Communicating About COVID-19 Webinar

October 21, 2020

Noon – 1 p.m.

Virtual Event

Communicating About COVID-19

Featured Guest Speakers: Moderator Grant Gegwich, Director of Corporate Communications, Independence Blue Cross, Carla Showell-Lee, Director of Media Relations, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), Melissa Jacobs, Associate Editor, Main Line Today Magazine, and Mary Wascavage, Director of Marketing & Communications, Premier Orthopaedics

The Delaware County Press Club’s October event is going virtual and it’s FREE for paid members.

Our accomplished panelists will discuss how leaders are communicating with the public and their employees about the COVID-19 crisis.

In this webinar, we’ll discuss crisis communications, how to communicate effectively with organization teams and the public during a crisis, and insights on how to craft messages for different phases of the pandemic. The webinar will also include Q & A discussion.

About our speakers:

Grant Gegwich is the director of corporate communications for Independence Blue Cross, a national company that is the leading health insurer in the Philadelphia region. In this position, he plays a key role in the organization’s work related to media relations, corporate branding and messaging, executive thought leadership, crisis communications and more.

Before joining Independence in August 2017, he worked for 16 years in communications leadership roles with Crozer Health, the largest health system in Delaware County. For five years of that tenure, he served as vice president of public relations and marketing, leading the organization’s strategic branding, public relations and marketing efforts. Before Crozer-Keystone, he worked at Drexel University as the director of publications at Drexel University.

Grant earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Elizabethtown College and a master’s degree in Journalism from Syracuse University.

Active in the community, Grant serves as the chair of the board for Family Support Line and on the boards of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, Media-Upper Providence Free Library, and Chester Charter Scholars Academy Foundation.

From 2010 to 2018, Grant served as an adjunct professor at Penn State Brandywine and Arcadia University, teaching public relations and communications courses.

Carla Showell-Lee is the director of media relations for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the sixth largest transportation agency in the country.

Mrs. Showell-Lee worked as a senior host and producer throughout the Tri-State region for CN8’s Comcast Newsmakers, an issue oriented news program, featured on CNN Headline News. She interviewed political legislators, pillars of the community and celebrities. Mrs. Showell-Lee worked for WRTI-Jazz 90, KYW-Newsradio, Fox News, Discovery Channel’s Home Matters, and Bill Cosby’s game show, ‘You Bet Your Life’. Mrs. Showell-Lee also worked as the chief public information officer for Upper Merion Township for several years.

Mrs. Lee majored in broadcast journalism, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Temple University.

She is currently a board member of The Evoluer House, a non-profit organization that empowers and educates young women of color impacted by chronic adversity, violence and oppression.

Melissa Jacobs is associate editor at Main Line Today Magazine, a regional magazine focusing on Philadelphia’s fabled Main Line and western suburbs. Main Line Today devotes itself to the communities, traditions and lifestyles of the area, providing insight into its people, history, culture and more.

Melissa began her Today Media career with Delaware Today in 2009 and joined Main Line Today’s staff in 2013. She covers medical issues and the region’s arts and culture scene. Jacobs’ reporting has appeared in USA Today, Haaretz newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette and other publications.

Melissa earned a Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Communications, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mary Wascavage is director of marketing and communications for Premier Orthopaedics, the largest orthopaedic group in Delaware and Chester counties. She serves as the lead media contact, and implements and manages integrated marketing plans for Premier's 74 physicians, 16 physical therapy offices, four MRI and two urgent care centers.

Mary earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Studies from Widener University in Chester, PA and a Master of Arts degree in Corporate and Nonprofit Communications from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

Join us on Zoom on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 @ noon.

Reserve your space today!

Members: FREE

Non-members: $10

To receive your Zoom link: Registrants will receive the link in a reminder email before the event.