About GCCC

Kimberly George is the Vice President, Communications and Corporate Citizenship for Alex Lee, Inc. in Hickory, North Carolina.  She began her role in communications almost 10 years ago after working in many areas of the Alex Lee business which includes retail grocery and wholesale distribution.  She is an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC), a Master in Business Administration (MBA) and a certified Strategic Communication Management Professional.  She served as an exam writer and reviewer for the first Communication Management Professional (CMP®) exam. Kimberly joined IABC in 2008 and is currently serving on the IABC Charlotte Chapter board.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP®, IABC Fellow, is senior internal communications manager at Hitachi Vantara. Before that, Brad led communication programs at HP, Cisco, PeopleSoft, Micro Focus and AAA. He holds undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri and an MBA from Santa Clara University. Brad is a past chairman of the IABC’s international executive board and a past president of two local chapters. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication.

Theomary Karamanis, Ph.D. is a multiple Gold Quill Award-winning communication consultant and educator. She has worked in the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Canada. She has been actively engaged in various industries (government, private and non-profit) and fields of expertise, including corporate communication, consulting, higher education administration and teaching, executive training, media and research. She is currently a full-time Senior Lecturer of Management Communications at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), while she regularly delivers executive workshops in strategic communication, crisis communication and leadership communication both in the US and internationally.

Melissa Arulappan has spent over three decades in challenging and exciting communication roles in the corporate and consultancy sector in India. She is currently India communications head of US-based healthcare services firm, IQVIA. Passionate about nurturing and developing talent, Melissa is actively involved in teaching PR and running professional development initiatives. She enjoys travelling, baking and sports. Melissa holds a post graduate degree in medical and psychiatric social work and an advanced diploma in PR.

Jo is a Partner and VP in Swyft, an Austin based B2B tech PR agency. Till 2015 he worked in Brussels for bpost (Belgian public postal operator) and at akkanto, FINN and Lewis PR (all PR agencies). His main expertise lies in corporate communications, public relations, content marketing and crisis and issue management. He is a Board Member of PRSA Austin and writes on his blog about a host of communication issues.

Dr. Jerome is Collegiate Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) where he taught international management in the Graduate School and served as a senior member of the administration for 25 years. He was involved with certification of online programs. He has published two books on international trade and several articles in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and the Journal of Commerce. Prior to service at UMUC he worked for two US Senators, a UN support group, the US International Trade Administration, the Capital Group (an international financial management company) and the Economic Strategy Institute, an economic think tank. He is a Fulbright Scholar. He earned a doctorate from the University of Geneva (Switzerland), a masters from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Medford, Massachusetts), and a bachelors from Pomona College (Claremont, California).

Alex Malouf, SCMP®, is the Chair for the EMENA Region. Based in the United Arab Emirates, Alex holds the position of Corporate Communications Manager for the Arabian Peninsula at Procter & Gamble. A journalist by training and with a cultural mix that is both European and Arabic, Alex’s expertise spans communications and media, public relations and marketing for both multinationals in the energy, technology and FMCG space as well as several Gulf-based government institutions.

Mrs. Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) has been a member of the IABC for 16 years and was President of the IABC (Jamaica) Chapter in 2009. She is a former journalist and a recipient of the Press Association’s (PAJ) national award for Business/Finance in 2008 for her series of columns, “ROI of Communications” published in the Jamaica Observer. She has an MBA (University of New Orleans) and a BA and MA from the University of the West Indies, Mona.

Sia Papageorgiou is a multi-award-winning strategic communication leader who believes in the power of connection, the spirit of change, and embracing adventure. She’s led and worked with high-performing multidisciplinary teams and clients across Australia and internationally. A current chapter and previous regional leader in IABC, Sia is president at IABC Victoria and has served as director at IABC Asia-Pacific.

Ben Shaw is CEO at SE10, a global content and communications agency with offices in London, Singapore and Chicago. The company serves clients in a range of sectors including the manufacturing, technology and energy industries. He has worked in media and public relations for over 20 years, starting as a technical writer at a publishing company in 1997 before leaving to co-found SE10 in 2002. Based in Singapore, he oversees the company’s day-to-day operations and divides his time between Asia, Europe and North America.