Guest Speakers

Josh Jensen was elected to the New York State Assembly on November 3, 2020. His district includes a portion of Monroe County, specifically the towns of Greece, Ogden, and Parma and the villages of Hilton and Spencerport.

Josh plans to use his leadership and public service background to give a voice to those in his district and beyond. He believes the state needs to cut unnecessary spending, help create more jobs, and push for the increased protection of our families and neighborhoods through enhanced public safety initiatives.

Josh graduated from Niagara University and Hilton High School. Prior to being elected to the Assembly, Jensen served the residents of the 3rd Ward as a member of the Town of Greece’s Town Board. As a councilman, he supported proposals that lowered taxes and prioritized the maintenance and improvement of vital infrastructure. He previously worked for Sen. Joe Robach, serving as Director of Communications and Director of Community Affairs and Public Policy. He has also proudly volunteered with the Hilton Education Foundation and Rochester area chapter of the National Fallen Firefighters.

Serves on Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Committee on Heath, Committee on Housing, Committee on Libraries and Education Technology

Josh resides in Greece with his wife, Casey, and their children, Margot and Brendan.

Alexis Bowering studied Public Relations at SUNY Oswego from Fall 2016 to Spring of 2020. In that time she was a RA, VCA, TA, the Public Relations Officer for Women’s Choir, PRSSA Secretary and PRSSA President. She had six internships with four different companies; Little Lukes, Fort Ontario, The Department of Agriculture for the state of Pennsylvania, and SUNY Oswego’s Alumni Association. She was also inducted into Lambda Pi Eta and Mu Beta Psi.

Alexis is now the Communications Director at WMC - Weapons of Mass Creation which is located in Syracuse, New York. It has been a long struggle to get there because after graduation no one was hiring. She got a job at UPS and got promoted to Supervisor soon after which was an interesting experience but not where she wanted to be. In order to get the position she is currently in she started by just dropping by the office and proving she wanted to be there. Then she went part time and worked two jobs till finally she was able to quit UPS and work at WMC full time.

Alexis Bowering ‘20 is the Communications Director at WMC: Weapons of Mass Creation, located in Syracuse, New York. Alexis studied Public Relations at Oswego while she was also the Public Relations Officer for Women’s Choir, PRSSA Secretary and PRSSA President. Alexis also interned for Little Lukes, Fort Ontario, The Department of Agriculture for the state of Pennsylvania, and SUNY Oswego’s Alumni Association, while also being an inductee of Lambda Pi Eta and Mu Beta Psi.

Stephanie Gregorio graduated from SUNY Oswego in May of 2020, where she majored in Public Relations with a concentration in Art Management.

During her time at Oswego, she held several executive board positions within The Latino Student Union, the 2019 Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit, Fashion at Oswego, and the Association of Latino Professionals for America.

She was also a member of PRSSA and was inducted into Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communications Honors society. In her last year, she interned with Professor Stabb as a social media intern for the Department of Communication Studies.

After graduating from Oswego, Stephanie spent some time doing freelance PR work until she found her current role as an Audience Engine Associate at UM Worldwide, a marketing agency located in New York City where she works on the Johnson & Johnson account.

My name is Taylor Briceno and I am a 24-year-old governmental public relations coordinator & IT manager. I graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in public relations and a minor in sports studies. During my time at Oswego, I also:

• Held the positions of PR chair, social chair & was one of the founding fathers of the Upsilon-Pi chapter of Kappa Sigma at SUNY Oswego

• Held the position of social media director on the executive board for the Media Summit

• Held the position of vice president of Onondaga Hall for the two years I resided there

• Was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society

• Was awarded the Presidential Scholarship & Empire Diversity Honors Scholarship

Following graduation, I started out as a paid summer intern in the communication department of a land use & construction conglomerate named Haugland Group. I held this position until the internship concluded at the beginning of September 2019 & almost immediately found the company I still work at today: Praxis Public Relations. My current official title is Account Coordinator, Client Relations & Social Media / IT Manager & I have been working here since October 2019. Since my start at Praxis, I have garnered a tremendous amount of experience dealing with a wide variety of clients ranging in industries such as law, finance, land use, construction/development, energy, retail, media & healthcare. I have also transitioned into an IT management position due to personal interest and company necessity & have expanded my breadth of knowledge immensely acting as Praxis’ internal IT resource.

Meghan Battaglia is Senior Event Manager of ASM Syracuse; a combination of the Oncenter, a 3-building complex in downtown Syracuse, NY made of the Nicolas J. Pirro Convention Center, War Memorial Arena and John Mulroy Civic Center theaters as well as St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview. Meghan established roots in Event Management through Food and Beverage in restaurant and banquet settings has used the opportunities with ASM to learn and perfect roles in Production/Technical Services, Operations and Security. When Meghan is not planning or executing events, she works on growing a small hands-on real estate portfolio with her husband, walks trails with her dog and enjoys going to local wineries and breweries.

New York Army National Guard Col. Richard Goldenberg from Schuylerville, N.Y., has 33 years of service with the Army and Army National Guard. He serves as the Public Affairs Officer for the New York National Guard headquarters in Latham, N.Y.

As a National Guard officer, he responded to numerous state emergencies, including the North Country Ice Storm of 1998, New York City at Ground Zero after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, Southern Tier flooding in 2006, Hurricane Irene flooding in Scoharie County in 2011, Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the snow response for Winter Storm Stella in 2017, supported response efforts for Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands in 2018 and the statewide response to the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020-21.

Goldenberg mobilized for active duty in 2004-05 and served as the public affairs officer for the 42nd Infantry Division during combat operations in North Central Iraq.

He deployed in 2007 to Cairo for training with Egyptian army forces, hosted counterparts from the South African National Defense Forces in New York in 2008, deployed to Hokkaido, Japan in 2009 for bilateral training with Japan Ground Self Defense Forces and Tel Aviv, Israel in 2010 for disaster response training with the Israeli Defense Forces' Home Front Command.

He holds a baccalaureate degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo.

Goldenberg is a distinguished Initial Rotary Wing Course graduate and honor graduate of the Aviation Basic, Aviation Advanced and Joint Firepower Controller Courses. He is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College, the Combined Arms Services Staff School, National Defense University Reserve Component National Security Course and the National Security Studies Course at the Maxwell School of Government & Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He was an honor graduate of the Defense Information School Public Affairs Qualification Course in 2011 and graduate of the Joint Senior Public Affairs Officer Course in 2012.

He is a rated aviator in the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, OH-58A/C Kiowa, AH-1F Cobra and UH-1H Huey aircraft.

His Public Affairs recognitions include National Guard Bureau awards as the 2002 Senior Level Writer and 2004 Journalist Award for production of the Guard Times newspaper for its “professionally edited and written articles, its coverage of topical articles, its photographs and for its bold and innovative page designs.”

National Guard Bureau recognized the Guard Times as best tabloid in 2002, for the web production of the Task Force Liberty Dispatch while deployed in 2005 and the Guard Times news magazine format as best in the National Guard in 2010.

In 2011, the Public Relations Society of America Capital District Chapter awarded Guard Times with the Empire Award for best organization publication. The Department of Defense presented the Keith L. Ware award for excellence in photojournalism to the state news magazine in 2012.

Jamie was the Tipping Point Communication’s first public relations employee, hired following the establishment of the business’ specialty in 2011. Over the past ten years, she has played an integral role in its growth and development, helping to build the division from a two-woman operation to the fully staffed department she oversees today.

Jamie has been implementing regional and national media relations, crisis communications and executive communications strategy for nearly two decades. During her tenure with the Agency, she has held several leadership roles and designed the Tipping Point Academy, a teaching-and-listening-focused trainings and workshops program. This unique offering has provided coaching to dozens of clients like the Harlem Globetrotters, Dollywood, Lollypop Farm, Seabreeze, The Strong National Museum of Play, the Arc of Monroe County, on critical Marcom topics such as proactive and reactive crisis communications, brand messaging, publicity and spokesperson media training.

Prior to joining Tipping Point, Jamie spent five years with Red Bull North America in their Atlanta, GA office, where she was responsible for managing internal and external communications for major extreme-sporting events, maintaining social media accounts, curating content for redbullusa.com and executing marketing activations for professional Red Bull athletes.

Jamie graduated Lambda Pi Eta from Rochester Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations and achieved her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) in 2015, PR’s highest professional level of experience and competence. She is also actively involved in her community, serving on the Board of Directors for Willow Domestic Violence Center and as Co-Chair for PRSA Rochester’s APR Committee.

Emily Cole is the Deputy Regional Director of United States Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer’s Central New York Regional Office. In her role Emily assists with constituent services, research, press conferences, media monitoring and the internship program in the Senator’s Central New York Office located in Syracuse. Emily graduated from SUNY Oswego in May of 2017 as a double major in Public Relations and Political Science with a minor in Business Administration. During her time at SUNY Oswego she was the President of PRSSA, President of Pi Sigma Alpha, Director of Public Relations for Lambda Pi Eta, a member of Enactus and wrote for the Oswegonian.

Matt currently leads Taco Bell's earned media, communications integration, and special projects for the global brand. He is responsible, in part, for several of culture’s biggest contributions: The Taco Bell Hotel, Taco Bell weddings, Taco Bell Beer, creation of the taco emoji and saving the world’s first Taco Bell... you're welcome.

Previously, Prince led social media engagement for the Walt Disney Co. where he developed and managed the company’s first ever Social Media Command Center and online engagement program. Prior to that, Prince was Sr. Manager of Executive Communications, handling speech writing and strategic communications for the President of Disneyland and over 70 executives.

Prince has been recognized in ADWEEK's 31 Young Influentials List, and two 40 Under 40 lists: PR Week and OC Metro Magazine. Most recently, he was recipient of the Public Relations Society of America's Distinguished Service Award, their highest honor to an individual leading the local community in Public Relations.

He served as President of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Orange County Chapter in 2014 and is the advisor to his alma mater (California State University Fullerton’s) PRSA student chapter since 2011. He was inducted in to the PRSSA National Hall of Fame, and was named 'National Advisor of the Year' twice (2013 & 2015).

A 2013 SUNY Oswego graduate, Mary Sansone is the current Associate Director of Engagement Marketing for Harvard University. While at Oswego, she earned her bachelor's degree in public relations and business administration. She was the president of PRSSA, co-president of Lambda Phi Eta, chair of open house and publicity for the Department of Communication Studies, and chair of Department of Communication Studies' Student Leadership Advisory Board. She is also a member of Omicron Delta Kappa: Leadership Honor Society.

After graduation, she earned her master's degree in integrated marketing communication from Emerson College in Boston, where she has built her career. She has led successful marketing initiatives in healthcare and academia for more than seven years and is highly skilled at enhancing user experience, driving conversions, and building brand reputation. She understands the value of building connections with an audience through engaging copy and storytelling. She has overseen multiple website redesigns, project manager and wrote for two national scientific magazines, overseen communications that reach global audiences, and launched many successful content strategies and digital marketing campaigns.

Jay has worked in the media industry for close to 20 years. Jay attended SUNY Oswego majoring in Broadcasting/Mass Communication (’06). He began his career with a local news station in Jamestown, NY as an on-air anchor/reporter. Upon moving to Buffalo, he continued in news at WIVB-TV transitioning to sports producer until landing a position with his favorite pro sports team the Buffalo Bills. Currently, Jay is the Senior Producer for Pegula Sports Entertainment (PSE) providing content, most notably a daily five hour simulcast block featuring two shows, The Instigators (NHL – Buffalo Sabres) and One Bills Live (NFL – Buffalo Bills). In his time at PSE, Jay has traveled with the team, attended multiple Super Bowls, NFL Combines, Reese’s Senior Bowl and implemented Buffalo Bills Training Camp broadcasts at Saint John Fischer College in Rochester, NY. He currently lives in Buffalo, NY with his wife and three children.

Emma Fetonti is currently the HR & Talent Acquisition Manager at MWWPR. Emma graduated from Fordham University with her bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2016 and with her master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology in 2017. Emma joined MWWPR in October 2018. There she manages a handful of HR operations & initiatives as well as entry level recruiting.