Nancy Seideman

Emory University

Former Vice President, Academic Communications and Reputation Leadership

Award-Winning Communications Professional with Expertise in Storytelling, Media Relations, Issues/Crisis Management

Communications strategist Nancy Seideman works to maintain and increase the reputation of organizations through her expertise in issues management and crisis communications planning and implementation. 

During her 30-year communications career at Emory University, Nancy managed multiple, complex issues associated with higher education. 

In 2014, she co-directed communications strategy and messaging related to Emory University Hospital's successful care of patients with Ebola virus disease, the first to be treated in the United States.  From 2020-21, Nancy played a key enterprise-wide communications role in helping the Emory community to navigate the impact of the pandemic and maintain the university’s priorities and mission. 

Nancy retired from her role as the university’s Vice President for Academic Communications and Reputation Leadership in 2021 to pursue a communications consulting career with a focus on issues/crises, organization and transitions. 

Nancy is widely recognized for her skill at consensus building and cultivating relationships within complex organizations to create an environment which contributes to a successful outcome in handling challenging issues.  Her focus is on helping clients achieve their objectives by providing thoughtful counsel and by developing and leading the implementation of a comprehensive communications strategy that delivers desired results.

Eileen Sheil

Medtronic

Vice President Communications

Eileen Sheil is the Vice President Communciations at Medtronic. Previously she was the executive director of corporate communications at Cleveland Clinic, one of the nation’s largest academic medical centers, and named the second best hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report (2016).

Eileen received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University (1990) and a master’s of public administration from Cleveland State University (2003).

She is a member of the Arthur Page Society, a guest columnist for PR Week, and was inducted into the PR News' Measurement Hall of Fame in 2016. She also is a member of the International Association of the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC) Non-Profit Group. She also serves as a voting member of the Conflict of Interest and Innovation Management Committee at Cleveland Clinic. She has also taught a number of classes and given presentations on public relations and communications.

Eileen has worked on numerous high profile projects that have involved presidents, heads of states, innovative surgeries “first of their kind”, book promotions and international PR projects. She has extensive experience in crisis communications as well.  

Eileen lives in a suburb of Cleveland with her husband and two daughters. 

Taya Jarman, APR

Virginia Department of Health

Communications Director

Taya M. Jarman, MS, APR is an accomplished and award-winning communications professional with experience developing and implementing communication strategies that support organizational objectives. She was recently nominated as PRWeek’s Top 40 Under 40 for her career results. 

Taya is the communications director for the Virginia Department of Health Office of Family Health Services. In this role, Taya is responsible for developing guidelines and the overall strategy for the VDHLiveWell brand. She has marketed and advertised over $800,000 in public health campaigns. With her leadership, the team developed an award-winning drinking water infographic, Every Woman’s Life multicultural campaign and VDHLiveWell.com website. Taya has served as a panelist for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) national social media webcast to discuss best practices and guidance from the VDHLiveWell program.

Prior to VDH, she created the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles’ (DMV) award-winning social media program. During her four years at DMV, she managed internal communications including its employee newsletter and initiatives. Before DMV, she was the spokesperson and community outreach coordinator for Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). While at VDOT, she assisted with international media relations and credentialing Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Richmond and Jamestown.

Taya has extensive experience as a strategic and creative thinker. She worked as a consultant for the Annual BET Award Show in Los Angeles, CA where she facilitated multiple celebrity press conferences and organized media placement along the red carpet.

Taya graduated with a master's of science degree in strategic public relations from Virginia Commonwealth University. She also holds a B.A. in communication and leadership from Christopher Newport University and a graduate certification in general management public relations from the University of Maryland University College. She’s taught several public relations courses at Virginia State University and served as a guest lecturer at Howard University, Virginia Union University, Bowie State University and North Carolina A&T State University.

Taya is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Virginia Government Communicators, and an executive board member for the Public Relations Society of America. 

When she’s not at work, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband and two sons John III (Tripp – for triple) and Tyler.

Carrie Strehlau

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Senior Social Media Specialist

Carrie is a communications, public relations, #socialmedia and media relations expert with more than 20 years of experience. 

As senior social media specialist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, she is responsible for increasing the recognition and understanding of St. Jude science, medicine and translational research through social media. 

She focuses on expanding and monitoring the hospital’s social media presence and reputation; developing content to elevate awareness, patient referrals, recruitment and company culture that fit within the hospital’s strategic plan; collaborating with hospital departments to develop content for social media posts and campaigns tied to their fields of expertise; and growing employee social media engagement and advocacy.

She started at St. Jude in 2003 on the media relations team following five years in communications at the Memphis Zoo. After about 13 years on the St. Jude media team, she transitioned to the first social media position created at St. Jude. 

With more than 72,000 followers, the hospital is across social media at @StJudeResearch (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, LinkedIn, YouTube).

Kristen Dattoli

Boston Children's Hospital

Director, Enterprise Communications

Public relations and communications leader with 20+ years of B2B and B2C experience on both the agency and client-side developing strategic campaigns that build brands and enhance thought leadership. Most of my day is focused on issues management, providing strategic council, and overseeing content development and positioning for earned and social media teams. I am also a frequent lecturer in public relations classrooms at Boston University.

Hobbies include running, theater, traveling, fitness and spending summers on the beach with my family.
On twitter @kdattoli 

Donald Steel FCIPR FRSA

Former Chief Communications Adviser, BBC

International Crisis Communications Expert

Donald Steel is uniquely placed to lead the workshop on crisis communications in a health care setting.  He began his working life in Britain’s National Health Service.  After qualifying as an RN, he went on to work in regional and national neurosurgical units in Scotland, before moving to a career in broadcasting.  He was a radio presenter and producer, and later joined the British Broadcasting Corporation’s press and publicity division, becoming the broadcaster's chief media spokesman for 11 years.   He is now a widely admired global specialist in crisis communications and corporate relations, and works with a wide range of clients, including UN agencies, leading airlines, government departments, sports bodies and high profile individuals.  His recent crisis experience includes commercial air crashes, allegations of corruption, court proceedings and data theft.  He also regularly advises health care facilities, including a leading London private hospital and highly specialist hospital units.   He is an associate director of crisis communications at Kenyon International Emergency Services, the world’s leading commercial responder to incidents involving death or injury.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and was the BBC Academy’s first Associate Fellow.   He is in demand as a speaker on crisis communications, most recently in the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Dubai and South Korea.  He is based in London.

Mary Masson

Michigan Medicine

Director of Public Relations

Professional communications director with more than 30 years experience in journalism, public relations, social media strategy, employee management and crisis communication. Currently a communication executive with Michigan Medicine, the 5th ranked hospital system in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Strong professional with a bachelor's focused in journalism and liberal arts from Central Michigan University.

Agnes Bongers

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton

Director of Public Affairs

For the past three years, Agnes has been the director of Public Affairs at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. Her award-winning team is "small but mighty", and is interested in testing innovative ways of communicating. Prior to this she was with Hamilton Health Sciences, first as a Senior Specialist, then as Manager of Media Relations and Digital Strategy. 

Agnes was a journalist for about 25 years prior, many of those years with the Hamilton Spectator, working as an editor and reporter, covering many beats over the years, most often in feature writing. She holds a Master of Communication Management with McMaster-Syracuse.
 

Sao Bui-Van

Channel 4

Communications Director

Robert Mackle

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Sr. Dir. of Brand Journalism and Media

Bob Mackle is the Senior Director of Brand Journalism and Media at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. He leads a team of media relations and content professionals in identifying and amplifying the brand’s message using brand journalism and other PR techniques. He’s a frequent speaker at national conferences, including the PRSA International Conference and the PRSA Health Academy. Prior to joining Ohio State, he served as Vice President of Public Relations at the Muscular Dystrophy Association National Headquarters. He also worked as an award-winning journalist at the Dallas Times Herald and taught editing classes at the University of Arizona’s School of Journalism.

Patrick Bartosch

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute San Diego, California

Senior Director, Communications

As senior director of communications at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), Patrick oversees all aspects of internal and external communications. Specifically, he focuses on reputation management, content strategy, and media relations. Prior to joining SBP, Patrick managed external communications for Stanford Health Care, Stanford University’s health system. He holds an M.A. degree in political science from the University of Munich, Germany.

Lee Aase

Mayo Clinic

Communications Director, Social and Digital Innovation

Lee Aase is director of the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network, which provides training resources, educational and networking events and a collaboration platform for health care professionals who want to safely and effectively apply social and digital strategies to fight disease, promote health and improve health care.

Lee also leads Mayo Clinic’s Social & Digital Innovation team, which manages Mayo Clinic’s presence on general purpose social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as well as its owned blog and community platform. Key sites include Mayo Clinic Connect, an online patient community, Mayo Clinic News Network, and Sharing Mayo Clinic, a patient stories blog.

Prior to joining Mayo Clinic in 2000, Lee spent more than a decade in political and government communications at the local, state and federal level. He was elected to Mayo Clinic’s Voting Staff in 2016.

Ginger Buxa Plumbo

Mayo Clinic

Communications Manager, Issues & Crisis Communications

Ginger Plumbo is a communications manager at Mayo Clinic, a top-ranked nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, with locations in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona.  She leads communications and media relations efforts for Mayo Clinic’s transplant practice. Her role also involves issues management and crisis communications efforts, as well as documentary projects at Mayo Clinic.

Ginger holds a Master of Arts in mass communications from North Dakota State University, with an emphasis on issues management and crisis communications, and a Bachelor of Arts in public relations from the University of North Dakota. She has over 25 years of experience in communications and public relations, mostly for non-profit and healthcare organizations.

Ginger lives in Rochester, Minnesota with her two school-aged daughters, a Goldendoodle, and an ever-growing herd of her daughters’ stuffed animals.

Michael Morrison

Mass General Brigham

Sr. Director of External Communications

Audrey Huang

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Interim Vice President