Category: Past Speakers

Speaker: Rod Frazer – March 3
Title for Presentation – Send the Alabamians – 167th (Alabama Infantry Regiment of Rainbow Division of WWI)
Born December 10, 1929, Rod Frazer is the son of a Purple Heart veteran of the regiment and is a Silver Star veteran of the Korean War. He received an MBA from The Harvard Business School and is a member of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame. From 1950-1953, Rod was Tank Platoon Leader (Lieutenant) in the Korean Campaign receiving numerous military decorations including the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action, US Presidential Unit Citation, ROK Presidential Unit Citation, Letter of Appreciation, 37th Infantry Regiment, 12th Republic of Korea Infantry Division Korean Campaign Ribbon with three Battle Stars U. S. Parachute Badge. Rod is a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, Life Member 20th Special Forces Society, and Member of 140th Tank Battalion Association.
Rod business career includes a broad range of professional experience in finance, real estate and other industries, as well as numerous public and civic service positions, including former positions as Chairman of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of Water Works & Sanitary Sewer Board of Montgomery, Trustee, State of Alabama Department of Archives and History, Member, University of Alabama Medical Center Advisory Council, Trustee, Atlanta International School, Trustee, Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, Israel, Trustee, Huntingdon College, Trustee, Hughston Sports Medicine Foundation, Inc., Founding Director, Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, Founding President, William Knox House Association, Member, Board of Visitors, The Air University, USAF, Maxwell AFB, President, Lurleen B. Wallace Cancer Foundation, Director, Alabama Mental Health Association, Director, Montgomery Association for Retarded Children, and Member, Alabama Economic Developers Association, among others. Rod’s interests include physical fitness, American History, genealogy, and the Middle East and Islamic World (Travels in Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan).

WILLIAM B. SISSON
BIO
William B. Sisson is president and chief executive officer of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. He has worked in the field of economic development for more than 20 years.
Sisson earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Alabama, and a bachelor’s in business administration from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. He also holds a diploma from the Institutes for Organization Management, and is a graduate of Leadership Mobile and Leadership Alabama.
Sisson is a member of the International Economic Development Council, Economic Development Association of Alabama, Southern Economic Development Council and Rotary International. He also serves on the boards of many community organizations throughout the state.

Andy Newton is a founding member of Southern Light where he has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since its inception in 1998. In that capacity, he stewards the overall operations and strategic guidance of the company. Southern Light is currently the leading provider of fiber optic networks and high-capacity transport solutions along the Gulf Coast with over 5500 miles of fiber networks. The company has been listed in “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” by Inc. Magazine during each of the last nine years. In the 2007 edition of that publication, Southern Light was ranked 151 in the country and number 1 in Alabama. In 2010, Southern Light was named the “Innovator of the Year” by the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. In 2015, Fortune Magazine ranked Southern Light the 51st Best Place to Work for Women.
Andy is active in the Gulf Coast community serving on such boards as the Alabama School of Math and Science Foundation Board, Downtown Mobile Alliance, University of South Alabama School of Computing, and UMS-Wright Preparatory School.
He is an Alabama native and received a degree in Economics from Birmingham Southern College.

Our guest is Mark Johnson, former director of our United Way of Southwest Alabama. He has written a memoir about his role as a charity CEO who spends more than two decades in United Way, raising a career total of $100 million, and at age 50 chucks it all and becomes a street cop with the Mobile Police Department. It’s also the story of an adopted child who becomes a man in search of his birth parents, in order to discover and understand all that he is.
From the boardrooms of philanthropy to the gritty urban streets of today’s Deep South – a career change provoking every kind of reaction from family, friends and community. The memoir culminates in an armed confrontation with an escaped cop-killer. Apprehensions & Convictions is a story about second thoughts, second chances, and ultimately redemption. The book is currently available on Amazon.com and will also be available for purchase at the conclusion of Thursday’s program

PHIL SAVAGE, JR.
Executive Director, Senior Bowl
Named Executive Director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl in June of 2012, Phil is a native Mobilian and returned to the Port City after spending 20 years in the National Football League as a coach, scout, personnel director and general manager. Phil will be joined by Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garrett, who has been selected to coach the North Team of the 2016 Reese’s Senior Bowl. It is the fifth time the Cowboys’ staff has coached the Senior Bowl, but the first time since 1965. Tom Landry and his staff coached in the game four consecutive years (1962-1965).
JASON C. GARRETT
Dallas Cowboys, Head Coach
Coach Garrett (born March 28, 1966) played college football at Princeton University. At Princeton in 1987 and 1988, Garrett completed 366 of 550 passes (66.5%) for 4,274 yards and 20 touchdowns and won the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Player of the Year. Garrett signed as a free agent with the New Orleans Saints in 1989 and joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1993. In the Cowboy’s 1994 Thanksgiving Day game, Garrett led the Cowboys over the Green Bay Packers by completing 15 of 26 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns in a second-half comeback. That game was named in 2008 as the fourth-best moment in the history of Texas Stadium by ESPN. Garrett also played for the New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Miami Dolphins before retiring in 2004.
After retiring as a player, Garrett became the quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2005–2006 under head coach Nick Saban. In January 2007, Garrett was hired by the Dallas Cowboys as offensive coordinator. He guided the Cowboys to the 2nd best offense in the NFL. On November 8, 2010, he was named as the Dallas Cowboys’ interim head coach following the firing of Wade Phillips after the Cowboys’ 1–7 start for the 2010 season. On November 14, 2010, Garrett won his first game as a head coach, beating the favored New York Giants 33–20 in the Meadowlands. The next week, he led the Cowboys to a 35–19 victory over the Detroit Lions, their first home win all season. On January 6, 2011, Garrett was named the official Cowboys head coach and the 8th in Cowboys history.

After almost two decades of on-the-ground work in nonprofit organizations, building capacity through communications and leadership development, Todd Greer, PhD. (Organizational Leadership, Regent University) recognized a need for a 3rd space (not the traditional image of home or corporate environment) that could facilitate the movement of people, ideas, services, products, and organization. His mission in life is to grow others through the engagement of their “sweet spot” where they can thrive in teams, organizations and, especially, as people.
As the Chief Catalyst for the Exchange, Todd focuses on: Business Development, Community Relations, Operations (the “BIG” picture), Community Culture, & Innovation

M aster Chief Port was born in West Chester, Penn. He enlisted in the Navy in May 1986 and completed Basic Training in Orlando, Fla. He spent 18 months as a non-rated Seaman prior to reporting to the Defense Language Institute (DLI), Monterey, Calif. for Russian language training, and was selected to remain for six months of extended intermediate Russian language training. He completed technical training at Naval Aircrew Candidate School and Morse code training prior to reporting to Naval Security Group Detachment, Brunswick, Maine. He accumulated more than 1,000 flight hours, 600 of which were combat flight hours in support of Operation Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Provide Hope, and Continue Hope. He was awarded an Individual Action Air Medal for a mission flown over Mogadishu, Somalia. In 1994 he returned to DLI for the Advanced Russian Interpreter course prior to duty with the On-Site Inspection Agency, now the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, in Washington, DC. He logged an additional 1,500 flight hours onboard the OC-135B Open Skies aircraft, the Navy Research Lab P-3C, ES-3 as well as 110 flight hours flown onboard a Russian IL-38 ASW aircraft, the first US-Navy Air Crewman to do so.
Selected for Chief Petty Officer in 1997, he served at Navy Recruiting Command Headquarters. He was selected to Senior Chief Petty Officer in 2000 and attended the Senior Enlisted Academy before reporting to the Naval Security Group Activity Kunia, Hawaii as Senior Enlisted Advisor (SEA) and Leading Chief Petty Officer. He was selected to Master Chief in 2003, and joined the Navy’s Command Master Chief ranks in 2004. As a CMC he served with Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 (HM-15) in Corpus Christi, Texas, and led the squadron through multiple Middle East deployments as well as four major natural disaster recovery operations. Master Chief Port reported to PCU George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) as the CMC, commissioning the ship January 10, 2009 and becoming a Plank Owner. He served as the SEA to the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) Chief Operating Officer, and CMC to NETC’s Learning & Development Division (N7) in Norfolk, Va., and in May 2010 reported as Force Master Chief, Navy Personnel Command/Bureau of Naval Personnel, Millington, Tenn.
Master Chief Port holds a Masters in Business Administration, a B.S. in Political Science, is a designated Master Linguist, attended the Navy Senior Leader Seminar and is a KEYSTONE graduate. His personal awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards), Meritorious Service Medal (3 awards), Air Medal (Individual Action), Navy Commendation Medal (3 awards), and the Navy Achievement Medal (4 awards).
Master Chief Port reported for his current assignment as the Naval Education and Training Command Force Master Chief in Feb 2013.