Category: Past Speakers

MICHAEL PIERCE
Michael E. Pierce is a 1991 graduate of Tulane University where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. While at Tulane, he excelled as a student athlete becoming Tulane’s All Purpose Yardage Leader and Pre-Season Street & Smith All-American candidate in 1989 after having graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile Alabama as the All-Time Leading Rusher three years earlier. Pierce was invited to join the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent in 1990. Unfortunately, a lingering knee injury caused his retirement before his NFL career could begin.
Michael is the former Executive Director of the MLK Avenue Redevelopment Corporation (MLKARC). His primary responsibility was to develop and implement a comprehensive community and economic redevelopment program in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue community. Since 1993 MLKARC has invested HUD HOME Funds in excess of $14 million to construct 137 new affordable homes benefiting several hundred Low–Moderate Income Mobilians. MLKARC has also invested $3.4 million to develop commercial retail space on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue and Broad Street. The retail centers were developed to provide area residents convenient access to goods, services and employment opportunities. Renaissance Plaza on Broad Street was a catalyst for the development of a Dollar Tree Store on an adjacent parcel.
Pierce is also active in civic and community affairs. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mobile Airport Authority and Infirmary Health System, Member of the Whitney New Markets Advisory Board, Former Co-Chair of Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s Transition Team, Past-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Commonwealth National Bank and the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and Past-President of the Rotary Club of Mobile. He serves on the board of the Mobile Arts & Sports Association, was named Senior Bowl Game Captain for 2018-19 and is chairman of the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame Committee. He has also served on the board of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.
Pierce is married to wife, Daphne; they have two sons, Michael, Jr. and Myles, and two pets Simone and Aspen.

Biosketch
Edward A. Panacek, MD, MPH, Professor of Emergency Medicine and of Medicine
Dr. Panacek received his undergraduate education (BA) at UCLA, and his MD degree from the University of South Alabama. His postgraduate training was in Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine, all performed at UC Davis Medical Center and completed in 1986. From 1986, through 1992, he was an Assistant Professor of Medicine (critical care and emergency medicine) at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland. During that time, he served as Director of the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Training Program, and of the Emergency Medicine Fellowship Program as well as the Associate Medical Director of the AirCare Helicopter Transport Service. He served as the Associate Director, and subsequently as the Acting Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine at University Hospitals of Cleveland.
In 1992, he joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis, as an Associate Professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology and the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He was promoted to a full professor in 1997. He also served as the Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director, from 1992 until 2000. He obtained an MPH in Epidemiology from the School of Public Health, University of California – Berkeley in 2000. From 2000-2014, he served as the Director of the Office of Clinical Trials. In 2015 he moved to the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, as new Professor and Chair of Emergency Medicine. He is the medical director of the Emergency Departments in the USA Health System.
Dr. Panacek has over 300 scientific publications (over 150 original journal articles, over 50 Book Chapters and Invited Manuscripts and over 130 original research abstracts). He has served as an associate editor for two of the major journals in emergency medicine and is on the editorial board of multiple other journals. He has chaired over 12 Committees, Sections or Task forces for national professional societies and was on the Board of Directors of the Council of EM Residency Directors (CORD.) He has also chaired the Executive Committees and served as the overall Academic Principal Investigator for multiple large multi-center national and international clinical trials. He is in frequent demand as a speaker and averages over 75 lecture presentations per year. He won numerous national awards, including the prestigious 2002 “Outstanding contributions in research award” from the American College of Emergency Medicine, the “Hal Jayne Academic Excellence Award” from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine in 2012, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2007, from the University of Maryland, for contributions in EM research.
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Jonathan Porter serves as Vice President of Birmingham Division for Alabama Power Company.
Porter is responsible for the company’s operations, sales, customer service, economic and community development and external affairs activities for more than 430,000 customers across six counties in north central Alabama.
Porter joined Alabama Power in 1991 as a Customer Accounting intern through the INROADS program where he interned four summers with Alabama Power until graduation. He rejoined Alabama Power in 2000 and has held various positions of increasing responsibility to include Sr. Corporate Recruiter, Sr. HR Business Representative, Customer Service Supervisor, Assistant Business Office Manager, Lead HR Business Consultant, Assistant to the Executive Vice President of External Affairs, Birmingham Division Area Manager, Director Customer Service, and Vice President of Human Resources & Ethics.
Prior to joining Alabama Power, Porter worked as an Underwriting Analyst at Protective Life Corporation and as a Manager at INROADS, Inc.
Porter serves as a member of the board of directors for the Jefferson County Education Foundation, Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority, Birmingham Jefferson Inland Port Authority, United Way of Central Alabama, REV Birmingham Inc., Birmingham Business Alliance, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Alabama Power Foundation, Alabama Business Charitable Trust Fund, and A.G. Gaston Boys & Girls Club. Porter is an advisory board member of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham’s LGBTQ Fund. Porter is Chairman of the 2021 Birmingham World Games Foundation, serves as a Board Trustee of Tuskegee University and a member of the Newcomen Society of Alabama. Porter is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham, has been featured in Who’s Who in Black Alabama, was recognized as a “Top 40 under 40” by the Birmingham Business Journal, and was recognized as one of “20 leaders for the next 20 years” by Bhm Biz magazine.
Porter graduated cum laude from Tuskegee University with a B.S. degree in Business Administration. While at Tuskegee, Porter was a 4 year letterman in football and was an All-Conference Scholar-Athlete. Porter later received his MBA from The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
A native of Bessemer, Ala., Porter and his wife Kima are the proud parents of daughters Laila and Kailyn.