Moderated by Dr. Todd Greer / Vice Provost/Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Mobile
Panel:
- Allen Carroll / Managing Partner, Wilkins Miller
- Robert Holbert / Co-publisher, Lagniappe
- Kellie Hope / Vice President of Community & Governmental Affairs, Mobile Chamber of Commerce
- Dr. Gia Wiggins / President/Owner, Morale Resource LLC
Session One, 11:00AM – 12:00PM, Oct 4, 2019
This session will feature a panel of leaders in organizations who will each share from their journey the opportunities, challenges, and successes they have experienced in seeking to engage positively across gender lines.
Dr. Todd Greer
With two decades of on-the-ground work in a wide variety of organizations, Todd Greer is an experienced community builder, facilitator, capacity building guide, and leadership development consultant.
Currently the Dean, School of Business and Vice Provost at University of Mobile, Greer holds a Ph.D. in organizational leadership with a major in human resource development from Regent University. He has served as a board member and instructor for many Mobile-area organizations including Innovation PortAL, Real Advice Mentoring Program (RAMP), the Minority Business Accelerator, I-Corps, the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy, the United Way of Southwest Alabama, Mobile United, and Springboard to Success Inc. He is an advisory board member with Veterans Recovery Resources and a few local startups.
It is quite clear that Todd is passionate about growing entrepreneurial leaders and increasing the capacity of local nonprofit organizations.
Allen Carroll
Allen Carroll first joined the firm now known as Wilkins Miller in 1987 and serves as its Managing Partner, a role he has served since 2007.
Wilkins Miller is an accounting and advisory services firm with offices in Mobile and Fairhope. For the last five years in a row, Wilkins Miller has been recognized nationally by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 “Best Accounting Firms to Work For” in the USA and by Business Alabama as one of the “Best Companies to work for in Alabama.” Accounting Today also named Wilkins Miller as the ninth (9th) best firm for women in the USA. In 2017, Wilkins Miller was the recipient of the Alabama Performance Excellence Award. Wilkins Miller has been named a “Top 400 Firm” by INSIDE Public Accounting (IPA) several years in a row.
Allen’s experience is vast ranging from litigation and consulting services to traditional tax and accounting services in a variety of industries. Allen routinely works with attorneys and their clients as a damages expert and forensic accountant related to commercial disputes and civil and criminal litigation as well as general consulting with businesses and their owners.
Allen has a degree in business administration (concentration in accounting) from the University of South Alabama. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Association of International CPAs and the Alabama Society of CPAs. Allen is Accredited in Business Valuation and been designated as Certified in Financial Forensics by the Association of International CPAs. He is also a Certified Valuation Analyst by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts.
As part of the Mitchell College of Business’ 50th Anniversary in 2018, Allen was named as a Mitchell College of Business IMPACT member, one of 50 individuals recognized for their leadership and contributions that have been instrumental to the growth and development of the college. In May of 2019, Allen was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey to the Alabama Securities Commission. He is on the Board of Directors for the University of South Alabama Foundation, the Executive Advisory Council for the Mitchell College of Business and the Board of Advisors of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. He has served St. Luke’s Episcopal School as both its Treasurer and Chairman of the Board of Trustees and was in a leadership role when St. Luke’s embarked on its creation of its high school. Allen was a member of the National Board of Directors for Distinguished Young Women (formerly known as America’s Junior Miss). He was involved with the Mobile and Baldwin Counties Community of Concern Advisory Committee. Allen has been a committee member of the Mobile Chapter of Young Certified Public Accountants and has served on the Accounting Advisory Board for the University of South Alabama.
Allen has been married to his wife Jenny for more than 30 years and they have a son and daughter. Allen is passionate about business and organizational leadership. He enjoys spending time on Dauphin Island, loves aviation, boating and motorcycles.
Rob Holbert
Rob Holbert is co-publisher and managing editor of Lagniappe, Mobile, Alabama’s independent weekly newspaper. Rob helped found the newspaper after a career that started as a police reporter and columnist at the Mississippi Press in Pascagoula. He won several writing awards at The Mississippi Press, including being chosen the state’s top columnist for 1993 in the Mississippi Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.
He followed his time in Pascagoula with a stint as a deputy press secretary for then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott in Washington, D.C., handling the senator’s weekly column, press releases, speech writing and preparing Lott for television appearances.
After leaving Capitol Hill, Rob worked ghost-writing opinion articles for publication in some of the nation’s largest newspapers. From 1999 – Aug. 2010 he was the faculty adviser for the University of South Alabama student newspaper, The Vanguard, which was judged the second best weekly student newspaper in the Southeast region in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards five out of the last eight years of his tenure.
In 2002 Rob founded Lagniappe with his business partner Ashley Trice. The paper is now Alabama’s largest weekly, printing 30,000 copies every week and is distributed to more than 1,400 locations around Mobile and the Eastern Shore and is Alabama’s largest weekly newspaper.
Rob has won numerous writing awards while at Lagniappe and in 2018 took first place for Best Editorial Column or Commentary in the weeklies division of the Alabama Press Association Awards, and second place for Best Humorous Column. Rob’s column also took third place in the SPJ’s Green Eyeshades Awards in 2018 for Humorous Commentary among non-daily newspapers in 11 southeastern states.
When he’s not neck-deep in the newspaper business, Rob plays guitar and sings in his acoustic cover band Glass Joe and spends time with his wife and three children. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Spring Hill College in Mobile and a Master’s Degree in Communications from Loyola University of New Orleans.
Kellie Hope
Kellie Hope joined the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce as Vice President of Community and Governmental Affairs in January 2017. Prior to the Chamber, she served as external affairs manager for Southern Light (now Uniti Fiber), developing local government relations in communities the fiber company serves across the Gulf Coast. She was responsible for legislative and regulatory issues impacting the fiber company in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Additionally, Hope has 10-plus years’ experience in the healthcare sector, ranging from director of community services and communications for Tulane University Hospital; administrator and mental health coordinator for Cooper Green Mercy Hospital in Birmingham; and owner of the Louisiana Health and Wellness Group in Houma, La., providing a partial hospitalization program for mentally ill adults. Hope holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a Master of Social Work Degree, both from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. A graduate of Leadership Mobile in 2015, and Leadership Alabama in 2017, she currently serves on the board of directors of Goodwill Easter Seals of the Gulf Coast, Dumas Wesley Community Center, and Downtown Parks Conservancy. She and her husband, Alvin, are the proud parents of 2 young children.
Dr. Gia Wiggins
Dr. Gia Wiggins is a career Human Resources Professional. A native of Mobile AL, she received a BA in Psychology and Sociology from Grambling State University. After working as a Human Resources Manager for 16 years, she completed a MBA from California State University and a Doctorate of Business Administration at the University of South Alabama with a concentration in Management. She also holds a Senior Professional of Human Resources (SPHR) and Society of Human Resources Management – Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) certifications. Gia has held executive human resource management roles in companies such as AT&T (Formerly Southwestern Bell), Sears, Target Corp, Cintas Corp, and BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards.
In 2015, Gia founded Morale Resource LLC, a boutique human resources consulting firm that specializes in building human resource departments using a three-pronged approach – compliance, processes, strategy. In addition to serving her diverse client base, Gia also serves as an Adjunct Instructor with the University of South Alabama and the University of Mobile teaching Human Resources Management, Intro to Business, Business Communications and Small Business Entrepreneurship. Gia serves on a number of committees and organizations, but the one closest to her heart is Gulf Coast Dementia Services who provides services to Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers. She considers her biggest accomplishment to be a happy and healthy family, (husband Bart and three kids Mallorie, Trey, and Kenley).
Morale Resource helps clients take care of their most valued assets—its people.