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Lon G. Walls, President & Chief Executive Officer
Lon established Walls Communications, Inc. in 1993, after leaving his position as vice president and manager of the Washington, DC office of Hill & Flowers Public Relations, a Chicago-based public relations firm. Before joining Hill & Flowers, Lon was the director of media relations and special projects for the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in Washington. During his tenure at DOT, he directed all media relations activities for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Transportation. In addition, Lon created and implemented a nationally distributed radio news actuality service and managed an extensive internal communications system for the Department’s 110,000 employees nationwide.
Before his appointment to the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1991, he served as campaign communications director for the District of Columbia’s Republican mayoral candidate, Maurice Turner. Preceding his foray into politics, Lon spent more than 10 years in the field of health care public affairs and public relations. From 1988 until 1990, he was bureau director for the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, serving as chief spokesperson and manager of the media relations department for the 279-bed pediatric medical center. Lon served as the media relations manager for several Washington area health care facilities including Fairfax Hospital and Greater Southeast Community Hospital. Lon began his health care career with the American Red Cross in 1979 as the public relations director of the organization's Northwest Ohio Chapter.
From 1979 until 1982, he was a media relations specialist for the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, DC. Lon has also been a newspaper reporter and freelance writer for the Toledo Blade and Atlanta Daily World. He has also written for Dollars & Sense and Black Belt Magazines. He is a past president of the Capital Press Club, the oldest African-American press organization in the nation and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists. Lon received a bachelor of arts in history and English and a bachelor of science in journalism from Ohio University.
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Bob Ellison, Senior Vice President
Bob serves as Senior Vice President of Walls Communications, Inc. Bob, a media relations specialist, is responsible for developing communications strategies and events for the firm's clients. He is also the News Director of Washington NewsWorks, the WCI division that prepares and distributes news releases, audio news releases and produces radio media tours. Bob ensures that client media relations needs are met. To date, he has developed media relations strategies and organized press conferences, radio media tours and audio news releases for clients such as the National Urban League, the National Council on Disability and Freddie Mac.
Prior to joining Walls Communications, Bob served as a White House Correspondent, covering the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations. He is also past president of the White House Correspondents Association. Before entering the public affairs and journalism fields, he designed and evaluated U.S. foreign assistance projects for the Agency for International Development while serving in Ethiopia, Thailand and Liberia. Bob received a bachelor of arts in social sciences from St. John’s University.
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Carol Randolph, Senior Vice President
Carol, an award-winning television anchor, journalist, attorney and certified mediator, serves as Senior Vice President for Walls Communications, Inc. In this capacity, Carol uses her wealth of experience to advise clients in strategic communications, crisis management and media relations. She currently advises several clients, including Freddie Mac, GlaxoSmithKline and Microsoft.
In addition to her role at WCI, Carol is a practicing attorney and literary agent. For more than 15 years, she served as a managing producer and host of the “Morning Break,” an Emmy award winning talk show. She has also served as a television moderator for Court TV’s program “Your Turn,” a newspaper columnist and lecturer. Carol received a bachelor of science in biology from Fisk University, a master of arts in science education from Washington University in St. Louis and a juris doctorate from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.
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Edythe Missy Daniels, Vice President/Advertising
Missy is Vice President/Advertising for Walls Communications, Inc. In this capacity, Missy designs public relations, marketing outreach and communications strategies for the firms’ corporate clients including AT&T, Washington Convention Center Authority, Shell Oil Company and the Congress of National Black Churches. Additionally, she serves as senior counsel on a number of the firm’s non-profit clients including Bank of America, the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Denny’s and the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Missy also serves as Walls’ community relations liaison. She has more than 12 years experience in coordinating meetings, conferences, projects and promotions for associations and non-profit organizations. Before joining WCI, Missy served as a meeting planner for the National Association of Health Services Executives. Prior to that, she was the special projects manager for the Committee to Promote Washington, where she coordinated specific program activities to promote Washington DC as a tourist attraction. Missy received a bachelor of arts in political science from the Ohio State University. She has studied organizational management at the University of Maryland, University College. She is currently enrolled in the masters of divinity program at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.
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Marvin Wamble, Vice President/Creative Strategies
Marvin serves as Vice President of Creative Strategies for Walls Communications, Inc. His extensive experience in public relations and journalism allows him to develop and execute strategic communications plans for a variety of WCI clients including the United States Army, Miller & Long and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. As senior writer, he oversees the writing and editing of press releases, actualities, speeches, audio and video news releases as well as any editorial commentary.
Marvin has more than 20 years of communications experience. He was a radio talk show host, an award-winning daily journalist and served as public relations director for a several large corporations including AT&T and Ameritech. Marvin received his bachelor of arts in mass communications from California State University at Hayward.
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Joan Davion, Director/Office Administration & Finance
Joan is the Director of Office Administration and Finance for Walls Communications, Inc. In this capacity, she manages the day to day administrative and financial operations of the firm. She comes to Walls with much expertise in financial management, having worked at various firms and agencies as an accounting consultant, a staff accountant, a project accountant and a paraprofessional accountant.
Joan holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Strayer University, and an associates of art degree in interior design form Becker Junior College in Massachusetts.
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David Bumett, Senior Counsel, Public Relations
David spent two decades as a successful broadcast news reporter and anchor, winning more than a dozen awards for his reporting. The last thirteen of those years were spent at WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C., where he reported a wide range of stories, from local and national politics to feature stories and in-depth think pieces. At WTTG, he earned six reporting awards, including the prestigious Emmy in 1994. David also developed and coordinated the reporter-training program at WTTG for aspiring journalists. He is a past president of the Washington D.C. chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Since leaving WTTG, David has provided invaluable public relations counsel as a media trainer, crisis communications counselor, and video writer and producer for corporate clients. The National Urban League, Freddie Mac and the U.S. Army are among the organizations for which David has provided services.
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Jerry Brown, Senior Counsel for International Affairs
As Senior Counsel for Public Affairs, Jerry provides executive-level communications counsel to Walls Communications’ clients. He has more than 20 years of public affairs, public relations and communications experience in the corporate, federal government and international sectors. His areas of expertise include communications strategy development, issue management, crisis communications, litigation support, policy analysis and corporate social responsibility communications counseling.
Jerry’s broad range of experience includes serving in President George H. Bush’s administration as deputy director of the Office of External Affairs for the U.S. Agency for International Development and as director of public affairs at the Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. He also served as director of communications and public affairs for Winrock International, as a public relations representative in Saudi Arabia and as an internal communications specialist for Exxon Company USA. Jerry has a bachelor of arts degree in communications from the University of Houston.
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Derrick Kenny, Director of Radio Operations
Derrick serves as Director of Radio Operations for Walls Communications, Inc. Derrick, a technical specialist, is responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of the Capitol Radio Network, Walls Communications’ broadcast radio division. He coordinates the production and distribution of high quality audio products for radio, Internet, Intranet, CD and digital broadcasts. He also manages the scheduling and facilitation of radio media tours.
His client beneficiaries include Shell Oil, the National Urban League, Hewlett Packard, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the U.S. Army.
Prior to joining Walls in 1997, Derrick interned with several Washington, DC broadcast organizations including WPGC-FM/AM and MSNBC. In his life outside of Walls Communications, Inc., Derrick provides leadership to the Capital Press Club as president and leads the Audio/Visual efforts of Metropolitan Baptist Church as Director of the Multi-media Ministry.
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Keri Archer, Broadcast Services Specialist
As Broadcast Services Specialist for Walls Communications, Inc., Keri produces radio media tours, audio news releases and public service announcements for the broadcast services division of Walls, Capitol Radio Network. Additionally, she buys media airtime for clients, associate produces client videos, secures radio and television interviews for clients and assists with the development and execution of client campaigns and strategy. Her client roster includes the U. S. Army, Coca-Cola, Brand Jordan, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League.
Keri graduated summa cum laude form Howard University with a B.A. in radio, television and film production. During her matriculation at Howard, she participated in various internships, from working in programming and promotions for WDCA-TV in Bethesda, Md. to being a production assistant for the television show Politically Incorrect. She also interned with Walls Communications for two years before coming on full time.
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Margaret Kargbo, Media Relations Specialist
As Media Relations Specialist for Walls Communications, Inc., Margaret plays an integral role maintaining relationships with national and local radio, television and print media. She writes and pitches media alerts, press releases, radio and satellite media tours, and assists with on-site client services support. In addition, she is the primary distribution specialist for Capitol Radio Network, the news broadcast service division of Walls.
Before joining the Walls staff, Margaret was a marketing and promotions representative for Soul Underground; an independent contractor with Max Marketing & Promotions, responsible for soliciting new business for NUE-TV; and a public affairs and promotions intern for one of DC’s leading urban radio stations, WPGC–FM. Margaret received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from Howard University.
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Alan Hermesch, Senior Counsel, Public Relations
Alan Hermesch is the president of Alan Hermesch Public Relations, LLC, a public relations and fund-raising firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm provides strategic communications, issues management, crisis communications, marketing communications and fund-raising services to a variety of clients.
Previously, he worked for institutions and organizations in the public and private sectors in public relations, fund raising, marketing, advertising, and journalism. Prior to starting his firm, he served as vice president for institutional advancement at Meharry Medical College. Previously, he worked at Howard University, where for 18 years he played a leading role in the communications of that university, serving as spokesman for the institution and as director of university communications. Additionally, he was an adjunct professor of communications at Howard University, Marymount University and Mount Vernon College.
Before coming to Washington, he headed a public relations agency in St. Louis, where clients included political candidates, an internationally known architecture firm, a prestigious college preparatory school, a suburban municipality, the local public housing authority, and an auto racetrack. He also was advertising manager for a fluid power products company in St. Louis. Early in his career he worked for Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines, and he was a reporter for the Columbia Missourian daily newspaper, covering the Missouri state legislature.
A native of Kansas, Alan Hermesch earned the master of arts degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and the bachelor of science degree in journalism from the University of Kansas.
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