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When the co-founder and CEO of Corporate Environmental Risk Management, Inc. was 12-years-old, his future looked bleak. Both parents had died and he was being raised by an older brother in a Black suburb of Mobile, Alabama. Fast-forward to 2026, where the grown version of that 12-year-old is a respected business leader who has chaired organizations such as Council for Quality Growth and the Atlanta Business League. He is also the chief decision-maker for a company that employs 130 people and generates more than $20 million a year.

This edition of the Atlanta Business League’s TELLING OUR STORY podcast does more than share the life of a successful entrepreneur. It explains how early experiences, even devastating ones, can be retooled to create pathways toward success.

This podcast will focus primarily on the life of Albert G. Edwards. He has a list of personal accomplishments that includes military service, being a college football scholarship recipient and a national junior Olympian. He and his best friend from high school, Marcus Reese, both graduated from Mattie T. Blount in Mobile, Alabama. They met each other during a United States Army Corps of Engineers summer program. The young men went their separate ways but reunited unexpectedly at the same company in Atlanta, GA. Their combined engineering skills synced perfectly with the developing industry of environmental remediation and inspired them to start a STEM-related company.

But the story of CERM and its founders isn’t just about the services it offers, the awards it has won or its incredible growth. It’s about who has benefited because it exists. Al and Marcus were passionate about workforce development. They both wanted a company would allow young people to work alongside professionals. They knew from experience that letting someone see a future of possibilities could help them to avoid pitfalls. So the story of CERM is also a story about student shadowing. It is a story about mentoring and it is a story about putting risk protocols in place that operate as they are supposed to when unexpected tragedy takes place.

CERM co-founder, Marcus Reese, died in 2017. But the company celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025 because he and Al built something on paper and in practice that was meant to last. More than that, this podcast introduces you to a company and a CEO who understand that high values and solid principles applied consistently deliver dividends that outweigh all risks.

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BETTER TOGETHER

The husband and wife team of Shelly and Mark Wilson have created more than one company that reached elevated levels of success. Two of their businesses employed several thousand people and had offices from California to Alabama.

However, running a successful enterprise wasn’t the main objective in their lives. Both describe their roles as husband and wife as being more important than any of the titles assigned to them. Shelly’s degree in microbiology brought a level of organization and analytical skills to the enterprises while Mark contributed a level-headed approach to being a CEO. He pulled skills he developed after working as an executive for Dun and Bradstreet for more than 17 years. His industry reputation was so strong that, when he and Shelly branched off to start their own company, they immediately attracted a dream list of Fortune 10 and 15 companies - without a sales team. Global brand names such as Verizon Wireless, Google, Apple, Bank of America, Visa and AT&T were all clients.

The Wilsons operated two main companies during their time as entrepreneurs. RyLa Teleservices operated for approximately ten years. Chime Solutions, their second call service company, ran for eight years. Their home offices were in several metro Atlanta locations. They started in Woodstock, GA and moved to Kennesaw. Chime was headquartered on the south side of town in Morrow. It actually evolved from a venture capital purchase of a company called E-Verifle which Mark and Shelly closed to found Chime Solutions.

The success of their endeavors isn't the only reason to listen to this podcast. Mark and Shelly's motivations for going into business are also interesting. Neither had a business background. Mark’s first job was shining shoes in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Shelly is the daughter of an AME, African Methodist Episcopal, minister from Dayton, Ohio, who had planned to be a scientist.

The information Shelly and Mark Wilson share actually could provide the outline of a master class in how people can use the tools given to them through the experiences of their lives. What you'll learn from this podcast is that Shelly and Mark took their tools and built something much bigger than anyone would have thought possible. The bonus is their accomplishments also influenced the business achievements of the second generation of their family.

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This podcast will help you understand why the name Julius Hollis needs to be included when anyone discusses business pioneers from Atlanta, GA.

Julius Hollis describes himself as a "proud product of Atlanta" but he's actually more than that. He's actually someone who understood what a person is supposed to do when he is the recipient of something priceless, like a legacy. Julius is one of those rare people who never took the people around him for granted.

Former Atlanta Mayor and United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young gave him his first full-time job and his relationship to the Black godfather of Hollywood was important enough that he was interviewed by Netflix in a documentary about Clarence Avant. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and considers himself mentored by the man who is credited with forming the intellectual foundation of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, Dr. Benjamin Mays.

However, most people think of him as a businessman or banker. Those are both accurate descriptions. He spent years working for the Export-Import Bank in Washington, D.C. before moving back to Atlanta to help his brother, Michael, make history by founding Air Atlanta. The airline was a bold endeavor that stopped flying in 1987. After it ended, the brothers went their separate ways.

But Julius took all of the experience and advice poured into him from his childhood, his family and his mentors and began sourcing mega-deals. Some were with power companies and brought stable access to utilities to people in the Caribbean. Others were in Africa and helped developing nations do a better job of standing independently. All showed his master negotiating skills and heart for underserved communities all over the world.

One true key to his success is his understanding of what it truly means to be interconnected and how effectively applying that civil rights concept to commerce can be life-changing.