
Virgil and Joann Smith Thought Leaders Forum
Sponsored by:
The Virgil and Joann Smith Family Fund
Future of the Information Age
Women’s History Month
March 22, 2022
Speakers
The Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication is honored to inaugurate the Virgil and Joann Smith Thought Leaders Forum, which will highlight women thought leaders who bring to the forefront thought-provoking ideas and expert commentary on issues in the field of communication to a national audience.
Speakers in the Forum will be showcased in the Kopenhaver Center signature virtual workshop held annually in the spring during Women’s History Month, which this year will be on March 22, 2022. The Forum and the speakers will also be highlighted on the center’s website and social media platforms through a series of multi-media video presentations.
Thought leaders who participate in the forum will actively be contributing to the center’s online educational archive by providing world-class ideas and expert guidance on contemporary issues to ensure transformational conversations and change for women in the field of communication.
The 2022 Thought Leaders Forum topic will focus on the “Future of the Information Age.” Featured speakers for the 2022 Thought Leaders Forum are the following:
- Marsheila Hayes, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, FOX Corporation – Key Note Speaker
- Amalie Nash, SVP Local News and Audience Development, USA TODAY Network – Key Note Speaker
- Nathalia Ortiz, Natush Media – Convener

Marshiela J. Hayes
Key Note Speaker
Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion
Fox Corporation
Marsheila J. Hayes currently serves as the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for Fox Corporation. In this role, she leads the company’s inclusion initiatives and develops recruiting, retention, and engagement strategies for diverse talent.
In addition to providing governance to the company’s eight employee resource groups, Marsheila oversees the company’s enterprise-wide internship program and manages FOX’s external partnerships with diverse journalism associations and talent partners. In her dual role as an HR business partner, Marsheila also provides strategic partnerships to people managers and interns across the company.
Marsheila believes in the power of mentorship and the importance of community service. She is a member of the New York Urban League of Young Professionals and serves on the Morgan State University School of Global Journalism and Communication Board of Visitors.
A Memphis, TN native, Marsheila is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She holds a master’s in Strategic Human Resource Management from Georgetown University, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Tennessee State University.

Amalie Nash
Key Note Speaker
SVP, Local News and Audience Development
USA TODAY Network
Amalie joined Gannett in 2011 and currently serves as the senior vice president for local news, overseeing the USA TODAY Network’s more than 200 local newsrooms. In her role, Amalie is deeply involved in digital subscription strategy, audience development, network-wide projects and recruiting and talent retention. She also serves in a cross-functional role reviewing budgets and products to ensure financial goals are being met. She started with Gannett as an editor at the Detroit Free Press, where she helped supervise coverage of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy filing and the federal extortion and bribery trial of the former mayor. In 2014, she became the executive editor of The Des Moines Register, which produced award-winning coverage of the 2016 Iowa caucuses and helped to launch “Harvest of Change,” one of the industry’s first virtual reality projects. She moved to the corporate news staff in late 2016.

Nathalia Ortiz
Convener
Founder
Natush Media
Nathalia Ortiz is a bilingual journalist with experience in English and Spanish-language media. She has worked as a reporter and anchor at local Telemundo and NBC stations in New York City and South Florida. She is presently a contributor for NBC Latino and a host for Comcast Newsmakers in Florida and Washington D.C. Nathalia recently launched Natush Media–a company that creates documentaries for English and Spanish-speaking audiences.