Stuart Mease (MBA, Virginia Tech) primary focus is “connecting people” to create mutually beneficial relationships. His “Connecting People” blog provides a bridge of communication between the isolated Generation X and Y in the Roanoke and New River Valleys to Baby Boomers and Traditionalist about issues related to economic development.
Currently, Mease serves as the Recruiting Leader for the publicly-traded, Blacksburg division of Rackspace Email and Apps. Rackspace is a publicly-traded company and leader in the cloud computing industry.
Mease previously worked for the City of Roanoke, Virginia to create programs and events aimed at attracting and retaining the creative class workforce for the RNR (Roanoke and New River Valleys) region. These activities and programs have been uniquely recognized by many local, state and national media outlets and organizational groups, including the International Economic Development Council annual conference in 2008. His strategy was to implement new web technologies in the traditional industry of economic development to highlight people and place generating thousands of contacts, friends, connections, followers and subscribers. This style and strategy was recognized by the Creative Class Group as it selected Roanoke as one of only three cities globally to partner in their Creative Community Leadership Project in 2008.
Upon his arrival to the City of Roanoke, Mease served in several roles at Virginia Tech as the external relations coordinator of the Center for Regional Strategies, the Assistant to the Executive President and Chief Operating Officer of Virginia Tech and the career placement coordinator of the Department of Management.
Additionally, part of Mease’s ability to connect to others stems from this past experiences in the aports arena. For example, Mease has been a production assistant for ESPN college football and basketball telecasts, as well as, the Virginia Tech/ISP Sports Network. He has worked over 350 sporting events such as the retirement press conference of Dean Smith, the NCAA and ACC Basketball Tournaments, and numerous college football bowl games with the likes of Bill Roth, Mike Burnop, Mike Tirico, Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Dick Vitale, Mike Patrick, Dr. Jerry Punch and Brad Daugherty. Mease has also had over 50 sports articles and press releases published in the USA Today, Carolina Blue, Baseball America, GoHeels.com and Virginia Tech Gridiron.
In May of 2002, Mease entered the political world as he campaigned for a seat on the Blacksburg Town Council. He generated 1,162 votes, but was shy just 166 votes of earning a seat at the age of 26.
Mease’s work in “connecting people” has been recognized over 100 times in various news outlets.
Regionally, he has been featured on WDBJ 7, WSLS 10, WSET 13, The Roanoke Times, Valley Business Front, Blue Ridge Business Journal, Roanoke Star Sentinel, Star City Harbinger, Handshake20.com, The Roanoker, WFIR, Roanoke Tribune, City Magazine, NRV Magazine, NRV Current, NewVa Magazine, The Collegiate Times, and the Virginia Business Magazine.
Nationally, he has appeared in Tech Crunch, Staffing Management Magazine, Florida Times Union, Providence Journal, St. Petersburg Times, Strengthening Brand America, Innovators Traction, and CreativeClass.org.
Blue Ridge PBS also recognized Mease’s work and invited him to be a content contributor to “JobQuest” a live monthly television show assisting job seekers in the RNR. Additionally, Handshake20.com asked Mease to produce a periodic video blog called “Connecting People in the RNR”. Mease is a regular invited contributor to The Roanoke Times – New River Valley Current.
Stuart Mease’s expertise with “connecting people” is evidenced by the number of organizations that ask him to serve as a speaker. He has presented keynote speeches on areas related to his core expertise (e.g., career development, personal networking, generational differences and workforce development) to over 150 diverse audiences in the private, educational and government sectors. Mease was invited by the Creative Class Group to be one of its featured speakers on issues on Creative Communication. He was also asked to be a semester adjunct professor in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech to a class of 250 business students.
Mease is married, has one child and enjoys spending time with his family, studying Christianity, playing golf, watching sports, following politics and engaging in the community.
To connect with Stuart, visit online at www.stuartmease.com.
Events
Roanoke happenings courtesy of MyScoper
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