Ethical PR: Choices and Challenges

PRSA Nashville invites you to attend “ETHICAL PR: Choices and Challenges,” a panel discussion moderated by Aileen Katcher, APR and fellow PRSA member, who has more than three decades of marketing and communications experience, focused primarily on healthcare businesses and planning and implementation of crisis communications.

This panel includes Andy Aparicio, Director of Corporate Communications at Gresham Smith, Contrecia Tharpe, CEO of FayeVaughn Creative and Meredith Libbey, APR, Communications Manager at Ford Motor Credit Company. Through candid conversations and shared experiences, PRSA members and nonmembers will hear from our panelists as they delve into the challenges, triumphs and unique perspectives from their years of experience in the PR industry in honor of Ethics Month!

Whether you’re a seasoned PR practitioner or just starting out in the field, this will be an enlightening and informative panel that provides insight into best practices when it comes to ethics. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from industry professionals while enjoying chips and dips from LadyBird Taco and sweet treats!

RSVP today through Eventbrite. See you there!

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Andy Aparicio

Andy Aparicio is the director of corporate communications for Gresham Smith—a top-ranked architecture and engineering consulting firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. As director, Andy leads a high-performing team responsible for the development and implementation of communication strategies, including reputation and crisis management, building the company’s visibility and brand, and serving as Gresham Smith’s external and internal executive voice.

Andy joined Gresham Smith in 2020. Since then, the firm has significantly expanded its reputation as a thought leader in the A/E industry. Gresham Smith subject matter experts have been interviewed by a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Andy’s previous roles include serving as PR director for a South Carolina-based marketing agency and managing communication initiatives and executive messaging for global, multibillion-dollar engineering and construction firms. Prior to entering the field of corporate communication, Andy led news departments at local television stations across the country.

Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism with a cognate in public policy and law from Regent University.

Dr. Contrecia T. Tharpe

Dr. Contrecia T. Tharpe, affectionately known as Dr. T, is an award-winning marketing, branding, and communications practitioner with FayeVaughn Creative, a boutique integrated marketing and communications firm in Nashville. With over 14 years of experience in the industry, she has worked with national and international brands, businesses, and individuals in the non-profit, sports, entertainment, travel, small business, and education sectors. She advocates for small and medium business and brand success and works to maximize and identify opportunities, craft strategies, and create solid business foundations for her clients.

Contrecia is President-Elect of women’s leadership organization Nashville CABLE, President of youth advocacy organization Impact Youth Outreach, Vice-Chair of Communications for the Nashville Chapter of American Marketing Association, Chair of Communications for WHET (Women in Higher Education in Tennessee, a mentor with SCORE and Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center, a member of the 2023 class of Nashville Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and its 2024 Women of Influence class, a graduate of Nashville Chamber’s Leadership Connect and Leadership Tennessee’s NEXT program, and co-founder of The DREAM Initiative – a reentry resource, education, and support organization focusing on preparing incarcerated men and women across Tennessee for a successful release.

Having obtained her doctorate from Trevecca Nazarene University in 2019, she was previously a faculty member in the communications department at Lipscomb University and Tennessee State University, where she taught public speaking, marketing, advertising, and communications courses. Her second book, Getting to Done, will be released in 2024. She is currently authoring her first textbook, Strategies for Brand Communications and Management: Bridging Academia and Practice, which will be available in 2025. She resides in Nashville with her 17-year-old son, Braylon.

Meredith Libbey

Meredith Libbey works in communications for Ford Motor Credit, a Ford Motor Company subsidiary. This is her second tour with Ford Credit. From 2000 to 2010, she was Ford Credit global communications manager with responsibility for the company’s North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific & Africa regions.

From 2010 to 2014, she worked for Metro Nashville Public Schools with responsibility for communications and customer service. Under her leadership, the district increased its multilingual communications, changed its school choice process, began customer service training for staff and improved its customer service function. Previously, she worked in banking in marketing research, advertising, and training and professional development.

She has an MBA in marketing and organization management from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and economics from Mount Holyoke College.

She earned accreditation in public relations (APR) in 2016 and was 2020 president of the PRSA Nashville chapter and a 2021 PRSA Southeast District director. Since 2021, she has served on the national PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards and joined the PRSA Accreditation Marketing Committee in 2022. She was selected for the PRSA College of Fellows in 2023.