Amy Newman
Cornell University
Term: 2014-2023
Amy Newman is a senior lecturer of management communication at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. She teaches core classes on business writing and persuasive communication skills and a corporate communication elective that focuses on crisis communication and communication technologies. Amy is the
As an active member of ABC, Amy presents annually at ABC conferences, has presented at ABC Europe, and was the lunchtime guest speaker at the ABC Southwestern conference in 2012. Amy also serves on the Teaching with Technology SIG and delivered part of a panel presentation in 2012.
Prior to joining Cornell, Amy held corporate positions in Fortune 1000 companies, most recently as the director of employee development for Reuters North and South America and, as an external consultant, director of training and development for Scholastic Inc. She earned a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.S. from Milano, The New School for Management and Urban Policy in New York City. Amy maintains a blog, BizCom in the News (bizcominthenews.com), and has chronicled more than 500 news stories related to business communication.
Barbara Shwom
Northwestern University
Term: 2014-2023
Dr. Barbara Shwom, Northwestern University, holds joint appointments in the Kellogg School of Management, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. For more than 30 years, she has designed and taught a wide variety of communication courses at Northwestern, including Writing in Organizations (Kellogg), Communicating Complex Data (McCormick), and Professional Business Communication (Weinberg). She also serves as a communication coach for graduate and undergraduate project teams in McCormick’s Segal Design Institute, where she helps students prepare design presentations for both corporate and entrepreneurial clients. Professor Shwom’s teaching at Northwestern has been recognized by both an outstanding teacher award and an appointment as a fellow of Northwestern’s Searle Center for Teaching Excellence.
Dr. Shwom is also managing principal of Communication Partners and has consulted for organizations from a range of industries, including biotechnology, high tech research and development, pharmaceuticals, management consulting, market research, financial services, and engineering, and IT. Companies include Amgen, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Medtronic, Kronos, Price Waterhouse, ZS Associates, Thomson Reuters, HSBC, and Viacom. In her work with these companies, she has focused on helping managers and executives communicate strategically; make strong, data-based business arguments; visually communicate complex data
Dr. Shwom has served as president for both the Association for Business Communication and the Association of Professional Communication Consultants. In addition, she has co-authored two textbooks on managerial and business communication: Graphics and Visual Communication for Managers (2009), published by Cengage and Business Communication: Polishing Your Professional Presence (2011 and 2013) published by Pearson.
Christopher Toth
Grand Valley State University
2019-2023
Christopher Toth,
He has been an active member of the Association for Business Communication for over ten years, where he routinely presents his scholarship at the annual conference. He is a member of the Rhetoric Special Interest Group. In addition, he also served on the Technology Board, where he created and maintained the organization’s
Christopher earned his doctorate in Rhetoric & Professional Communication from Iowa State University. His research interests revolve around the intersections of visual rhetoric and professional communication, specifically the emerging use of infographics in business and professional documents. His scholarship has been published in Business Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Business Communication, and in other edited collections on information literacy. He was a contributor for multiple editions of the Kitty Locker and Donna Kienzler best-selling textbook, Business
Jason Snyder
Central Connecticut State University
2020-2024
Jason L. Snyder is a Professor of Marketing at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) where he teaches courses such as managerial communication, marketing research methods, management information systems, and intermediate business skills. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences from the University of Connecticut.
In addition to teaching, Jason led efforts to restart CCSU’s defunct MBA program and served as the program’s first Director while simultaneously holding the role of Associate Dean. Jason has also conducted consulting in the areas of employment communication, social entrepreneurism, and strategic planning. He has also volunteered for many years on the board of directors of a nonprofit organization in Connecticut.
Jason’s research interests include workplace communication privacy, advertising effects, and communication-related factors that influence student success. He is the lead author on two books about business communication, and his research has appeared in journals such as International Journal of Business Communication, Journal of Education for Business, Communication Quarterly, and Communication Studies. His research has received recognition for its quality, including the 2010 Article of the Year in the Journal of Business Communication.
An active member since 2008, Jason has served ABC in capacities that have focused on the promotion and dissemination of business communication research. He served for three years as an Associate Editor of IJBC and is now a member of the Editorial Review Board. From 2012 to 2015, Jason served as Editor of the Annual Conference’s Proceedings. Since 2016, he has been the Chair of the Publication Board.
Christina McDowell
Cornell University
Term: 2023-2026
Christina L. McDowell is a senior lecturer of marketing and management communication at Cornell University, in the SC Johnson College of Business Peter and Stephan Nolan School of Hotel Administration. She has professional experience teaching business/corporate communication and marketing related courses, serving in academic administration roles, delivering professional presentation and workshops in industry, and working in an integrated communication agency setting.
Christy’s research interests start with communicative engagement and emphasizes actively investigating social, civic, economic, and moral problems in the areas of corporate communication, integrated marketing communication (IMC) as well as communication ethics by people and organizations. Christy has published peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and a coedited book. Additionally, she has a forthcoming coauthored book on corporate communication and IMC.
Her service to ABC started in 2020. She has actively contributed in regional and conference workshops and presented at the annual conference. Christy holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric concentrating in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication and Communication Ethics from Duquesne University.
Leslie Ramos Salazar
West Texas A&M University
Term: 2023-2026
Leslie Ramos Salazar is an Associate and Abdullat Professor of Business Communication at the Engler College of Business at West Texas A&M University who teaches business communication and statistics. Her research includes 40+ articles, 9 book chapters, a co-authored textbook (It’s Interpersonal: An Introduction to Relational Communication) and one edited handbook (Handbook of Research on Cyberbullying and Online Harassment in the Workplace).
Since her membership at ABC in 2016, she has served as a committee member of the Business Practices Committee, which focuses on an annual ABC panel related to business practices. At the ABC conferences, she has been an active presenter and/or reviewer of the My Favorite Assignment, How Do You Teach Diversity, Equity and Inclusion?, and Organizational Communication presentation sessions. She has also served as an ad hoc peer reviewer for the International Journal of Business Communication and Business and Professional Communication Quarterly.
Her research includes diversity in the workplace, compassion, mindfulness, teaching technology, and business communication education. In 2018, ABC's C.R. Anderson Research Fund funded her project on leaders' communication competence, mindfulness, and self-compassion. Her research has been published in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Bank Marketing, Communication Studies, and Communication Teacher. She also served as the Editor-in-Chief for the Sage Business Communication Foundations and the guest editor for Frontiers in Communication and Education Journal.
At ABC's Southwestern U.S. regional association, she served as the Historian, Secretary/Treasurer, Program Planner, and President, as part of their Board of Directors (2019-2022), which provided her with a variety of officer skills (e.g., notetaking, event planning, leadership coordination, etc.) Outside of ABC, she has also served as an At Large Representative of the Legislative Assembly for the National Communication Association (2015-2019) and Chair and Planner for Health Communication of the Western States Communication Association (2014-2015.