Barb DeSanto (Moderator)
Barb DeSanto, APR, Fellow PRSA, PhD is a professor and director of the communication program at Maryville University, Barb combines more than 15 years of professional experience including news reporting and editing, and public relations experience in domestic and international tourism, county government, and consulting work in her academic world. She joined the Maryville staff in the fall of 2009 after chairing the mass media department at Washburn Univerity in Topeka, Kan.
She has held four board positions with the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC). Her PRSA activities include coordinating PRSA's Learning to Teach national and regional seminars, the national outreach to help practitioners transition into public relations classrooms and co-editing the third edition of PRSA's Learning to Teach; instructor for APR training sessions; CEPR academic program reviewer; and Educational Affairs board member. With both a bachelor's and master's degree from St. Cloud State University, Barb earned her doctorate at Oklahoma State University. Deb Finkel
Deb Finkel has more than 30 years experience in all aspects of the public relations field and has served a variety of major for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the Midwest, as well as on the West Coast. For the past 25 years, she has operated her own award-winning public relations and marketing communications firm, Finkel & Binder Communications LLC. Among her national clients have been Cirque du Soleil, The Foundation for Credit Education and National Garden Clubs Inc.
For the past nine years, Finkel also has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in writing, media literacy, public relations and advertising. In the 2009-2010 academic year, she served as Visiting Instructor of Public Relations at Saint Louis University and as faculty advisor to the SLU PRSSA chapter. She is currently an adjunct full professor at Webster University and an adjunct faculty member at Maryville University. Finkel has a master of arts degree, with honors, in media communications from Webster University. She earned her bachelor's degree in from the University of Missouri-Columbia in news- editorial/journalism.
Gary Ford
Gary Ford is an associate professor in the School of Communications at Webster University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in public relations and corporate communications and serves as director of the school’s graduate program. He has been a member of the school’s full-time faculty for seven years and has taught classes at Webster for 21 years.Prior to entering full-time teaching, Ford was group director for Weber Shandwick Worldwide, the world’s largest public relations firm, where he managed work for several clients. He also has held positions in corporate communications for Mallinckrodt Inc., where he directed external, internal and financial communications; Southwestern Bell Corporation, where he held a variety of assignments including financial communications, executive relations, and media relations; and Mayo Clinic, where he managed internal communications, handled media relations and edited medical publications. He is an independent communications consultant providing counsel to clients in St. Louis and the Midwest.
Ford earned a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri, holds a master’s degree in business management from Webster, and completed graduate work in corporate finance at the Wharton School. Before entering the public relations field, he was a reporter and newspaper editor and served as managing editor of the Kansas City Kansan in Kansas City, Kan.
Ron Gossen
Ron Gossen has dedicated his career to communications, its practice and advancement. Accredited by PRSA, he also holds an international certification in project management by the Project Management Institute. A past president of the Texas Public Relations Association and former chairman of the board of the Public Relations Foundation of Texas, Gossen was honored by the Arthur Page Lecture Series and PRSA-Austin, as “Texas’ Outstanding Public Relations Practitioner.”
A practitioner, innovator, teacher and author,he has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Texas and an MBA in management, with post-MBA education in marketing. Gossen is the author of the industry guide book “A Practical Guide to Branding,” published by the Credit Union Executives Society, as well as graduate text and professional papers on branding and public relations topics. His work on behalf of his clients has garnered recognition as the nation’s best credit union marketing campaign, and, separately, as the industry’s top public relations campaign, along with dozens of regional and local accolades.
As chief marketing officer at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the institution’s senior associate vice chancellor. Gossen leads the university’s branding, marketing, communications and public relations activities carried-out by a team of two dozen professionals. Prior to joining UMSL, he was a vice president of Commerce Bank and served as an adjunct professor in both the Maryville University School of Arts and Sciences Communications Department and in the university’s Simon School of Business. |