Meet the 2026 IABC/SC Board of Directors
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC/SC) announces its new board of directors for 2026. Nine communications professionals from throughout South Carolina will lead the organization. The Board consists of both returning and new members. The long-standing organization, which provides thousands of business and communication professionals with an international knowledge-sharing community and network, is excited to announce its new leadership.
President | Heather Singleton
Principal Consultant, Strategic Public Relations Consulting
Heather Singleton has worked with public and private nonprofit organizations for nearly two decades. Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, she graduated with a political science degree from the University of South Carolina in 2010 and has since called the Midlands home.
Passionate about policy communications and strategy, Singleton has worked in public service and corporate sectors, focusing on brand strategy, facilitation and fund development. She is currently the principal consultant of Strategic Public Relations Consulting, a consultancy that supports nonprofit and political organizations with internal and external communications strategy.
Singleton finds purpose in helping others improve their professional skills to become the success stories that they were born to be. A member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., she believes in the power of serving her local community. She is a board member of the South Carolina chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, City Year Columbia, and WellPartners Dental and Eye Clinic, and volunteers with her church and the Camden alumni chapter of her sorority. Singleton enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, and listening to music in her spare time.
President-Elect | Nikasha Dicks
Director of Marketing and Communications, Aiken Technical College
Nikasha Dicks has nearly two decades of experience in the communications field, including print journalism, marketing, and public relations. She is currently the director of marketing and communications at Aiken Technical College in Graniteville, South Carolina, where her responsibilities include leading the college’s strategic marketing, branding, and communications activities, serving as the communications advisor to the college’s executive leadership team, and supporting strategic college initiatives.
In addition to IABC/SC, Dicks is an actively engaged member of several professional and community organizations including the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR), South Carolina Women in Higher Education, the South Carolina Technical Education Association, South Carolina Technical College System’s (SCTCS) Public Information Officer Peer Group, the Aiken Area Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration Steering Committee, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. – Iota Lambda Zeta Chapter in Aiken, South Carolina, where she serves as the chapter’s historian and social media lead.
She has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Paine College and a Master of Business Administration from Augusta University. Dicks is also a graduate of Leadership Aiken County and the SCTCS Leadership Academy. In 2018, she received the NCMPR district two Rising Star Award, and in 2023, she was recognized by Paine College as one of its “40 Under 40” alumni honorees.
Past President | Bailey Lewis
Founder, Words First
Bailey Lewis is a multimedia storyteller, award-winning writer (MFA with distinction, University of South Carolina), and owner of Bailey Sends Word Story Studio. She combines words, images, and tangible materials to create story objects that live in the world, reminding us of our connection to ourselves, each other, and all that is.
Bailey’s work has been published in many literary magazines, awarded prizes in multiple national literary contests, and listed in Wigleaf’s Best of the Web. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her public storytelling art project, “The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune” recently received a grant for its installation at ArtFields SC.
You can find Bailey’s active projects and visit her story studio at baileysendsword.com [baileysendsword.com].
Secretary | Derek Bedenbaugh
Senior Communications Specialist, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
Derek Bedenbaugh is a senior communications specialist in Corporate Communications at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. While at BlueCross, he has helped craft compelling messaging across multiple lines of business.
Before his role at BlueCross, Bedenbaugh worked in education and earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of South Carolina in 2018. He is committed to using his writing and research skills to help clients achieve their goals.
Vice President of Finance | Alison Shuman
Corporate Communications Coordinator II, Farm Bureau Insurance
Alison Shuman is a corporate communications coordinator II for Farm Bureau Insurance. Before joining Farm Bureau Insurance in 2007, Shuman was the scholastic press manager for the S.C. Scholastic Press Association (SCSPA) and the Southern Interscholastic Press Association. She was also the assistant director of the Carolina Journalism Institute.
Shuman is an active member of IABC/SC and the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter Society of South Carolina. She has held numerous board positions, including president with IABC/SC and the CPCU Society of South Carolina, and currently serves on both boards. Shuman also served as vice president of awards and vice president of professional development on the IABC Southern Region Board of Directors.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in advertising and a minor in retail from the University of South Carolina. During college, Shuman was part of the third-place national J. Carroll Bateman Competition Team known as Palmetto Solutions and the third-place national DMEF Echo Competition team for the ING Orange Savings campaign “Green Grass. Blue Sky. Orange Savings.”
A native of Columbia, S.C., she attended Irmo High School and was the editor-in-chief of The Stinger newspaper. In 2000, Shuman was recognized as SCSPA’s Journalist of the Year.
Vice President of Membership Development and Retention | Alan Jenkins
Senior Manager, Brand and Communications, Milliken & Company
Alan Jenkins, SCMP, is a husband and a father of two daughters. He began his career in journalism, learning the trade at a number of newspapers where versatility proved to be an enormous asset. He entered marketing in 2014 as a digital media specialist for a hospital system, where he learned to work with video and audio, social media communication, and script writing. While there, he also helped launch a health news website and created two viral videos. Today, he manages internal communications for Milliken & Company, a global manufacturer focused on materials science and sustainability.
In addition to this role with IABC/SC, Jenkins serves on the board of directors for the Hope Center for Children, an organization dedicated to building stable, healthy families and providing children a safe place from abuse and neglect. He is a proud member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Jenkins is also a former councilman and mayor pro tempore for the City of Spartanburg, serving from 2017-2020, and a graduate of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Vice President of Communications and Webmaster | Traci Morrison
Account Representative, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
Traci Morrison is an account representative in Corporate Communications at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. She has more than 10 years of experience in marketing communications and public relations and specializes in content strategy and project management. In her current role, Traci supports client lines of business with strategic marketing initiatives.
Traci’s experience includes writing and editing, web content management, instructional design and events coordination. She brings a diverse background with previous work in education and library services, and in real estate as a marketing specialist and salesperson.
When she isn’t working, Traci trades screens for trails, spending her time hiking and mountain biking, and making the most of the outdoors. She enjoys spending time with her husband and family, including her two dog children.
Member at Large | Mary-Kathryn Craft
Director of Communications, South Carolina Association of Counties
Mary-Kathryn Craft is the director of communications for the South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC), where she oversees strategic communications to elevate the message and brand of the organization dedicated to improving county government across the Palmetto State.
Before joining SCAC, she served as communications director for the South Carolina Bar. She has more than 20 years of experience in the communications and media relations field, where she has worked in higher education, public health and public affairs. Craft began her career in communications as a newspaper reporter in North Carolina. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Member at Large | Cynthia South
General Manager, Aiken Symphony
Cynthia South was elected to the IABC/SC Board in 2014, attended the IABC National Leadership Institute, and served as president in 2018. She also served as vice chair for IABC’s Southern Region. She is the general manager with the Aiken Symphony, where she manages several responsibilities, including community outreach.
Prior to her current role, South co-founded the Alison South Marketing Group, which later became the OSLA Agency, with offices in South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and South Florida. The full-service agency has won international, regional and statewide awards for its work. As a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, South was a reporter, editor and photographer at the Columbia Missourian newspaper and later assumed an editorial position at Bobbin International, publisher of the textile industry’s management magazine, published in English and Spanish. She went on to become the Assistant Director of Media Relations and Spokesperson for the University of South Carolina.
After finishing her master’s degree in public administration at the University of South Carolina, specializing in health care, she became the director of public relations and marketing for Columbia’s Richland Memorial Hospital, now Prisma. Her healthcare career continued with similar positions at Greenville Hospital System and University of North Carolina Hospitals. With the drive of an entrepreneur, she later co-founded a statewide radio network, followed by establishing an advertising agency. South resides in Aiken, South Carolina, where she is program chair of the Aiken Noon Rotary Club and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
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About IABC/SC
IABC/SC links organizational, business communicators to a global network of communication professionals who develop, establish and adhere to the highest professional standards of quality and innovation in organizational/business communication. IABC/SC members gain access to a diverse network of 15,000 communication professionals in more than 80 countries worldwide, for unmatched networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities at events and online. Learn more at https://sc.iabc.com.