far).
Now, Brian is a strategy and process improvement consultant, focused on the Oil & Gas industry. He lives in Houston with his wife MJ, and their son, Flynn.
MBA, International MBA, Florida International University
BA, Latin American Caribbean Affairs, Rollins College
Paul Twyford
Paul Twyford is the Co-Founder of The Brewstillery at Winter Park which includes the Winter Park Distilling Company and the Bear and Peacock Brewery. It is Florida’s first distillery and brewery combination and produces the first bourbon ever made in Florida.
Paul credits much of his success in the business world to the growth and leadership experience he gained as a member of his TKE chapter at Rollins. Over the years he has been involved in the Zeta Phi chapter in varying roles including that of Chapter Advisor.
Having graduated from Rollins College and Winter Park High School, he is a lifelong resident of Central Florida who doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.
John GetteL
John Gettel attended Rollins College from 1988 - 1992 and then transferred to Walsh College of Business and Accountancy. In 1994 he graduated with a B.B.A in computer information systems. He began working in software development for Dynalogic Engineering in 1995. Through a series of corporate acquisitions he is now a senior software engineer at Leidos.
John Meyers IV
John leads IT Audit for PepsiCo, a leading consumer packaged goods company, serving customers and consumers in over 200 countries globally and leading with 22 Global Brands that each account for over one billion dollars in annual sales. These brands include Pepsi, Lay’s, Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker Oats, Lipton and Starbucks.
John’s teams deliver assurance for IT-owned processes, large-scale transformation projects and financial and operational audits. Throughout his tenure in Corporate Audit, John pursues strong relationships with IT and business leaders, aligning shared objectives and activities for the improvement of the organization. A skilled change leader, John drives adoption of new technologies (e.g., data analytics, robotic process automation) to improve effectiveness and efficiencies of his organization.
From 2005 to 2012, John led risk assessment, controls design, testing, training, deployment and sustainment activities related to PepsiCo North America’s ten-year initial implementation of SAP.
Prior to joining PepsiCo in 2007, John was a director in PricewaterhouseCoopers SAP Advisory practice, focused on security and controls in large organizations. John led design and implementation efforts on large-scale transformation initiatives and provided out- and co- sourcing of audit services throughout his nine-year tenure with the firm.
John also serves as a Trustee on the Reinhold Foundation, a private foundation in Clay County, Florida. Over his tenure, the foundation has evolved from primarily focused on charitable needs of the community to increased focus on building capacity in nonprofits operating in Clay County through multiple training venues.
Jose Fernandez
Jose is a founding partner of Florida Compass Group. He is recognized as one of Florida’s leading government regulatory experts. Mr. Fernandez leads the Infrastructure, Public Private Partnerships, and Energy Division where he has been a key advisor in securing $2 billion worth of infrastructure projects in the past 5 years.
Before establishing Florida Compass Group, Mr. Fernandez had a distinguished public service career. He was named City Clerk by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer; the very first appointment of Mayor Dyer’s administration. Soon after, Mr. Fernandez was also given the additional responsibility of Director of General Administration. He was later selected to serve as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Mayor for Public Policy and Business Development. In that role, Mr. Fernandez provided senior level guidance to the Mayor on a variety of public policy matters and served as the voice for commerce on the Mayor’s Cabinet.
Mr. Fernandez earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American and Caribbean Affairs from Rollins College, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Central Florida, and is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University.
Mr. Fernandez has served on the board of directors of a number of public and private entities including Blue Beetle Energy, Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, Rollins College Alumni Association, Fifth Third Bank, and the UCF Foundation. In addition, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Central Florida teaching Economic Development. He was recognized in 1998 by the Orlando Business Journal as one of the 40 top Central Florida business executives under 40 years of age and in 1999 Orlando Magazine named him one of Central Florida’s 20 leaders for the 21st Century. The Orlando Business Journal has also listed Mr. Fernandez as one of the most influential people in Central Florida.
Nicholas P. Panagakis
Nicholas P. Panagakis has practiced law since 1997 and is admitted to the Florida Bar. He was born and raised in the Chicago, Illinois area before moving to the Tampa Bay, Florida area in 1983, where he graduated from Dunedin High School in 1990. Mr. Panagakis then attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and graduated in 1994. While in College, he was Chief Justice of the Student Hearing Board, as well as a two-term President and founding father of Tau Kappa Epsilon International Fraternity. In his senior year of College, Mr. Panagakis was honored as the top undergraduate member of the International Fraternity. Finally, Nicholas attended Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he obtained his law degree in 1997 with an emphasis in trial practice.
Mr. Panagakis began his legal career at the State Attorney’s Office for Orange and Osceola Counties upon his graduation from law school in 1997. During his years at the State Attorney’s Office, he prosecuted and tried misdemeanors and felonies; including drug offenses, sex crimes, and manslaughter. Upon leaving the State Attorney’s Office, Nicholas joined a civil defense firm. He practiced out of the firm’s Orlando and Melbourne, Florida offices for over seven years and ultimately became a Partner at the firm.
Mr. Panagakis litigated and tried cases throughout the state of Florida for his clients comprised of various insurance companies, governmental agencies, trucking lines, grocery stores, and automobile parts and repair shops.
In early 2007, Mr. Panagakis joined Morgan and Morgan, P.A. and he exclusively represents individuals and families who have been injured in accidents due to the negligence of others.
Mr. Panagakis was voted a Rising Star by Florida Super Lawyers in 2009-2010. This distinction is awarded to the top up-and-coming attorneys in the state. In 2011, Mr. Panagakis was voted into the The National Trial Lawyers Association: Top 40 under 40, which is a professional organization comprised of America’s top young trial attorneys. Membership into The National Trial Lawyers Association: Top 40 under 40 is by invitation only and is extended exclusively to those individuals who exemplify superior qualifications, trial results, and leadership as a young lawyer under the age of 40. Selection is based on a thorough multi-phase process which includes peer nominations combined with third-party research.
Mr. Panagakis is married to his wife, Heather, and is the proud father of four children, Ella, Sophia, Anna, and Peter. He remains active in his community and church having served on the parish council executive committee. He is a partner and shareholder in the firm.
John Meis
Dr. John K. Meis came to Thomas University in July of 2016 as the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs. By October of the following year, he was named the Chief Academic Officer and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Meis began his teaching career at Flagler College’s Tallahassee, Florida, campus in 2000, and served as the Department Chair for Business Administration and Accounting from 2014 – 2016. In addition, he taught Psychology online for Walden University from 2005 – 2017. Dr. Meis has served as a content writer and reviewer for the Florida Teacher Certification Professional Educator Exam and a reviewer for the Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences. He obtained his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Florida State University in Tallahassee where he currently lives with his wife, a high school teacher, and their two daughters.
David Michail
David serves as the chief strategist and managing principal of metlawgroup, a premier AV®-Rated1 Media, Entertainment and Technology transactional law practice in Los Angeles, California. He is frequently retained as “consulting counsel” by several Entertainment law firms in Los Angeles, and represents both emerging market and Fortune 1000 clients in various IT, media and entertainment related projects. His practice niche includes an unique combination of New Media, Advertising and Marketing Law, Entertainment, Technology and Internet, Corporate, M&A and Business transactions. David also serves as the compliance officer for a Cannabis dispensary currently applying for a Berkeley dispensary license. He is currently serving on the Board of Advisors for The Food Exchange and Sieena, Inc. and was a former member of the Board of Directors for Leonid Systems, Inc., a telecommunications company sold to Broadsoft, (Inc. (BSFT) in 2015.
David is also a Partner for Two Rams Entertainment Capital Partners, LLC, a media and entertainment vertically integrated fund that focuses on film/television distribution, production and exploitation.
He is also a frequent guest speaker and panelist regarding various corporate, finance, internet, advertising and business related issues throughout Southern California. Additionally, Mr. Michail has been recognized by Los Angeles Magazine as one of Southern California’s top attorneys with its prestigious Southern California SuperLawyers award for 2005 through 2010. He is also recognized by his peers as among the top 2 CA lawyers and top 43 US lawyers in technology/ outsourcing law by Law & Politics Magazine for 2008 and 2009.
Prior to starting Metlawgroup, Mr. Michail served as Rare Medium, Inc’s (NASDAQ: RRRR) West Coast Director of Legal Affairs, advising on all business and technology initiatives for Rare Medium’s Western US offices. David also served as Rare Medium’s Venture Manager for its $70 MM Institutional Venture Fund, underwritten by Bear Stearns and Apollo Capital. In his role with the LA venture capital office, Mr. Michail was responsible to evaluate financing transactions and performing corporate, business and legal due diligence on Internet-based investment opportunities.