Category: Past Speakers

Jill Chenoweth – President and CEO, United Way of Southwest Alabama
Ms. Chenoweth graduated Magna cum Laude from Spring Hill College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. Chenoweth has a long history of philanthropic service, having held leadership positions in local nonprofit organizations and academic institutions in our community. She began her work with the United Way of Southwest Alabama as Vice President of Resource Development in 2017. She was promoted to President / CEO in April 2018. Prior to her move to United Way, she was the director of development for St. Mary’s Home, a residential treatment program for abused, abandoned and neglected children.
Chenoweth is co-founder of the South Alabama Coalition of Nonprofits, a group of nonprofit organizations sharing a common purpose based on increasing effectiveness, advocacy for those who receive the services and for the nonprofit sector, and public awareness and support of the nonprofit sector in the community. She previously received the Active of the Year Award from the Junior League of Mobile and the Ignatian Award from Spring Hill College.
Currently, she serves as a member of Mobile United, the Junior League of Mobile, and South Alabama Coalition of Nonprofits.
She has participated in and provided leadership and development to numerous boards of directors.

Joe Gottfried, a native of Crestline, Ohio, became a member of the South Alabama Department of Athletics in 1981 when he was named Assistant Athletic Director. In 1984, Gottfried was named Director of Athletics at USA. During his tenure, Jaguar teams have won 82 conference championships. Gottfried has guided South Alabama to 10 of the last 17 Sun Belt Conference Commissioner’s Cups, while the program has placed no lower than seventh in the annual Sun Belt competition, signifying overall athletic excellence. Under his reign, the academic support program became the model of the Sun Belt Conference. Jaguar athletic facilities also grew at USA, such as upgrades to the South Alabama Field House, USA Track Facility the Bruce David Lubel tennis courts and most recently Stanky Field. In 1999 , the 10,000-seat Mitchell Center Complex was completed. Under his tutelage, USA has hosted 23 Sun Belt Conference Championship events.

Alberto ‘Ariel’ Chavez
Ariel was born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia. In 2002 he moved to the U.S. as an international student to complete his engineering studies at the University of South Alabama. In 2005 he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Civil Engineering program at South Alabama and was selected graduating Student of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Ariel worked as a project engineer in the highway design department at Volkert & Associates for over 8 years. In 2010 he obtained his masters degree in transportation planning from the University of South Alabama as well as his Professional Engineering (P.E.) license in Alabama and surrounding states.
In 2014, following his love and passion for travel, he started a small business in Mobile and purchased a Cruise Planners American Express Travel franchise. Since 2016 he has been a top producing franchisee and now manages a team of travel advisors around the country. In 2019 he was elected as a member of the Advisory Board of American Express Travel.
Ariel became a U.S. citizen in 2015 and has visited all 50 states and over 40 countries around the world. Ariel is fluent in Spanish, English, intermediate German and can understand Southern. He and his husband Cai enjoy sailing, they recently completed their foster care and adoption certification and both are looking forward to their first placement.

Ashley Rich
Mobile County District Attorney
Ashley Rich is the District Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit of the State of Alabama, which is the second largest Circuit in the State. She was elected in November of 2010 and has the honor of being the first female District Attorney of Mobile County. Prior to taking the over as the leader of the office she served as an assistant District Attorney for 15 years. She has tried over 155 jury trials and numerous defendants who are on Death Row in the State of Alabama.
Ashley has been an enemy of crime and a champion of families for 20 years. As a prosecutor, she has served Mobile County since 1996.
Ashley Rich is tough on crime and leads a team of over 60 dedicated employees to serve the Citizens of Mobile County everyday by: Vigorously Prosecuting Crime, Delivering Justice to all Victims, Supporting Law Enforcement in Seeking the Truth, and Aggressively Working to Prevent Crime.
Outside of the courtroom she has steered children in the right direction with community outreach programs, serves on the Penelope House Domestic Violence Center Board, the Underage Drinking Task Force, the Board of Volunteers of America, the Board of the Boy Scouts, and Mobile United Public Safety Committee. She also serves as “Big Sister” in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring Program.
In 2015 she was selected by her peers through the United States to serve as President of the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation. In 2011 she received the National Trial Advocacy award for outstanding Capital Litigation by the same organization.
Ashley has been awarded the Lagniappes “Nappie Award” for Mobile County’s Hardest Working Elected Official four times. She was also awarded the Mobile Baybears Community Service Award in 2013, Along with the Mobile Museum of Arts “Her- Story Award”. This year she was the recipient of The Watson Guy award at the 21st annual Drug Education Council, which recognizes the continuing tradition of helping others.
Ashley was just elected without opposition to her second 6 year term in office.

Jorge Luiz RIBEIRO DE OLIVEIRA
President & Chief Executive Officer
AM/NS Calvert
Jorge Luiz Ribeiro de Oliveira, joined AM/NS Calvert as
President and Chief Executive Officer on September 1,
2019. Jorge is responsible for the operations and strategic
direction of the multibillion-dollar steel processing facility in Calvert, which is jointly
owned by ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel Corporation.
Jorge began his career at ArcelorMittal Tubarão almost 34 years ago, as a development
engineer trainee. In January 1989, he became section manager of blast furnaces
enlarging afterwards his responsibility to the production planning & control and the blast
furnaces & sinter. In June 2008, he was nominated General Manager responsible for
iron making and energy department. He held this position until 2010 before being placed
in charge of the steel making and Hot Strip Mill at the ArcelorMittal Tubarão facility.
In 2011 Jorge left ArcelorMittal Tubarão to take a position as President & CEO of
ThyssenKrupp Steel CSA Cia Siderúrgica do Atlántico SA. In July 2014 Jorge re-joined
ArcelorMittal as Chief Operations Officer of Flat Carbon South America.
Living and working in an international environment has taught Jorge the importance of
bringing people together and just how much can be accomplished when you empower
people to work together. Jorge’s moto is “With respect, trust and transparency we are
stronger integrated and much more motivated”.
Jorge is a graduate in metallurgical engineering from Universidade Federal Fluminense,
Brazil and he participated in executive programs at Kellogg School of Management,
USA and PGA program at Insead in France.
Jorge enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, and playing golf. He and his wife
Livia reside in Daphne, Alabama, with their twin daughters Brunela and Gabriela

BIO – JANET L. COBB, MG (USA Retired)
Executive Director, USS Alabama Battleship Commission and Battleship Memorial Park, Mobile, Alabama
Janet Cobb became the eighth executive director of the USS ALABAMA Battleship Commission and Battleship Memorial Park on December 14, 2015.
She enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in May 1974 and served until August 1976. She was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Signal Corps in May 1978 from the University of Alabama ROTC program, where she was named a Distinguished Military Graduate. MG (Ret.) Cobb was the fifty-fourth general officer and first female general officer to graduate from the University of Alabama. In April 2017, MG (Ret.) Cobb was one of seven selectees for the inaugural University of Alabama ROTC Hall of Fame.
She commanded at the detachment, battalion, brigade, directorate/brigadier general and major general levels. Her deployments include post-Desert Storm operations at the Ports of Al Jubayl and Ab Dammam, Saudi Arabia; Operation Iraqi Freedom port operations, Port of Ash Shuyabah, Kuwait (2002-2003).
MG (Ret.) Cobb’s additional deployments were joint assignments, where she served as Commander, 598th Transportation Group (Terminal)(2007), Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with oversight of military ports in Europe and North Africa; and Director, Central Command Deployment & Distribution Operations Center (Camp Arifjan, Kuwait)(2011), which directed all intra-theater airlift for Iraq and Afghanistan.
MG (Ret.) Cobb was assigned to the Department of the Army Staff as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, (Mobilization and Training) from 2011-2014. She was mobilized and served in the Pentagon on the Army Staff as Deputy G-4 in 2012. In October 2013, then-Secretary of the Army John Marsh appointed MG (Ret.) Cobb to the Army Reserve Forces Policy Committee for a two-year term.
Her last assignment was Commanding General, 81st Regional Support Command, Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Senior Commander, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. On August 8, 2016 she was retired from the Army of the United States after 42 years in uniform.
Her decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (3), and various campaign and service awards.
She holds a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law, Samford University; an M.S.S. from the United States Army War College and a B.A. from the University of Alabama.
MG (Ret.) Cobb is a past USS ALABAMA Battleship Commissioner. She serves on the boards of the Historic Naval Ships Association, The Lee Foundation and the Equine Therapy Group for Veterans. She is member of the Mobile Bay Area Veterans Day Commission Board of Trustees and serves on the Veterans Initiative Advisory Council of the Community Foundation of South Alabama. MG (Ret.) Cobb holds a real estate license with the State of Alabama. She is a member of VFW Post 5658, American Legion Post 99 and other professional and civic organizations.
She is a resident of the Barnwell community in Baldwin County.

“Olivia McCarter is a nineteen-year old sophomore at the University of South Alabama who is majoring in anthropology. She is also a forensic genetic genealogist for Redgrave Research Forensic Services and has helped close three cold cases from all over North America, including one in our own backyard–the case of “Delta Dawn Baby Jane Doe” found in Pascagoula, Mississippi in December of 1982. While she is not at school, Olivia helps law enforcement from all over the country identify remains that have been known as “John Doe” or “Jane Doe” for decades and identify murderers and rapists from unsolved cold cases that have gone cold for sometimes half a century.”

James H. “Jimmy” Shumock
Chair pro tempore
State at Large
Business Administration
Appointed 2010
James H. Shumock earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of South Alabama in 1980. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
Prior to stepping down from a leadership role at Thompson Holdings Inc., a Mobile firm that includes Thompson Engineering, Watermark Design Group and Thompson Consulting Services, Shumock was the board chairman and chief executive officer. Shumock is currently a member of Thompson’s board and is leading the owner advisor team for the Alabama Department of Transportation’s procurement of the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project, as a public-private partnership.
Shumock’s career began in public accounting and he joined Thompson in 1983. His tenure there spanned more than three decades, during which he filled various roles and was instrumental in developing the company’s transportation services business throughout the Southeast. Shumock’s leadership in transportation included his service on the Alabama Commission on Infrastructure and his participation in a study of the financing of innovative mega projects in several European countries for the Federal Highway Administration.
Shumock served six years on the USA National Alumni Association Board, received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the USA National Alumni Association and is the president of the Jaguar Athletic Fund, a Mitchell College of Business fellow and serves on the USA Foundation Board.
Shumock has served the Mobile community with his participation on the Mobile Area Sports Commission, Coastal Conservation Association, Mobile Preschool for the Sensory Impaired, Mobile Baykeepers, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, Mobile Jaycees, the Greater Gulf States Fair, and he is a past president of the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. Shumock is also a graduate of Leadership Mobile.
Shumock and his wife, Debbie, live in Daphne. They have one daughter, Amanda, who lives in Alpharetta, Ga.

Sheriff Sam Cochran
Sam Cochran is a native Mobilian who graduated from the McGill Institute and went on to attend the University of South Alabama where he holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in criminal justice and public administration. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
He began his law enforcement career with the Mobile Police Department as a police cadet where he spent 31 years working his way through the ranks, serving the last 10 years as Chief of Police.
In 2006, Sam Cochran was elected Sheriff of Mobile County and re-elected in 2010, 2014, and 2018.
Sheriff Cochran serves the community on numerous agency boards, including the Penelope House, the Drug Education Council, and the Alabama Safety Institute. He was appointed by the Governor in 2015 to serve as a Commissioner on the Alabama Police Officers Standards and Training Commission. He has also served on the board of the Boy Scouts of America and the Child Advocacy Center.
Sheriff Cochran and his wife Sabrina have four children and four grandchildren.