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Speaker Bio: Shel Holtz
 Shel Holtz, Principal, Holtz Communication + Technology
Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications. He co-hosts the business-related podcast, "For Immediate Release" with fellow communicator Neville Hobson; the podcast features the twice-weekly "Hobson & Holtz Report" along with interviews, book reviews, and recordings of speeches and panel discussions relevant to public relations and corporate communication practitioners. "For Immediate Release" is on the web at http://www.forimmediaterelease.biz.
Shel and Neville have been contracted by McGraw-Hill to co-write "How to Do Everything with Podcasting," part of the publisher's bestselling "How to Do Everything" series.
Shel also authors a popular PR-focused blog, "a shel of my former self," on the web at http://blog.holtz.com.
Shel's clients have included PepsiCo, Symantec, Intuit, IBM Global Services, Sears, the Alzheimer's Association, Kimberly Clark Corporation, Black & Decker, The Walt Disney Company, Alcan, EDS, Aetna, John Deere, Deloitte & Touche, Manulife Financial, Freescale Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel, McGraw-Hill, The American Red Cross, Johnson Controls, General Mills, Prudential, Rockwell, USAA, Applied Materials and Monsanto.
Before forming Holtz Communication + Technology in February 1996, Shel was senior communications consultant and the communications practice leader for Alexander & Alexander Consulting Group in San Francisco, California. (A&ACG has since been acquired by Aon Consulting.)
Shel has nearly 30 years of organizational communications experience in both corporate and consulting environments. He is experienced in employee communications, compensation and benefits communications, corporate public relations, media relations, financial communications, investor relations, and marketing communications. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, communicating business initiatives, and communications research.
While Shel excels in all aspects of organizational communication, he is particularly focused on strategic employee communications designed to achieve measurable results linked directly to organization strategies, goals and objectives - and on the application of online technology to achieve those results.
Before joining A&ACG, Shel was the director of corporate communications for Allergan, Inc., a Fortune 400 pharmaceutical company. At Allergan, Shel directed a staff of six and a budget of $2.5 million; he had overall responsibility for global media relations, corporate public relations, employee communications, and financial communications. He held the same title at Mattel, Inc., where he was responsible for employee communications, the organization's annual report, and regional media relations. He also has worked for William M. Mercer, Inc., ARCO, and Transamerica Financial Corporation.
In addition to his consulting and development work, Shel is a regular speaker on topics surrounding the application of online technology to strategic organizational communication. He speaks regularly at IABC and Ragan Communication conferences. He also has been on programs for the International Quality and Productivity Center, The American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, the American Gas Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts, the Association of California Water Agencies, and the Western Pension & Benefits Conference, among others. He also spoke regularly on the Lexis-Nexis touring seminar, "Communicating in a Wired World."
Shel is a five-time winner of IABC's Gold Quill award (most recently winning in 1997 for external Web sites), and was named IABC/Los Angeles's Communicator of the Year in 1988. Shel served six years on IABC's executive board, two as director of U.S. District 6 and four as a director-at-large. While a director-at-large, he held the Technology portfolio, among others. During his term on the board, he served three times as a member of the executive committee. He has also served as chapter president for IABC/Los Angeles and in a variety of other volunteer positions in IABC at the chapter, district and international levels. Shel earned his IABC accreditation (ABC/Accredited Business Communicator) in 1984.
In 2005, Shel was named an IABC Fellow, the highest honor IABC confers on its members.
His other memberships include the Association of Internet Professionals, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Shel's latest book, co-authored with Ted Demopolous, is "Blogging for Business," due out from Kaplan Publishing in February 2006. He has also writte "Corporate Conversations," a guide to employee communications, published by AMACOM. "Public Relations on the Net," published by AMACOM and recently issued in an updated second edition, and "The Intranet Advantage," originally published by Ziff-Davis Press and recently reissued as a manual by the IABC. He also wrote the manuals, "Communication and Technology" and "Communicator's Guide to Intranets," published by Ragan Communications and "Writing for the Wired World," published by IABC.
Shel graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from California State University, Northridge, in 1976. He lives in Concord, California with his wife, Michele, his son, Benjamin, and his daughter, Rachel.
Go to sessions for Day 1: Friday, September 29, 2006
Go to sessions for Day 2: Saturday, September 30, 2006
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