Meet Our Mentors

Ibrahim Aborsey Ashie

BS, MS: Mechanical Engineering, with Economics as Minor, George Washington University; 57 semester hours of Accounting, University of the District of Columbia. Management/Executive Courses, U.S. Office of Personnel Management; Systems/Project Management Courses, Defense Acquisition University; Certified Defense Acquisition Professional. 2 years as design engineer, U.S. Army; 25 years as Project /Systems Engineer/Manager, U.S. Navy.

Ray Binis

Raymond A. Binis was Chairmen of the Board/CEO of ECM Inc., a management consulting firm. He also served as the Director of the Management Center at the University of Cincinnati and the Coordinator of Management Programs at Cornell University Nyssilir Extension. Previously, he was an Assistant VP at Marine Midland Bank. Mr. Binis was also a Plant Manager with Continental Can, Corporate HR Manager at Spaulding Fiber Corp. and both a Design Engineer and Training Director for ACF Industries. He is the past president and Trustee of the Creative Education Foundation. Mr. Binis has been a Consultant to banking, school districts, universities, businesses and government in areas of efficiently studies, redesign of management organization, restructuring of company operations and labor contract negotiations. He has a B. S. in Psychology from New York State University at Fredonia, a Masters Degree in Behavior Science, from New York State University at Buffalo, and a PE from Buffalo Technical School.

John Bonsignor

35 years of experience in the field of public relations, marketing and communications. Coached public officials in the art of crisis management, the proper dress, composure, and appearance before television. Born and educated in Brooklyn NY. Served in the U.S.Air Force during the Korean War.

Sam Bookhart

BS in Chemistry from Clemson University. Business experience in new product development, manufacturing operations, quality management, and business process improvement. A SCORE counselor since 2003.

Bob Checkaneck

Senior level engineering manager with experience in electronic technology, inventory and quality management and operations. Specific skills are developed in understanding customer needs, product and supplier management, quality and reliability, leveraging, and teamwork. Education: BSEE Farleigh Dickinson University

Bill Cole

Senior Engineering Manager with extensive manufacturing operations expertise in domestic and international settings. Adept at building and leading high performance teams. Extensive negotiation experience. Highly effective in partnering with regulatory agencies to balance company and local concerns. Extensive experience in Project Management and Training Program Development.
Education: BSChE and MSChE, Northeastern Universtity, Boston, MA

Bob Goroski

Graduate University of Washington 1964. In 1966 became a co-founder of a small, electronic manufacturing company in CT. His expertise is in manufacturing and product design. He has been a South Carolina resident since 1991 and a SCORE counselor in Connecticut as well as in Myrtle Beach.

Mark Hess

Mark's career has focused on the strategic issues of business management, including the development, planning, organization and execution of business strategies. He has expert experience with business planning, strategic planning, marketing and technology planning. He has counseled hundreds of commercial and governmental organizations worldwide on these issues.

Tom Hudgins

Tom is a retired partner of Ernst & Young LLP, an international public accounting firm. He held various management positions within the firm and was responsible for a broad range of financial, consulting and acquisition services provided to companies in a wide variety of industries. Post retirement, have served on the boards of a number of public companies. Received a BS degree from Davidson College and an MBA degree from Harvard University.

Marilyn Keyser

Marilyn Keyser held various banking positions for the first 8 years of her career. For the next 20 years she raised two daughters and did extensive volunteer work for the home and school association, gymnastics club, swim club, and church. Volunteer positions included administrative work, fundraising, operating a snack bar including county certification in safe sanitary procedures, planning and organizing trips and social events, and conducting meetings and seminars. For 10 years she ran a home based businesses selling retail cosmetics, women's clothing, and crafts. The last 8 years she ran a home cleaning business. With those businesses she was involved with inventory control, retail sales, wholesale sales, scheduling, billing, accounts payable, and customer satisfaction. She is now involved with a local community charity committee as the co-chairperson, and as a member of our events committee. She is also an active member of the local Newcomers Club, and Red Hats group. She enjoys traveling, mostly on cruises.

John Lamoree

John Lamoree graduated from Mount Saint Marys college in May 1985, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He joined a bank in March 1963 and held various positions in the bank for 44 years, retiring im March 2006. During his career in the bank, he worked in commerical lending, managing a team of four lenders, with an annual loan goal of $40 Million. John was Chairman of the Board of the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce in 2000, and has been in the Chamber for 15 years. He has held every elected position. John also was active in many other organizations and held the position of president in all of them.

George McKenna

George McKenna retired to Myrtle Beach from Worcester, MA. He operated an independent insurance agency which specialized in providing insurace for small businesses. He has observed the good and bad practices of small business owners for many years. He has experience in insurance, financing, sales and marketing as well as managing a small business. He is knowledgeable in issues dealing with a family business.

Ed Owens

Edmund W. Owens Graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla with a BS in Engineering Management. He founded Demcoe Equipment, Inc., a Manufactures Representative, that markets and sells industrial control equipment in the metropolitan New York and New Jersey territories. He has extensive experience in building and operating a successful small business, including marketing, sales, and finance. He retired in 2002 and lives in Calabash NC. He has been a member of SCORE since 2005.

William (Cary) Rowell

Cary Rowell is a self employed Financial Services Professional associated with New York Life Insurance Company. He specializes in small business financial and insurance plan development and implementation. Cary previously enjoyed 28 years with 3 industry leading building supply and hardware retailers. He has proven expertise in all facets of retail operations. He has also successfully started 3 businesses, teaches insurance CE with Cape School and sometimes teaches as an adjunct faculty with the business department of Horry Georgetown Technical College. Cary joined SCORE because he enjoys helping others succeed and saw that his vast experience and expertise could be helpful to existing and start up small business. It is his way of giving back to the community. He is also a member of the Myrtle Beach Sunrise Rotary Club, Grand Strand Toastmasters, the Trash Talking Tour golf league and Socastee United Methodist Church.

Ira Slotchin

Retired GM of Union Carbide Institutional & Consumer Glad products. Univ. of Maryland. Boston Univ. School of Management, MIT and RIT. Command and General Staff College, Leavenworth, KS. Industrial College of the Armed Forces Wash. DC.

Harold Swanner

Harold Swanner is Owner/Chairman of the Board of Fortune Academy Real Estate. Harold has been a licensed real estate agent since 1981 and has fifteen years as a business broker and commercial real estate agent. He helped turn a small real estate school called Fortune into a statewide academy. When he bought it in 1995, Fortune had one administrator, one instructor and one location. Today, it has six administrators, 70 instructors throughout the state and 14 locations. It grew from three courses a month to 300.

Bob Terrell

Executive Overview: 17 years with AT&T in Management Information Systems. Managed the development of Payroll and Human Resources systems. Opened a retail computer store in 1977, sold it in 1992. Occasional consulting assignments since 1992.
Education: BSEE from Stevens Institute of Technology, MBA from Pace University.

Elizabeth Wilson

Elizabeth Wilson is the youngest counselor in the history of SCORE. She began her association with SCORE when she attended the first Junior Apprentice Program. She was the project manager of the winning team. She then entered the Future Business leaders of America competition and won first place in the State of South Carolina. As a high school freshman competing as an individual, she entered the national competition and gained awards when the other competitors were teams of high school seniors. She has taught some Junior Apprentice classes each year since then. She attended the Wachovia Scholars program at the University of South Carolina in 2008 and won a four year scholarship to USC. In her spare time she is an accomplished artist and pianist. She believes that "God has given everyone a purpose in life and that everyone has the opportunity to positively affect the world in some way."