Faculty

Meet Your Faculty

Katy Griffin

Social Media Strategist, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Katy manages UNLV's main social media platforms by providing oversight on day-to-day posting, planning campaigns, and collaborating with campus partners. With 13+ years of experience in marketing and digital development at public research universities, Katy combines photography, videography, and targeted writing to leverage social media to engage key stakeholders.

Social Media
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katymgriffin/

Chelsey Holts

Director of Social Media, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Chelsey Holts is the Director of Social Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, overseeing the University’s flagship accounts. In her role, she advises leadership on strategy and reputation and works with a team to create and amplify engaging content for the university’s various audiences. She consults with colleagues across campus on strategy and crisis management and leads a monthly meeting with other communicators to talk about social media trends and best practices. In her over 11 years of experience in the social media and marketing industries, she has previously worked with Essence Festival and Dreamville Festival and published articles on campaigns she has led in the Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing. A graduate of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism, Chelsey is an Ohio native and avid coffee lover whose hobbies include reading, watching true crime documentaries and spending time with her college sweetheart and their toddler daughter.

Social:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chelseyholts
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseybentleyholts/

Michael Mahi

Senior Director Strategic Communications at California State University, Fullerton at California State University, Fullerton

As the senior director of strategic communications at Cal State Fullerton, Mahi oversees the day-to-day operations of editorial, news media, social media and web and visual elements within Cal State Fullerton’s Strategic Communications department. His passion is digital media. Mahi and his award-winning digital team have won several CASE awards over the years for social media and digital storytelling including a Grand Gold in 2022 for a video series called The Talk: A Journey Toward Anti-Racism. Before joining the university in March 2012, he had a 30-year career in journalism as a reporter and editor at several Southern California newspapers including the Orange County Register and the Press Enterprise. During his newspaper career, he oversaw and implemented many of the digital platforms at The Press-Enterprise including the newspaper’s web and social media presence. Mahi is a Cal State Fullerton alum living the dream in Orange County.

Featured Speaker

Lawerence Synett

Director of Social Media, University of Colorado Denver

Lawerence Synett is the new leader of the social media team at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver), which includes managing the institutional social media strategy and tactics, collaborating actively across all divisions within the CU Denver community to provide expertise and coordination that brings their audiences closer together. His team also manages the LinkedIn and Twitter accounts of CU Denver's chancellor. Before moving to Denver, Lawerence was the director of social media at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He started his career as a print journalist, spending 10-plus years in the Chicagoland area before quick stops in the healthcare public relations realm.

Social Media:

Twitter: @lsynett
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawerence-synett
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cudenver