Bobby Hawthorne
"Sportswriting"
12:15 p.m. Luncheon, Friday Feb. 6 & 2-3 p.m. General Session Friday Feb. 6

Bobby Hawthorne began his career as a sportswriter for the Longview Morning Journal, then was a wire editor and general assignment reporter for the Tyler Morning Telegraph. In 1977, he joined the University Interscholastic League, an organization that coordinates extracurricular activities for all Texas public schools where he served as director of academics and director of journalism. His first job with the League was to patch up its miserable relationship with the press. 

He is also the author of Longhorn Football: An Illustrated History, published by the University of Texas Press. He is currently a writer and lecturer who lives in Austin, Texas.

He has received the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Gold Key and James Paschal Awards, the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pioneer Award, and the Interscholastic League Press Conference’s Edith Fox King Award, given for distinguished service to Texas scholastic journalism.  In 1991, he was named a lifetime member by the Texas Association of Journalism Educators, and in 2000 received TAJE’s Trailblazer Award. In 2007, he received from the CSPA its Charles R. O’Malley Award for Overall Excellence in Teaching, an honor that recognizes “a sustained record of outstanding teaching.” In November, 2007, he received the Carl Towley Award, the Journalism Education Association’s highest honor.

Margaret Choiniere
"Intelligent Mail Barcoding: What Newspapers Need to Know"
3-4 p.m. General Session, Friday, Feb. 6

Margaret Choiniere has more than 23 years of experience and expertise in a broad spectrum of mail processing operations and engineering.  In her current position in the Intelligent Mail Address Quality organization for the US Postal Service she serves as program manager for the new Intelligent Mail^® barcode. Margaret leads a team responsible for the overall development and implementation strategy for this barcode.

Her session describes what you need to know to implement Intelligent Mail® barcodes on a mail piece, tray, sack, or container and when and what will be required.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and began her postal profession in Boston, Mass., evolving to higher levels of responsibility throughout her career.  In 1994, she joined the engineering organization with responsibility for a variety of programs focusing on operational improvements for mail processing equipment.

Choiniere serves as the Postal Service business driver for the development of the Intelligent Mail barcode technical standards and the distribution of barcode encoding software and fonts compatible with the mailers production equipment.

S.W. "Sammy" Papert, III
4-5 p.m., Friday, Feb. 6

A Dallas native, Sammy Papert is a graduate of St. Mark's School of Texas and the worst student actually graduating from Stanford University.

In his first legitimate venture, Papert owned and operated The Executive Toy Store, a Sharper Image before its time and Mr. Papert’s “MBA of the streets”.  Again, he barely graduated.

From 1981 to 1998 he joined the Papert Companies, a newspaper marketing solutions firm and pushed, cajoled, begged and pleaded both advertisers and Publishers to grow the organization to 450 newspapers across the country. 

In July 1999, Papert became chairman and CEO of Belden Associates, the premier newspaper research and consultancy in North America. At least, that’s what he tells the competition.

Papert is and has been involved in many civic organizations. These include: the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Salesmanship Club, Goodwill Board, Theatre Operating Company, St. Mark's Alumni Association and Dallas Child Guidance Clinic.

Papert is finally married; enjoys swimming, tennis, reading, writing and eventually visiting all the Caribbean Islands, along with collecting space art and Hawaiian shirts. Don’t ask how many!

Suzie Humphreys
6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, Banquet

As a motivational and inspirational humorist, Suzie Humphreys got one of the longest standing ovations on record from the National Speakers Association when she spoke to 2500 of her peers at their National Convention in Palm Springs, California. In 2002, she was inducted into The Speaker Hall of Fame at their National Convention in Orlando and was awarded "The Council of Peers Award of Excellence". In 2004, she was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and, as Suzie says…"All that for a D minus student! You never know do you?"

Bailey Dabney
“Saddle Up Your Horses: We’ve Got a Trail to Blaze — The Top Eight Things You Can Do to Grow Your Circulation”
8-10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 7

Bailey Dabney is publisher of the Claremore (Okla.) Daily Progress.