Our Experience

Ines Polonius
Executive Director

Ms. Polonius is a founding member and Executive Director of alt.Consulting, an innovative non-profit organization that provides customized, managerial assistance to rural-based and minority-owned businesses throughout the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta Region. Ms. Polonius leads a team of eight management consultants and has personally worked with over 200 small businesses in manufacturing, distribution, service and retail. She has conducted organizational and financial audits, facilitated planning sessions and customized management systems for these businesses. Ms. Polonius and her team are working on small business financing models for businesses in low-wealth communities that utilize managerial assistance as a means to reduce risk. She has developed and taught numerous seminars on financial management and strategic planning.
 As a Business Development Consultant at the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development she served more than 30 clients through an intensive management consulting process. Ms. Polonius earned an MBA and a Masters of Economics at Boston University. Prior to pursuing her graduate work, she worked for three years with rural micro-enterprise development projects in Chile and the Dominican Republic. She has also worked as a financial manager for a manufacturer and a distribution company in Hamburg, Germany. Ms. Polonius received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.
Ms. Polonius serves on the following boards:

• Regions Bank Community Development Corporation
• Southern Rural Development Initiative
• Serves as a member of the Coordinating Committee for the strategic planning process (Pine Bluff 20/20) in Pine Bluff, Arkansas
• Serves as the facilitator for the Entrepreneurship Team of the Mid-South Delta Initiative Arkansas Design Group, an entity developing a strategic plan for the Arkansas Delta Region under the auspices of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.


Felecia Burns
Management Consultant, Pine Bluff

Ms. Burns comes to alt.Consulting with entrepreneurial, banking, and small business experience. Ms. Burns worked in the banking industry for 4 years, served as general manager of her family's small business, and has over 10 years of accounting experience. Certified as a FastTrac Facilitator, Ms. Burns currently facilitates learning sessions for current and perspective business owners where they learn basic entrepreneurial skills. She is also the organization’s FastTrac Program Administrator. As a Certified Professional Bookkeeper, Ms. Burns has extensive experience with the iplementation of computerized accounting systems in order to create and interpret in-house financial statements. Ms. Burns is co-owner of a scrapbooking and paper crafts business.

Ms. Burns earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and an MBA in Accounting from the University of Phoenix online.

Russell H. Lemond
Management Consultant, Little Rock

Mr. Lemond's background is a combination of eleven years of entrepreneurial experience coupled with ten years of sales and management in the healthcare industry. Specific areas of expertise are in the areas of restaurant and food service, accounts receivable, sales, operations management and improving office efficiencies.

Russell earned his MBA in Business Management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and received a BS in Business Management from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.

Cynthia Norwood, Esq.
Managing Director-Tennessee

Ms. Norwood has a diverse background of experience in the areas of general management, human resources, and legal services. Prior to working with alt.Consulting she worked 4 years in retail management as an assistant manager of operations and a personnel manager for a large retail conglomerate. As an assistant manager Ms. Norwood gained valuable management experience including managing a staff of over 50 employees, retail merchandising, customer services, and risk management experience. As a personnel manager she gained human resources experience in benefits administration, recruitment, hiring and training.

Ms. Norwood earned her Masters in Business Administration and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee. She is a licensed attorney in the State of Tennessee. While working for alt.Consulting as a management consultant and managing director, Ms. Norwood also practices law on a part-time basis.

She has been with alt.Consulting since June 2004 working with clients throughout the West Tennessee area, Northern Mississippi and Eastern Arkansas.



Deborah Slayton
Equity Fund Manager

Ms. Slayton's experience covers fifteen years of business lending and an additional ten years in banking, including banking operations, personal and business lending and management. She is a graduate of the School of Banking of the South, the National Development Council, the Commercial and Consumer Lending School and management program of the Arkansas Bankers Association.

From 1992 to 2004, Ms. Slayton worked in numerous capacities at Southern Financial Partners. From 1997 to 2003, she served as its Executive Director, managing a loan portfolio of $14 million. In this position Ms. Slayton has been a champion of small businesses, rural communities and the underprivileged in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta and has worked tirelessly in these efforts.


Vonesha Mitchell
Associate Consultant

Ms. Mitchell is an education specialist interested in promoting youth entrepreneurship. She played a pivotal role in the start up of multiple entrepreneurial ventures. She has an extensive background in working with and promoting youth initiatives. She is also a candidate for certification in the field of non-profit organizations by American Humanics and she is affiliated wtih the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education.

Ms. Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Organizational Leadership from the University of Memphis.

Candy Welch
Program Associate

Mrs. Welch handles all administrative, human resources and accounting functions for alt.Consulting. She manages alt.Consulting's relatoinship with Innovative Bank's Community Express small business loan program. She has extensive experience in loan processing, customer service, office and hotel management as well as 9 years of entrepreneurial experience.