Session 1 - Industry Outlook

Bud Nocera
President and Chief Executive Officer
VISIT FLORIDA

Session 2 - Government Relations and Your Business

Jay Galbraith
Florida Parks Government Affairs
Busch Entertainment Company

Jay Galbraith is the Senior Director of Government Affairs for Busch Entertainment’s Florida Parks – Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, SeaWorld Orlando, Discovery Cove and Aquatica.

These five parks are unparalleled in providing enriching entertainment experiences and up-close animal encounters, and offer a combination of thrilling rides, amazing animal interactions and world-class shows.

 

Together the parks welcome over 12 million guests annually and employ 10,000 Florida residents.  As a testament to the importance of our state in the global tourism industry, Busch Entertainment Corporation also relocated their company headquarters to Orlando in 2008.

In public service, Galbraith served as a staff member for both Congressman Michael Bilirakis of Tampa Bay and Congressman Bill Grant of North Florida.

A Central Floridian, Jay graduated from Indian River Community College, Ft. Pierce and Florida State University, Tallahassee. He is active in community volunteer service - serving on the Executive Committee of the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools, and on the Boards of the Florida Restaurant Association and the Valencia Community College Foundation.

Primary Responsibilities: Coordination of all regulatory, legislative and political interaction on behalf of Universal Theme Parks domestically, as well as real estate entitlements and community involvement in Central Florida.

Background: Joined Universal in 1995 as Manager – Government Relations – responsible for Universal Orlando’s interaction with Tallahassee and Washington. 1999 Named Vice –President – Government Relations – responsible for coordinating all issue management with regulatory and elected bodies including them park operations, land development and neighbor relations. 2001 responsibilities increased to include oversight of political, regulatory and legislative interaction for Universal Studios Hollywood. Promoted to Senior Vice President in May 2007 overseeing Government and Community Relations.

President and CEO of the Ernest Hemingway Home in Key West since 1994. I have served on the Govermental affairs committee, been a Board member and past chair person of the Florida Attractions Association.

Stephanie Thienel is the Government Relations and Safety Services Manager for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. She tracks federal and state legislation and regulations as they affect the American operations of IAAPA’s over 4,500 members. She also operates IAAPA’s grassroots action network, directly connecting members to their elected officials. Previously, she worked in the Washington-based grassroots and government relations office of the Associated Builders and Contractors, as a regional coordinator for Minnesota Victory ’04 (the Republican National Committee’s voter turnout effort in Minnesota), and as the legislative assistant to a Minnesota state senator. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and religion from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Bill Warren is Vice President of Government Relations for the Walt Disney World Resort, one of the world’s top tourist destinations and the largest single-site employer (62,000) in the United States.

At various times since 1995, he also led the resort's media relations, internal communications and community relations teams.  In this capacity, the Florida Public Relations Association’s Orlando Area Chapter named Bill its Outstanding Public Relations Professional for 2000 and he received the statewide honor of Florida Professional of the Year in 2003.

In the community, Bill serves on the board of directors of the Florida Chamber Foundation, the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida and the International Rhino Foundation.   He also serves on academic advisory boards for the University of Central Florida College of Sciences and the University of Florida School of Public Relations.

Bill, 52, joined Disney in 1995 from Florida Power Corporation where he was responsible for all internal and external communications in the company’s fastest growing region, covering eight Central Florida counties and one million customers.  He also served as director of the company’s emergency communications team for the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant.

Prior to his public affairs career, Bill worked for 10 years as a business journalist and editor for several prominent news organizations in Tampa and Jacksonville.  His journalism career brought him to Orlando in 1984 as founding editor and vice president of Orlando Business Journal.

A native of Virginia, Bill holds a BS degree in Mass Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and was honored as a Davenport Fellow in Business and Economics Reporting at the University of Missouri.  He recently received his MBA degree from Stetson University.

Lunch:

He received a bachelor of military science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1955 and master of science degrees in Astronautical and Aeronautical Engineering and Instrumentation Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1963. He received an honorary doctorate of science in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1971.

Selecting the United States Air Force after graduating from West Point, he received flight training at Moore Air Base, Texas; Laredo Air Force Base, Texas; and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.

He attended Randolph Air Force Base Instrument Pilots Instructor School in 1963 and served as a pilot and armament officer from March 1957 to May 1961 with the 95th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

Prior to his arrival for duty at the Johnson Space Center, he served as an instructor at the Aerospace Research Pilots School at Edwards Air Force Base, California - from which he graduated in September 1965. As an instructor, he trained some of the men who would later become fellow astronauts. He is also a December 1964 graduate of the Empire Test Pilots School in Farnborough, England.

He has logged in excess of 4,000 hours flying time--which includes 2,500 hours in jetsCol. Worden was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966, in the 5th group of astronauts selected. He served as a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 9 flight and as backup command module pilot for the Apollo 12 flight.Worden served as command module pilot for Apollo 15, July 26 - August 7, 1971. His companions on the flight were David R. Scott, spacecraft commander, and James B. Irwin, lunar module commander. Apollo 15 was the fourth manned lunar landing mission and the first to visit and explore the moon's Hadley Rille and Apennine Mountains, which are located on the southeast edge of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). Apollo 15 achievements include: Largest payloads placed in earth and lunar orbits; first scientific instrument module bay flown and operated on an Apollo spacecraft; longest lunar surface stay time (the lunar module, "Falcon," remained on ground for 66 hours and 54 minutes); longest lunar surface EVA (Scott and Irwin logged 18 hours and 35 minutes each during three excursions onto the lunar surface); longest distance traversed on lunar surface; first use of lunar roving vehicle; first use of a lunar surface navigation device (mounted on Rover-1); first sub satellite launched in lunar orbit; and first EVA from a command module out of Earth orbit for which Col. Worden still holds a record for the furthest deep space EVA.

During this EVA Worden logged 38 minutes in extravehicular activity outside the command module, "Endeavour." In completing his three excursions to "Endeavour's" scientific instrument module bay, Worden retrieved film cassettes from the panoramic and mapping cameras and reported his personal observations of the general condition of equipment housed there. Apollo 15 concluded with a Pacific splashdown and subsequent recovery by the USS OKINAWA. In completing his space flight, Worden logged 295 hours and 11 minutes in space. 

During 1972-1973, Worden was Senior Aerospace Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, and from 1973 to 1975, he was chief of the Systems Study Division at Ames in California.

After retirement from active duty in 1975, Worden became President of Maris Worden Aerospace, Inc., and was Vice-President of BF Goodrich Aerospace Brecksville, Ohio, in addition to other positions within the aerospace and aviation industries.

KENNETH M. BAYLOR
Vice President, Employee Labor Relations
Republic Services

Mr. Baylor is a Corporate Officer and Vice President of a premier multi-billion dollar services organization. His nationwide responsibilities include the design and implementation of proactive strategies for leadership development, change management, conflict resolution, compliance, and early intervention and positive resolution of employment issues. He is also a Chief Negotiator for major labor agreements.

Previously, Mr. Baylor held leadership positions in large service and manufacturing organizations; an employment law firm; and the federal government. His vast experience includes a full range of functional human resources activities, including leadership development and a special expertise in employee and labor relations, all in support of national and international operations.

He has received numerous awards for leadership and outstanding performance. At the WasteExpo, Mr. Baylor was a unanimous selection for the “2005 Distinguished Service Award” from EIA/NSWMA citing his, “leadership” and “…the highest spirit of volunteerism and involvement, personal integrity, professionalism, and performance in an honorable and ethical manner.”

He is a member of the Academy of Management, Sigma Beta Delta (an International Honor Society for Business, Management and Administration), a Board Member on the Council on Labor Law Equality, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, EIA/National Solid Wastes Management Association, Industrial Relations Research Association, Porsche Club of America, and Society for Human Resource Management. In addition, he serves as the lead management Trustee on Taft-Hartley Health and Welfare and Pension Funds.

He is a graduate of the University of South Florida, and earned his MBA and Master of Science in Leadership degrees from the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University where he is a Doctoral candidate in Business Management. He also guest lectures at NSU and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in leadership, management, and human resources curriculums.

 

 Session 4 - Going Green - Love Your Island

Christopher C. Belland is a founder, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Historic Tours of America®. Mr. Belland has been an executive officer and director of the Company since inception. Mr. Belland was a director of the Florida Attractions Association. He is also the past president of the Key West Attractions Association, which he founded in 1983, and is a past director of the Key West and Lower Keys Development Corporation and past treasurer and board member of the Florida Attractions Association. In addition, Mr. Belland served as a board member and secretary of the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Belland’s duties include transportation, tours, attractions and company oversight and expansion.

 Session 5 - Profit from Video’s Convergence with Internet Marketing

Blair Zykan

Managing Director, Media On-Demand

Allied Vaughn

 

 

Blair Zykan is a frequent speaker on topics related to new media delivery technologies, and video’s convergence with internet marketing.

He has a twenty-year career in executive and marketing management, currently serving as Managing Director, Media On-Demand for Allied Vaughn, a provider of outsource manufacturing and fulfillment services that streamline supply chains for corporate and special interest video clients. In this capacity he oversees several new technology components of the Company’s on-demand manufacturing and web commerce operations.

 

In 2000, Blair co-founded and served as CEO of TangibleData, Inc., a business that developed on-demand manufacturing and fulfillment systems to help corporate clients distribute digital content more efficiently. Allied Vaughn acquired his company in 2002.

Between 1993 and 2000, Blair served as CEO and other executive management capacities with Laser Technology, Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of laser-based speed and distance measuring products. He is a named inventor on seven patents related to instrument and data collection system design.

 

Blair held a variety of sales, marketing and management positions with Armstrong World Industries, a global manufacturer of interior finishing products. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College with a B.A. in Economics.

 

 

Session 6 - Graduate Level Social Media: Dissecting Case Studies From the Real World

Josh Hallet
New Media Strategist

Voce Communications

 

Josh Hallett is an internationally recognized thought leader in the convergence of social media and corporate public relations & marketing.

Josh is currently a New Media Strategist at Voce Communications providing social media consulting and development work with brands like Yahoo, Sony Computer Entertainment America, eBay and a number of B2B/B2C firms.

For more than ten years, Josh has been working with emerging internet communication technologies and works closely with public relations practitioners and corporate communicators to integrate these tools into an organization's public and media relations strategies.

Josh is a highly sought-after public speaker on social media and has presented at numerous workshops, seminars and conferences in a wide variety of market segments.

Josh is a Fellow/Board Member of the Society of New Communications Research as well as a member of the Florida Public Relations Association.

Based in Winter Haven, Florida, Josh serves clients throughout the United States.