About the event
The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media honored eight leaders in journalism and strategic communication at an Oct. 10 induction ceremony in Chapel Hill for the N.C. Halls of Fame in Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations.
The 2014 N.C. Halls of Fame inductee class included:
- Harry Amana, UNC professor emeritus, first black UNC journalism professor (journalism)
Introduced by Richard Cole, UNC J-school dean emeritus - Jim Heavner, VilCom owner and CEO (journalism)
Introduced by Wade Hargrove, Brooks Pierce partner - Walter E. Hussman Jr., Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher (journalism)
Introduced by Erskine Bowles, former UNC system president - Chris Matthews, MSNBC Hardball host (journalism)
Introduced by Richard Krasno, William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust executive director - Susan Fowler Credle, Leo Burnett chief creative officer (advertising)
Introduced by John Sweeney, UNC J-school professor - Julie Dixon, Golin deputy managing director (public relations)
Introduced by Ellen Ryan Mardiks, Golin vice chairman - Kim Stone, executive vice president and general manager for the Miami Heat’s American Airlines Arena (public relations)
Introduced by Kelly DeLong, Stone's sister, UNC alumna, educator - Allen Mask III, Google Play associate brand manager, recording artist (next generation leadership)
Introduced by Allen Mask Jr., Mask's father, physician, WRAL Health Team
About Harry Amana
Harry Amana was the first black journalism professor at UNC, beginning as a lecturer in 1979 and retiring as a full professor in 2006.
During his time at UNC, Amana taught courses that included “Newswriting,” “Reporting,” “Feature Writing,” “The Black Press and U.S. History” and “Minorities and Communication,” among others. In the early 1990s, he also taught reporting for The Rainbow Institute, a three-week program for high school journalism students, most of who were minorities. From 1999-2001, he served as acting director of UNC’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History and the Institute of African-American Research.
Amana began his journalism career as a reporter and photographer at The Philadelphia Tribune in 1973. For three years, he was a general assignment reporter and feature writer for the semi-weekly newspaper, which had a circulation of 60,000. He also wrote the column “Amana at Large.” In 1976, Amana joined the American Friends Service Committee, where he directed public relations for the nationwide program.
He has also reported, copy edited and written columns for The Chapel Hill News, The Associated Press, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Detroit Free Press.
His writing has appeared in several newspapers, academic journals and book chapters.
Amana has also taught courses at Rutgers University-Camden, Temple University, Clark Atlanta University and Shaw University.
In 2004, Amana received the Service Award from the Triangle Association of Black Journalists. In 1993, he received the Multicultural Curriculum Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Association’s Minorities Division. The UNC Black Faculty/Staff Caucus recognized Amana in 1992 for his outstanding contributions to the African-American community. He received a Meritorious Service Award from Clark Atlanta University in 1990 and an Achievement Award from North Carolina A&T State University in 1983 for his service to minority journalists.
Amana earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in English from Temple University.
About Jim Heavner
Jim Heavner cut his roots in journalism in high school when he was the Charlotte Observer “Cleveland County Correspondent” from his bedroom typewriter in his hometown of Kings Mountain, N.C. He was also afternoon and weekend disc jockey at his hometown radio station WKMT until he graduated and headed to UNC in 1957 to study journalism, broadcasting and English.
He joined WCHL as a student announcer in the summer of 1958 and in 1961 became the station’s full time program and sales director. In that role in the tiny station, Jim cut some other costs to hire local stringers for WCHL’s first local reporting. He hired a full-time news director and WCHL quickly started winning RTNDA awards for its daily local coverage.
Heaver discovered an entrepreneurial side and purchased 40 percent of the station at age 27. He began to grow The Village Companies through starting or acquiring over three dozen media companies during the next 25 years. They included radio, cable TV, publishing and the Tar Heel Sports Network., acquiring full company ownership along the way.
Beginning in 1971, for a period of about 20 years, Heavner was known statewide as analyst and producer on the Tar Heel Sports Network, whose rights he acquired in 1975.
His commitment to local news and service were relentless. After having sold WCHL in the 1990s, the station was automated and moved out of town. He repurchased the station in 2002, and since then, its news department has led in the coverage of every big story in Chapel Hill.
Heavner is a member of the North Carolina Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame.
About Walter Hussman
Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and president and CEO of WEHCO Media Inc., is a third-generation newspaperman. And according to Editor & Publisher, he is a contrarian in an age of conventional newspaper industry wisdom, refusing to let his Democrat-Gazette circulation shrink.
Hussman began his journalism career as a reporter at Forbes magazine in 1970. He served as general manager of the Camden (Arkansas) News from 1973-1981 and became WEHCO Media president and CEO and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher in 1974. He was publisher of the Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times and Free Press from 1999-2003 and has been its publisher since 2003.
Hussman was named Editor & Publisher's Publisher of the Year in 2008. He was the first recipient of the Frank Mayborn Leadership Award from the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, where he served as president in 2001-2002. In 2009, he received University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Distinguished Alumnus Award, and in 2012, he was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.
Hussman earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UNC and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
About Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews has hosted Hardball, now on MSNBC, on the air every night since he launched the program in 1997.
He began his full-time journalism career in the late 1980s, serving as Washington Bureau Chief for the San Francisco Examiner. In this capacity, he covered some of the great historic events of the late 20th century, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first all-races election in South Africa. Matthews made the switch to television in 1994, hosting a two-hour nightly program on the NBC-owned America’s Talking network.
Before journalism, Matthews was a Peace Corps member in Africa and then worked in the U.S. Senate. He then spent time as a presidential speechwriter in the White House, followed by time as top aide to Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr.
He is the author of seven best-selling books: “Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero;” “Hardball: How Politics is Played, Told by One Who Knows the Game;” “Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America;” “Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think;” “American: Beyond our Grandest Notions” and “Life’s a Campaign.” His most recent, “Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked,” is a personal history of a time when two great political opponents served together for the benefit of the country.
About Susan Credle
Susan Fowler Credle came to Leo Burnett in 2009, after more than two decades at BBDO in which she rose from “bathroom-break girl” for the agency’s receptionists to executive vice president and executive creative director. There, Credle reinvented the iconic M&M’s characters; turned Cingular Wireless from a start-up into a leader brand; and created award-winning work for such clients as Bank of America, FedEx, Gillette, Lowe’s, Pepsico, Pizza Hut and Visa.
Since joining Leo Burnett, Credle has spearheaded a creative renaissance at the agency through an eye for new top talent, a commitment to work that benefits brands and the world, and a vision for clients that always looks beyond a single campaign or ad.
Her leadership, inspiration and in-the-trenches contributions have led to legacy-respecting yet forward-looking campaigns like McDonald’s Happy Meal “Happy Tales,” Kellogg’s Special K “What Will You Gain When You Lose?,” Secret’s “Mean Stinks” anti-bullying campaign and Allstate’s “Mayhem.”
Credle serves on boards for the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Foundation for EXXcellence, Marwen and One Million Degrees in Chicago.
About Julie Dixon
Julie Dixon is deputy managing director in the Golin Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond offices where she also serves as the practice director for the McDonald’s consumer team and is a thought leader for the agency’s multicultural practice team.
During her time at Golin, Dixon has lent her strategic counsel to consumer clients that include Capital One, USPS, Wegman’s, United Way, Toyota, The National Turkey Federation, Sprint and Rosetta Stone, among others. Her expertise includes the areas of media relations, social media, sports marketing, crisis communications, consumer PR, brand strategy, entertainment and diversity development.
Prior to joining Golin in 1997, Dixon worked for Arnold Worldwide advertising agency for five years serving as account supervisor of the McDonald’s public relations accounts of the Baltimore and Central Pennsylvania regions. She began her career in the retail/consumer division for Weitzman/Livingston advertising in Washington, D.C.
For the past 23 years, she has been instrumental in efforts that have awarded the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond McDonald’s Cooperatives numerous regional and national honors in the areas of integrated marketing, community relations and diversity relations.
Dixon is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Washington Women in PR, the Executive Women’s Roundtable, Color Comm, The Links Incorporated and formerly, the Washington, D.C. Advertising Club. She has been a guest lecturer at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and at Howard University.
In 2013, Dixon received McDonald’s acclaimed “Partnership Award” — the first time award was presented to an agency lead. In 2013, she was also named one of MEA Magazine’s “25 Influential Women in Business”.
Dixon is a graduate of UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, where she concentrated in broadcasting and advertising.
About Kim Stone
Kim Stone, executive vice president and general manager of American Airlines Arena in 2006, Stone is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the arena — one of the busiest in the world and home to the three-time world champion Miami Heat. Under her leadership, the arena has hosted four consecutive NBA Finals from 2010-2014 and many of the world’s most popular entertainers.
In 2009, Stone led American Airlines Arena to the prestigious Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. At that time, the 10-year-old facility became the first existing arena in the U.S. to earn such a distinction. LEED is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings and their approach to sustainability.
Stone’s focus on providing an exceptional experience extends to her additional responsibilities for retaining the HEAT’s multi-million dollar season ticket holder base. Since taking over this area in 2004, the department has set team records for most seats and revenue renewed and consistently ranks among the best in the NBA with innovative and customer-eccentric programs that are often cited as a best practice among league teams.
Stone, who was hired into the sports media relations department in 1996, has risen through the ranks of the HEAT organization. She coordinated media operations during the Heat’s playoff runs from 1996-1999 and has worked several NBA All-Star Weekends, including the league’s star-studded 50th Anniversary celebration in 1997. In 1996, she assisted with the media relations duties for the men’s and women’s basketball competitions at the Atlanta Olympic Games. Most recently, she planned and coordinated the 2012 and 2013 Miami Heat championship celebration and parade, which saw a crowd of more than 300,000 cheer on the Heat.
In 1999, she was tapped by the Heat to lead the company’s efforts to start a WNBA team and was named the senior director of operations for what became the Miami Sol, playing a key role in all facets of the startup of the expansion franchise.
Stone’s responsibilities changed in 2003 when she became chief of staff to the Heat’s president of business operations, during which time she helped develop and implement sound business strategies to help the organization successfully navigate a downturn in business.
Prior to joining the Heat, Stone was the sports publicity director for the University of Texas Women’s Athletics Department from 1992-94. Before that, she was an assistant in the University of Miami’s sports information office.
Stone received the 2013 Women of Influence award from Venues Today magazine, and she was honored in 2009 by the South Florida Business Journal in its inaugural class of Influential Business Women.
Stone graduated with a degree in journalism and public relations from the University of North Carolina, where she assisted in the sports information office. In 2003, she graduated with honors from the University of Miami with a master’s degree in international business administration. She is formerly an adjunct professor in the St. Thomas University Masters of Sports Administration program and serves as a board member of the University of Miami’s President’s Council, Miami Downtown Development Authority and is currently President of the Florida Facility Manager’s Association.
About Allen Mask
Allen Mask III graduated from the University of North Carolina with distinction, earning bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, a certificate in business journalism and minors in music and artistic entrepreneurship.
At Carolina, he co-founded an award-winning non-profit record label called Vinyl Records, for which he and his team received the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative's Innovations Grant. He also served as an undergraduate associate for the student-run Kenan-Flagler Private Equity fund.
Upon graduation, Mask joined the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs in New York, focusing on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. Following his time on Wall Street, Mask re-located to Silicon Valley where he now leads Global Brand Partnerships for Google Play at Google.
Mask is a Chapel Hill native and came to UNC with scholarship from the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters. He moonlights as a conscious hip-hop artist and has been featured in global publications such as VH1, The New York Times, CNBC, New York Magazine, Business Insider and TEDx.
About the Halls
The Halls of Fame are based in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, and they honor individuals who have made outstanding, career-long contributions to their fields. Honorees must be native North Carolinians or otherwise identified with the state.
Last year’s class included Don Baer, chair and CEO of Burson-Marsteller and former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton; Jane Brown, nationally renowned scholar for research into media’s influence on teens; Chris Hondros (posthumous), Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist who covered world conflicts; Jason Kilar, former CEO of Hulu and former senior vice president at Amazon.com; Alan Murray, then-president of Pew Research Center and former Wall Street Journal Washington bureau chief, deputy managing editor and executive editor online; Dwane Powell, nationally-syndicated editorial cartoonist for The News & Observer; Wyndham Robertson, Fortune magazine editor specializing in financial and technology subjects for 25 years and former UNC system vice president for communications; Doug Smith, reporter, editor and columnist for The Charlotte Observer for more than four decades; and Stacy Wall, commercial director, winner of Directors Guild Of America Commercials Award.
Greg Johnson, president of BooneOakley advertising and digital agency, and Michael Steel, press secretary for U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, were honored with the 2013 Next Generation Leadership Awards.
The N.C. Journalism Hall of Fame began with inductions in 1981; the inaugural honorees were Josephus Daniels (posthumously), Charles Kuralt, C.A. "Pete" McKnight, Vermont Royster and Tom Wicker.
The school established the N.C. Advertising Hall of Fame in 1988. The inaugural honoree was Charles R. Price.
The N.C. Public Relations Hall of Fame also began in 1988. John Harden (posthumously) was the first honoree.
The Next Generation Leadership Award was first given in 2008 and is awarded by the N.C. Halls of Fame to recognize individuals who represent the next generation of leadership in their fields. Susan Credle, a 2014 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee, won the inaugural Next Generation Leadership Award.