Meet the 2024 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 2024. 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-Elect | 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. Mary-Kathryn 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.
President-Elect | Bailey Lewis
Founder, Words First
Bailey Lewis is the founder of Words First Content Strategy and the Words First Communicators Membership, both of which help communications professionals grow a well-rounded digital skill set. With 15+ years of experience in digital content strategy, user experience, and communications leadership, Bailey has honed a human-focused approach for creating content for digital spaces.
Bailey has built, led, and taught UX and content strategy teams for organizations of all sizes across a range of industries. An international keynote speaker, award-winning author, and educator, Bailey’s ideas and approach have been featured by organizations like Adobe, Progress, the United States Senate, UXPA, and the University of South Carolina.
When she steps away from the digital world, as is necessary now and again, Bailey travels to interesting global destinations — following wherever her wanderlust and her stomach rumbles may take her.
Past President | Charnita Mack
Communications Specialist, Savannah National River Laboratory
Charnita Mack joined IABC/SC in 2018. She was awarded the IABC Southern Region Rising Star award in 2020. Currently, she is a communications specialist at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) in Aiken County. Specifically working within the Global Security Directorate at the lab, she provides strategic communications support for internal and external projects. Previously, she served as a client success manager at Rhodes Branding in Columbia. In her role at Rhodes, Charnita was responsible for working with clients on a wide array of social media and digital initiatives to enhance their brand to students, parents, and community members. Charnita has also served as the public relations and social media coordinator at Claflin University, the oldest historically black college or university (HBCU) in South Carolina and as the first full-time public relations and social media coordinator for the Alison South Marketing Group, a full-service marketing agency.
A native of Williston, Charnita earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina and her master’s degree in organizational communication from Queens University of Charlotte. Charnita is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Beta Zeta Omega Chapter, in Orangeburg.
Secretary | Haley Kellner
Communications Manager + Strategist, SCTeacher
This is Haley’s second year as Board secretary for IABC/SC. She lives in Columbia, where she handles all things communications for the education research consortium SC TEACHER. She’s grateful to combine her love for writing and storytelling with SC TEACHER’s mission to study and improve the SC education system.
Haley graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2019 with a BA in English and Russian, as well as a minor in advertising and public relations and a concentration in creative writing. Occasionally, you may see a piece from Haley in the Free Times or Haley herself at a local brewery or riverwalk (when she’s not home with her cats).
Vice President of Communications & Webmaster | Carolyn Culbertson
Internal Communications Coordinator, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Carolyn is in her third year of serving on the IABC Board of Directors. At Nelson Mullins, Carolyn handles all internal communications for the firm. Carolyn is always interested in new channels, platforms, and media through which to engage attorneys, business professionals, and other employees.
Carolyn also has experience freelance writing, editing, and tutoring. In 2017, Carolyn earned her BA in English from the University of South Carolina, where she won the J.S. Reynolds Essay Award and was an editor for The Daily Gamecock. In her free time, Carolyn enjoys reading, crocheting, cooking, and being outside.
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. Prior to joining Farm Bureau Insurance in 2007, Alison 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.
Alison 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. She also serves as 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, Alison participated on 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, Alison 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
New board member Alan Jenkins is a husband and a father of two daughters; he also recently celebrated his 25th year as a professional communicator. 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 & Co., a global manufacturer focused on materials science and sustainability.
In addition to this new role with IABC/SC, Alan 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. Alan’s a proud member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg. Alan 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 Professional Development | Celina Ortiz
Marketing Relations Communications Specialist, Dominion Energy
New to the IABC/SC board, Celina Renae-Quintana Ortiz is a communications specialist for media relations at Dominion Energy. In her career, she has worked as a marketing coordinator at the El Paso Children’s Hospital and as a meteorologist/ journalist for the NBC station in El Paso, Texas (KTSM). In 2018 Celina earned her BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from New Mexico State University and continued her education in geoscience and broadcast meteorology in 2019 at Mississippi State University.
At KTSM she covered major events including the 2019 Walmart shooting, the Texas Border Crisis, rising COVID-19 cases, and more. As part of KTSM’s Weather Authority Team, she helped build a partnership with the National Weather Service, launch the station’s annual weather festival, and produce an Emmy-nominated special report. At the El Paso Children’s Hospital, Celina contributed to the marketing plans for COVID-19 vaccinations, the 10-year Anniversary, and the hospital’s first Symposium on Cleft Lip and Palette Deformities. In 2023 she helped launch the Southeast Chapter of Dominion Energy’s ¡Hola! Employee Resource Group dedicated to attracting and retaining top Latino talent. She served as the group’s communications lead before recently taking over the Chair/ President position earlier this year.
Member at Large | Cynthia South
OSLA Agency
Cynthia South was elected to the IABC/SC Board in 2014, attended the IABC National Leadership Institute, and served as president in 2018. She serves as Vice Chair for IABC’s Southern Region. Cynthia is a co-founder of the Alison South Marketing Group, which has become 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, Cynthia 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 USC, specializing in health care, Cynthia 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, Cynthia later co-founded a statewide radio network followed by establishing an advertising agency. Cynthia 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.
Secrets of Videography
Videography on any budget
In case you missed it! Enjoy this live stream of our April 3, 2018 panel discussion on videography.
Peer behind the lens caps of videographers Keith Bogart (Zero Gravity), Jeremy Lethco (dustoftheground), Meaghan Norman (NP Strategy) and Andrew Smith (BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina) as they discuss videography on multiple budgets. Learn about their strategies, execution, tips and tricks. Get ready to take notes, as they’ll be introducing you to videography that can be done from a cell phone all the way to full production, plus how to best work with videographers, straight from their own points of view.