Elizabeth Z. Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, has provided a $30,000 endowment to Kent State University at Trumbull, in Warren, Ohio, to provide scholarships for graduating seniors from Howland High School.

Ms. Bartz graduated from Howland High School in Warren 40 years ago, and enrolled at the KSU Trumbull Campus that fall, where she attended for two years before completing her Journalism studies at the Kent State University main campus in Kent, Ohio in 1980.

She explains why she endowed this scholarship… “In honor of my 40-year graduation anniversary from Howland High School, I wanted to give something back. I’ve heard about students today having issues with college debt and felt it would be great to help graduating seniors from Howland High School attend the local area KSU Trumbull Campus just like I did. I feel blessed to be able to help the students, today and in the future. This is very exciting for me and I hope it helps bring others to the table to help students pay their college costs.”

Starting fall semester 2016, Kent State University at Trumbull will award its first $1,000 scholarship from the new endowment ‘Elizabeth Z. Bartz Scholarship for Howland Tigers.’

The annual scholarship winner, selected by Howland High School, will be a graduating student who will attend Kent State University at Trumbull on a full-time basis. This endowment is funded to continue a scholarship every year going forward, and will be managed by Kent State University.

The formal signing of the endowment was held at a ceremony on May 5, 2016 at the Kent State University Trumbull Campus. In attendance were Ms. Bartz and school officials from Kent State University at Trumbull and the Howland Local Schools.

During the ceremony, Ms. Bartz explained that she decided back in 1976 with her parents to “stay local” after graduating from Howland High School and to attend the KSU Trumbull Campus. She studied there for two years, where she also worked on the campus newspaper and became its editor. This journalism training certainly helped her toward obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations from KSU in 1980, and go on to launch Akron-based State and Federal Communications, today regarded as the leader in providing government compliance information and consulting services.

Ms. Bartz is also still very active at Kent State University and serves on the KSU National Alumni Relations Board of Directors, as well at the KSU School of Journalism and Mass Communications Alumni Board, and other committee leadership roles at the school.

During the ceremony kick-off presentation, Mr. Dave Smith, Director of Advancement, Kent State University, Trumbull Campus, said, “At our regional campus, we want to target more scholarships to help high school students within our local community. This new scholarship certainly helps that effort as we can assist students graduating from Howland High School. This will be a perpetual scholarship that will proudly be here forever, in her name.”

Mr. Kevin Spicher, Superintendent, Howland Local Schools, added that this gesture from Ms. Bartz “is philanthropy at its finest.” This was agreed with by Ms. Sandra E. Williams, Principal, Howland High School, who commented, “It’s a wonderful opportunity to help our kids. This scholarship gives them a head start to get to college. And this is a tribute for any student who wants to stay locally after graduating high school.”

Dr. Lance Grahn, Dean, Trumbull Campus, Kent State University, concluded comments, with, “This scholarship from Elizabeth acknowledges the success of our students from Kent State University at Trumbull… that this is a good place of quality education that prepares you for the adult world. One of the pillars of my vision for our university is to gain more involvement with our local schools to tie us together. This scholarship achieves that. I am also keen on energizing our regional campus to re-connect with our alumni. You can see the results now when that happens with a connection as represented by Elizabeth Bartz.”

In the photo above: Launching the new annual ‘Elizabeth Z. Bartz Scholarship for Howland Tigers’ at Kent State University at Trumbull, are (left to right) Ms. Elizabeth Z. Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communication; Mr. Kevin Spicher, Superintendent, Howland Local Schools; Dr. Lance Grahn, Dean, KSU Trumbull Campus; Ms. Pam Anderson, KSU Institutional Advancement Representative; Mr. Dave Smith, Director of Advancement, KSU Trumbull Campus; Ms. Sandra E. Williams, Principal, Howland High School; and Ms. Sarah Helmick, Assistant Director, Enrollment Management & Student Services, KSU Trumbull Campus.

State and Federal Communications and its President and CEO Ms. Elizabeth Z. Bartz were honored for key business milestones reached at the “16th Annual National Entrepreneurship Summit,” hosted by DiversityBusiness.com in New York City. One of these was being named #392 of the leading Women Owned Business in the United States.

DiversityBusiness.com chooses “America’s Top Business” award recipients based on annual gross revenue and a business profile. According to event organizers, State and Federal Communications was highlighted as one of the leading entrepreneur companies in the United States, presented several awards at the ceremony that included being named:

• #392 of the top 500 Women Owned Businesses in the United States
• #52 of the top 100 Privately-held Businesses in Ohio
• #37 of the top Diversity Owned Businesses in Ohio
• #17 of the top 50 Women Owned Businesses in Ohio, and the only one in Akron, Ohio.

More than 1.5 million businesses in the United States participated in the 16th annual business survey conducted by DiversityBusiness.com, a web-based business publisher. The organization’s “Top Business List” offers the most comprehensive look at the strongest segment of the United States economy – America’s privately held companies. According to DiversityBusiness.com, these companies differentiate themselves in their markets through dedication and hard work that stimulates economic growth in America.

The “America’s Top Business” program is sponsored by major brands that include U.S. Postal Service, Wal-Mart, Apple, Northrop Grumman, Time Warner, Hilton, Raytheon, and Colgate Palmolive, among others.

State and Federal Communications, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, has won an “America’s Top Business” award every year since 2008.

Bartz comments, “Being ranked highly with other leading companies across America is an achievement we are all proud of at State and Federal Communications. It shows our ongoing commitment to deliver quality government compliance information and consulting services to many Fortune 500 companies, associations and corporate and contract lobbyists. These awards are for all of us, and they honor our employees, clients, and the communities where we live and work.”

For information on the event, visit: http://www.diversitybusiness.com/awardees/

You know I hate cancer.  No one wants to be in the club, yet every day someone else is initiated without a request.

It has been three years since we had our first Race for the Cure team for the Susan G. Komen event in Akron. Well, I have re-signed up our ST8PACS team on the site and registered to participate in the 5K walk. This year’s event will be Saturday, July 23 at Canal Park.

Why are we involved?

One in eight women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Because every minute someone dies of breast cancer.

Breast cancer knows no boundaries—be it age, gender, socio-economic, or geographic location.

Consider going to http://neohio.info-komen.org to register and join the ST8PACS team by contributing.

Until next month remember, in 1980, the five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer was 74%. Today it is 99% because so many people have helped to raise money for awareness, having mammograms, and the research to help end breast cancer.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz

President and CEO
@elizabethbartz

State and Federal Communications President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz received the PLEN (Public Leadership Education Network) Mentor Award in Washington, D.C., in a recent ceremony honoring exemplary leaders committed to education.

Ms. Bartz was recognized for her outstanding commitment to mentoring the next generation of women leaders in public policy careers. PLEN is the only national organization with the sole focus of preparing college women for leadership in the public policy arena.

Along with Ms. Bartz, other prestigious women receiving PLEN awards included Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Representative Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03); Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21); Ms. Anne DeSeta DarConte, Principal, Beyond K Street, LLC and Co-Founder, Professional Women in Advocacy Conference; and Ms. Jen Stange, Program Coordinator, 21st Century Blueprint Committee, SEIU. PLEN selected these honorees for prioritizing the importance of women helping other women in their daily actions.

Ms. Ellie Shaw, Director of Federal Government Affairs, at American Express, nominated Ms. Bartz for the award. Ms. Bartz says, “Ellie has been involved with PLEN for years and is a great representative of how we need to offer a hand up to our future leaders.” She adds that PLEN’s mission is to increase the number of women in top leadership positions influencing all aspects of the public policy process by introducing college women to role models, career paths, and skills trainings before they enter the workforce.

Each year, PLEN brings hundreds of women students from colleges and universities across the country to Washington, D.C. where they can experience first-hand how public policy is shaped and implemented at the national level. Students meet with and learn from women leaders making and influencing public policy at the highest levels in Congress, the courts, federal agencies, the private sector, policy research and advocacy organizations, and the media. These women leaders serve as teachers as well as mentors.

According to PLEN officials, Ms. Bartz has shown commitment to mentoring college women and preparing them in the public policy arena. Ms. Bartz echoes this by commenting, “It is so important to help all students, both men and women, with career advice, resume reviews, and connecting with people who can provide their first jobs. Providing this assistance is something students remember and carry forward to help others. I am proud to support PLEN.”

PLEN is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C.

State and Federal Communications is proud to be a sponsor of the Women in Government Relations IMPACT 2016: PACs, Politics, and Grassroots Conference today in Washington, D.C.

President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz, Federal Compliance Associate Rebecca South and Federal Compliance Assistant Gamble Hayden are attending. If you’ll be there, be sure to say hello to our team!

State and Federal Communications held a Brown Bag Lunch Day on March 15 to raise money for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s 2016 Harvest for Hunger campaign. Employees offered donations to the cause, shared their lunch time, and the company matched those donations. “We were thrilled to help this vital program. Let’s eliminate hunger in our community!” said President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz.

The Foodbank’s President and CEO Dan Flowers dropped by to visit the office and to say thanks.

I always felt Super Tuesday needed a mascot. And, that is my first point of clarification. I am talking about the primary election day…nothing to do with the ESPN television series.

We first heard the term in 1984 when Walter Mondale and Gary Hart vied for the nomination. In fact, we had three of them that year. I won’t go into the detail about what each candidate said. Sufficient to say in the end, Walter Mondale only won the electoral votes that November in Minnesota and in DC. [Please note Wikipedia states the term was really used in 1976.]

So what is it? Super Tuesday refers to the day in a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to the national conventions.

• 1984—five states were involved which helped bring the nomination to Democrat Walter Mondale;
• 1988 – nine states held primary elections on March 8, 1988 and the votes were split between Democrats Dick Gephardt, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, and Michael Dukakis with the latter eventually being nominated;
• 1992 – The March 10, 1992 election brought Democrat Bill Clinton into the national spotlight;
• 1996 – March 12, 1996 included nine states and secured Republican Bob Dole’s bid;
• 2000 – 16 states participated in the March 7, 2000 election;
• 2004 – Fewer states participated on February 3, 2004, and there were only five states with primaries and two caucuses;
• 2008 – Only four states held primary elections on March 4, 2008, but 24 had moved their own primary election up to February 5, 2008 so it ended up being called Super Duper Tuesday;
• 2012 – 10 states held primary elections on March 6, 2012; and
• 2016 – We will have 13 states involved in the March 1, 2016 date.

This column is not going to support any candidates. However, it is going to emphasize the importance of voting whenever your state has scheduled those dates. All those election dates are on our website, www.stateandfed.com.

On Tuesday, March 15 the staff of State and Federal Communications are offered one hour at the beginning of the day to vote before arriving to work. Until next month, remember to VOTE, plan for it so you do not forget or end up out of town, and encourage friends and family to do so.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz

President and CEO
@elizabethbartz

Enjoy these fun photos from recent events:

Elizabeth Z. Bartz in Washington, DC with the DC staff, Rebecca Pixton South and Gamble Hayden at the WASRG happy hour.

Gamble Hayden at the PLEN Women in Public Policy event in Washington, DC.

State and Federal Communications hosted the first of a series of free government relations compliance webinars for 2016. President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz and Amber Fish Linke, Director of Client and Product Operations, presented the widely attended “Lobbying Compliance at the State Level” webinar on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. If you are interested in participating in our future webinars, contact us at training@stateandfed.com!

I rarely take this column to speak about my health. It could be better, but there was a year it was worse. In 2006, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and it was a tough year. And, that is probably the nicest word to use for it.

Women usually hear if you can feel a pain, then it isn’t cancer.  Well, I had a pain and after two mammograms, an ultrasound, a MRI, and a biopsy, I was diagnosed with cancer, and it had gone to my lymph nodes. My surgeon, Dr. Julian Kim from the Cleveland Clinic (now at University Hospital) said cancer was the least of my problems … chemotherapy and radiation would take a lot out of me.

I took to cancer like I do a lot of things. Attacked it. Surgery was done within a month of the diagnosis. Chemotherapy, managed by my Cleveland Clinic oncologist, was done from March to June of 2006, along with losing all of my hair and wearing a wig, steroids prescribed for pain associated with Taxol, and sleeping a lot. Radiation was most of July 2006, which included a huge burn at the end of it all.

And, then it was all over. Cancer free. I still hold my breath a lot when I have mammograms, and I do have mammograms done annually. There is no magic wand to avoid a reoccurrence, but the possibility goes down after 10 years.

Everyone has issues and we do not know what people are dealing with in their lives. I bring this up to give you hope if you are dealing with health issues. Attack it. Don’t let it affect your spirit, the thing that makes you YOU. Please know in the last 10 years I have also spoken to a number of women in government affairs who have had breast cancer. It’s a club…one that we didn’t want to be a member of, but we are, and we need to be there for each other.

So now, 10 years later, I can cheer a little louder about being cancer free and celebrating with a short holiday in Punta Cana—just reflecting on how wonderful life has been.

Until next month, celebrate your life, enjoy your family and friends, and be YOU.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz

President and CEO
@elizabethbartz

Now, that is one sexy topic for a conference session!! To be honest, it is a session at the 2016 Public Affairs Council National PAC Conference in Miami, Florida and yours truly is one of the session leaders along with our good friend Jennifer Spall, senior director of political programs at Wal-Mart.

Here is my #1 comment about 2016—If you are not involved with making political contributions, you might as well hibernate. It will be a huge campaign season—from city, county, state, and president. Our office is already vetting contributions for 2018 elections.

Register for the conference at www.pac.org and hear many of our contributions colleagues around the country speak about how important it is to manage and organize how, when, and why contributions are made.

And, if that isn’t enough of an enticement…Plan on joining the State and Federal Communications team on Wednesday, March 9th for lunch. We want to give you the opportunity to take a tour of our website and see the important information we provide to thousands of your counterparts in corporate and trade association government affairs firms.

There is a lot to know about campaign finance and making political contributions. And, whether you care about reform or not (as published by Doug Pinkham’s December 22nd blog), you do need to know there are things to keep track of to protect your organization. This is the week to promote to your professional development.

Until next month, remember it is impossible to have 50 state political contributions laws in your head…Join us in Miami and find out how you can be the expert at your organization.

Thank you.
Happy New Year.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz

President and CEO
@elizabethbartz

Well the weather outside is frightful…

That is how this column started but the weather has been unusually fabulous. So I re-wrote my column and am not going to discuss the weather…but something we all know more about.

Registrations and reports you have due in January could be frightening so we encourage you to find a delightful fire this month along with some corn for popping. Turn the lights way down low…And, let State and Federal Communications take care of your compliance needs.

The State and Federal Communications website—www.stateandfed.com—is complete with the important 2016 dates you need to know. Our offices are open and staffed in December, with the exception of being closed on December 24th, December 25th, December 31st, and January 1st.

You just cannot miss when State and Federal Communications is on your side.

On behalf of this great team, we wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz

President and CEO
@elizabethbartz