MICHAEL P. BENARD

Speaker, Writer, Coach on Communications Issues

Blogger on Property Rights & Energy Industry

Former Director, Communications and Public Affairs, and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company

• Mike Benard held the top communications job at Kodak as Director of Communications and Public Affairs and Vice President for more than a dozen years, until his retirement in 2006.
• As head of Communications and Public Affairs, he had worldwide responsibility for internal and external communications, government affairs, community relations, corporate contributions, and management communications.  Prior to Kodak, Mike was in corporate and business unit communications at PPG Industries.
• Mike served as a discussion leader at the American Press Institute’s seminars on the transformation of the newspaper industry.  In addition, he served as a highly rated speaker for the International Newsmedia Marketing Association; and he has written on the transformation of the news and photo industries driven by the shift to digital and internet technology.
• He publishes a property rights blog dealing with the energy industry, based on the experience of receiving royalties from gas wells then having property rights seized for an underground natural gas storage reservoir. This was an eminent domain action backed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  Spectra Energy Watch emerged from that battle and has expanded from property rights to include natural gas industry issues related to hydraulic fracturing of shale gas fields.  Link:  www.spectraenergywatch.com/blog
• He leads professional development seminars for PR folks, addresses university-level marketing classes, and provides communications coaching for execs.
• A graduate of John Carroll University, he holds a BA in English and a M.Ed. from Temple University.  His undergraduate studies included one year at Loyola University’s Rome Center, Rome, Italy.