Principle Leadership
Bernie G. Butler, Jr.
Bernie founded D9 Development, Inc. in 2002 and has spent the last six years developing commercial and residential properties in Tennessee, and South Carolina. His main focus has been the historic 35 million dollar 26 unit re-creation Brownstones in the original Historic District of Franklin Tennessee. He served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Development & Technology of the National Federation of Independent Business where he was responsible for creating and selling the new business model and branding campaign for that national non-profit. Bernie helped start several advertising and marketing companies with regional and national impact servicing clients such has HCA, Kindercare, The Golf Channel and Home and Garden Television. He invented an adult accessible handgun safety device that was voted the new product of the year in the Sporting Goods business in 1992. He started his first real estate development company- Butler Development - in Jackson Mississippi in 1986 where he developed commercial office and retail properties in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. He received his degree in Marketing from Mississippi State University in 1981.
Bill Rodgers
Bill spent the first twelve years of his career at Civil Constructors, one of the area’s largest site work and infrastructure companies. While at Civil Constructors, Bill helped the company grow from 48 employees to 535 employees by his departure. He spent the majority of that time as a senior project manager presiding over residential development. Bill has been involved in the project development and management of $300 million in projects. His roles varied from project viability and value engineering to delivering the final product. Bill has been a mentor in the Architects Engineers Contractors (ACE) Program in Williamson County. Bill has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from Auburn University.
Michael P. Hagerty
Michael has invested his entire 20-year career in corporate finance in roles ranging from transaction origination and structuring to ongoing corporate financial management. Michael co-founded Cedar Partners in 2003 and since then has been responsible for forming and managing music publishing, media marketing and label ventures. Prior to that, he was responsible for managing the financial and business affairs of such artists and producers as Reba McEntire, Gloria and Emilio Estefan and Shakira. He has also served as CFO of Big Idea Productions (VeggieTales) and as director of corporate development and business affairs for Integrity Music. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Atlanta where he spent two years as a financial auditor and five years executing funds raising, M&A and other corporate finance transactions on behalf of his clients. Michael has a B.S. in accounting and finance from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Stormey Aerts
Ms. Aerts serves as Manager of Corporate Administration for D9, LLC, and manages the administration of the company’s day-to-day corporate business operations, including human resources, cash flow management, and A/P and A/R. Ms. Aerts also serves as Executive Assistant to Mr. Butler. Prior to joining D9, Ms. Aerts held duel roles with Southern Specialty Brands, a regional food producer located in Brentwood, TN. She served as the Executive Assistant to the CEO and the VP of Sales and Marketing, and as Production Manager for two specialty item lines. She also provided management support for Doane Pet Care, formerly Windy Hill Pet Food Company, in Brentwood, TN, from 1995 to 2000. From 1981 to 1995 Ms. Aerts worked in the field of transportation holding positions as International Traffic Manager and Traffic Manager for two Middle Tennessee corporations. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Trevecca Nazarene University / MHR Scholarship Committee, is a member of the Williamson County-Franklin Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) & MTSHRM. Aerts holds a BA Degree in Management & Human Relations from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee.
