Here is our October/November calendar. If you are attending any of these events, please say hello!

October 3   Akron Roundtable 40th Anniversary Celebration Dinner, Akron, Ohio

October 19-21   Public Affairs Council Fall Board Meeting, Laguna Beach, California

October 20   Akron Roundtable, Akron, Ohio

November 10   Professional Women in Advocacy Conference, Washington, DC

November 16-18   NABPAC Biennial Post-Election Conference, Breakers Palm Beach, Florida

November 19-22   SGAC Leaders’ Policy Conference, Dana Point, California

Here is our September/October calendar. If you are attending any of these events, please say hello!

September 8-9   Practising Law Institute, Corporate Political Activities Seminar, Washington, DC

September 15   Akron Roundtable, Akron, OH

September 26-28   PAC State and Local Government Relations Conference, Alexandria, VA

October 3   Akron Roundtable 40th Anniversary Celebration Dinner, Akron, Ohio

October 19-21   Public Affairs Council Fall Board Meeting, Laguna Beach, California

October 20   Akron Roundtable, Akron, Ohio

Here is our August/September calendar. If you are attending any of these events, please say hello!

August 8-11   NCSL 2016 Legislative Summit, Chicago, IL

August 18   Akron Roundtable, Akron, OH

September 7-9   Practising Law Institute, Corporate Political Activities Seminar, Washington, DC

September 15   Akron Roundtable, Akron, OH

September 26-28   PAC State and Local Government Relations Conference, Alexandria, VA

On July 21, Akron, Ohio, welcomed Patrick J. Kennedy as the keynote speaker at Akron Roundtable. Kennedy is a former U.S. congressman and a powerful voice in recognizing mental illness and addiction as a serious concern.

Kennedy spent his 16-year eventful career in Congress fighting to stop the discrimination against mental illness and change societal opinions about those diseases. The fight for change eventually led to Kennedy being the lead sponsor for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

“The youngest congressman from the smallest state was the lead sponsor of that act,” said Kennedy. “The other congressman didn’t want their names associated with mental illness.”

Kennedy wrote an inspiring book about his struggle with addiction and how he overcame it. He made it a point to explain that the book broke the “Kennedy silence” and destroyed his relationship with his brother, but being open about his addiction was crucial to his recovery.

Kennedy also spoke about his frustration with the lack of philanthropy for mental illness. “Philanthropists are fine donating a wing at the local hospital around cancer,” said Kennedy. “But when it comes to mental illness, a disease that often affects their family more than anything else, they aren’t ready to put their money behind it.”

The point that mental illness is overlooked and pushed aside was very powerful coming from a former addict. As an audience member sitting in a packed ballroom at the John S. Knight Center, I could feel his passion toward ending the medical discrimination of mental illness. I saw the anger he feels toward nonprofits that could care less about mental illness research. In the end, I could feel the respect he has for someone with a mental illness and his mission to help them recover.

Akron Roundtable has been bringing the world to Akron, Ohio, for forty years and has hosted countless prominent speakers that educate, inspire, and excite the diverse audiences.

Photos by Elysabethe Anderson.

Patrick Kennedy is coming to the John S. Knight Center for Akron Roundtable on Thursday, July 21 at 12:00 p.m.! He will be signing his new book, A Common Struggle, and we are ready!

Here is our March calendar:

March 2   Ohio Birthday Celebration, Washington, DC

March 7-10   National PAC Conference, Miami Beach, Florida

March 9   NCSL Foundation Luncheon, Washington, DC

March 10   Women’s Endowment Fund Annual Dinner, Akron, OH

March 16   PLEN Mentor Awards, Washington, DC

March 17   Akron Roundtable, Akron, OH

March 20-22   NASPO: How to Market to State Governments Meeting, Atlanta, GA

March 30-April 2   ACES National Conference, Portland, OR

March 31, 2016   Akron Press Club hosts State of Summit County Speech, Akron, OH

Today’s Akron Roundtable featured Dr. Danielle Sarver Coombs, Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kent State University. In her presentation, “Come to the Party, Leave the Flip-Flopping at Home: Essential Lessons from the 2012 Republican Primaries,” Dr. Coombs  analyzed the 2012 presidential campaigns from the perspective of a communications expert and talked about what lessons 2012 might hold for the 2016 campaigns.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications presented the questions from the audience. You can listen to a recording of the talk on WKSU next Thursday at 8 p.m.

Last week, State & Federal Communications attended the monthly Akron Roundtable luncheon at Quaker Square. Previously, Akron Roundtable welcomed Michael Morell, former Deputy Directory of the CIA to talk about his new book, The Great War of Our Time. This week, the host of NPR’s Morning Edition, David Greene talked about his experiences with NPR from his time as one of the White House Correspondents to hosting Morning Edition. After speaking at the luncheon, State and Federal Communications hosted a reception in the office for Greene and WKSU.

Enjoy more photos from this great event on our Facebook.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. will host a reception for David Greene, host of NPR’s Morning Edition, on June 18. The reception in honor of the nationally renowned journalist and commentator will take place at the State and Federal Communications offices located at 80 South Summit Street, Suite 100 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. Immediately prior to this event, Mr. Greene will address attendees of the Akron Roundtable Luncheon.

Since 2012, Mr. Greene has been host of NPR’s Morning Edition along with Steve Inskeep and Renee Mantagne. Prior to this role he was an invaluable NPR foreign correspondent based in Moscow covering the region from Ukraine and the Baltics, east to Siberia. During President George W. Bush’s second term he served as NPR’s White House correspondent, detailing White House visits across the globe.

Mr. Greene has proven himself to be an extraordinarily talented professional in his field, covering historic events such as the 2008 Presidential election, Hurricane Katrina, and the NATO bombing of Tripoli – just to name a few.  He has received the 2011 Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize from WBUR and Boston University for his coverage of the Arab Spring, and the White House Correspondents Association 2008 Merriman Smith award.

State and Federal Communications is very active in our community. I serve on the Board of the Akron Roundtable, a community lunch program who has a mission of “Bringing the World to Akron.” Today, a special program was held featuring Michael Morell, former interim CIA Director, who happens to be from Northeast Ohio. I have asked Team Intern to submit a paragraph about the program.

1. Costa Janos—Sophomore at The Ohio State University—Michael Morell is a local hero to all of us living in Akron, Ohio. He went to Cuyahoga Falls High School and also attended the University of Akron where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Economics. From what he remembers serving as the director of the CIA on September 11, 2001, was very intense as he was briefing President Bush. According to Morell, his list of challengers to the United States are 1) China; 2) Russia; and 3) Middle East. His list of threats to the US are made up of Al–Qaeda and ISIS. The reason he wrote the book was to share with us the amount of time and sacrifice the CIA puts in to help keep our country secure.
2. Sophia Avouris—Freshman at Kent State University–Mr. Morell answered a lot of the questions I had in regards to what exactly was being changed by the Freedom Act and its implications in the surveillance field.  I learned while phone records are available to the government, they are kept by the phone companies and a court order is required for the government to access them.  I was also not aware Al–Qaeda was still considered the biggest threat, as I was under the impression they had lost a lot of their power and their spheres of influence were being taken up by other organizations.  In addition, Morell’s opinion that Snowden was motivated by hubris to be very interesting, and an opinion I have not heard widely discussed in his more recent broadcasts.
3. Nikolas Frazier—Junior at Kent State University—Michael Morell, former CIA Deputy Director, spoke at today’s Akron Roundtable luncheon about his book, The Great War of Our Time. Not only focusing on his book, Morell spoke candidly about his time in the CIA and more specifically, speaking about working as President George W. Bush’s daily briefer and his memory of September 11, 2001. His talk went quickly but all the while was very interesting. I would have liked more time of him especially on his views on North Korea and Iran. Morell also talked about Edward Snowden and attributed his leaking of classified documents as “the greatest loss of secrets in the history of the country.” I look forward to reading the rest of his book.
4. Elizabeth Scozzaro—Junior at Baldwin Wallace—I enjoyed Michael Morell’s words on current events happening in the world. He was a part of the commission that proposed to President Obama to leave monitoring phone calls to the phone companies only. The government can only get phone call data if they have an important reason to ask a phone company for it. Morell also talked about how the TSA recently failed to detect weapons in a passenger screening. He let the audience know the TSA has taken this very seriously and will make improvements. Another current piece of information he shared was mentioning the importance of critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills required from younger people who wish to join the CIA in the future.
5. David Jones—Sophomore at Stark State– Michael Morell former C.I.A Deputy Director was the speaker today. The speaker format was question and answer with Brouse McDowell Partner David Hunter interviewing. When Morell was asked what he considered the biggest threat to national security was he replied, “Al–Qaeda”. Which really surprised me considering the media attention on ISIS. He spoke on how the biggest issue concerning ISIS was instability in the Middle East, but the bigger threat to national security was Al–Qaeda because of its resources and connections. He also hauntingly said if Al–Qaeda were to bring down a plane in the US tomorrow it would not surprise him. He spoke at great length on many topics from cyber security to Snowden, and I will be eagerly listening to it again on June 11^th when it airs on WKSU (wksu.org).
6. David Trujillo—Sophomore at the University of Akron—Michael Morell is an informative and magnetic personality. I have absolutely nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the service he has offered to our country. National Security is a hot button topic with myself and many other service people and to listen to Morell’s take on the state of our national security as well as myriad security threats and challenges are both fascinating and at the same time motivating to get involved in the process of protecting the Homeland. He speaks sternly about serious issues but it is not without his own sense of humor. I have enjoyed reading his book so far and would like to extend my gratitude for allowing me to attend this event today.

I think it is important to hear what our young professionals think about issues affecting us. I travel to DC a lot and am always concerned about these issues.

Thank you for taking the time to read about the Akron Roundtable program. Stay tuned, on June 18^th, we will have NPR Morning Edition Host David Greene in Akron.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz

@elizabethbartz

Photo of Michael Morell by Nikolas Frazier.