Regional Staff Biographies
Conrad "Connie" Busch became the Director of the Metro Atlanta Region of Business Executives for National Security (BENS) in 1998. Prior to joining BENS, he was special assistant to the president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and later director of Chamber Publications, Inc., the Chamber's for-profit publishing arm. In 1995 he retired from the Army after a career that spanned 28 years. He served as an infantry and public affairs officer in command, staff and instructor positions in Vietnam, Germany, and the United States. In his later career, he was a public affairs officer for Admiral Bill Crowe and General Colin Powell when they served as Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In his final assignment he was the Director of Public Affairs for the United States Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson. Less than a month after reporting for that position in 1992, he directed the public affairs aspects of the military's humanitarian relief effort in the wake of hurricane Andrew in Florida. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he is a graduate of Valley Forge Military College, Penn State University and the University of South Carolina. He is also a graduate of the Army War College and an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America. He is married to the former Candice Jean Kranz. Matthew Elias was named the Director of the Texas Region of Business Executives for National Security (BENS) in January 2007. Prior to joining BENS, Matthew served for seven years in several leadership roles at the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, later GuideStone Financial Resources, the pension board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Matthew completed a 21-year Naval Aviation career in 1999. His career included numerous operational tours flying the P-3 Orion, an exchange tour with the Royal Air Force flying the Nimrod MK II, and a ship’s company tour on the USS MIDWAY (CV-41), home-ported in Yokosuka, Japan. He also completed a Pentagon tour as the Political Military advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations on the Asia–Pacific region. His final assignment in the Navy was as the Commanding Officer of Navy Recruiting District, Dallas. A native of Rhode Island, Matthew is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and earned a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1995 with a dual concentration in International Policy and Institutions and Strategic Management. He and his wife Brenda have two daughters, Claire and Sarah. Harrison (Harry) Ferris Harry has over 25 years of experience in healthcare and business leadership as an operating executive and entrepreneur. He recently served as the COO of a national professional services firm. His background includes nine years with Hospital Corporation of America, culminated by six years as the CEO of an acute care hospital. During that time he served as a Trustee of the North Carolina Hospital Association and a Governor for the Federation of American Hospital Systems. In 1994, Harry retired as a Commander from the US Naval Reserve, Medical Service Corps, where he served six tours in CO / XO positions in acute care, combat support planning, and medical logistics. He served eight years on active duty. He holds an MBA from Cornell University and BS in Economics from USC. He is a Diplomat and Certified Healthcare Executive (CHE) of the American College of Healthcare Executives. William F. Lawson Bill Lawson joined BENS in 1996 as the Kansas City Regional Director, in which capacity he is responsible for recruiting and membership services in that metropolitan area. He retired from the Army in 1992 as a lieutenant colonel, after over 22 years in Infantry, Ranger and Airborne assignments. Following his retirement he became Vice President, Director of Operations for a nationally chartered bank, responsible for planning, development, marketing activities, training, and security operations. Bill graduated from Southwest Missouri State University with a degree in organic chemistry and earned a masters degree in operations research/systems analysis at Western Michigan University. Peter Ohtaki Peter Ohtaki joined BENS in March 2005 as director of Business Force activities in the San Francisco Bay Area. He now manages the California Resiliency Alliance, a statewide homeland security partnerships program. Prior to joining BENS, Mr. Ohtaki was co-founder and CFO of NetTV, a technology company that provided large-screen, high-resolution digital displays to the educational, commercial, and retail signage markets. Previously, he was an investment banker with Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and C.E. Unterberg Towbin, and advised clients in the technology industry on initial public offerings, corporate financings, and mergers and acquisitions. Peter graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and earned his M.B.A. at Stanford University.
Laura Willoughby is the Regional Director for the Washington, D.C. Metro area, which includes Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, Baltimore, Annapolis and Norfolk, Va. Laura joined BENS in February 2010 after serving as Director of Marketing Communications for iJET International Inc. She was previously Executive Director of the Chesapeake Regional Tech Council, where she expanded the group to a regional concern, grew membership 300 percent and created a robust series of events, programs and roundtables, many of them built around the intelligence and homeland security communities. Laura also has experience as editor of an emerging energy technology publication; worked in broadcast news; owned a boutique regional public relations company and was an award-winning journalist with several regional newspapers. Laura graduated from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., with a bachelor’s in media communications and a minor in International Studies with a concentration on Latin America. She lives in Annapolis with her husband Steven Kopelman. |