Author: peggy

Rob Holbert is co-publisher and managing editor of Lagniappe, Mobile’s weekly newspaper. Rob helped found the newspaper after a career that started as a police reporter and columnist at the Mississippi Press in Pascagoula. He followed that with a stint as a deputy press secretary for then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott in Washington, D.C.

After leaving Capitol Hill, Rob worked ghost-writing opinion articles for publication in some of the nation’s largest newspapers. From 1999 – Aug. 2010 he was the faculty adviser for the University of South Alabama student newspaper, The Vanguard, and in 2002 started Lagniappe with his business partner Ashley Trice. The paper now prints 25,000 copies every week, is distributed throughout Mobile and the Eastern Shore and is one of Alabama’s largest weekly newspapers. Lagniappe also produces news stories daily online at lagniappemobile.com.

According to Scarborough Research, Lagniappe has nearly 80,000 print readers each week and an additional 40,000 readers a month online and in newsletters, and more than 48,000 followers on Facebook.

Rob has won numerous statewide and regional awards for column writing and was a finalist in both 2022 and 2023 for the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s David Carr Award for investigative reporting.

 

Angela Montgomery is the Executive Director for the Mobile Arts Council and has been with the organization since 2017. Angela is a native of Jackson, MS and holds a BS in Biology from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She has over twenty years’ experience of non-profit work under her belt, serving as Programs Director and Executive Director for the Alabama Coastal Foundation and the Director of Development and Communications for the Lone Star Film Society and the Lone Star International Film Festival.

As Executive Director of the Mobile Arts Council, Angela oversees the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the non-profit organization that is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the Mobile community through support, coordination, and promotion of the arts. With her leadership, MAC continues its mission of providing resources and opportunities for artists, fostering creativity, and enhancing the arts scene in Mobile.

Angela lives in Fairhope, AL, with her husband of 21 years, Joey, and their two dogs, Smurf and Brody.

 

Harmon bio

Heath Harmon became the sixth executive director of the Alabama High School Athletic Association in July 2024.

Harmon graduated from Munford High School in Talladega County, and he holds a B.S. in Secondary Education, English and history from Jacksonville State University, and a M.A. in Secondary Education, English and Educational Leadership from the University of Alabama, as well as an Educational Specialist degree from the University of Alabama. He is also a graduate of the 2023 Alabama Superintendents Leadership Academy.

He arrived at the AHSAA after a successful stint as principal at Oxford High School, and his career also included stints as a high school English and History teacher, assistant principal and coach of multiple sports. During a 12-year stretch, he served as the head football coach at Cordova, Munford, Andalusia and White Plains high schools.

Harmon and his wife have two children, daughter Halaya, and son Hudson. Both graduated from Oxford High School. Their daughter graduated from Auburn University in 2023, and their son is currently a student at AU.

 

Dr. Kevin Lane

Kevin Lane completed his PhD in archaeology at the University of Cambridge (2006). He was subsequently a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Manchester (2007-2009), a Sainsbury Visiting Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia (2010), and a Research Fellow at the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Free University, Berlin, 2011-2012), before co-directing a Leverhulme mega-research project (University of Cambridge, 2012-2015). He recently led a project on pre-Hispanic Andean mobility funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation (2018-2021). He is currently the director of the Gerda Henkel-funded High Mountain Andean Dam Rehabilitation (HAARD) project, dedicated to restoring pre-Hispanic dams for modern use. His research focuses on the Northwest and Central Andes. Dr. Lane was Director of Heritage for the Government of Gibraltar (2014-2016), prior to his current position as a Research Fellow at CONICET – UBA, Argentina. He specializes in historical archaeology and heritage management, with interests in landscape archaeology, political ecology, ancient hydraulic technology, communities, identity, and borders, particularly the impact of contact and colonization.

Presenter Bio: Henry Perkins

Henry is the Private Sector Program Lead for the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program. He oversees the Business Resources Committee, where he manages the MBNEP’s vital relationships with the business community. Part of his role includes launching programs which foster sound economic development and build environmental resilience.

He is a 2014 graduate of the University of Alabama, where he studied Community Organization, and a 2017 graduate of the University of South Alabama, where he was awarded a Master’s in Business Administration. He has worked for various start-ups and nonprofits, focusing on new business creation by connecting people to the resources they need for success. He also gets his hands dirty, working with Mobile Urban Growers to establish community gardens all around Mobile.

Henry and his wife Wendi are native Mobilians and are raising their daughter Violet and son Max to have the same love for the city and coast that they share.

Barbara Estep Bio

President and CEO, Noland Health

Barbara Estep is the President and CEO of Noland Health, a nonprofit organization that evolved from the healthcare system developed by Dr. Lloyd Noland after his arrival in Birmingham, Ala., in 1913. It currently operates facilities across Alabama, including five long-term acute care hospitals and ten senior living communities that include provide a full spectrum of options ranging from independent living to assisted living and skilled nursing care.

Estep joined the company in 1987 as the Director of Health Information at Lloyd Noland Hospital in Birmingham. She was the facility’s Assistant Administrator when Noland Health began transitioning to long-term care and sold Lloyd Noland Hospital to Tenet Health. Estep has served in various roles during her tenure with Noland and most recently served as the Vice President Administration where she oversaw a wide range of areas related to human resources, regulatory compliance, risk management, legal activities, and programs to promote quality and patient satisfaction.

Today, Estep is a recognized leader in Alabama’s healthcare industry, particularly related to the growing needs of senior care in our state. She lives in Birmingham with her family.

Kristi July currently serves as the Principal/Head of School at Covenant Academy of Mobile (CAM). She is highly regarded for her effectiveness as an administrator. With 19 years of experience in education, Mrs. July has worked as a teacher, Signature Academy Coordinator, and assistant principal within Mobile County Public Schools, gaining insight across urban, rural, and suburban schools. Passionate about education and workforce development, she played a key role in implementing the career academy model in local high schools, facilitating partnerships with industries to ensure students acquire the skills necessary for success after graduation. Throughout her career, Mrs. July has created opportunities for underrepresented students, organizing field visits, mock interviews, and paid summer internships, which have led many students to secure high-paying jobs post-graduation.

Mrs. July has served as a leadership coach, working with teachers, principals, and superintendents in Alabama, Mississippi, and New Mexico. Her experience includes:

• Leading the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of instructional programs
• Managing the daily operations of schools
• Designing, planning, facilitating, and evaluating professional development for teachers, students, and administrators
• Collecting evidence of instructional strategies and using it to help teachers and administrators adjust instruction

Dr. Ashley Williams is a trauma, acute care & burn surgeon at the University of South Alabama and the director for the USA Health Center for Healthy Communities. Her areas of interest include firearm injury prevention, health equity and advocacy.

She is the founder and director of Project Inspire, a hospital-led violence prevention program that provides education, exposure and mentorship for justice-affiliated youth in effort to empower them to reach their full potential in lieu of revictimization and gun violence perpetration. Dr. Williams also serves as the medical director for the USA Health Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP). These programs are pieces to a larger collaborative comprehensive strategy for firearm injury prevention that also includes building a trauma-informed community safety network, prevention, intervention, aftercare, survivor’s network, and advocacy.

Under her leadership, the USA Health Center for Healthy Communities has a mission to help people build stronger and healthier communities. To achieve this, she has developed a framework that bridges the gap between the community and the healthcare and academic systems using community-engaged approaches to foster community-centered and outcome-focused educational and research opportunities. The programs include the development of a community advisory board, integration of the community health worker (CHW) model into the health system, hosting medical town halls, and providing educational programs to underserved students. It is partnership with community that drives the center’s research, program implementation, and advocacy efforts

Davis PacePresident,

Mississippi Enterprise for Technology

Chair, Mississippi Aerospace and Defense Alliance

Davis Pace leads the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology (MSET), a public-private partnership

at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. At MSET, Davis leads efforts to attract aerospace and defense

industries to Mississippi, working closely with NASA, the Navy, the Mississippi

Development Authority, and the state’s major universities. Since joining MSET in 2021, he helped launch the Aerospace and Defense Alliance of Mississippi (ADAM) and an annual symposium on aerospace and defense.

Before MSET, Davis spent nearly a decade in Washington, D.C., working on international

relations, technology, telecommunications, and cybersecurity issues. He served as senior staff for

the House Foreign Affairs Committee under Ranking Member Michael McCaul (TX), managing

emerging technologies, space, and cybersecurity. Davis also served as Legislative Director for

Rep. John Ratcliffe (TX) – now the CIA Director – leading reforms in cyber defense and information systems.

Davis has been named one of Mississippi’s Top CEOs by the Mississippi Business Journal, is the

inaugural Chairman of ADAM’s Board of Directors, and a graduate of the Gulf Coast Business

Council’s Masters Class. He is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Leadership

Network. Davis holds a bachelor’s from the University of Mississippi and a J.D. from

Mississippi College School of Law. He lives in Gulfport with his family.