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Zack Seipert is the Marketing & Communications Specialist for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and co-author of “The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever.” Zack knows how to get important messages seen, heard, and understood in today’s fast-paced world. He has a bachelor’s degree in Digital Marketing from Utah Valley University and currently serves as the West Region Council Representative for the Government Social Media Professional Association. Find him online at zackseipert.com and on LinkedIn @zack-seipert

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Sarah Lux earned a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida and a master’s degree in public relations from Full Sail University.  Sarah has practiced Public Relations for ten years, focusing on community education, government affairs, and crisis communications. She is part of the Florida Association of Public Information Officers’ deployment team and the Lead PIO for Florida’s Region 5 All-Hazards Incident Management Team. The state of Florida has deployed her to aid communications in other counties four times, including Fort Myers Beach, after Hurricane Ian. She is part of the 2024 Master PIO cohort, a federal training program that has accepted and certified less than 170 PIOs nationwide. Lux prides herself on her ability to explain complex governmental matters to citizens in her community clearly.

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Laura McElroy is an award-winning journalist and communication strategist with 33 years of experience. She has managed high-profile crises and large events, like the Republican National Convention and Super Bowl XLIII. She consults for government agencies and major companies, develops communication strategies, and provides executive-level training. She has a deep understanding of media dynamics, crisis communication, and community outreach

https://mcelroymediagroup.com/

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Anna Smith is the Public Information Officer for Morehead City, NC, and has more than a decade of professional communications experience. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Print Journalism and Spanish before moving to North Carolina in 2011.

She enjoys disseminating information on the city’s departments, including Fire-EMS and Police. When she isn’t covering everything from community events to crisis communications, you can find her baking, reading a good book, or spending time with her husband and their cat, Otto.

Anna's LinkedIn

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Captain John Vik is a native of Lancaster County, Nebraska and began working in law enforcement through the military. He served in the 155th Security Forces Squadron of the Nebraska Air National Guard from 2001 – 2007 including time on active duty in support of Operations Noble Eagle & Enduring Freedom. He joined the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office in 2007 and graduated from the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center’s 167th Basic Training Academy.

 During his career, Captain Vik has served in all sworn divisions within the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, including assignments as a Patrol Deputy, Field Training Officer, Criminal Investigator, Crash Reconstructionist, and Instructor. He was promoted to Sergeant in 2013 and then to Captain in 2017.  Today, Captain Vik commands LSO’s Patrol Division, overseeing uniformed patrol operations throughout Lancaster County.

Captain Vik has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is a certified instructor for Georgetown University Law Center’s ABLE Program (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement) and a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Captain Vik’s proudest accomplishments are his marriage and his fatherhood. He and his wife, Heather, live in Lancaster County with their four children.

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Kristi is a former newspaper reporter with 15 years of experience leading and supporting crisis communications, cofounder and executive communications, external and internal communications, community relations, media relations, and more for Fortune 500 companies, local government, in-house, and agencies. She is the director for the Office of Communications & Media at Contra Costa County.

Email - [email protected]

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Lisa Glass is the Team Lead of communications & Engagement for the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group office in New Zealand. She is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and a National Emergency Management Response Team (NZ EMAT) member. Lisa is the first person outside the United States to be selected for the FEMA Master PIO program, which she will complete in September. Lisa has graduate qualifications in business and public sector communications. Before joining emergency management, she worked in corporate comms and PR after a long stretch as a reporter, correspondent, and producer in TV News and Current Affairs.

Bay of Plenty Emergency Services

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Sonu Wasu is currently working as a Public Information Officer for the City of Chandler Police Department. She previously worked as the Public Safety, PIO for the Town of Queen Creek, where she helped put together a campaign to launch the Queen Creek Police Department and served as the Town’s first PIO for Police & Fire.

Sonu has also worked in the private sector, handling internal and external communications for executives at a Fortune 200 company. She served as a Brand Ambassador for Avnet and helped launch the Asian-American & Pacific Islander employee resource group.

Prior to that Sonu was a broadcast news reporter for 25-years. She has worked for multiple networks around the country reporting on everything from breaking news to city, county and state government, courtroom trials, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, extreme heat and Haboobs. Sonu also spent months at the U.S.- Mexico border in Arizona covering immigration issues, drug & human smuggling, and the plight of migrants repeatedly trying to illegally enter into the United States. 

Sonu has won multiple journalism awards for her work on immigration issues, human trafficking, and other feature and spot news stories. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in Bioengineering and is currently completing a B.S. in Strategic Communications.

She is an FBI-LEEDA and FEMA certified Public Information Officer, working toward her certification as a Master PIO through FBI-LEEDA.

Sonu's email 

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Maren McKay is the Public Affairs and Communications Manager for the Lynnwood Police Department! She comes from a strong broadcast journalist background after reporting in two bureaus in Northwest Montana. She reported during the height of COVID and BLM and broke stories to people around the state. After reporting, she switched to public relations and was the PR Manager for Whitefish Mountain Resort. Her favorite thing about that job? Snowboarding every day in the winter and Huckleberry picking in the summer. There, she led DEI conversations and re-structured the resort's newsletter. A few years ago, Maren moved to Seattle, where she was the PR Manager for the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass. She coordinated high-profile commercial shoots there and led the first New Year's at the Needle show since COVID. In her current role as Public Affairs and Communications Manager,  Maren oversees all external and internal messaging. She's created crisis communications plans, established the department's brand and voice, and strengthened internal communications. No day is the same at the department! Outside work, Maren loves traveling with her husband, spending time with friends, and wrangling her 9-year-old Pit mix, Jackson.

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Cynthia McLaughlin serves as the Public Information Officer for the Sarasota Police Department under the Office of the Chief of Police, a role she assumed later in 2023 after joining the department in January of the same year.

In this capacity, Cynthia develops, implements, and evaluates communication strategies and public information campaigns to inform Sarasota citizens about the department's services, programs, and initiatives. Her work is crucial in missing persons cases, crime prevention, and the identification of suspects. 

Cynthia ensures that the department maintains a quality reputation by effectively communicating with a wide range of audiences, including organizations, neighborhood associations, employees, news media, and other community partners through both social and traditional media. She is passionate about humanizing the badge and maintaining transparency with the community.

Cynthia brings extensive experience in social media and reporting from television news stations across the country, including East Texas and Bismarck, North Dakota. She served as the evening news anchor at SNN, The Suncoast News Network, which brought her to the Suncoast. Her quick and concise ability to disseminate news has earned her numerous state-wide and multi-state Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) awards for Investigative and Spot News Reporting, competing among all market sizes, including major cities. She was also a Lone Star Emmy award finalist for her relentless coverage during a severe winter storm that knocked out power to most of the state.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Cynthia graduated from Southern Methodist University with degrees in Journalism and Business.

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