12:00 pm -5:00 pm
Exhibit Hall Setup, Exhibit Hall B
Registration

4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Welcome: Dennis Stripling, AARC President & Representative from the City of Orange Beach
Opening Keynote Kristin Scroggin, Generational Expert, genWHY Communications
Roadmap to Attracting and Retaining Rockstar Employees
Grand Ballroom

6:15 pm – 7:30 pm
Opening Reception Sponsored by Trio Community Meals
Grand Reef

7:30 pm
Evening on your own

7:30 am -12:00 pm
Registration

7:30 am – 8:45 am
Breakfast with Exhibitors Sponsored by CARPDC, NACOLG, NARCOG & RPCGB
Grand Reef

Breakout Sessions:
9:00 am – 10:15 am

Community & Economic Development (Sandcastle II)
Regional Brownfields Programs Mike McCown, PPM Consultants

Organizational Effectiveness (Salon FGH)
Building Psychological Safe Workplace Lorrie Coffey, Talent Management Consultant Horizon Point Consulting

“All Things Aging” (Salon DE)
It’s ALL an Experience: Understanding and Interacting with Aging Clients Who Are Traditionalist and Boomers Kristin Scroggin, Generational Expert, genWHY Communications

10:15 am -10:30 am
Refreshment Break w/Exhibitors Sponsored by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Exhibit Hall – Grand Reef

Breakout Sessions:
10:30 am – 11:45 am

Community & Economic Development (Sandcastle II)
Retail as a Catalyst for Economic Development Lacey Bacchus, Sr. Director of Community Partnerships, Retail Strategies

Organizational Effectiveness (Salon FGH)
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Lorrie Coffey, Talent Management Consultant Horizon Point Consulting

“All Things Aging” (Salon DE)
Risk Assessment: Being Safety Aware at Work Pam Revels, Seargeant of the School Resource Unit, Lee County Sherriff’s Department

11:45 am
Afternoon on your own

7:30 am -4:00 pm
Registration

7:30 am – 8:45 am
Breakfast with Exhibitors Sponsored by ATRC, SARPC, SCADC & SEARPDC
Grand Reef

Breakout Sessions:
9:00 am – 10:15 am

Community & Economic Development (Sandcastle II)
Clean Energy Resources Jason Fisher, Energy Alabama

Organizational Effectiveness/All Things Aging (Salon DEFGH)
Graceful Accountability Mary Ila Ward, Horizon Point Consulting

10:15 am -10:30 am
Refreshment Break w/Exhibitors Sponsored by Byard Associates LLC & Cosby Company LLC
Exhibit Hall – Grand Reef

Breakout Sessions:
10:30 am – 11:45 am

Community & Economic Development (Sandcastle II)
Regulatory Agency Roundtable
Bill Pearson , U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Philip Hegji & Leslie Turney, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
State Historic Preservation Office

Organizational Effectiveness/All Things Aging (Salon DEFGH)
Evaluating Performance from the Perspective of Supervisor versus Employee Mary Ila Ward, Horizon Point Consulting

12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
Luncheon Sponsored by AARC
Keynote Speaker: Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth
Presentation of AARC Legislative Awards:
Recipients Senator Randy Price and Representative Rex Reynolds
Grand Ballroom

Breakout Sessions:
2:00 pm – 3:15 pm

Community & Economic Development (Sandcastle II)
Centreville – Comprehensive Planning and Statewide Resources Ben Wieseman, Place Associates

Organizational Effectiveness/All Things Aging (Salon DE)(Salon DEFGH)
Mindfulness and the Pillars of Health: Lifestyle Practices to Enhance Workplace Performance Reita Clanton, Coordinator of Performance Optimization, School of Kinesiology, Auburn University

3:15 pm -3:30 pm
Networking Break

Breakout Sessions:
3:30 pm – 4:45 pm

Community & Economic Development (Sandcastle II)
Conversation Cafe: Preparing and Administering EDA, CDBG, ARC, DRA Projects

Organizational Effectiveness/All Things Aging (Salon DEFGH)
Working with High Conflict Persons C. Kevin Coonrod Ombudsperson, Auburn University

4:45 pm
Evening on your own

7:30 am -10:00 am

Breakfast Sponsored by EARPDC, LRCOG, TARCOG & WARC

Closing Speaker – Better Together: Sustaining our Collaborative Momentum
Dr. Derek Greenfield, Harris-Stowe State University

Final Remarks & Final Door Prize Drawings
Dennis Stripling , AARC President;
Lisa Sandt, Vice President
Grand Ballroom

10:00 am
Conference Concludes

• AARP Alabama
• ADEM
• ADT Health
• Alabama Lifespan Respite
• ARSEA/APEAL
• Alzheimer’s Association, Alabama Chapter
• Connect America
• Goodwin Mills & Cawood
• MedScope
• Model 1 Commercial Vehicles
• Mon Ami
• Nationwide Retirement Solutions
• PeerPlace Networks, LLC
• Professional Medical Fufillment
• PPM Consultants, Inc.
• Retail Strategies
• Right at Home South
• TRIO Community Meals
• Tuscaloosa Supply Company, Inc

• Executive Committee
• Mr. Dennis Stripling, President
  WARC, Executive Director
• Ms. Lisa Sandt, Vice President
  LRCOG, Executive Director
• Mr. Robby Cantrell, Secretary
  NARCOG, Executive Director
• Mr. Tyson Howard, Treasurer
  SCADC, Executive Director
  
• Mr. Keith Jones
  NACOLG, Executive Director
• Mr. Charles Ball
  RPCGB, Executive Director
• Ms. Lori Corley
  EARPDC, Executive Director
• Mr. Rickey Rhodes
  SARPC, Executive Director
• Mr. Greg Clark
  CARPDC, Executive Director
• Mr. John Clyde Riggs
  ATRC, Executive Director
• Mr. Scott Farmer
• SEARP&DC, Executive Director
• Ms. Michelle Jordan
  TARCOG, Executive Director
• Ms. Sharon Darrington
  AARC Administrator

AARC Officers

• John Rodgers (Rod) Morgan, County Administrator/Attorney
  AARC Chairman, Coffee County
• Mayor Charles Murphy
  AARC Vice Chairman, City of Robertsdale

AARC Board Members

• Commissioner, Jesse Byrd, Lawrence County
• Commissioner Marcus Campbell, Sumter County
• Mayor Mary Caudle, Town of Triana
• Mayor Gary Davenport, Town of Eclectic
• Councilman Arthur L. Day, Jr, City of Phenix City
• Mr. Mike Fields, Tuscaloosa
• Mayor Vaughn Goodwin, Town of Trinity
• Commissioner Roger Hayes, Winston County Commission
• Mr. Chester Jolly, City of Warrior
• Mayor Alberta McCrory, Town of Hobson City
• Mayor Donna B. McKay, Town of Wadley
• Mr. James O’Neal, Paint Rock
• Mayor Bobby Page, City of Hamilton
• Councilman Todd Rauch, City of Opelika
• Commissioner Gregory Reynolds, Henry County Commission
• Commissioner Rhondel Rhone, Clarke County
• Dr. Raoul Richardson, Baheth Research & Dev. Lab LTD
• Mrs. Eunice Rogers, Birmingham
• Mayor Gordon Stone, Town of Pike Road
• Mayor Bobbie White, City of Brent

Senator Randy Price
Randy Price (born 1957) is a Republican member of the Alabama Senate, representing the 13th District since 2018. He is a former Lee County, Alabama commissioner and chairman of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Alabama House of Representatives in 2014. Price resides in Opelika, Alabama and is a small business owner and farmer. He is married to Oline, who is the revenue commissioner of Lee County.

Representative Rex Reynolds
Rex Reynolds graduated from Athens State University with a B.S. in criminal justice and subsequently graduated from Auburn University at Montgomery with an M.S. in public safety administration. In his career, Reynolds served as director of public safety at the Huntsville Department of Public Safety and later as city administrator for the City of Huntsville until 2013. The same year, he became the owner of Reynolds Consulting Services, LLC, and later served as president and COO of Sharp Communication.

Keynote Sunday Kristin Scroggin

Kristin Scroggin can’t do math or bake a pie, but she knows her stuff when it comes to Generational Diversity and Communication! Kristin has a Master’s degree in Communication Studies, a Bachelor’s in Communication Arts, and has been a Communications Professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville for 15 years. In 2017 she launched her company, genWHY Communications, and has been a Keynote Speaker at more than 100 conferences and 250+ organizations across the United States, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to tiny non-profits.

Her research has been published in magazines, and she’s been a guest on multiple podcasts. Kristin consults on attracting, developing, and retaining Rockstar Millennial and GenZ talent. Obsessed with travel, and desperate to see the world, she and her husband try to keep their four children alive while trying to keep their heads above water.

Keynote Tuesday Will Ainsworth, Lt. Governor of Alabama

Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth, husband to Kendall and father to Hunter, Hays, and Addie, is a small business owner and farmer from Marshall County. Prior to entering public service, he worked as a youth pastor at Albertville’s Grace Fellowship Church. A co-founder of Dream Ranch hunting lodge and the Tennessee Valley Hunting and Fishing Expo, he currently owns Ainsworth Real Estate and Ainsworth Homes, which specialize in residential real estate construction and development. Ainsworth also operates a commercial cattle operation in Guntersville.

After feeling the call to serve his community through elected office, Ainsworth won a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives in 2014. While serving in the House, he was a champion for Pre-K, K-12, and higher education, passed election integrity legislation, and emphasized issues relating to business, agriculture, and family values. Keeping a self-imposed legislative term limit promise, Ainsworth declared his candidacy for lieutenant governor in 2018 and received the most votes of any candidate for constitutional office on the general election ballot. He was elected to a second term without major party opposition in 2022.

During the 2023 legislative session, Ainsworth was the chief architect and proponent of the largest tax cut in Alabama history – a $300 million reduction in the state sales tax on groceries. Ainsworth also lead the charge in renewing Alabama’s economic incentives, the Alabama Jobs Act and Growing Alabama, to ensure Alabama remains competitive in recruiting high- paying 21st century jobs. Through the work of the Lieutenant Governor’s Commission on a 21st Century Workforce, he has focused on improving workforce development and training in order to recruit long-lasting, high-paying jobs to the state.

As chairman of the Alabama Small Business Commission, Ainsworth also works to promote policies that grow and expand both new and existing businesses – ranging from small, mom-and-pop operations to Alabama’s largest employers. Ainsworth chairs the Alabama Military Stability Commission, which has passed dozens of bills in the Legislature to ensure Alabama remains the nation’s most welcoming state to active soldiers and veterans. His efforts on behalf of military members and their families earned Ainsworth the Pete Taylor Award from the U.S. Department of Defense. He also served as national chair of the Aerospace States Association, a group of elected officials, academics, and private sector entities from states with ties to the aviation and spaceflight industries.

Ainsworth has served as a strong advocate for Alabama’s aerospace industry, promoted STEM education in K-12 schools, and has pushed the Pentagon to maintain its commitment of placing U.S. Space Command Headquarters in Huntsville.

Keynote Wednesday Dr. Derek Greenfield

Dr. Greenfield is a visionary speaker, consultant, and thought leader dedicated to inclusive excellence and positive change. With his dynamic and interactive approach, creative ideas, track record of success, and sense of humor, Dr. Greenfield has become a highly requested presenter across the globe. His powerful keynotes and workshops on issues such as diversity and inclusion, motivation, team building, student development, Gen Z pedagogy, leadership, and hip-hop culture have been featured at a wide range of conferences, companies, and colleges, including over 150 athletics departments.

With his breadth of knowledge and experience, Dr. Greenfield has been a consultant for hundreds of organizations and appeared on dozens of media outlets from Hot 97 Radio to ESPN. In addition to publishing a lengthy list of academic articles, Dr. Greenfield is the author of the widely praised motivational book The Answer is in Your Hands and co-editor of the academic book Exploring Issues of Diversity Within HBCUs.

Before beginning his full-time career in academia, Dr. Greenfield spent seven years as an award-winning youth worker in inner-city Chicago. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sociology from Northwestern University as well as two doctoral degrees—a PhD from the University of Washington and an EdD from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. Dr. Greenfield’s work has led him to receive numerous awards and citations, and he completed a prestigious post as a Kellogg Fellow. Reflecting his passion for supporting social justice initiatives, Dr. Greenfield has served multiple nonprofit organizations’ Board of Directors. Dr. Greenfield is also a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Reita Clanton
Rita was among the first great female athletes at Auburn University. Reita Clanton played and excelled in two sports at Auburn, basketball, and volleyball. She went to the Summer Olympics in another sport as a player and a coach with Team Handball. Clanton didn’t play the sport until she was done at Auburn. She played in the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles for Team USA. The Opelika, Alabama, native served as an assistant coach for the U.S. team at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Clanton is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the Auburn University Tiger Tail. She spends her time now as the Coordinator for Performance and Health Optimization in Auburn University’s School of Kinesiology.

Lorrie Coffey
Lorrie Coffey is a Talent Management Consultant with experience in strategic human resources planning and strengthening of human resources infrastructure. She has experience working with organizations to implement HR best practices, compliant HR policies, and advanced HR technologies. She has a passion for helping organizations strengthen their talent management strategy and become employers of choice. She strives to help organizations foster strong working relationships that meet the needs of employees while continuing to advance the goals of the organization. Lorrie’s role with Horizon Point includes conducting full-scale HR audits, classification and compensation strategy analysis and design, HR process design and implementation, recruiting, and interim onsite HR support. In addition, Lorrie has experience in payroll and benefits administration.

Lorrie’s extensive research skills ensures that each project is completed with the utmost diligence. A Virginia native, Lorrie moved to Huntsville, Alabama, in 2015 with her three sons, Ethan, Wyatt, and Dylan. Lorrie graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice. She earned her Master’s of Jurisprudence in Labor and Employment Law at Tulane University Law School and is a member of the American Bar Association. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a Society of Human Resources Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP).

C. Kevin Coonrod
Kevin is Ombudsperson for students, faculty and staff at Auburn University. He is a frequent speaker on conflict resolution topics at conferences and workplace retreats, where he enjoys conveying his confidence in the ability of people to resolve their own conflicts through creativity and self-empowerment. He is a former member of the Washington State Bar Association and the Washington Mediation Association. Presently, he is a member of the Alabama State Court Mediator Roster and a Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner© through the International Ombudsman Association.

Philip Hegji
Philip Hegji is a Supervisory Biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District in the Regulatory Division. He has a total of 17 years of experience working on regulatory permits and environmental projects in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. He has worked for the Mobile District Corps of Engineers for 13 years and was recently promoted the Chief of the District’s Regulatory South Alabama Branch. Prior to working with the Mobile District, he worked for the University of Alabama Ichthyological Collection. Philip has a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Alabama.

Michael D. McCown, P.G.
Mike is a Professional Geologist and founding member/Principal at PPM Consultants, Inc., a 110- member environmental consulting firm with seven offices in the Southeast. Founded in 1994, the firm has been consistently listed as one of the 200 largest environmental by Engineering News Record magazine. PPM specializes in providing solutions to the environmental issues faced by PPM’s governmental, industrial, and commercial clients. Based out of PPM’s Birmingham office, Mike assists cities and planning commissions with redeveloping brownfield sites, and tapping into federal grants to fund these efforts.

Bill Pearson
Bill has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 34 years. He began his career in 1989 in the Regional Office in Denver, Colorado, where he served as the Assistant Regional Wetlands Coordinator for the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains Region, mapping wetland habitats for the National Wetlands Inventory. In 1996, he moved to the North Dakota Ecological Services Field Office in Bismarck, North Dakota, serving as a field biologist. In 2002, Bill moved on to the Regional Office in Anchorage, Alaska, to serve as the Regional Wetlands Coordinator for the Alaska Region, mapping wetland habitats across Alaska for the National Wetlands Inventory program.

In 2006, he transferred to the Alabama Ecological Services Field Office in Daphne, Alabama, as the Field Supervisor. For the past 17 years, he has supervised a field office of 21 biologists and administrative employees, dedicated to protecting federally listed endangered and threatened species. Bill is married, has 5 children/stepchildren, 3 grandchildren, and a Rottweiler named Moxie. He lives in Fairhope, Alabama.

Pamela Revels
Pam is originally from Enterprise, Alabama. She is from a family of four, has three adopted children, and three nieces. She was hired by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in September 2004, and now is Sergeant of the School Resource Unit. Sergeant Revels received her bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia Southern University. She is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success.

Sergeant Revels serves her community every day in the educational realm. Over the past 18 years, Sergeant Revels has educated thousands of students on the dangers of drugs, violence, impaired driving, internet safety, and personal safety. Sergeant Revels seeks to educate her community beyond the school environment. She developed and coordinates the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Junior Deputy Academy, which provides youth with a positive atmosphere with law enforcement while developing good citizenship and building constructive character traits. Sergeant Revels’ reach goes beyond her community, as she is a contributing author for the NASRO Advanced and Basic SRO national curriculum. She has presented at several state conferences over the years as a school safety expert. Sergeant Revels serves as the School Safety Specialist Education Coordinator for the Governor’s Securing Alabama Facilities of Education (SAFE) Council through the Alabama State Department of Education.

For this service, Sergeant Revels received the high honor of Deputy of Year for 2007 through the Exchange Club of Opelika, Deputy of the Year for 2010 through the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the 2011 National School Resource Officer of the Year through the national organization We Tip, 2012 NASRO National Instructor of the Year, was featured in the New York Times in 2017, 2018 Opelika Chamber Service Champion Award and We Tip 2020 National School Resource Officer of the Year. Sergeant Pamela Revels is dedicated to the children and citizens of Lee County, and of Alabama, whom she serves and protects.

Leslie Turney
Leslie Turney is a Supervisory Biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District in the Regulatory Division. She has a total of 25 years of experience working on regulatory permits and environmental projects in Alabama and Mississippi. She has worked for the Mobile District Corps of Engineers for 16 years with the past 4 years as the Chief of the District’s Regulatory North Branch office in Birmingham, AL.

Prior to working with the Mobile District, she worked almost 10 years for the State of Alabama in the Department of Environmental Management as a Coastal Program permits project manager in the Mobile-Baldwin-Washington County area of the state. Leslie has a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of South Alabama.

Mary Ila Ward
Mary Ila Ward founded Horizon Point Consulting in 2011 with a drive to move the workplace forward through innovative people practices. With a background in corporate recruiting, economic and workforce development, talent development, and leadership coaching and training, Mary Ila helps employers and communities focus on growth by challenging leaders to push the limits through forward-thinking cultures and practices that are grounded in sound research and science. A huge believer in work-life integration, she helps organizations realize how they can hire for fit while improving diversity, engage employees by supporting them holistically, and drive home the importance of career and leadership development to communities and organizations. She’s a mom and wife, a runner and a reader.

She lives in Decatur, Alabama, with her crew seen here- husband Drew, son Andrew, daughter Paige, and son Sam. She graduated from The University of Alabama, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and rounded out a formal education with a Master’s in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, where her thesis focused on leadership emergence. Mary Ila is SHRM-SCP certified, a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and a Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) and Career Development Facilitator (CDF) Instructor.

She was named one of Business Alabama’s Movers & Shapers and a Mover & Shaker of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber in 2022. As a lifelong learner, she engages in speaking and writing on topics that are important to moving human resources, talent development, and leadership development forward. Mary Ila is a graduate of Leadership Greater Huntsville‘s Flagship Program.