Derek Mehraban
The Digital CEO – Google “Mehraban” and you will find Derek Mehraban, a husband, father and true entrepreneur. Mehraban is CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing and runs LA2M (Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing) a weekly educational program that draws 75+ to Ann Arbor for lunch every Wednesday. Mehraban teaches future leaders in digital marketing at Michigan State University through his New Media Drivers License Course – a course focused on using blogs, social media, digital public relations, and SEO to grow your personal and company brand. Learn more about Derek Mehraban at his digital marketing blog.
Mehraban graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Advertising. Before Ingenex, Mehraban was an Award-Winning Copywriter for agencies like Leo Burnett and Campbell Ewald. He also ran business development for a successful strategic design firm before starting his own internet marketing company. Mehraban sits on the Marketing Advisory Counsel for Michigan State University, and is a frequent keynote speaker at marketing conferences.
Matt Friedman
Tanner Friedman Co-Founder Matt Friedman works with clients in a variety of industries on developing and executing their communications strategies. His clients have included an international airline, the largest global pharmaceutical company, a major research university, print and broadcast media companies, top non-profit organizations and leading professional service firms.He is also an experienced media trainer, combining his news and PR experience to create customized media training sessions for clients to learn how to tell their stories and deliver their messages through interviews with journalists.
He began his PR career at a large Metro Detroit firm in the 1990s, after a track record of success in broadcast journalism. Most recently, he was the lead news producer for Detroit station WDIV-TV (NBC)’s 6pm news broadcast, at the time Michigan’s most watched evening news program. He also served as a news producer at WKMG-TV (CBS) in Orlando, Florida and WSB-TV (ABC) in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was the top news writer on the nation’s highest-rated 11pm newscast. Friedman began his professional broadcasting career on-the-air and behind-the-scenes at WWJ-AM radio (CBS) in Detroit. He first started at age 11 as a DJ and sports announcer at Metro Detroit community radio station WBFH-FM, where he eventually became the station’s operations manager. He now frequently serves as a broadcast news and PR analyst for newspapers, magazines, Web sites and TV and radio stations.
Friedman is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, where he served as News Director at WJPZ-FM, at the time the nation’s highest-rated collegiate broadcast outlet.
A leader in the Detroit community, Friedman serves on the Board of Trustees of Children’s Hospital of Michigan and on the Advisory Board of Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids. He also chairs the Detroit Regional Chamber’s PR/Marketing Advisory Council, which recommends communications strategy for the nation’s largest chamber of commerce, which named him “Volunteer of the Year.” Friedman also received recognition as one of Crain’s Detroit Business’ “40 Under 40.” He resides with his family in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Susan Evans
Susan (“Sue”) Jezewski Evans, Esq., is a special lecturer who has taught JRN 403, Law of the Press, since 2005.
An alumnus of Oakland University, Honors College, class of 1988, Sue earned her Juris Doctor degree from Wayne State University Law School, magna cum laude, in 1992.
After practicing law in Butzel Long, P.C.’s Detroit office in 1992-93, where she represented media entities, including The Detroit News and Warner Brothers, Sue was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Patrick J. Duggan, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan. She then served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She later was a career judicial law clerk for the Honorable George E. Woods, United States Senior District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan. Sue is admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the United States District Court for the Southern Division of Texas and all courts in the State of Michigan.
Sue’s recent presentations include Privacy Issues and the Internet at the MYLEAD Conference at Michigan State University in May 2007 and The Current State of the Reporter’s Privilege at the University of Michigan School of Law in October 2006.
Sue is the 2005 recipient of the Oakland University Distinguished Alumni Service Award and the 1998 recipient of the Oakland University Spirit Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. Sue served as a member of the Oakland University Alumni Association’s Board of Directors from 1992-2005, including serving as Chairperson from 2002 – 2004. Since 2002, she also has served as the inaugural Chairperson of Oakland University Honors College Advisory Counsel. Sue is a member of the American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law and its Teaching Medial Law subcommittee; the Federal Bar Association; the State Bar of Michigan; and a life member of MENSA.
Erin Denomme
Erin Denomme is currently working as a graduate assistant for Oakland University Career Services while completing her MBA with a concentration in management information systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Development from Oakland University. Denomme worked in the areas of organizational development and effectiveness, leadership and executive development, recruiting and HRIS design and implementation in the automotive and healthcare industry. Link to Erin on LinkedIn.
