Ron with Michael S. Lewis Co-founded The Paradigm Group in 1999. The Paradigm Group has three areas of focus, Venture Capital, Entertainment, and Real Estate. Paradigm Venture Partners strategic investment portfolio includes, Fiber Optics, Stored Valued Credit Card Processing, and Consumer Credit Financing. Paradigm Development specializes in large Commercial Real estate ventures. Paradigm Worldwide Entertainment provides programming software for municipality owned television stations, as well as producing documentaries.
No stranger to Fortune 100 companies earlier in his career, he Co-Founded Health Benefits America (HBA) which became one of the nations premier outsourcing benefit management solutions. HBA provided services to many respected Fortune 100 companies including General Motors, Bank of America, TRW, Rockwell International, Chrysler, `PepsiCo, FedEx, K-Mart, Sears, Citibank, Chevron, Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Marriott Corp, Price Waterhouse, DHL, and J.C. Penney. HBA was acquired by Automatic Data Processing, Inc (ADP) in 1996. Ron stayed on as an executive with ADP until late 1998.
Ron currently serves on a number of Boards, including Galileo Financial, Hale Center Theatre, University of Utah School of Music, Founding Trustee - Operation Kids, The President’s National Advisory Board Utah Valley State University, National Advisory Board Best of State, and International Advisory Board Chairman for Enterprise Mentors International, Southern Virgina University Advisory Board, and Special Liason for the Utah Symphony. Under Governor Walker he served on the Governors Global Economic Council.
He has been a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir since 1997. He was called and set apart as Assistant to the President for Special Projects for The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2001. His primary responsibilities include securing and negotiating for guest artists and celebrities to perform with the Choir. He has worked with many guest artists including, Gladys Knight, Roma Downey, Angela Lansbury, Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Robbins, Bryn Terfel, Frederica Von Stade, Ronan Tynan, Audra McDonald, Peter Graves, Renee Fleming, and Sissel, The King’s Singers, and most recently Edward Herrmann and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
Ron Graduated with a degree in Public Relations and Psychology from Brigham Young University in 1978. He is married to Kaye Ashby Gunnell and has three daughters, Kristen 20, Lauren 18, and Natilyn 10.
UTAHPR2009
Conference Information and Theme
"Position to Win" is a conference designed to show professionals and students the way to create a professional persona and winning business. Utah’s cutting edge public relations experts will delve into key issues including social media, search engine optimization, maximizing the client-agency relationship, negotiating with journalists, preventing PR mistakes and unveiling creative genius. Not only will presenters teach in theory but, more importantly, they’ll show how it’s put into practice. Students, professionals and the general public will walk away from the conference feeling energized and engaged with tools necessary to put them in a “Position to Win!”
The conference will be in the Eccles Conference Center at USU on
April 13th from 9:30 to 3:30
UTHAPR2009
Presentation Descriptions
Ron Gunnell
PR - Perception-Reception. The Art of Perception in Business and in Life
Pete Codella
Social Media and Search Marketing
How social media has changed the role of public relations practitioners. A discussion of the new rules of marketing and public relations, what an effective online marketing strategy is, and a description of the current social media puzzle from a public relations perspective. Call it search engine optimization, search marketing or inbound marketing, securing top search placement is now paramount to any successful communication campaign. We’ll discuss utilization of online tools — many of them free social media tools — to help secure top search placement.
Tim Brown
Wake Up Your Creative Genius
Tim Brown trains executives to create and produce great ideas by teaching them to: • Think like a kid again; • Think outside rigid parameters; • Work outside your comfort zone; • Respond to challenges creatively; • Generate effective solutions to problems; and • Pry open your creative thinking.
Presentation Components 1. Applying tips of creative genius 2. Filling your bucket 3. Getting out of your rut 4. Tips of discovering winning ideas 5. The “Ricochet Effect” 6. Mastering the game of “What if…” 7. Questions that spark the imagination 8. The outside advantage – a third party perspective 9. Better brainstorming
Krachel Greenwood
Media Relations and the Non-Profit Industry
Thinking about working as a public relations specialist in the non-profit sector? Come find out what’s going to help you land your story in the ‘news’. I’ll share lots of personal stories while focusing on the following points: How to Get Your Story Publicized They say if it bleeds it leads, so how do I still get my story in the news if it doesn’t bleed? Press Releases – How Important Are They? I’ve got my who and where and what and why, but is it really necessary to write it down? Event Day, Now What? The media contacted you and said they’re interested in your story, now what?
Sarah Reale
Marketing to High School Students Using Web 2.0
High school students today are living through text messages, Facebook, and YouTube. Guided by Utah State University's director of admissions, Jenn Putnam (also a PR graduate) USU dove right into Web 2.0 by creating publications, media productions, and web material for this millennia generation. Fun. Flashy. Hip. Students can't help but become Aggie
Lexie Kite
Public Relations Specialist vs. Journalist: Negotiating Your Territory
This presentation will cover the often complicated relationship between PR specialists and journalists. We will discuss what expectations both parties may have in the professional relationship, the difficulties of negotiating both parties' responsibilities, and what it is like to work in either field or a combination of the two.
Rolf Koecher
An Editor's view: Major public relations disasters, and how to avoid them.
From Watergate to Utah's battle over school vouchers, a review of things that have gone woefully wrong and how to prevent the same mistakes: 1. How a U.S. President was hounded from office. And why a Wall Street tycoon fell from his perch as a media darling, ending up as a "greenmailer" and a man without a company. 2. It did happen here: How an entire community was duped by flag-waving, patriotic songs, Boy Scouts marching and the chanting of slogans to unwittingly clamor for an end to freedom of the press. 3. Why a U.S. Congressman, a county judge and two district attorneys were thrown out of office after holding their positions for years. When the voters get confused, everybody loses. 4. When life hands you a no-win bombshell: Choosing between your job or going to jail for bribing a foreign government. 5. One of the ugliest chapters in recent history: How the Utah Supreme Court saved the state's sanity in the battle over school vouchers. 6. Things to do and not to do: A survival guide for those in public relations.
Chris Thomas & Nile Easton
Maximizing the Client Agency Relationship
UTAHPR2009
PR - Perception-Reception. The Art of Perception in Business and in Life
Pete Codella
Social Media and Search Marketing
How social media has changed the role of public relations practitioners. A discussion of the new rules of marketing and public relations, what an effective online marketing strategy is, and a description of the current social media puzzle from a public relations perspective. Call it search engine optimization, search marketing or inbound marketing, securing top search placement is now paramount to any successful communication campaign. We’ll discuss utilization of online tools — many of them free social media tools — to help secure top search placement.
Tim Brown
Wake Up Your Creative Genius
Tim Brown trains executives to create and produce great ideas by teaching them to: • Think like a kid again; • Think outside rigid parameters; • Work outside your comfort zone; • Respond to challenges creatively; • Generate effective solutions to problems; and • Pry open your creative thinking.
Presentation Components 1. Applying tips of creative genius 2. Filling your bucket 3. Getting out of your rut 4. Tips of discovering winning ideas 5. The “Ricochet Effect” 6. Mastering the game of “What if…” 7. Questions that spark the imagination 8. The outside advantage – a third party perspective 9. Better brainstorming
Krachel Greenwood
Media Relations and the Non-Profit Industry
Thinking about working as a public relations specialist in the non-profit sector? Come find out what’s going to help you land your story in the ‘news’. I’ll share lots of personal stories while focusing on the following points: How to Get Your Story Publicized They say if it bleeds it leads, so how do I still get my story in the news if it doesn’t bleed? Press Releases – How Important Are They? I’ve got my who and where and what and why, but is it really necessary to write it down? Event Day, Now What? The media contacted you and said they’re interested in your story, now what?
Sarah Reale
Marketing to High School Students Using Web 2.0
High school students today are living through text messages, Facebook, and YouTube. Guided by Utah State University's director of admissions, Jenn Putnam (also a PR graduate) USU dove right into Web 2.0 by creating publications, media productions, and web material for this millennia generation. Fun. Flashy. Hip. Students can't help but become Aggie
Lexie Kite
Public Relations Specialist vs. Journalist: Negotiating Your Territory
This presentation will cover the often complicated relationship between PR specialists and journalists. We will discuss what expectations both parties may have in the professional relationship, the difficulties of negotiating both parties' responsibilities, and what it is like to work in either field or a combination of the two.
Rolf Koecher
An Editor's view: Major public relations disasters, and how to avoid them.
From Watergate to Utah's battle over school vouchers, a review of things that have gone woefully wrong and how to prevent the same mistakes: 1. How a U.S. President was hounded from office. And why a Wall Street tycoon fell from his perch as a media darling, ending up as a "greenmailer" and a man without a company. 2. It did happen here: How an entire community was duped by flag-waving, patriotic songs, Boy Scouts marching and the chanting of slogans to unwittingly clamor for an end to freedom of the press. 3. Why a U.S. Congressman, a county judge and two district attorneys were thrown out of office after holding their positions for years. When the voters get confused, everybody loses. 4. When life hands you a no-win bombshell: Choosing between your job or going to jail for bribing a foreign government. 5. One of the ugliest chapters in recent history: How the Utah Supreme Court saved the state's sanity in the battle over school vouchers. 6. Things to do and not to do: A survival guide for those in public relations.
Chris Thomas & Nile Easton
Maximizing the Client Agency Relationship
UTAHPR2009
Schedule
9:00 a.m. Continental breakfast
Eccles Conference Center
9:25 a.m. Welcome
Troy Oldham, Lecturer, Department of Journalism & Communications
9:30 a.m. Keynote
Ron Gunnell, Head of Public Relations of Special Projects for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
PR - Perception-Reception. The Art of Perception in Business and in Life
10:30 a.m. Breakouts (two sessions, 1 hour each)
Sarah Reale, PR Specialist, Utah State University
Marketing to High School Students Using Web 2.0
Lexie Kite, PhD Student at U of U, freelance journalist and PR specialist
Public Relations Specialist vs. Journalist: Negotiating Your Territory
Tim Brown, Partner, Ricter7
Wake Up Your Creative Genius
Krachel Greenwood, Communications Manager, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah
Media Relations and the Non-Profit Industry
12:30 p.m. Networking Lunch
East Ballroom, Taggart Student Center
1:30 p.m. Breakouts
Rolf Koecher, Executive Editor of Davis County Clipper
An Editor's View: Major Public Relations Disasters, and How to Avoid Them
Chris Thomas, Owner & Officer, Intrepid Hybrid Communications & Nile Easton, Senior Public Information Officer, Utah Department of Transportation
Maximizing the Client Agency Relationship
2:30 p.m. Keynote
Pete Codella, APR, President at Codella Marketing, Founder and Owner at NewsCactus, Program Coordinator at Social Media Club of Salt Lake City
Social Media and Search Marketing
3:30 p.m. Closing
Kevin Crouch, USU PRSSA Chapter President
3:35 p.m. Aggie Ice Cream Social
UTARPR2009
Eccles Conference Center
9:25 a.m. Welcome
Troy Oldham, Lecturer, Department of Journalism & Communications
9:30 a.m. Keynote
Ron Gunnell, Head of Public Relations of Special Projects for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
PR - Perception-Reception. The Art of Perception in Business and in Life
10:30 a.m. Breakouts (two sessions, 1 hour each)
Sarah Reale, PR Specialist, Utah State University
Marketing to High School Students Using Web 2.0
Lexie Kite, PhD Student at U of U, freelance journalist and PR specialist
Public Relations Specialist vs. Journalist: Negotiating Your Territory
Tim Brown, Partner, Ricter7
Wake Up Your Creative Genius
Krachel Greenwood, Communications Manager, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah
Media Relations and the Non-Profit Industry
12:30 p.m. Networking Lunch
East Ballroom, Taggart Student Center
1:30 p.m. Breakouts
Rolf Koecher, Executive Editor of Davis County Clipper
An Editor's View: Major Public Relations Disasters, and How to Avoid Them
Chris Thomas, Owner & Officer, Intrepid Hybrid Communications & Nile Easton, Senior Public Information Officer, Utah Department of Transportation
Maximizing the Client Agency Relationship
2:30 p.m. Keynote
Pete Codella, APR, President at Codella Marketing, Founder and Owner at NewsCactus, Program Coordinator at Social Media Club of Salt Lake City
Social Media and Search Marketing
3:30 p.m. Closing
Kevin Crouch, USU PRSSA Chapter President
3:35 p.m. Aggie Ice Cream Social
UTARPR2009
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