Registration Deadlines: The lower-price early registration deadline is midnight on Monday before the Thursday event. The final registration deadline is noon on Wednesday before the event. Online reservations and credit card payments will not be accepted after that time; please pay with check or cash at the door. Because we must order meals Tuesday morning, cancellations cannot be accepted after midnight on Monday. No shows will be billed.

Moderator Suzy Hartgrove is Chief of Public Affairs for the City of Houston’s Department of Planning and Development.  She is responsible for coordinating and directing media activity, social media, web site, public relations and marketing, publications, and serves as liaison to City Council.  Prior to joining the Planning Department, she served as the Public Information Officer for the City of Houston’s Department of Housing and Community Development. 

Ms. Hartgrove is a member and a past president of Women Professionals in Government, the International Association of Business Communicators and on the board of the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers.

Helen Vollmer sets the tone at Vollmer Public Relations, providing strategic input and creative direction to all account teams. She spearheads the firm’s managed growth strategy, while ensuring the firm remains focused on providing the highest quality service to clients at all times.

Since founding the firm in 1981, Helen personally has represented clients in the arts, energy, financial, government, health care, hospitality, industrial, non-profit, packaged goods, professional services, real estate, retail, technology and travel arenas.

Prior to starting Vollmer, Helen was vice president, manager of client relations for Bozell & Jacobs Public Relations. Previously, she worked for the national public relations firm Ruder & Finn as an account executive on a variety of national and regional consumer accounts. She began her career as a copywriter for a major retail outlet.

Helen is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and a member of that group’s Counselor’s Academy. She is also a past board member of the Council of Public Relations Firms. She is active in the community, sits on several non- profit boards and has been recognized as a leader in her field. Fluent in Spanish, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in radio/television/film from the University of Texas at Austin, where she has acted as an Assistant Adjunct Professor.