Category: Past Speakers

Judge Edmond G. Naman has served as presiding Juvenal Court judge since 2007. A native of Mobile, he attended UMS Preparatory School, The University of South Alabama and Jones School of Law.
Prior to joining the 13th Judicial Circuit, he served as Assistant District Attorney for Mobile County and was Special Prosecutor for gun and violent crime and for the Drug Court.
He has long had a special interest in helping children at risk and has served as advisor and on boards of many programs including the “Make the Right Choice” program, Helping Families Initiative, Children’s Policy Council, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and many others too numerous to list here.
Some of the recognition he has received for his dedicated work includes the Spirit of Recovery Award presented by the Mobile County Drug Education Council, Goodwill Easter Seals Community Partner Award, Mike Gottfried Community Service Award presented by Mobile Christian School and Team Focus, Man of Vision Award presented by the Gulf Region Organization Of Nigerians and Americans, Champions Of Life Award presented by the GO-Daddy.com Bowl Committee, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award presented by People United to Advance the Dream and the 2016 Sir Thomas More Lecturer at Springhill College.
Judge Naman attends St. Mary’s Catholic Church. He and Marcella have 2 children.

Bio of Al Hutchinson
Having served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau for more than 11 years, Al Hutchinson assumed the role of President/CEO of Visit Mobile on July 1, 2014. Hutchinson has been in the hospitality industry for more than 23 years and is the recipient of the 2014 Pioneer Award presented by the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners.
Hutchinson currently serves as Board of Advisor member for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and the Gulf Coast Exploreum Board. He is a member of the Mobile Area Lodging Association; a member of the Alabama Travel Council; member of the Coastal Alabama Partnership; a member of the 100 Black Men of Greater Mobile, Inc.; Mobile Rotary Member 2015; University of South Alabama Business School Advisory Council 2016; and also a member of Religious Conference Management Association Advisory Committee.
Hutchinson received his Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from the University of Alabama in 1982. Hutchinson is married to Unae Hutchinson and has two children, Asia and Jalen.

Albert Watkins (Watt) Key, Jr.
220 Saint Michael Street
Mobile, AL 36602
wkey@wattkey.com

Watt Key is an award-winning southern fiction novelist, screenwriter, and speaker. His debut novel, ALABAMA MOON, was released to national acclaim in 2006, won the prestigious E.B. White Read-Aloud Award, sold over 250,000 copies domestically, and has been published in eight languages. In 2009 ALABAMA MOON was made into a feature film starring John Goodman. Watt’s follow-up novel, DIRT ROAD HOME, was released in 2010 both domestically and internationally. His third novel, FOURMILE, was released in September of 2012, receiving starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. In addition to his novels and screenplays, Watt writes fiction and nonfiction articles for both local and nationally distributed publications. In 2015 ALABAMA MOON was listed by TIME Magazine as one of the top 100 young-adult books of all time
Experience: Novels, short stories, essays, screenplays
Awards:
California Young Readers Medal
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Alabama Library Association Young Adult Novel Award
SIBA Children’s Novel of the Year
E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers
Parent’s Choice – Gold Medal Winner
VOYA Top of the Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers
Borders Original Voices selection
Books-a-Million Bookpage feature
Barnes and Noble Discover book
Selected works:
September 2006, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux , ALABAMA MOON (novel)
July 2010, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux , DIRT ROAD HOME (novel)
September 2012, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux , FOURMILE (novel)
September 2015, University of Alabama Press, AMONG THE SWAMP PEOPLE (non-fiction)
January 2016, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux , FOURMILE (novel)
Future Publications:
January 2017, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux , HIDEOUT (novel)

LIGHT OF THE VILLAGE
Officers
Founder/ Executive Director:
John Eads grew up in New Mexico, and at the age of 14, he became a cadet at New Mexico Military Institute where he graduated from high school four years later. He continued at NMMI and earned a junior college diploma and a commission in the United States Army. John later earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from New Mexico State University, and a Masters in Hospital Administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. From 1998 through 2007, he served as Chief Executive Officer in two different hospitals for the Infirmary Health System. In 2005, he was awarded the Distinguished Early Career Healthcare Executive award for the state of Alabama.
From 1997 to 2001, John and his wife, Dolores, served with Prison Fellowship Ministries and conducted in-prison seminars in prisons throughout Alabama. They established Prison Fellowship seminars in the State’s juvenile facilities in 1998 and continued to serve inside both adult and juvenile correctional facilities until 2001. In 2001, John and his wife founded Light of the Village and served there part-time while working for the Infirmary.
In 2007, John decided to leave the healthcare field to devote full time to his work as Executive Director at Light of the Village.
John has traveled to East Los Angeles and learned about gang intervention at Homeboy Industries, considered to be the nation’s Best Practice for gang intervention. Additionally, he and his wife traveled to Camden, New Jersey to learn about youth programs from Urban Promise. In 2014, the Eads participated in a ten day leadership course taught exclusively by former Navy SEALS in Virginia. Since completing the course, several Navy SEALS have visited the ministry and play an active role in contributing to the Light of the Village.
Currently, the Light of the Village offers a six day a week presence inside the Alabama Village and surrounding communities. It serves children, teenagers, and adults. Since 2014, the ministry has expanded to four summer camp sites, and two after-school programs. We serve over 400 inner-city children a day for eight weeks during the summer and over 100 a day during our after-school programs. Additionally, we offer a GED program, job placement, ACT college prep tutoring and a variety of their programs to meet the needs of our community.

Dr. John Valentine, Executive Director
Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Biographical Information
Dr. John Valentine serves as the Executive Director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL). Prior to being named the Executive Director, he served as Chair of the Sea Lab’s University Programs. Since arriving at DISL, he has written or co-authored over 95 grant proposals for research. Support for his research has come from both federal and state agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) and The Nature Conservancy.
In 2015, a research team led by Dr. Valentine was awarded $6.5M to conduct studies on the role of biodiversity in determining the resiliency of the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon accident. More than 75 students, technicians and post-doctoral students were supported by these efforts. He has been lead or second author on over 70 scientific articles in addition to serving as an academic editor for the scientific journals Marine Ecology Progress Series and PLoSOne. He has also served as a panelist for U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, and NOAA’s National Undersea Research Program.
In addition to his national leadership in the marine sciences, he currently serves on the Executive Boards of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, and Alabama’s Forever Wild Program. Recently, the Governor’s Water Agencies Working Group charged Dr. Valentine with assessing the impacts of future watershed withdrawal on coastal Alabama resources. Dr. Valentine is also a recent graduate of Leadership Alabama.

Introducing Andrew Saunders to the Downtown Rotary Club
Andrew Saunders is Chairman of the Executive Committee of Mobile Botanical Gardens. Previously he served as President of the Gardens.
Andrew and his wife, Carolyn, recently deceased, have been active participants in the growth and development of Mobile Botanical Gardens for many years as board members, officers, and underwriters.
Andrew was CEO of the Saunders family enterprises in the marine service industry throughout the Gulf region for his entire career. He was also active in the leadership of several civic and industry organizations including the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce–Chairman, The Nature Conservancy of Alabama–Chairman, The Seamen’s Foundation—Chairman; The Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway Association—Vice-chairman; The American Boatbuilders Association—Vice-chairman; GulfQuest—Executive Committee member.
Under Andrew’s leadership, the Saunders Companies supported the communities in which they operated, particularly Mobile, which was headquarters.

Casi (kc) Callaway,
Executive Director & Baykeeper –
Mobile Baykeeper
Casi Callaway grew up in Mobile, Alabama, graduated from Emory University and moved to DC where she organized and lobbied on environmental legislation at the local, state and federal level. She came home in 1998 to work locally to protect her favorite watershed. Under Casi’s leadership, Mobile Baykeeper has grown into the Mobile Bay area’s largest environmental advocacy organization and one of the largest local organizations along the Gulf Coast with over 4,000 members and more than a half million dollar budget. She and the Baykeeper team are responsible for organizing, researching and educating the community on issues that affect public health, environment and quality of life.
Casi received the Liberty Bell Award from the Mobile Bar Association, was named a “Remarkable Woman” by Lifetime Television, Coastal Hero by Coastal Living magazine and a “Woman Shaping the State” of Alabama by al.com. Casi served on the Gulf of Mexico Program’s Citizen Advisory Committee and as a Commissioner to Alabama’s Coastal Recovery Commission.
She is a member of the Junior League of Mobile, Board Member of Waterkeeper Alliance and liaison to the international organization’s Board of Trustees, graduate of the Leadership Mobile class of 2012, Chair of the Leadership Council for Mobile United and is actively involved in environmental groups at the local, state, regional and national levels. She lives in the Mobile Bay area with her husband and wonderful 8-year-old son.

Jeff Carter is the Executive Director for the City of Mobile’s Innovation Team. Jeff is a lifelong resident of Mobile County, and proud alumni of The University of South Alabama. Throughout his professional and volunteer experience, Jeff has utilized his diverse background to impact large municipal and non-profit organizations by focusing on data driven policies and procedures that result in increased efficiency, flexibility, and financial stability Jeff served on the board of The Grounds for five years,though its renewal and re-branding, and is currently working with the Fuse Project to provide the spark for innovation, funding and implementation of projects benefiting children along Alabama’s Gulf Coast.

OysterSouth: A Revolution in Oyster Farming
Bill Walton is an associate professor in Auburn University’s School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences, a marine Extension specialist for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and a senior scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Working along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico at Auburn University’s Shellfish Lab (Dauphin Island, AL), he conducts applied research with local shellfish farmers, shellfishermen (commercial and recreational), and national and local organizations. Before moving to the Gulf, he did similar work along the coast of Massachusetts. His interests include all aspects of marine invertebrate fisheries, restoration and aquaculture. Bill has a BSc in Biology from Tufts, a MSc in Ecology from Rutgers, and a PhD in Fisheries Science from the University of Maryland.