Natalie Nardone, CAE, CMP
President
Association Executive

Natalie Nardone, CAE, CMP has almost 20 years of experience in association and event management. Prior to starting NCG, she was the Director of Education and Conventions for Georgia Automobile Dealers Association and a sales manager for two hotels and a conference center in Augusta, GA. Her experience is invaluable in project deployment involving multiple decision makers. She specializes in strategic planning and governance of associations poised for membership and bottom-line growth.  Her personal passions are Chapter and volunteer growth.

Natalie, President of NCG, is a proud member of American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), the Georgia Society of Association Executives (GSAE)- including service on the Board of Directors, PCMA and a long time member of Meeting Professional International (MPI’s). In 2006, Natalie was awarded MPI’s Tomorrow’s Leader Award as well as being the 2015 recipient of GSAE’s Skelton-Massey Award.  

In 2006, Natalie earned her Master of Science degree in Information Design and Communications. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees from Piedmont College in education, business and English. She has published several articles in the area of association and event management for trade publications. She holds both the Certified Association Executives (CAE) and Certified Meeting Professionals (CMP) designations.

Natalie’s expertise is in the areas of strategic planning, governance, resource management, site selection, meeting planning and volunteer management.  In her spare time she enjoys coaching her YMCA soccer teams and helping others find motivation and success in health and fitness.  She is often found outside with her husband and two kids.  She works with a local animal rescue, serving as a foster mom (and repeat foster failure) of two dogs and four furry felines.

Katie Henley
Director of operations

Katie Henley joined the team as Director of Operations in early 2019 and now we don’t know how we ever operated without her! Katie, is a proud member of American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

Prior to joining NCG, Katie spent time as an office manager and marketing director in the service and hospitality industries.  

Katie earned her Bachelor of Arts in Healthcare Administration from Reinhardt University.  We see her “dot all i’s and cross all t’s” nature in everything she does to keep NCG’s operations running smoothly.  Katie has a passion for employee development and retention, efficiency and error reduction in operations, project management, strategic planning, and administrative support.  

Outside of the office you will find Katie with her husband, three girls, and two dogs playing outside or running to and from the studio where her girls dance.  Katie is an avid reader, is very involved in her church, and loves spending time with friends and family. 

Karen Lowe, CPA
Senior Association Accountant

With over 20 years experience in accounting, auditing and project management, she has held positions with companies including Ernst & Young, BellSouth/AT&T and The Wendy’s Company. Karen earned her Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Accounting from Georgia State University. Karen, is a proud member of American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). When not crunching numbers or analyzing the big financial picture for our association partners, you’ll find Karen out for a run, training for a race, or volunteering at her daughter’s school.

Kelly Lass
Senior Association Manager

Kelly Lass brings 32 years of Association Management experience and 35 years in event planning.  Prior to joining the NCG, she held the Executive Vice President’s position with a statewide trade association. Kelly also is a State registered lobbyist.  Kelly studied Marketing and Business Management at Jacksonville State University in Alabama.  

Kelly’s experience and talent in the trade association area is invaluable. Her expertise is in overall operations to insure a successful association specialties in governance, policy, membership growth, and retention; legislative and regulatory affairs; political action committee; and scholarship funds. She excels in fostering member services and the overall financial health of the association.  She also created many coalitions and served on several various board of directors.

Kelly is a proud member of Georgia Society of Association Executives (GSAE) and American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).  

In her spare time she and her husband of 28 years are the owners of Willow Run Ranch, LLC an equine facility featuring board, care and horse riding lessons. Kelly’s riding discipline of choice is dressage with her beloved Arabian mare, Kalila.

Lisa Kraus-Gardner
Senior Association Manager

Lisa Kraus Gardner joined NCG in December 2014 with a diverse background and over 23 years of experience in human resources and operations management; customer service training; specialized sales; sales fulfillment; event coordination; marketing; and business development. Lisa’s ability to “juggle many balls” allows her to provide multiple services and specialties for NCG’s partners and their members. In her current role, Lisa focuses her time on communications, marketing, event planning, and membership for our clients.

Lisa plunged into the hospitality industry when she joined the events education firm, Plan Your Meetings in 2007. She has been a member of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) since 2008, chairing various marketing committees with both organizations.  She is a new member of Georgia Society of Association Executives (GSAE), Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

Lisa’s savvy approach to marketing for meetings and events starts with developing the compelling reason why that event is relevant and important to prospective registrants, then building a platform of marketing arms to help convey the message, including website design, email marketing, and engagement through multiple social media platforms.

VALERIE SMITH, CAE
Senior Association Manager

Bio coming soon.

Dave Nardone
Association Manager

David (Dave) Nardone, is an Atlanta native that focuses his time on management of a large association in the building automation world.  Prior to joining the firm, Dave was in facilities and materials management for over twelve years in the medical industry.  After his daughter was born he decided he wanted to spend more time with family and focus his facility management skills in the non-profit world.

His passions focus on efficiencies in operations, mentorship recruitment, retention, and volunteer engagement. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

Dave is a devoted father, avid runner, cyclist, and fitness enthusiast.  In his down time you’ll fine Dave out for a run or on a bicycle with one or both of his kids.

LINDSAY CUPPIA
Association Manager

Bio coming soon.

Sherry Battle, CMP
association & Conference Manager

Sherry Battle joined our team in June 2019. She brings over 33 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Sherry is a graduate from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Science in the Hotel, Restaurant and Travel Administration.

Her very first role with Marriott International was opening a convention network hotel.  This position allowed her to learn hotel operations and develop strong customer service skills.  After that, she moved into various sales manager positions where she built her strong customer knowledge of various market segments. Ironically, her favorite segment was the selling to the association customer.

Sherry has managed a team of 200 customer care associates and leaders where she honed her leadership skills. Her strong stakeholder relationships allowed the team to expand from 40 hotels to over 200 Regional hotels. 

She then found her passion as a training professional where she joined the Learning and Development Team at Marriott.  This role allowed her to develop and facilitate curriculum and lead projects from ideation to implementation. Over the next eight years, she helped launched two new Sales Organizations. Sherry created the first structured on-boarding program and a 30/60/90 follow-up program for the sales team. It was implemented as best in the class program across the globe. She streamlined the on-boarding process by moving the curriculum to a LMS (Learning Management System).

Sherry found her true love for event management through her secondary role where she served as a Meeting Planner. Over the last 19 years, she has strategically planned, executed and delivered in-person and virtual trainings for groups of 1 - 350 attendees. She is a proud member of American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). Sherry holds her Certified Meeting Professionals (CMP).

When she is not working, you may find her at the lake or camping with her husband of 32 years, two children, and 2 dogs. 

HALEY JOHNSON
Association ACCOUNTANT

Joining the NCG team in 2019, Haley Johnson graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.A. in English and Art History. She spent 10 years working in management, including overseeing merchandise sales at the UGA Bookstore and at UGA athletic events, before working as a Training Manager for Nebraska Book Company. Her accounting experience began with these roles in managing receivables, payables, piloting a management self-audit program, shrinkbusting, and general managerial accounting.

After the birth of her daughter, Haley chose to change career paths and focus on public accounting, returning to school at Kennesaw State University to study business and accounting in 2014, and working under a CPA. In 2019, she started her focus on financial accounting services for non-profits and small businesses.

Outside of her professional interests, Haley treasures time with her husband, Jeremy, and daughter, Sydney. She serves as Treasurer for St Teresa's Episcopal Church, where she also sings and supports the music ministries, loves to curl up with a good book when she can find the time, but is most often caught studying for the CPA exam. 

ANQUANETTIA THOMPSON
ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR

Bio coming soon.

Mary Catherine Heard
Marketing & Communications Manager

Mary Catherine Heard joined NCG in March 2022 as our Marketing & Communications Manager. Mary Catherine’s professional talents include graphic design, copywriting, email marketing, social media management and communication strategy. She got her feet wet in marketing and communications at the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice as a Communications Specialist. Before joining NCG, she did brand marketing for an international automotive accessories company. 

Mary Catherine earned her BA in History at Presbyterian College and an MA in Mass Communications at Georgia State University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, reading, kayaking and cooking. She has one dog that would happily play tug-a-war every hour of the day.    

Kelsey List
Senior Association Coordinator

Kelsey List (re)joined NCG in June 2017 as an Association Assistant for a global trade association in building automation. She is a proud member of American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Georgia Society of Association Executives (GSAE).

Kelsey graduated from Young Harris College with a bachelor’s degree in Business and Public Policy, where she played four years of collegiate soccer. After graduation Kelsey started with NCG in a temp position and left NCG for a time to pursue opportunities at the Alpharetta Marriott where she worked as Convention Coordinator and wore several other different hats (Banquet Lead, Captain, Supervisor, Red Coat, AV Tech, Event Admin). After one year, Kelsey switched to the sales side and worked as the Catering Sales Coordinator at the JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead. Kelsey served both Marriott locations as Children’s Miracle Network Champion and Kickball/Softball Coordinator. After two years with Marriott, Kelsey was promoted to Event Manager at Alpharetta Marriott, where over the course of 2 years, she managed over 650 corporate and social events ranging from 1 to 800 attendees. Kelsey returned to NCG searching for work-life balance in 2017 and found it!

In her time free time outside of work, you will likely find Kelsey tending to her plants or on a walk with her husband and beagle named Sophie.

Stacie Franks
SENIOR ASSOCIATION COORDINATOR

Stacie Franks joined NCG in early 2019.  Previously in her career, Stacie worked in retail banking managing branches before moving behind the scenes in IT user support and mergers/acquisitions.  This time spent on the IT user support side of banking has fueled her passion for leveraging tools and resources in any situation to most effectively complete a task. Stacie earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Virginia Tech.  

At NCG, this rock-star Association Assistant provides first-class member services, registration management and communication support to two of our professional associations in the healthcare and education professions. She is a proud member of American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

When she is not at work, she can be found volunteering at her children’s school activities and other charities.  And don’t forget to ask her about her martial arts background!

RENEE DAU
EVENT Planner AND Association COORDINATOR

Renee Dau has a passion for event planning and member services! Renee joined our team in March 2022 as an Events & Association Coordinator. Before joining NCG, she worked as an Event Coordinator at the Atlanta Country Club. Renee oversaw the planning and execution of various events for member and non-members as well as management of the club calendar. She gained ample experience in venue and catering management while planning weddings, celebrations, business meetings and golf tournaments at the club. 

Renee earned her BA in Event Management from Iowa State University. Outside of her professional interests, she enjoys reading, scrapbooking and crocheting. She has one cat named Sweetie.  

Hannah O’Dell
Association AND COMMUNITY COORDINATOR

Hannah Queen joined the NCG team in May 2021 as an Association Assistant. Prior to joining NCG, Hannah worked for a photo booth company where she gained experience with event planning. She also has her own website with multiple writing projects.  

Hannah graduated from Kennesaw State University with a BA in English and a minor in Professional Writing. Outside of work, she enjoys creative pursuits that include painting sewing, writing and journaling as well as hiking. Hannah regularly volunteers at her church.

CHARLIE SMITH
Association COORDINATOR

Bio coming soon.

LAura haller
Association & EVENTS Assistant

Laura Haller joined the NCG team in August 2022 as an Association Assistant. Laura has over a decade of experience in accounting management and tradeshow event planning. She graduated from Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor’s in Business Management.

In her spare time, Laura enjoys tennis, traveling, reading, cooking and spending time with her husband, two teenage sons and their dog Buster. Additionally, she volunteers for her children’s lacrosse team and school marching band.

ALIA SIMS
Association Assistant

Alia Sims joined NCG in September 2022 as an Association Assistant. Prior to joining the team, Alia worked as a Transaction Coordinator for a real estate firm, a Personal Assistant, and worked in Hawaii for a short period to assist in the opening of an outrigger touring company at a top-rated resort in Maui. She has a broad range of professional interests and specialties that include social media, website design, book publishing, property management and videography. She graduated as Salutatorian of her class from Life University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology.

Outside of her professional interests, Alia enjoys spending time with her husband, traveling, pickleball, reading self-help books and trying out new recipes. Additionally, she served as a volunteer for SafePath, a non-profit for children entering the foster care system.