Get In the Game!
Montgomery Hosts PRCA
Conference October 2-3
Speakers Biographies
Dr. David Bronner is the Chief Executive Officer of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, a public pension fund with assets in excess of $32 billion providing benefits for over 314,000 public employees and retirees. The RSA is the 43rd largest public pension fund in the nation.
Dr. Bronner earned a Ph.D. and a law degree from the University of Alabama where he taught in the Graduate Schools of Business and Education and served as Assistant Dean and Lecturer in the School of Law before coming to RSA.
Dr. Bronner has been featured in Time, Governing magazine, The Institutional Investor, The Money Manager, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes Magazine, and Pension& Investment Age for his investment strategies and financial market decisions. In 2003, PlanSponsor magazine named the RSA “Plan Sponsor of the Year.”
High profile investments to help Alabama thrive are a hallmark of Dr. Bronner, including office buildings in Montgomery, Mobile and New York and the development of luxurious hotels and conference centers in Prattville, Auburn, Point Clear, Mobile, Birmingham and Montgomery. Other investments include Raycom Media and Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., which provide free advertising for the state of Alabama and a new cruise terminal in Mobile. Dr. Bronner served as Chairman of the US Airways Board of Directors during 2003-2005.
However, the venture of which Dr. Bronner is most proud is the Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a renowned collection of 26 championship golf courses that has put Alabama at the top of the list of golf destinations worldwide.
A New Orleans native, Dr. Joseph V. Trahan, III, has over twenty-five years of public relations/affairs experience in governmental, association, and educational and non-profit public relations.
Dr. Trahan is retired Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Reserve (USAR), and a former Commander of the 314th Public Affairs Operations Center located in Birmingham, Alabama.
While in the armed forces, Dr. Trahan successfully operated four Joint Information Bureaus and one Joint Information Center from 1991-94. Some of his assignments were: Joint Logistics Over The Shore -1992; the Presidential Task Force Andrew-1992; the National Boy Scout Jamboree -1993 and the 50th Anniversary of Operation Overlord (D-Day) - 1994.
Since 1998, Dr. Trahan has superbly trained more than 3,500 people yearly in media relations throughout almost all of the United States. England, Norway, France, Belgium, Paraguay, Mexico and The Netherlands.
Dr. Trahan graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Military History. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Relations from Ball State University and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations and Advertising from The University of Southern Mississippi. An accredited member of Public Relations Society of America, Dr. Trahan is a former member of the National PRSA Board of Directors and National PRSSA Faculty Advisor.
He’s also a long-suffering New Orleans Saints Fan!
As senior vice president for Public Affairs and Communications at the Business Council of Alabama, Marty Sullivan is charged with directing all BCA communications strategies to enhance public understanding of, and support for, BCA policies, positions, programs and initiatives.
In this capacity, she is responsible for providing public relations counsel to the President, Board of Directors and BCA staff; maintaining strong and mutually trusting statewide and regional media relationships; developing advocacy campaigns and directing issues management initiatives; fostering open and honest communications with all BCA stakeholders and audiences; developing form and content for BCA conferences and special events; and directing outreach programs that further the work and mission of the BCA, Alabama's largest association of business and industry.
Mrs. Sullivan has more than 25 years of experience in public relations and journalism. Prior to joining the BCA in 1996, she operated her own public relations firm for six years; worked in corporate communications for two major Montgomery area companies, and covered state government for the Montgomery Advertiser/Alabama Journal. She, and the BCA Public Affairs staff, have received numerous honors and awards from various state and regional public relations and marketing organizations.
Marty is an honors graduate of Auburn University with a degree in Public Relations/Journalism. In addition to her work with the BCA, Marty is a member and past-president of the Public Relations Council of Montgomery; a former board member of the Public Relations Council of Alabama; a member of the Southern Public Relations Federation, the American Society of Association Executives, and the Alabama Council of Association Executives. Mrs. Sullivan has also been active in her community, serving as a member of the board of directors for the Montgomery Area Food Bank and Jubilee Cityfest. She is also a member of Leadership Montgomery and the Junior League of Montgomery. In addition, in recent years she has served on the selection panel for the Alabama Teacher of the Year; and, in 2007 she was appointed to serve on the Governor’s Commission for Quality Teaching.
Doug Amos has been involved in sports media in Montgomery for 24 years, having started his career in 1984 as a sportswriter for the Montgomery Advertiser, covering major college athletics. After five years as a print journalist, Amos began his broadcasting career in 1993, co-hosting a sports radio talk show in central Alabama. In 1995, he and his co-host were awarded the Associated Press top broadcasting award for Alabama. In addition to co-hosting The Roundtable each weekday from noon to 2 on WNSP-AM 740 in Montgomery, Amos is the assistant athletic director for media relations and marketing at Faulkner University. He hosts Faulkner Sports Weekly, a 32-week television show, and Faulkner This Week, a 32-week radio show – both spotlighting the school’s athletic program. He also is the play-by-play voice of Faulkner football and radio broadcasts. In addition, Amos hosts a pair of statewide radio programs – Prep Sports Weekly, which promotes high school athletics each Saturday morning, and College Football Saturday, which looks into the big games of the day during football season.
Jessica F. Taylor began working for Governor Bob Riley in 2001 during his first campaign for Governor while he was still a Congressman in the third district. She joined the Riley Administration as Director of Scheduling in January of 2003. Taylor worked for the Hoover Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham, before joining the Riley campaign.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations and Spanish from Auburn University in 2001. Taylor is originally from Birmingham, but she now resides in Montgomery..
David Keating is senior director of corporate communications for General Growth Properties. He oversees internal and external PR/communications, media relations and crisis communications initiatives for the company.
Mr. Keating joined General Growth Properties in 2000 after a 10-year career in front of the camera as a television news anchor and reporter in Texas. As a reporter in two Texas markets, he covered many local-turned-national stories such as the aftermath of the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, and the Oklahoma City bombing.
Mr. Keating earned a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis on broadcast journalism from Midwestern State University.
Nicole Spreck is the director of public affairs for General Growth Properties, Inc. She is responsible for developing and coordinating GGP’s media and government relations initiatives for new developments, redevelopments and master-plan communities.
Ms. Spreck joined General Growth Properties in 2000. She held a variety of positions in marketing, corporate communications and crisis management.
Ms. Spreck graduated from Valparaiso University with a bachelor’s degree in communications.
She is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and a recipient of metropolitan Chicago Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Year for 2005.
Tim Lennox is host of Alabama Public Television’s “For The Record”, a weeklynews and analysis program broadcast at 8pm Fridays. The programs are also available online at www.aptv.org/ftr
Tim is a native New Yorker, born in The Bronx, raised in Queens. He served three years in the U.S. Army, including one year in Quang Tri, Vietnam, where he worked as a print and broadcast journalist.
After working for several radio stations in NY/NJ, Tim got smart in 1976 and moved to Alabama, settling in Birmingham where he worked for WERC Radio in a variety of roles including helicopter traffic reporter, news director, talk-show host and program director.
In 1994, Tim started hosting “Southern Exposure” on Channel 42 TV. Southern Exposure was a combination weather forecast and feature story. When a new company bought the station in 1998, the staff was dismissed, and Tim was able to join APT.
He lives in Montgomery in a soon-to-be century old home, is an avid but decidedly amateur photographer and once parachuted from a perfectly good airplane over Sylacauga for a radio story.
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