Fred Cook has worked at Golin for over 30 years, during which he has had the privilege to work with a variety of high-profile CEOs, including Herb Kelleher, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. He has also managed a wide variety of clients, including Nintendo, Toyota and Disney. In 2014, Cook published "Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO", which shares the wisdom he gained as a cabin boy on a Norwegian tanker, doorman at a 5-star hotel and chauffeur for drunks. In 2015, after speaking on college campuses around the world, Fred accepted an additional position with the University of Southern California as the director of the USC Center for Public Relations at USC Annenberg, whose mission is to shape the future of public relations and those who will lead it — through research, education and thought leadership.

Matt Tidwell, Ph.D., is assistant dean for graduate and professional studies at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. He is also a faculty lecturer and the program director for the Integrated Marketing Communications graduate degree program at the KU Edwards Campus. Tidwell is an experienced marketing communications professional with more than 25 years of industry experience working in healthcare, energy and technology companies. In 2018, Tidwell received the Arthur Lowell Communicator of the Year award from the Kansas City Chapter of  IABC.