As Founder and President of SSA Consultants, Bill has helped guide the transformation in strategic direction of both public and private sector clients over the past 44 years. He provides his expertise to clients through strategic planning, cultural transformation and integration, and development of effective management teams. He serves some of the firms largest and most visible clients and is committed to delivering the insights clients need to address their most visible business challenges. In SSA’s formative years, Bill served as a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University and Louisiana State University’s Division of Continuing Education. In 2009, he accepted an invitation from the Dean of LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business to teach a course as an adjunct professor in the Flores MBA Program. Bill holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in economics and finance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as well as a MBA and Doctorate in Management from LSU.

As the Director of Program Development for Greater New Orleans, Inc.-the economic development alliance for the ten parish Greater New Orleans region-Lacy is responsible for relationships and coordination between product and business development, positioning the organization’s workforce, environmental and resilience initiatives as catalysts for wealth generation in Southeast Louisiana. In this role, Lacy acts as a liaison between GNO, Inc. and private philanthropies, business community stakeholders, government agencies, and non-profit partners to ensure GNO, Inc.’s programs create a thriving regional economy. Prior to joining the GNO, Inc. staff, Lacy was the Special Initiatives Manager with the non-profit organization the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX), where she oversaw an innovative transportation, land-use and housing policy and advocacy campaign.  She holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism, a M.A. in Global Communications from the American University of Paris, and an M.B.A. from Tulane University.

Paul Helton serves as the Executive Director of the nation’s leading workforce training program, LED FastStart. A founding member of the FastStart management team, Paul has served of Director of the program since 2009 and became Executive Director in March 2017. A US Navy veteran, Paul served as a senior maintenance technician for communications systems and a Master Training Specialist for the nation’s nuclear submarine fleet. He later became a broadcast network engineer and technical training consultant in the private sector. In 2002, Paul became the training coordinator for Georgia’s Quick Start program, managing and administering all aspects of training for 62 client projects. He also served as director of economic development for North Metro Technical College near Atlanta. Paul holds a Master’s in Adult Education from the University of Georgia.