Our Chapter:
Meet the Board
Kelly
Duffort
President
kelly@kellyduffort.com
Kelly Duffort is principal and founder of KD Web Strategies, a web consulting firm that advises companies how to effectively communicate with their online target audiences. She develops comprehensive web marketing strategies, produces websites and provides social media training. (Find her on Twitter: @kellyduffort.)
Before starting her own business, Kelly was a web communications manager at GlaxoSmithKline. Her love for communications and her fascination with the Web came together while she worked on the knowledge management team at Towers Watson, a worldwide consulting company. Kelly got her start in the communications field working in community relations as an account executive for a public relations firm and as a consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Kelly is president of the NC Triangle Chapter of IABC. She served as Vice President of Chapter Operations 2009-2010 and Vice President of Membership 2007-2009. She has been a member of IABC since 2002. Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Wake Forest University.
Laurie Bowser-Sever
Past President
lbowser@att.net
Laurie Bowser-Sever is a seasoned 20-year marketing and public relations veteran with national and international experience in brand management and positioning, marketing/business plan development, public relations, marketing communications and corporate communications. Her specialties lie in developing and executing business-to-business and business-to-consumer communications strategies in the consumer goods, retail and technology sectors.
Bowser-Sever has led corporate marketing and public relations departments for several startup and prominent blue-chip companies and has worked as an independent public relations consultant for several agencies in North Carolina and on the west coast. Currently, she is account manager for Interprose Public Relations, where she manages several technology accounts from her Cary office.
Bowser-Sever is a member of IABC's 500 Club. Prior to her role as president, she served as the chapter's vice president of membership from 2005-2007. She is also a board member of Community Partnerships, a nonprofit organization that helps those with disabilities live independent lives. A former journalist, she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and public relations from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and a master's degree in corporate communications from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn.
Alison Weaver
Vice President of Chapter Operations
alison@awordweaver.com
Alison Weaver is president and founder of A Word Weaver LLC, a communications consulting firm that helps companies generate leads and sales through effective marketing communications. She specializes in developing and executing business-to-business communications strategies in the information technology, construction, health care and education industries.
An award-winning communications professional, Alison worked as a marketing communications manager and publications manager for several Triangle-area organizations prior to starting her own company. Her past roles include work in marketing communications, corporate communications, public relations, project management, event management and technical writing.
Alison joined IABC in 2009 and immediately set about helping to develop the chapter’s social-media presence. Alison earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism, with a concentration in public relations, and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a master’s degree in technical communications from North Carolina State University.
Shannon
Helm
Vice President of Membership
shannonh@nc.rr.com
Shannon Helm joined the Triangle chapter of IABC in 2003 and served on the membership committee for two years, and most recently served as VP of Chapter Operations. Currently she works as communications and outreach manager for the North Carolina Solar Center at N.C. State University, where she manages media and community relations, events, website management and manages the N.C. State Solar House program. She has worked for companies such as ABB Inc, Lenovo and IBM where her responsibilities have included planning and implementing communication strategies, consulting with business units on best practices for branding and implementation of communication plans, and managing direct mail, advertising and social media/web communications. She has more than ten years of experience in the communications field, including work in public relations and community affairs, internal communications, event management, branding, project management and strategy. Shannon holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a master's degree in communication from North Carolina State University.
Abbie Kiefer
Vice President of Professional Development
abbie@abbiekiefer.com
Abbie is a freelance writer and public relations strategist. She began her
career as the editor of a weekly newspaper in Maine, where she covered a
wide variety of topics including elections, accidents, championships, layoffs, town meetings, museums and monster trucks. After relocating to North Carolina, she spent two years at a Raleigh PR/marketing firm, where she was responsible for communication strategy and planning, media relations, message development and a wide range of writing projects. Clients included John Deere, Raytheon, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and BB&T.
A graduate of Eastern University, Abbie has a B.A. in English and political science. Her work has been recognized by the Maine Press Association and North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. She has been member of IABC since 2008.
Mary
Hecht-Kissell
Vice President of Marketing
maryhk@pr-strategies.com
Mary Hecht-Kissell is president and founder of PR Strategies, a public relations (PR) consultancy that serves information technology clients. With more than 15 years of experience as a communications professional, Mary has managed marketing, public relations and corporate communications programs for global companies including Cisco, Verizon and Time Warner Cable. Most recently, Mary was the Director of Global Public Relations at Exinda Networks, an information technology vendor.
Mary joined IABC in 2008 and is eager to publicize the many benefits that IABC membership has to offer. Mary received an MBA from George Washington University with a concentration in marketing. She also earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
David MacDonald
Vice President of Finance
davidcmacdonald@nc.rr.com
Currently manager of corporate communications at Martin Marietta Materials in Raleigh, David has more than two decades of professional communications experience. Beginning his career as a newspaper reporter and editor at the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record in Virginia, he went on to serve as assistant director of communications with the North Carolina Bar Association, director of communications with UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science and since July 2005 has worked at the corporate headquarters of the nation’s second largest producer of construction aggregates.
A Massachusetts native, David earned his bachelor’s degree in English at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and his master’s degree in journalism/public relations at UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications. A past member of the board of the Raleigh Jaycees, he joined the Triangle IABC chapter in 2009.
