TEAM ADVANCE

Billy Yeakey

Biography

My name is Billy Yeakey and I am 32 years old.  I was born and raised in Tulsa, OK and am the oldest of five children.  In 1997 I visited Atlanta, GA for the first time and knew immediately that it was a city in which someday I would reside.  The opportunity for me to leave Tulsa came in June of 1999 and I moved to Atlanta, taking a position as delivery technician with a small, privately-owned durable medical equipment provider, Soft Touch Medical.  I soon achieved the title of Operations Manager and served in that role for three years.  After leaving Soft Touch Medical, I took an entry-level position with Swift Transportation, the largest long-haul trucking company in the United States.  Quickly moving up through the ranks, I soon took a position as manager for an eight-person planning group.  My responsibilities included overseeing the capacity/demand balance for the entire Southeast region of the United States. 

In May of 2004, I married my friend of 12 years, Kathleen, and we bought a home in Marietta, GA, where we have resided since.  In December of 2004, I resigned from my management position and accepted a part-time supervisory position in order to attend Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA.  In February of 2006, Kathleen and I welcomed our first child into the world, a baby boy whom we named Aidan.  I am currently enrolled full-time at KSU where I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Finance.  Presently a sophomore, I am expecting to graduate in May of 2008.

Team Role

As formal report coordinator for Team Advance, I was responsible for ensuring that the formal report was completed on time according to course standards. Effectively, I was the lead writer on the project.  However, the formal report required input from everyone and each team associate was responsible for writing a portion of the formal report.  The formal report writing assignments were as follows:

Introduction: Sarah Peters

Background: T.J. Dunn

General Issues and Specific Issues: Billy Yeakey

Environmental Issues: Jake Hughes

Competitive Assessment and Specific Purpose: Christie Pugh 

The first step taken towards the creation of the formal report was to create a template for the report.  Working closely with the research coordinator and the other members of the team, I was able to create a working outline for the body of the report.  As each associate completed their portion of the writing, I integrated them into the final version for submission.  After writing and revision was complete, each team member was given ample time to review, critique, and approve the final version of the formal report before submission.