Corporate Team
Director TeamCompany History
Our Vision
We’re building a thriving community of professionals who believe that investing in others’ success is the path to prosperity. We are not in business just to “sell stuff.” Our purpose is to grow your business, make your life easier, help you overcome challenges and enjoy a bit of fun. When you are successful, then we are too!
David Alexander is our CEO or as we like to say, Chief Networking Officer. A respected international keynote speaker and bestselling author, he is the visionary leader of Referrals4Life and a BNI Executive Director. You can learn more about him by clicking here or by visiting his website at www.davidgrayalexander.com. 
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Kimberly Alexander is a BNI Executive Director since 1999 and one of the co-founders of Referrals4Life. She has been instrumental in building our company. She’s a top-notch photographer, and you’ll see a lot of her work on our website. Oh yeah, she’s also David’s better half! You can view more of her work at www.taylorgrayphotography.com. go to top
Rich Martin is Vice President of Sales and Training and is located near Charlotte, NC. In addition to being a master of Tai Chi, he brings to the table a whole library of knowledge on how to grow businesses successfully. He’s also our resident tech consultant. How’s that for a renaissance man? go to top
Melinda Schmiedeknecht is our Marketing Director who wonders how she could have worked for Rolls-Royce for 3 years and still not have one. It is fortunate for us that she can literally lose track of time when putting together the right words or pouring over the details of our website. You can learn more about her by clicking here. go to top
Cathy Rex is our Managing Area Director for our BNI chapters in Georgia and is affectionately known as “T Rex.” She has been with Referrals4Life since 2002 and since joining our Visitor Follow Up Team has learned to live with a phone glued to her ear. To learn more about Cathy, please click here. go to top
Bob Hill is our Managing Area Director for our Corporate Connections chapters in Georgia. A charter member of the first Corporate Connections chapter in the US, Circle of Excellence, Bob has been instrumental in shaping this program for success. And if you’re looking for a way to lighten your day, give Bob a call or to learn more about him, you can click here. go to top
Jeanne Alexander is our Managing Area Director for our BNI chapters in the Asheville area of North Carolina. We happen to think she did a superb job of raising David, our CEO, but that doesn’t call for preferential treatment around Referrals4Life. (Well, maybe just a little.) Truthfully, Jeanne earned her spot on our management team as all of the directors and members in her care will tell you. She also heads up our Member Support department. For more about Jeanne, please click here. go to top
Hugh Grey is our Managing Area Director for our BNI chapters in the Charlotte area of North Carolina. With a background in business consulting and coaching, Hugh is a “huge” asset to our team. He has a heart for helping others and we are so glad he’s on our team. To learn more about Hugh, please click here. go to top
Sandy Keller wears a couple of hats for Referrals4Life. She’s our Managing Area Director for our BNI chapters in the Winston Salem area of North Carolina and also the Program Manager for our Corporate Connections chapters. A respected authority in the Gift Basket industry, Sandy understands the challenges entrepreneurs face and brings her “gift” for organization to Referrals4Life. For more about Sandy, please click here. go to top
We have an absolutely super team of directors who are committed to investing in others’ success. They help educate our networking groups and make sure our members have the tools they need to grow their businesses. To learn more about a particular director, please click their name below.
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Company History
Referrals4Life began in 1999 as Referral Concepts, Inc. David Alexander formed the corporation and owned the BNI North Carolina Triad franchise and all BNI franchises in Louisiana. David was living in his home state of North Carolina when he met his future wife, Kimberly. When he asked her to marry him at a BNI conference in 2000, he wrote on his note that she was a “Referral For Life.” (Incidentally, she still has his note in her engagement ring box.)
Later that year they decided to move to Atlanta and purchase the BNI West Atlanta franchise. As they were exploring names for a website, they liked Referrals For Life, but it was taken, so Kimberly suggested Referrals4life.com and as fate would have it, the domain name was available! (Kimberly’s side note: I have been a huge Prince fan since I was in Junior High. When I would write letters to friends or family I would always use the number 4 instead of the word “for,” so it seemed to be a normal thing for me to suggest!)
The Alexanders had only been in Atlanta for about 6 months when they decided to make an offer for the North Georgia BNI franchise, and they would go on to also purchase rest of the Atlanta area franchise. Soon after they also had the Charlotte and Asheville, North Carolina BNI franchises under their umbrella.
In 2003 Tim Paulin, the Managing Area Director for New Orleans, LA purchased the Louisiana franchises from the company. We continue to have a close working relationship with Tim, who now operates both BNI and Corporate Connections chapters in Louisiana and Mississippi.
In our search for the best ways to help our members grow their businesses, Referrals4Life has gradually expanded our solutions to include: Corporate Connections networking groups, networking training and the Referral Institute Charlotte franchise, keynote presentations, and books and cds.
