Category: Past Speakers

Matt Armbruster is a dedicated social entrepreneur and community leader in Mobile, Alabama.

In 2010, alongside his wife Tara, he co-founded Ransom Café, a donation-only restaurant. This initiative aimed to provide not just meals, but dignity and community to those in need.

In 2015, the couple furthered their mission with Ransom Reprogram, a job training program designed to empower formerly incarcerated, addicted, and homeless individuals to reintegrate into the workforce.

Building on this success, The Ransom team introduced Ransom Recycling in 2018, which provides crucial on-the-job training while reinforcing the character development initiated in Reprogram.

In 2022 collaborating with the City of Mobile, Matt spearheaded “Road2work” a transformative initiative aimed at further empowering individuals experiencing Homelessness through employment opportunities and community engagement.

Over the past 14 years, these initiatives through Ransom have impacted over 500,000 individuals

Originally from Kansas, Matt Armbruster relocated to Mobile in 1992 and has since become an integral part of its community.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Matt enjoys golf, hunting, and traveling. He also serves as a chaplain to local businesses through Coastal Chaplains.

Matt is married to Tara Skipper Armbruster, and they are proud parents to five daughters: Teagan, Shelby, Micaela, Abbey, and Mary Paige.

Mrs.Gina Englund graduated from the University of South Alabama in 1986 with a B.A. in Early
Childhood Education. She has taught in both the public and private school systems for many
years, served on the Building Leadership Team, Accreditation Tram, and was honored as
Teacher of the Year in 1994 and 2006.
Mrs. Gina became very passionate about the reading struggles that the dyslexic children were
experiencing in the classroom. She obtained her Dyslexia Therapist degree and opened a
school specifically designed for helping dyslexic learners. Bright Beginnings Academy was
formed in 2013 with Mrs. Gina as the founder and director. In 2018, she was honored with the
Golden Apple Award and in 2019, she received the Teacher of the Year award from World
Strides.
Mrs. Gina has served on the AISA Accreditation Team for the past two years and currently
serves as the Vice President of the International Dyslexia Association – Alabama Branch.
Last year, at the request of the students, the school was renamed Bright Academy, home of the
Eagles. Mrs. Gina continues to serve in her role as Founder and Director while also beginning a
new venture of training experienced teachers to become Dyslexia Therapists

Born in Mobile, Garrett earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia where he was a pole-vaulter on the varsity track team. Garrett went on to complete his master’s degree in Fitness Management (M.S.S) at United States Sports Academy. While at the Academy, Garrett interned at the Siegfried health center at St. Johns Medical facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Cooper Institute in Dallas Texas.

After personal training for eight years in different facilities in Georgia, Oklahoma and Alabama, Garrett opened Personal Edge Fitness, in 2000. With the most qualified staff in the southeast, Personal Edge offers personal training in all facets of fitness and sport through in person, online, in home and corporate settings.  Garrett can be heard weekly as the Host of the “Personal Edge Fitness” podcast, dispelling myths about health, fitness, and wellness.

In 2010 Garrett re-entered the competitive athletic field in Sprint Triathlon. In August of that year Garrett, qualified for TEAM USA and his first World Championships in Beijing, China. In Beijing Garrett finished 15th in the world and was the top American finisher in his division. Since 2011 he has competed for Team USA in 10 world championships in Sprint Triathlon, Aquabike and Aquathlon. Garrett will compete in his 11th World Championships representing TEAM USA, in Australia, August 2024.

He is married to Stephanie Jane Eads from Jasper, Alabama. They are both very active with Save-a-Stray and their K-9 foster and adoption programs. They are the proud parents of five dogs and provide a temporary home to many fosters.

 

Carrington Hodge is a Chancellor’s Scholar and student at Vanderbilt University, where she plans to major in Medicine, Health, & Society, focusing in inequality, intersectionality, and health justice, with minors in Communications and Political Science. She is also a member of the Vanderbilt Dance Team and serves on the executive boards of the MOSAIC Student Recruitment Program and the Black Student Association. Carrington is also the founder of Unmasked: The Simone Project, an educational resource website that serves as a platform for neglected voices, which positioned her as the recipient of the 2022 Princeton Prize in Race Relations Certificate of Merit.

 

David Bagwell is a 78-year old retired lawyer who grew up in Montgomery where he attended the public schools.

He graduated from Vanderbilt fifty-six years ago in 1968, LAST time the Democratic National Convention blew up in Chicago.

He immediately got a one-year draft deferment to travel around the world to study international business in 35 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

As soon as he got home he joined the Army National Guard and went to Army boot camp in Fort Polk, Louisiana in July and August. David says he is grateful that the Army taught him the two most useful skills a lawyer can have: how to type and how to bayonet people. His most fun unit was a two-man military history detachment.

David clerked for a famous federal judge, Judge Frank Johnson, an Eisenhower appointee, although the current chief justice foolishly says it does not matter who appointed a judge.

After that, David practiced law for half a century. He was in two rival big firms and a medium firm in Mobile, and for the last seventeen years practiced by himself in Fairhope, Alabama and was his own secretary. He says that this was the only time he liked all of his partners. David mostly handled admiralty and antitrust matters.

Between the ages of 35 and 40, David did a term as U.S. Magistrate for the Southern District of Alabama. He ran for Federal Judge three times and each time, lost by only three votes: the President and both Senators from Alabama.

David was president of this club 32 years ago in 1992, president of the bar association of Baldwin County, president of the school board of St. Ignatius Parish, and is active in his church and the community. He is an honorary member of the Point Clear Rotary Club now.

In retirement he says he “is in the seafood processing business”, meaning that he tries to catch fish in Mobile Bay and puts the carcasses in the five crab traps he maintains on his “wharf”, as Mobilians call a dock or pier. He says life is good.

Chris Blankenship is the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources (DCNR), appointed by Governor Kay Ivey in May of 2017. He has been with
ADCNR since 1994, when he joined the Department as a Conservation Enforcement Officer in
the Marine Resources Division.
Chris serves on many boards and commissions and is Chairman of the Forever Wild Land Trust
Board as well as Chairman of the Innovate Alabama Council on Outdoor Recreation. Chris also
previously served as a member of the Board of Control of the Employees Retirement System of
Alabama.
Having been integrally involved in the State’s response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill from
the beginning, Chris has a solid background for the oil spill recovery and restoration work he
handles as Governor Ivey’s appointed designee overseeing all the DWH funding allocated
directly to the State of Alabama.
He has been happily married to Allyson Blankenship for 32 years and has three adult children.
He is a native of Dauphin Island, Alabama, and currently resides in Montgomery, Alabama.