Meet this year’s Keynote Speakers

2008 Keynote Speakers: Paul Raines and Juan R. Ramirez-Hernandez

Paul Raines, Executive Vice President, U.S. Stores, The Home Depot

Paul Raines is the past executive vice president of U.S. Stores for The Home Depot. During his work at home depot he was responsible for driving alignment and execution across the Company’s retail divisions, and overseeing operations of more than 1,940 stores in the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Paul has held many positions during his tenure with the Company. Most recently, he served as president of the Southern Division, covering 740 stores in 18 Southern states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas. Paul also was regional vice president, Operations for the Florida Region; vice president, Store Operations; director, Labor Management; and director, Operations Support for Chile and Argentina.

Prior to joining The Home Depot in 2000, Paul was director of Global Sourcing for L.L. Bean. He also was a principal in the consulting firm of Kurt Salmon Associates for 10 years.

Paul is president of The Homer Fund, an associate-funded nonprofit that provides short-term assistance to associates who encounter hardship due to catastrophic circumstances. The Fund also provides scholarships to children of associates. Additionally, Paul serves on the board of The Home Depot Foundation.

Born in Costa Rica, Paul is an active member of the community, serving on such boards as the Latin American Association, the advisory board for the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, the advisory board of the Industrial Engineering School at Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and The Children’s Hospital Costa Rica Foundation.

Paul earned his Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a member of the school’s Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.

Juan R. Ramirez-Hernandez, Violinist, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Juan R. Ramrez-Hernndez, violinist/composer and founder of the Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation, Inc. began his studies in Mexico with Ivo Valenti and Vladimir Vulfman. His studies with Henryk Szeryng began at the age of fourteen, and continued as he became his principal mentor in Mexico, the U.S. and Europe. While in Boston attending the New England Conservatory of Music, Mr. Ramrez was privileged to study with Joseph Silverstein. In the symphony orchestra, he has played under Leonard Bernstein, Eric Leinsdorf, Colin Davis, William Steinberg, Leon Barzin, Bruno Maderna, Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa.

Service in the Boston and Pittsburgh Symphonies preceded his acceptance of a permanent position with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Ramrez plays a number of instruments, including the guitar, mandolin and marimba, and as a composer is noted for his compositions and arrangements commissioned by the Hispanic Festival of the Arts. Influenced by his native land, “Suite Huasteca” for violin, strings, and guitar, received critical acclaim both in Atlanta and in Mexico.

Mr. Ramrez has been a member of the faculties of Georgia State University and Spelman College, and has participated in music panels for DeKalb Council for the Arts, the Fulton County Arts Council, Bureau of Cultural Affairs, City of Atlanta, Georgia Council for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International – The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, and the U.S. Information Agency - Arts America Program. He was a member of the Cultural Olympiad Advisory Council, and served on the advisory boards of both the New World Symphony and the Chicago Civic Symphony Orchestra National Advisory Council and the International Village Cultural & Community Center. He is the founder of the Hispanic Festival of the Arts, and Casa de la Cultura de Atlanta. Mr. Ramrez serves on the Advisory Board of

Directors of CURE Childhood Cancer, the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Sphinx Organization Advisory Board, the Music Steering Committee of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.

A frequent panelist and clinician, he served on the jury of the Sphinx 2000 Competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the 2002 Classical Nominations Review Committee for the Grammy Awards of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, California.

Mr. Ramirez founded the Buckhead Youth Orchestra in 2,000, and serves as Artistic Director and Conductor. Since 1999, he also serves as Music Director and Conductor of the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra. He is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta, Class of 1999. Mr. Ramrez was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr., Csar Chvez, Rosa Parks Visiting Professorship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and was invited to participate as concertmaster at the 2003 Sphinx Orchestra. In 2004, Mr. Ramirez again served as concertmaster of the Sphinx Orchestra where his composition Suite Latina was premiered and he received the Presidential Chair from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

designed and developed by