Category: Past Speakers

Judy Haner has been the Coastal Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Alabama for the last 15 years, where she oversees marine restoration, coastal ecology, regional conservation efforts, and linking communities with resources.

Judy completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Lynchburg College in VA with a biology/chemistry dual major. Her master’s degree in Marine Science was completed at the College of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science. She serves on the Advisory Committees for the MS-AL Sea Grant Consortium, East Gulf Coast Plan Joint Venture, and the Peninsula of Mobile, as well as being appointed as Affiliated Research Faculty with the University of South Alabama.

Judy has worked for more than 30 years to link watershed activities with estuarine health to promote long-term and targeted coastal restoration. From coordinating Everglades Restoration to managing the largest National Estuarine Research Reserve in the system at Kachemak Bay in Alaska, Judy has strived to connect partners with common goals.  Judy has secured more than $92M in competitive grants to implement coastal planning and restoration projects that link science and management with on-the-ground actions and communities. Her strong focus on partnerships has engaged agencies, organizations, local governments, and citizens in collaborative restoration, most notably the Lightning Point Restoration Project in Bayou La Batre, Alabama.

When not at work, Judy can be found in her garden or on her boat with her husband and 2 dogs, fishing and enjoying the Gulf coast.

Jo Bonner
President of the University of South Alabama
Jo Bonner has been a fixture in Alabama civic and political circles for more than two
decades, and today leads the University of South Alabama as the Flagship of the Gulf
Coast.
Previously, Bonner served as chief of staff to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. But it was in
Washington, representing Alabama’s First District in the United States Congress, where
he began to earn a reputation as a respected and influential voice of reason.
He was a member of the House Appropriations Committee and chaired the House
Ethics Committee. His crowning Congressional accomplishment came in 2012 when
Airbus announced plans to build its first U.S. Final Assembly Line in Mobile.
At the University of South Alabama, President Bonner launched Jag Days to bring high
school students to campus for spirited VIP tours. His upbeat message builds on South’s
journey of progress and renews its promise to students and their families: A degree from
the University of South Alabama is a first-class ticket to a brighter future.

David Clark joined Visit Mobile as President & CEO in 2017.  He has over 37 years of hospitality, lodging, and tourism leadership in Coastal Alabama.

He leads the tourism destination’s development through innovative collaborations with the City, the County, Mobile Chamber, Carnival Cruise, Mobile Airport Authority, Amtrak, Cultural Heritage tourism, and engagement with domestic and international leisure and convention promotions.  David serves as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors for the state’s first Tourism Improvement District (TID) since its establishment in 2020.  The Mobile TID has provided innovative marketing and capital improvement resources to tell Mobile’s story in ways that were never possible before.

**Mobile Tourism experiences 3.4 million visitors annually.

**Visitor spending is $1.8 billion annually.

**Tourism spend has increased $400 million during the last 4 years.

**Tourism supports 22 thousand jobs in Mobile.

Prior to joining the Visit Mobile team, David worked for 4 years at Spectrum Resorts (Beach Club & Turquoise Place) and at the Grand Hotel Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama for 23 years.  During that time David was the recipient of Marriott International’s Top Hotel Operations for North America Lodging Operations.

Davis serves in leadership roles on numerous industry, civic, and cultural boards.  He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a lifetime member of the Professional Golfers Association of America.  He is married to Melinda Murphy Clark and has a daughter, Savannah.

Ryan C. Hankins

Executive Director, Ph.D.

Ryan Hankins is the Executive Director of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA). PARCA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-ideological research organization providing policy research, data analysis, and program evaluation to educate the public and equip the leaders of governments, schools, and nonprofits to improve the lives of all Alabamians.

In addition to providing overall leadership to PARCA, Hankins has conducted or led numerous research projects, including analyses of regional demographics, school finances, gambling revenue, and Medicaid expansion.

He is active in local and statewide nonprofit work and serves on numerous boards and committees, including the advisory boards for the Masters of Public Administration at Auburn University and both the Masters of Social Work and Department of Human Development and Family Science at Samford University. He has previously served on the board of the Alabama Association of Nonprofits, the Birmingham—Jefferson Food Policy Council, the Medicaid Citizens’ Advisory Board, the Bold Goals Workforce Development Council, the Executive Team of the Alabama Committee for Grade-Level Reading, the Alabama Counts! 2020 Census Committee, the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, and is past president of the Alabama Association of Free Clinics.

He is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management Executive Education program, the Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute, Leadership Birmingham, Leadership Alabama, and a Birmingham Business Journal Top 40 Under 40 Honoree.

Hankins holds a BA in religion and English literature, a Master of Divinity, and a Ph.D. in political science. He has completed additional studies at the University of Alabama Birmingham and Oxford University.

He and his wife, Meredith, a speech-language pathologist at United Ability, are the parents of three children.

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Updated August 2024

Sherry Sullivan
Mayor of Fairhope| Biography
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Sherry Sullivan, mayor of Fairhope, is serving her first term. Prior to running for Mayor,
Sullivan worked for the City of Fairhope for almost 17 years and worked for Riviera
Utilities as Director of Governmental Affairs and Economic Development.
Mayor Sullivan was awarded the designation as a Certified Municipal Official by the
Alabama League of Municipalities, is a member of the American Public Power Association
Policy Makers Council, a member of the Policy Board for the Eastern Shore Metropolitan
Planning Organization, Electric Cities of Alabama Executive Committee, Vice President of
the Alabama League of Municipalities, past member of the Alabama League of
Municipalities Committee on State & Federal Legislation, a committee member of the
Alabama Municipal Funding Corporation (AMFund), a member of the Eastern Shore
Chamber of Commerce Leaders Council, a member of the Baldwin County Mayor’s
Association and a member of the Kiwanis Club of Fairhope, and a member of Fairhope
Christian Church.
Since taking office Mayor Sullivan, along with the City Council and City Staff, has
completed or are currently managing approximately $60 million in utility upgrades and
quality of life projects.
Mayor Sullivan has one daughter, Abby, who is married and lives in Fairhope with her
husband, Steve May. Steve and Abby have three children and one grandchild.

 

Deann Servos is the Executive Director of Prodisee Pantry, Baldwin County’s largest emergency food pantry that provides thousands of families with groceries and hope! She is one of three women who founded this community ministry in 2003.  She is a graduate of Emerging Leaders – Small Business Administration’s Streetwise MBA program, a graduate of Penn State and was an accomplished broadcast journalist before answering the call to start Prodisee Pantry.  The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce presented her with the 2016 Community Leader Award.  She is a member of North Baldwin, Central Baldwin and the Eastern Shore Chambers of Commerce and serves on the Local Emergency Planning Committee of Baldwin County’s Emergency Management Agency, is Past-Chair of Baldwin County Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, on the North Baldwin Infirmary Foundation Board, on the North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and with twenty years of nonprofit experience she is a mentor and active in several other nonprofits.  She is the proud mom of three children and is married to Mark, her husband of 31years.  They all live on the family farm in Stapleton.

 

A graduate of Auburn University and the Cumberland School of Law, Keith Blackwood has been with the Mobile County District Attorney’s office since 2008. Prior to becoming District Attorney, Keith served as Chief Assistant District Attorney, supervising virtually every division of the office.  Throughout his career, he has prosecuted thousands of cases and was nationally recognized for excellence in complex and capital litigation.

Keith Blackwood is a member of the Alabama Bar Association, Mobile Bar Association, Paul W. Brock Inns of Court and sits on the Penelope House Advisory Board, a local organization that provides support to victims of domestic violence. He’s an Eagle Scout, actively involved with the local Boy Scouts and has been a Big Brother with Big Brothers and Big Sisters for several years. Keith and his wife Tandice have three children.