Peter Baniak is a veteran newsroom leader and one of the early architects of artificial intelligence adoption in local journalism. While serving as senior vice president for Local News at McClatchy, he established the company's first team dedicated to AI and newsroom innovation, helping one of America's largest newspaper organizations explore how emerging technologies could strengthen reporting, workflow and audience engagement.

Previously, Baniak served for nearly 15 years as executive editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, leading the newspaper's transition from print to digital while maintaining a strong commitment to accountability journalism. A 2024 inductee into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he now teaches at the University of Kentucky, preparing the next generation of journalists to lead in an AI-powered media landscape.

In his role as president of Cookerly PR, Stephen Michael Brown, APR, Fellow PRSA develops creative strategies to manage reputation. Stephen works on clients such as PGA TOUR Superstore, Mercedes-Benz and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

He is passionate about the arts and education, as past president of Actor’s Express and PRSA Georgia and board member of Ron Clark Academy. He also founded film site SilverScreenCapture.com. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, whose CIC student services center bears his name.

Sabrina Habib is a researcher, educator and creative practitioner whose work explores how technologies reshape the creative process, learning, and innovation. Drawing on a professional background in advertising, entrepreneurship, and the arts, she studies how people collaborate with technology while maintaining creative confidence, ownership, and agency.

She is the co-author of the forthcoming Rutledge Press book, Human Creativity in the Age of AI, which examines how students and professionals can thrive in an AI-powered ​era while preserving the uniquely human elements of creativity. At USC, Habib teaches Creative Thinking and User Experience, among other courses, preparing the next generation of communications professionals for an AI-powered future.

Peter LaMotte leads strategic communications at Chernoff Newman, where he helps organizations navigate complex reputation, marketing and crisis communications challenges. Over the past two decades, he has advised Fortune Global 500 companies, international associations, nonprofit organizations, foreign governments and high-profile individuals through some of the nation's most visible corporate crises, legal battles and public affairs issues.

A frequent speaker and media source on reputation management, LaMotte also serves on the boards of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, Palmetto Project and the Lowcountry Center for Veterans Research.

He remains unsuccessful in one communications challenge: convincing his wife that the family needs a dog.

Clay Owen is a communications educator and former corporate communications executive whose career spans journalism, public relations, media relations and strategic communications.

Before joining the University of South Carolina, he was an award-winning public relations executive with Cingular Wireless and AT&T, leading national media relations, executive communications and brand storytelling initiatives. He also served as a producer with CNN in London and Atlanta.

At USC, Owen leads initiatives focused on artificial intelligence and the intersection of sports and social media. He is the founder of the Sports Social Pulse™, a sports intelligence platform that transforms digital attention into actionable insights for media organizations, athletic departments, brands and sponsors.

Owen is also co-founder of Curing Kids Cancer, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing innovative pediatric cancer research.

Jason Porter is an award-winning animator, designer and creative educator whose work spans some of the world's most recognizable brands, including Marvel, Disney, Volkswagen, Target and Taco Bell.

A voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Porter combines decades of professional creative experience with a passion for helping students explore emerging technologies, immersive storytelling and AI-driven creative workflows. His teaching emphasizes hands-on collaboration, design thinking and the role of human intention in an AI-powered creative process, preparing students to thrive in the next generation of media and communications.

Andrew Robertson is chairman of BBDO Worldwide. He served as president and CEO for two decades, during which BBDO was recognized in the Effie Awards Index as the world’s most effective network five times and as “Network of the Decade” at the Cannes Lions Awards.

Inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2022, he was named one of the one hundred most influential leaders in marketing, media, and tech alongside industry giants like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Jeff Bezos.

Robertson has taught guest classes at New York University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University.

He has also appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg News, and The Today Show and is a chairman emeritus of the Advertising Council. As of September 2025, USA Today best-selling author of The Creative Shift.

Robby Thomas is vice president and general manager of WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina, leading award-winning teams who deliver trusted local journalism across broadcast and digital platforms.

An original member of Gray Media’s AI Policy Committee, he helps shape responsible, transparent standards for AI use in newsrooms nationwide.

Thomas is also building agents and practical tools to help local media move faster while protecting human editorial judgment, accuracy and community trust.

Valerie Vargas leads AT&T's strategy and creative execution of full-funnel advertising, social media marketing, and retail marketing experiences across the company’s store footprint.

With a career spanning more than three decades, she began in telecommunications with BellSouth Cellular, played a key role in the formation and launch of Cingular Wireless and later expanded her expertise as SVP of Marketing at HomeBanc Mortgage.

Since rejoining AT&T in 2007, Valerie has held leadership roles across advertising, customer marketing, insights, data monetization and innovation. She founded AT&T Data Patterns and launched AT&T Creator Lab/HelloLab, pioneering branded content and influencer initiatives.

Kristin Walker brings more than two decades of experience in branding, advertising strategy and marketing innovation to the classroom.

Her career includes leadership roles with McCann World Group in New York and the Cirlot Agency, along with consulting work for organizations including the NFL, Pro Football Hall of Fame, US Foods and Northrop Grumman.

Her teaching and research focus on advertising strategy, consumer behavior, generative AI, agentic AI workflows and human-machine collaboration. Walker is passionate about preparing the next generation of communications professionals to lead in an AI-powered world through hands-on, real-world learning experiences.