Jessie Brumbach currently serves as the director of marketing for Home Instead Senior Care, the world’s leading provider of personalized in-home care services. Jessie leads the global brand strategy, developing and executing a marketing strategy to connect, engage, and support family caregivers. She also works in sales management and customer experience. Jessie’s Home Instead team has won awards for its strategy, creativity, and results-driven execution.

With over 25 years’ experience in marketing, communications, product management, and customer experience, Jessie’s career began in motion picture marketing doing publicity and promotions for films, such as Jurassic Park, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Thelma and Louise. Jessie also spent several years working with Cox Communications in telecommunications, taking new products, such as high-speed internet, on-demand television, and telephony, to market.

Gloria Carter-Hicks is the president, CEO, and owner of Hicks-Carter-Hicks, LLC. Hicks-Carter-Hicks (H-C-H) is an award-winning, full-service performance improvement firm. H-C-H partners with clients who want to achieve organizational excellence through improving employee performance and creating a highly engaged and aligned diverse workforce.

Prior to founding her company in 1999, Gloria worked as a consultant for the General American Life Insurance Company and also was executive director of human resources for Reinsurance Group of America.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards, such as the 2014 Diverse Business Leaders Award, Salute to Excellence in Business Award, Top 100 St. Louisans to Know to Succeed in Business and the 2012 Diversity Hero award. She has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a Certificate in Business from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Tom Hoog served as the vice chairman of training and new business at Hill+Knowlton Strategies. In his decades-long career at Hill+Knowlton, he previously served as president and chief executive officer of Hill+Knowlton, USA, from 1996 to 2001. He was also previously chairman of its public affairs practice and general manager of Hill+Knowlton’s New York and Washington Offices.

Tom was selected by PR Week as one of the 100 most influential public relations practitioners of the past century. In 2003, he was awarded the John W. Hill Award for Excellence by the NY Chapter of PRSA. He was chosen by PRSA as the winner of the Gold Anvil Award, their highest individual honor.

Tom has Capitol Hill experience, serving as the chief of staff for U.S. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado for five years. His involvement in national politics began with his work for the presidential campaigns of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator George McGovern. He also served on the executive committee and national finance committee for then-Governor Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. His love of serving his country does not stop there, as he spent six years as a naval aviator with the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and also served at the pleasure of the President of the United States on the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.

Jack Modzelewski spent most of his 35-year agency career in executive and leadership positions before retiring to concentrate on consulting, writing a business book, and service to not-for-profit organizations. He was with FleishmanHillard, where he was president of the Americas, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, global president of business development and partnerships, and held other leadership positions during his nearly 27-year career there. He has significant experience working on communications programs for a wide spectrum of clients, including AT&T, McDonald’s, General Motors, Abbott, Caterpillar, BP, Baxter, and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Jack also has considerable experience in all facets of corporate affairs:  external and internal communications, mergers and organizational restructurings, crisis prevention and intervention, issues and risk management, and strategic stakeholder engagement.  He has assisted clients in more than 25 crisis situations. He began his career as a journalist covering government and general news and hosted a public affairs radio program.

He has attended five World Economic Forums in Davos, Switzerland. He is vice chairman of the board of trustees of the Better Government Association and serves Northwestern University on its We Will capital campaign and on the board of advisors of the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing. In 2015 he was inducted into the Medill Hall of Achievement.

Donovan Pepper currently serves as the national director of local government relations for Walgreen Company, where he oversees local legislative, regulatory and advocacy efforts at the municipal, county and other local units of governments in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia. He is an experienced governmental and external affairs professional and has worked for leading entities like SBC (now AT&T), the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Amtrak, and the Illinois Restaurant Association.

Previously, he served on the Appropriations and Substantive Committee Staff for Illinois Speaker of the House, Michael J. Madigan, where he focused on areas of transportation, higher education, and consumer protection.

He was recently inducted into the Samuel K. Gove Illinois Legislative Internship Hall of Fame, recognized as one of the “Most Distinguished Men of Illinois”, and honored by President Barack Obama and the Corporation for National Public Service. Donovan has a master’s degree in political studies from the University of Illinois-Springfield, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Sangamon State University.

Michael W. Robinson draws on three decades as a trusted counselor and strategist to global C-Suite executives, Boards of Directors, marketplace leaders, and government officials – and his involvement in the highest-profile business, financial, and public policy issues from Wall Street to the White House to the senior levels of Corporate America – to help private and public clients realize their goals.

Michael has a broad range of experience in the private sector as in-house senior communications and marketing roles at several Fortune 100 companies, including Mobil and Freddie Mac; the financial community, at The NASDAQ Stock Market, FINRA, and Friedman Billings Ramsey (FBR); in government at The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), The White House and The Department of Justice; and media at The New York Times. Michael has helped hundreds of public and private companies, trade associations, and non-profit organizations build effective partnerships and driven an array of award-winning corporate brand and reputation programs, including CITGO’s Fueling Good campaign.

Michael graduated Magna Cum Laude from Syracuse University and holds B.A. degrees in Newspaper Journalism and Political Science.

Alka Nayyar brings 15 years of experience across a full range of communications, marketing and public relations assignments for public, private and non-profit organizations. Using critical thinking, common sense and an integrated approach to messaging, Alka works with clients to successfully navigate crisis communications, media plans and product and program launches. She crafts strategic messaging that helps organizations creatively tell their stories, and communicate clearly and effectively with internal and external audiences.

At MHC, Alka uses her broad base of PR and project management skills to communicate client initiatives and manage both strategy development and media plan execution. She also supports clients with message management around organizational advocacy, policy and positioning on key issues.

Prior to joining MHC, Alka served as a spokesperson and communications manager for several State of Illinois agencies – most recently, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice and the Illinois Department of Central Management Services. In the office of former Governor Pat Quinn, Alka served as the liaison managing communications for state departments covering topics as diverse as human services, economic development, public safety, transportation, property management, procurement, human resources and labor relations.

In the high-growth business intelligence environment at MicroStrategy, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR), Alka developed successful client and partner PR programs, structured media plans garnering positive product reviews, targeted business and tech media coverage, and further expanded MSTR’s international graduate recruitment program.

Outside of MHC, Alka leads the non-profit Chitrahar, one of the nation’s first organizations dedicated to promoting diversity and South Asian cultural awareness on radio, TV and through the performing arts. She also regularly teaches Indian dance classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music and the Menomonee Club and is a choreographer, actor and cultural consultant for local Chicago theater.

Justin Ellis has over 15 years of experience in creative and digital strategy, working in a variety of communications disciplines at both global and boutique agencies. During his career, Justin has worked with numerous clients on programs related to sustainability, internal communications, crisis, and other corporate communications challenges. Justin has experience leading a variety of creative programs including creative strategy development, strategic digital planning and execution, brand development, crisis communications, corporate communications, internal communications, and marketing.

Justin spent nearly 10 years at global communications firm FleishmanHillard as a creative and digital leader working with clients including Aclara, Boy Scouts of America, Chevrolet, Gatorade, General Motors, Google, Purina, and Rawlings. Justin has also worked on global projects for Dell, Laird, Piper Aircraft, Rackspace, and Washington University. Justin helped lead the strategy for the redesign and build of Berry Plastic’s corporate website with an emphasis on streamlining and simplifying the experience of navigating a diverse set of products across a wide array of industries. His work with Enterprise Holdings (parent company of Alamo, National, and Enterprise car rental brands) helped simplify employee communications across a diverse and largely mobile workforce. Justin also worked with Anheuser-Busch InBev to help tell their SmartBarley story on the web as part of their sustainability initiatives.

Justin graduated from Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer information systems with a minor in music, He also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Lindley White has over 25 years of experience in corporate communications—including strategy, internal & external communications, change management and employee engagement communications, public relations and strategic events.

Lindley began her career in the White House working in the first Bush Administration and has continued to work with high-ranking executives and firms in the public eye—including McDonald’s and Ariel Investments. She has worked on many large-scale corporate initiatives from the launch of a new mutual fund to the rollout of McDonald’s worldwide “I’m lovin’ it” campaign.

In 2009, Lindley established her own consulting practice. Representative projects include repositioning messaging for a business advisory and restructuring firm; a multi-year assignment with a manufacturer to the steel industry including acquisition and integration communications, executive and plant leadership messaging and working onsite at the company’s largest plant in support of an employee engagement campaign. During the Sun-Times Media Group’s bankruptcy proceedings, Lindley served as a spokesperson and handled a range of internal communications.

Lindley’s collective experiences working within the political, financial and manufacturing arenas, Fortune 500 brands, entrepreneurial environments, as well as distressed companies afford her unique insights into diverse constituencies and a wide array of communications challenges.

Lindley graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Economics.

Ben Finzel is a twenty-five year veteran of Washington with deep experience in communications and policy. He has served as a congressional staffer, presidential appointee and public relations agency executive. Finzel’s career has focused on energy and environment communications and policy, and he has been involved in many of the most significant related issues of the past two-plus decades. He is president and founder of RENEWPR, a DC-based communications consulting firm that works with clients addressing energy and environment communications challenges and helps clients develop, manage and evaluate strategy, messaging, media and partnership programs. 

Ted Wagnon has extensive experience with leading manufacturers and other companies, developing tailored communication strategies to address needs as diverse as public affairs, employee engagement and fulfillment, M&A, change initiatives, sustainability and ESG, and other B2B concerns. 

Ted’s experience includes approximately 18 years working onsite with major manufacturers and distributors of products including paper, specialty chemicals, agricultural and forest products, and non-fossil energy. Since 2015, Ted has worked with a leading food company on social impact programs, advised a nuclear energy generator on safety communication, and counseled the nation’s largest construction lender as it integrated 15 acquired banks into a unified culture. Ted’s expertise also includes helping organizations to anticipate, avoid, or mitigate risks through proactive communication solutions.

Previous employers include International Paper, Arizona Chemical, Potlatch Corporation, LTV Missiles & Electronics (now part of Lockheed Martin), Fleishman Hillard, and VOX Global. In each case, Ted was recognized for his ability to identify opportunities to advance business interests through innovative and effective communication strategies. Relevant client experience includes work on behalf of Nissan USA, Bayer Crop Science US, Bank OZK, Pizza Hut, AT&T, Entergy Nuclear, MONI, and National Pork Producers Council.

Ted earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Arkansas State University and has received awards for excellence in journalism, public relations, and community service.

Founded by partners Katie Schenck and Heather Lechner, Ballyhoo Blue Workshop strives to empower executives and their teams to communicate big ideas in bold new ways. They approach each project as a true collaboration with their clients, and bring the highest level of expertise in their respective fields to the table (as well as a healthy dose of humor). As a result, they consistently execute strategic communications solutions that exceed the expectations of their clients. They aim to serve as partners in successful storytelling.