The Ad+PR Professional Advisory Committee or PAC is comprised of industry professionals who contribute their time, energy, and experience to insure that our work in the classroom is grounded on business realities. PAC input is more valuable than ever as the fields of Ad+PR are changing rapidly.

PAC members enjoy speaking to students anytime. But, speaking to seniors is special and can make a big impact on both PAC members and students. We started Senior Sessions a few years back to reach seniors with real-world advice from the pro’s. No filters. Job hunting advice, life lessons learned, or new career options are common topics, but you never know what will happen. Senior Sessions are also a great opportunity for our majors to network with the pro’s.

cliff

Here’s the Line-Up:   EDIT: 4.18.11

•Tim Earnhart, CEO & Creative Director

Werkshopmarketing

http://www.werkshopmarketing.com/

Times & Locations

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

-11:30 am RM 236 Ad+PR Research

-12:40 pm RM 236 Senior Sessions (open to all majors)

-1:45 pm Brown Bag lunch with Ad+PR faculty

•Ms. Nikki Bonifer, Marketing — Individual Products

Medicare, HumanaOne

Humana Inc. Louisville, KY

Times & Locations

Friday, April 22, 2011

-11:30 am RM 236 Ad+PR Research

-12:40 pm RM 236 Senior Sessions (open to all majors)

-1:45 pm Brown Bag lunch with Ad+PR faculty

•Jason Loehr, SVP, Strategy & Development

Mad*Pow

Portsmouth | Boston | Louisville

http://www.madpow.net/

Times & Locations

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

-9:10 am RM 236 Ad+PR Research

-10:20 am RM  232 Principles of Advertising

-11:30 am RM 236 Ad+PR Research

-1:00 pm NSAC Dress Rehearsal  RM 236  (open to all majors)

-1:45 pm Brown Bag lunch with Ad+PR faculty

•Steve Chandler, Owner (Just Confimed!)

Chandlerthinks: Digital. Marketing. Strategy.

Nashville, TN

http://chandlerthinks.wordpress.com/

Times & Locations

Monday, May 2, 2011

-11:30 am RM 236 Ad+PR Research

-12:40 pm RM 236 Senior Sessions (open to all majors)

-1:45 pm Brown Bag lunch with Ad+PR faculty

•Jeff Adelson-Yang, Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Levelwing, New York

www.levelwing.com

Time & Location

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

12:40 pm RM 236 Senior Sessions via SKYPE  (open to all majors)

Biography

President & CEO, Woolfolk Communications Strategies, Nashville, TN

WEB: www.commstratenn.com

PROFILE: A proactive, creative professional with 20+ successful years senior-level management experience in public/media relations. Radio/TV broadcaster. Federal & private sector experience. National political experience: Capitol Hill and Clinton Administration, Washington, DC.

President & CEO, Communications Strategies, Nashville, TN, 6/04 to Present

Founded a full-service, public relations firm.  Firm offers national experience in public & media relations,

Public affairs, legislative outreach, community relations, brand management, internal communications and more to  clients, including: Music City Center, Nashville Opera, MTA, Nashville International Airport, AT&T, Meharry Medical College, and others.

Vice President, Communications & Public Relations, Fisk University, Nashville, TN 8/02 to 2/04

Successfully managed university external/internal communications. Increased media placements 450% from 2002 to 2003 including cover stories/photos.  Advised chairman, president, senior staff on communications strategy, issues. Developed five-year strategic media plan. Created successful community outreach programs. Developed comprehensive university media policy, brand policy, produced first Fisk staff/faculty “Media Guide” handbook, and WFSK operational handbook. Created first internal staff, student electronic newsletters. Boosted WFSK radio (88.1) into top 30% of Nashville stations. Represented president and various events.

Director of Communications,  03/01 to 5/02, BETAH Associates, Bethesda, MD

Developed, implemented successful national media planning and strategy primarily for the U.S. Office of the Surgeon General under contract with U.S. Dept. of Health-Human Services.

WHITE HOUSE Appointment,  1997—2001, U.S. Department of Education;  Special Assistant/Office of the Assistant Secretary

Communications advisor to Assistant Secretary of Education. Managed national media relations, outreach strategies & media policies;  Developed internal electronic newsletter;  managed new technology communications: satellite teleconferences, videoconferences; coordinated and managed special events; proactive media outreach for Assistant Secretary, senior staff, wrote speeches.

PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL COMMITTEE–1997, 1996–1997, Western Region Press Secretary

Successfully placed 95% Inaugural news pieces/features with media in 14 Western states.

DELAWARE  PRESS SECRETARY (Wilmington, DE) 9/96–11/96, Clinton/Gore ’96  Presidential Campaign

Media liaison/spokesperson on President’s achievements &  initiatives.  Media placements at 95 percent. Developed successful campaign community events.

Complete biography

Biography

Nikki is a 1996 graduate of the WKU advertising program with a minor in marketing. These skills served her well in her first job after graduation as a sales representative with the Courier Journal in Louisville, KY. While newspaper sales was a great job to learn the ad business, she really wanted to jump into the client side of things.

Next stop for Nikki was Maker’s Mark, a premium bourbon distiller in Kentucky. She describes this as her “super cool job.”  Being international brand manager and working with MM marketing department were highlights for Nikki at MM. She was able to do a little of everything since the marketing group was small. Nikki led packaging, web, international markets, on-premise sales for US, relationship marketing and helped develop MM’s core brand strategy during during her time with the company.

Traveling for MM did have some disadvantages. So, Nikki targeted other marketing jobs in Louisville. She landed a position at Brown and Williamson; just 5 months before the company announced they were leaving Louisville for North Carolina.  But, she managed to launch three relationship marketing programs before she left.

Nikki now leads Individual Products (HumanaOne and Medicare) for Humana, Inc., based in Louisville, KY. Her team generates approximately 75% of Humana’s $30B+ yearly revenue. Nikki created the Marketing Strategy and Planning team, led Small Group, Specialty, HumanaOne and Lifesynch before her current assignment.

Nikki enjoys living with her husband and two kids in 120 year-old house in Louisville.

Connect with Nikki

Email – nbonifer(at)humana.com

Biography

Brand Strategist/Principle ChandlerThinks:

Steve Chandler is a career marketing man with almost two decades of experience in strategic planning and brand development for local, regional and national brands connected to consumer products and the destination marketing industries. Most recently Steve was Director of Business Development for Paramore|Redd Online Marketing, immersing himself in the highly relevant digital marketing world. Serving as President of North Star Destination Strategies, Steve guided over 40 communities through the strategic and delicate process of destination branding. His career also included tenure at a few of the South’s premiere advertising agencies such as hospitality-focused BOHAN Advertising. The Buntin Group and international branding agency BBDO. This tour of the ad agency world allowed Steve to work and help shape some great brands such as Grand Ole Opry, Bayer, Lava Soap, Goody’s Headache Powder, and Angel Soft bath tissue.

Today, Steve operates his own marketing firm, ChandlerThinks, helping small to medium size companies and destinations put their unique brand into action and enter the must-play digital marketing arena. He often speaks on the topic of branding, social media and how to extend your intended brand into the online world. Some clients of ChandlerThinks are: Ebonite International bowling products; Sumner County CVB; Kenai Peninsula Tourism Marketing Council; City of Fremont, NE; Shepenco promotional products; Capella Healthcare and City of Elk River, MN.

Steve also frequently speaks on the topics of social media, digital marketing and destination branding. Past and recent speaking engagements include:

Social media workshop: why it matters and how to work for building business University of Memphis School of Hospitality Management

Belmont University School of Marketing

Vanderbilt University Owen School of Business

Promotional Products Association of the MidSouth Annual Convention Promotional Products

Association of the MidSouth TN State Spring Meeting

Community Branding Basics

Steve extends his professional passion outside of the office by serving as a board member and Past-President for the American Advertising Federation - Nashville, a State Director and board member for the American Advertising Federation 7th District, and a member of the Program Advisory Committee for Western Kentucky University’s Department of Advertising and Journalism. A devoted husband and proud father of two boys, Steve and his family call Hendersonville, TN home.

Connect with Steve

Tweet me – www.twitter.com/sschandler (aka @sschandler)

Link me – www.linkedin.com/in/steveschandler

Blog – www.chandlerthinks.com

Email – steve@chandlerthinks.com

Biography

Michelle is US Media Manager with Brown-Forman Corporation in their Nashville office.  Brown-Forman is a alcoholic beverage company that owns such brands as Jack Daniel, Southern Comfort, Canadian Mist, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Chambord and others.

She has been with the company for 11 years in a media role.  She is responsible for managing the planning, execution, and stewardship for all brands’ national and local consumer media.  She also monitors and ensures that the media placements meet DISCUS and Legal Drinking Age guidelines.

Working on various wine and spirit brands is fun and challenging for Michelle.  She can speak at length about the alcoholic beverage category as well as the responsible marketing Brown-Forman has undertaken for the industry.

Michelle’s career began in the 90’s by working in media departments at Ericson Marketing and The Buntin Group.  Both were fantastic learning opportunities and great proving grounds to learn the agency side of the media world.

Michelle graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1993 with a B.A. in Advertising.  She remembers,  “Back when the Earth cooled, we had Clip Art and tiny Mac Classics”.   Michelle also professes “it’s always better to laugh than cry…HAVE FUN”.

Michelle resides in Hendersonville, Tennessee with her husband and two boys.

Twitter:  @mlaflin38

Facebook:  Michelle Baggett Laflin

Email:  michelle_laflin@b-f.com

LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michelle-laflin/6/229/6bb

Biography

Jeff Adelson-Yan is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Levelwing, a digital advertising agency that provides data-driven marketing solutions. In 2002, Adelson-Yan co-founded Levelwing with Steve Parker, Jr., growing the agency out of a 450 square foot New York apartment into a multi-office agency serving global clients. Today Levelwing operates in both NYC and Charleston, S.C., and serves clients in the automotive, finance/banking, healthcare, retail and travel industries, among others. In 2010 the agency was named the #1 Fastest Growing Company by the Charleston Regional Business Journal and was recognized as the 688th fastest growing private company in America by INC Magazine500/5000 List. Adelson-Yan began his career in 1997 working at various dot-com start-ups including Coolsavings.com (now Q Interactive), a pioneer in the online couponing and lead generation space, and Yo!, a company specializing in collaborative filtering technology, the process of aggregating and filtering vast amounts of online information, identifying patterns and trends to make automatic real-time predictions based upon the interests of others similar to the “user.” Adelson-Yan has been a part of the many sides of both the dot-com boom and bust, and has remained passionate about the space, its development and growth, obstacles and innovations, and the continued future of this powerful and ever-expanding medium.

Today Adelson-Yan manages Levelwing’s NYC office. He is deeply versed in digital media including search engine marketing, organic search optimization, social media, digital video, and web analytics. Throughout his career, Adelson-Yan has worked with several Fortune 500 companies including Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Humana, Viacom, Yum Brands, and Darden Restaurants. Recognized as an industry authority, Adelson-Yan has been a featured speaker at various conferences and events. A repeat university lecturer, his writings have appeared in various publications, and he was selected to the Final Round Judging Panel for the Effie Awards competition. He is a member of the Ad Council for the Association of Downloadable Media, Advisory Board Member for OPEN from American Express, and is a certified Google Adwords Professional, Yahoo Search Ambassador, and Microsoft adExcellence Member. He holds a B.S.in Psychology from Western Kentucky University where he serves on the Professional Advisory Committee to the School of Advertising, and has earned the Award of Achievement in Web Analytics from the University of British Columbia.

“Data is a commodity…value is in the analysis.” – Jeff Adelson-Yan

Jeff can be followed on Twitter at @JeffAdelsonYan. You can also follow Levelwing @levelwing and Jeff’s blog Asking Smarter Questions @ASKSQ.

Tim Earnhart is founder, principal, CEO and Creative Director of Werkshop Marketing with offices in Nashville, TN and Bowling Green, KY. Werkshop is a fully independent, full-service brand marketing and advertising firm with a keen focus to marketing strategy, branding, creative, advertising, public relations, social marketing and digital media.  Werkshop’s staff possesses extensive experience and is highly regarded in the industry, having received recognition of its efforts on a regional, national and international scale. The firm serves a broad and growing list of clients in a wide assortment of industries and account types across the region.

Born in Bern, Switzerland and raised in Portland, Oregon, Earnhart moved to Bowling Green in 1991 and graduated from WKU in 1995 with a degree in Advertising and Marketing.  Earnhart is also a partner in two other companies, The Liberty Group and Premier Partners. Over the last 17 years, he has provided strategic marketing, advertising, and brand development consulting for various local, regional, and national clients.  Earnhart has been active both professionally and personally in his community, and in 2004 Earnhart was chosen as the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year.  Earnhart and his wife Jennifer reside in Bowling Green with their two children, Hallie  and Tyler.

Biography

Born in Evanston IL, Ralph grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from WKU earning a degree in PR.  His time on campus included fraternity life and a brief attempt to play sports resulting in one varsity letter- in cheerleading.  He lives in Chicago.

Upon graduation Ralph went to work for home town giant Procter & Gamble and while there, served in advertising and sales management roles.  He eventually transitioned into the world of ad agencies, starting at Young & Rubicam on Madison Avenue in New York City.  Since, he has served in a variety of account service roles up to Sr. Vice President, working for multi- national agencies including TBWA\Chiat\Day, Deutsch, Saatchi & Saatchi and Campbell-Ewald . Currently Ralph is 100% digital, managing on-line marketing  for digital specialist Cobalt, Inc. while servicing client Hyundai Motors America. He notes he can’t get enough of his family, travel, or those frozen M&Ms at the bottom of McFlurries.

Ralph has a passion for networking and a willingness to listen to  the interests of WKU students hoping to  enter the advertising/PR workplace.  He welcomes connecting with anyone who is willing to share their hopes in building connections beyond WKU.

Ralph has dropped off the Twitter Tracker the last six months, but has a plan to make a comeback. He can be found @Ralphcarey.  His Linkedin address is  http://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphwcarey.  His e-mail address is careyralphw@gmail.

Jason personifies his mantra of “take what you do seriously, not yourself”. His diverse background has taken him from work in startups to leadership roles for the Fortune 100. As a “recovering programmer” with a background in experience design and integrated marketing communications, he’s a passionate marketer and strategist.

Jason is the Sr. Vice-President for Strategy & Development for Mad*Pow, a leading user experience firm. In his role, he helps organizations use all things digital to empower their business, with an emphasis on consumer interaction and innovation. From mobile to social and across the Web, he makes it happen. His work can be seen in experiences supporting leading financial services, healthcare and media organizations. From the largest healthcare company in the world to startup non-profits, Jason’s work is focused on delivering positive value and experience across audiences. Jason also serves as the GM of Mad*Pow’s Louisville operation.

Before joining Mad*Pow, Jason managed Humana’s Digital Group, leading strategy and operations for the enterprise wearing multiple hats, across audiences from consumer to agents to employers to pharmacists and more. He led mobile experience and social media efforts for stakeholders across the enterprise. Those efforts resulted in Humana being recognized as the “most innovative player in the mobile space” for health carriers by Celent, ranked as one of the “most social companies” by Mashable and an “Appy “ award from MediaPost. More importantly, it established new platforms for engagement with Humana’s audiences.

Jason’s career in digital started in the early 90s on campus at WKU as a founder of the Camping World Online Catalog while interning for the national retailer. His experience includes continued growth at Camping World and a leadership role with their parent company, Affinity Group. At AGI, he led the expansion of their club, services and portal portfolio to over 30 managed sites to support AGI’s diverse business lines. Those experiences led to consulting stints with major ecommerce and brand clients including Frederick’s of Hollywood, Danka and MSNBC Store.

Jason holds a B.A. in Advertising from Western Kentucky University and an MBA from Indiana University. Jason volunteers his time with organizations including the Board of Directors of First Tee of Louisville, the Friends of the Louisville Zoo and is a dedicated supported of WKU. An avid golfer, geek and supporter of the arts, Jason resides in Louisville, KY.

Twitter: @jloehr

Blog: http://designingforsocial.com/

LinkedIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jloehr

Google Profile: http://profiles.google.com/jloehr

Personal Email: jloehr@gmail.com

Professional Email: jloehr@madpow.net

Skype: Jason.loehr

Google Voice: (502) 509-4653