The Team
Hal Newman has been writing stories, drawing pictures, and experimenting with fonts since he was a kid. His late grandmother Lena was an award-winning non-fiction author in Canada who impressed the importance of being able to express oneself through the written word upon him. Hal’s long career in emergency services and emergency management has been punctuated by frequent writing and editing assignments along the way. Hal is often referred to as ‘the oldest geek’ in the room when he gets together with other social media & technology innovators. He was invited to be a part of the inaugural OGMA Workshops – Embracing Web 2.0 for Homeland Security – at the Navy PostGrad School in Monterey, California and is a frequent presenter on the need to leverage social media for crisis management. During 2009-2010, Newman went into training for the 2010 edition of The Ride to Conquer Cancer – a 320-km two-day endurance event to raise funds for cancer research. In the course of his training program, Newman lost 120 pounds and was invited to talk publicly about the process he called Giving Up His Seat in the Raft. Newman studied journalism at Bethany College and emergency health services systems analysis at University of Maryland.
Seth Michalak has been a geek since before it was cool to be one. Seriously. Ask anyone he went to high school with. But, as luck would have it, Seth has been able to leverage that geekiness into a career. Seth loves social media, new technology and all things web. He likes being an early adopter – sometimes to the detriment of his bank account. Seth’s professional career has always dealt with the dissemination of information – broadcasting, customer service, institutional communication, political communication and marketing. He loves to craft messages that help people better understand a situation. Seth is our resident communications and social media guru and is comfortable providing our clients guidance for social media strategy and planning; social media education and policy; marketing plans; reputation monitoring; and content development for web and other media. Originally from Buffalo NY, Seth and his wife Leah now call Savannah home. And while he left Buffalo, Seth still lives and dies [mostly dies] with the Bills and the Sabres. If and when either team brings the championship back to his home town, Seth says he will be on the steps of City Hall for the parade.
Michel A. Di Iorio has accumulated more than 30 years of experience in oral and written communication. A very forceful and effective communicator, his counsel and expertise are sought after by commercial ventures, political and private venues alike. Michel offers a professional, vanguard service to his growing client-base. An acknowledged visionary, Michel A. Di Iorio has distinguished himself among his competitors through innovation, specialization and the quality of his personalized services, specially adapted to the needs of a changing marketplace in the throes of technological evolution. A homegrown Quebecer, he fully understands the political stakes and linguistic challenges of doing business in his native province, and Canada. Seventeen years in combined emergency services earn him a chair on a dozen discussion groups, project selection panels, administrative boards and committees of various business associations and chambers of commerce. As a director of communications and publicist, his career places him at the forefront of several popular causes of the moment, whereas a fluent bilingual pen earns him the admiration of his peers and the respect of his adversaries.