09/27/2024
Meet the Panelists for Our Annual Meeting
The next few weeks will be busy for NCPLA. Please see below for information regarding:
- Our October 17th Annual Meeting
- Dues Renewal (begins tomorrow)
- Information Needed from All Members - please respond
- Invitation for NC Lady Legislators & Lobbyist Happy Hour
2024 ANNUAL MEETING
Join us at the Carolina Country Club on October 17th. Registration is now open for our 2024 Annual Meeting.
Campaigns and Elections Panel (3:00-4:00pm)
Panelists: Ray Martin, Jim Blaine, & Morgan Jackson
Join us for a robust discussion on the upcoming 2024 election season.
Ray Martin is a newspaper reporter turned communications adviser turned political operative. He got his first writing gig at 16, covering high school sports for his hometown newspaper. In college, he wrote full time for the statewide newspaper of record and managed a team of opinion columnists for student media on Oklahoma’s campus. The News & Observer brought him to Raleigh in 2009, and he covered local government until Phil Berger hired him to be the State Senate’s press secretary. Martin managed the Senate Caucus political operation from 2012 to 2018, going undefeated in target races in three of the four election cycles.
Jim Blaine served as North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger’s first Chief of Staff, from 2011 to 2018. Prior to joining Senator Berger’s legislative staff, Blaine was the director of the Republican State Senate Caucus political organization, where he led the historic 2010 campaign effort that put Republicans in control of the North Carolina Senate for the first time in 140 years.
Morgan Jackson is a co-founder of Nexus Strategies and a veteran of a number of high profile political and public policy efforts and possesses a vast network of relationships with national, state, and local elected officials, news, and policy makers. During his career, Jackson has served in senior roles with presidential, gubernatorial, and congressional candidates, as well as advising Governors, US Senators and Members of Congress, Council of State members, legislative leaders, and the state Democratic Party. A longtime advisor to Governor Roy Cooper, he was instrumental in the historic 2016 campaign that resulted in the first defeat of an incumbent Governor in North Carolina history and in Governor Cooper's re-election in 2020.
Legislative Panel (4:15-5:15pm)
Panelists: Senate Majority Leader Newton, Senate Democratic Whip Chaudhuri, House Republican TBD, and Democratic Leader Reives
Key legislative leaders will share their perspectives on the 2024 short session and their outlook for the General Assembly’s 2025 long session.
SCHEDULE
- 3:00-4:00p – Elections Panel (CLE Credit)
- 4:00-4:15p – Board update and break
- 4:15-5:15p – Legislative Panel (CLE Credit)
- 5:15-6:30p – Reception with hors d'oeuvres, wine, and beer
Please reach out to Stephen with any questions about the event, registration, or sponsorships.
DUES RENEWAL
Dues invoices for 2025 will be sent tomorrow. Member invoices paid by January 31, 2025, will be included in the 2025 printed directory.
If you have trouble locating your renewal invoice, please do not complete a membership application. That is intended for new members only. Renewal invoices are also added to each unique member account, where you can pay online or by check. Please include your invoice number with any checks.
If you have any difficulty logging into your account, please email Stephen. He can reset passwords, update login information, and email your individual dues invoice if necessary. If your work email account denies delivery to your inbox, you can still pay the invoice attached to your online account.
DIRECTORY UPDATES
We will be printing our member directory in 2025, so please begin updating your profiles now. As a reminder, each member is responsible for their own profile updates. You can update your profile by logging into your account and editing contact information, clients, specialties, etc.
Occasionally, the software will glitch when trying to update photos or positions/titles within your company. If that happens, please email Stephen. Please do not send staff or Board members updates for your account unless you’ve encountered an error.
INFORMATION NEEDED
We would like to have a better idea of the firm types and sizes for our membership. This will enable the Executive Committee to better consider and negotiate exclusive opportunities for NCPLA members. Please take a few seconds to complete this form and answer two questions.
NC LADY LEGISLATOR & LOBBYIST HAPPY HOUR
Betsy McCorkle, Wendy Kelly, April Byrd, Cady Thomas, Sarah Bales, and Lisa Martin would like to extend an invitation to the Women of the NCGA to gather for drinks and appetizers on October 9th starting at 4:00 p.m. at MOFU Shoppe in Raleigh. The afternoon will conclude around 6:00 p.m., so stop by whenever it works for your schedule.
There will be no nametags, speakers, sponsors, or agendas - just be an opportunity to meet and talk with other women in our field. We encourage lady NCGA staffers to join as well. You don’t even have to RSVP (but feel free to do so to Betsy). Everyone will be responsible for their own check.