Charlie Davis is the President and CEO of the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference.
Charlie is a business and organizational entrepreneur. As President of Liquid Ventures, Inc., he divides his time between working with Liquid Ventures’ portfolio of companies and clients.
Liquid Ventures is a unique company which functions as both a small business incubation firm and a consulting firm that works at the juncture of politics, technology and emerging media.
Liquid Ventures provides guidance on management, information technology, strategic planning, business development, office space and financial support. The current portfolio includes Newstwit.com, FanTheFire.com, Varsity Vests and GatorWorks Web Design.
Charlie also oversees the consulting division of Liquid Ventures, which specializes in helping clients implement effective programs in grassroots mobilization, earned media efforts and new media campaigns. Key clients include the Republican Party of Louisiana and the Louisiana Children’s Education Alliance.
Charlie served as a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention, a member of the Electoral College in 2008 and is on the board of the Louisiana Family Forum. He graduated from the Louisiana School for Math, Science & the Arts and has a BS in Economics from LSU.
While at LSU he served as the state chairman for the Louisiana Federation of College Republicans, a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, and launched his first company, The Tiger Weekly – today one of the longest continually published independent newspapers on any college campus in the country.
Charlie is married to Ellen Theresa Wray Davis and they have two children, William and Sarah. Ellen is a stay-at-home Mom who spends most of her time rearing William and Sarah and is passionately involved with education reform and home schooling. She is the former Political Director of GOPAC, former Executive Assistant to Former Congressman JC Watts, Jr. and former Executive Director of the Republican Party of Louisiana. Ellen is an elected member of the party’s State Central Committee and was a delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention.
The Davis family attends Healing Place Church and lead a Connect Group and Bible Study for young married couples.
You can follow @charliedavis or visit facebook.com/charliedavis.
Kirstin Hopkins is a campaign and political events veteran. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference. She is responsible for all SRLC 2010 initiatives, including sponsorships, logistics, outreach, and media.
During the 2008 election cycle, Hopkins served as a Deputy Director of External Affairs for the 2008 Republican National Convention held in the Twin Cities. She also served as the New Mexico 72 Hour Ops Director for the RNC Victory program to elect John McCain, where she was responsible for volunteer logistics, surrogate events, and the Field Operations team.
Prior to her work at the 2008 Convention, Hopkins served as the Deputy Director to Republican National Committee Co-Chair Jo Ann Davidson, where she was responsible for political, communications and women’s coalition affairs. Under the leadership of Co-Chair Davidson, Hopkins worked to launch the Pink Elephants coalition which integrated the RNC with local and state women’s groups across the country. During this effort, over 2,000 women were trained by RNC operatives and national strategists in 10 cities.
Kirstin has extensive political experience that spans communications, GOTV, fundraising, campaign management, and national events. A geographic mutt, Hopkins grew up in several cities on the east coast. She received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and a Master’s degree from The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management. She currently resides in Baton Rouge, LA with her miniature sharpei, Bourbon. When she is not working to make this event the best SRLC yet, she enjoys running, cooking and smashing her Blackberry Storm – which never works.
Ellen Carmichael is the Media Projects Manager for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. In her role for SRLC, Carmichael is responsible for the external affairs and communications of the conference, as well as political outreach. Previously, she served as a communications associate at Americans for Tax Reform in Washington, D.C., and in the newsroom for Baton Rouge’s newspaper, The Advocate. In 2009, she was the state coordinator for Americans for Prosperity, one of the largest political non-profits in the U.S., specializing in health care and energy issues.
She was also an editorial board member and writer for the popular health care policy and news blog, healthcarehorserace.com. Additionally, Carmichael has worked for several campaigns as both a consultant and staffer, including in 2007 when she joined The Political Firm to manage the communications, strategy and operations of more than 20 local, statewide and federal campaigns.
Her special topics of interest include government waste and spending, tax reform, labor and health care issues. A lifelong resident of Baton Rouge, La., Carmichael graduates this semester from Louisiana State University with a degree in Mass Communication: Political Communication. When her busy schedule permits, Carmichael enjoys exercising, traveling, reading and spending time with her two best friends, Ashley and Evan. She loves all things “Louisiana,” especially the New Orleans Saints and Mardi Gras. Carmichael is a Twitter addict, so follow her for some hilarious and yes, sometimes informative, tweets.
Shawn Wilson serves as the Grassroots and Marketing manager for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Wilson is a typical political junkie, spending the majority of his day reading the latest reports and political blogs from his Palm Pre. He often finds himself getting lost in the sea of 24-hour news coverage.
In his role for SRLC, Wilson spends time blogging and tweeting to extend social media outreach. Previously, he campaigned for Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) in Hot Springs, Ark. Wilson has been married to the “woman of his dreams,” Kaitlyn, for six years and together, they have a one-year-old son, Truett, and another child due in early May.
When not in the office, Wilson tries to balance the life of a family man and entrepreneur, while reading as much as possible on American and Church History. He currently resides in Baton Rouge, La., which allows him to attend games of his two favorite football teams, the LSU Tigers and the New Orleans Saints. You can find Wilson on Twitter or on Facebook, or visit his corporate website.
Leda Williams is an intern at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference and a business management undergraduate student at Louisiana State University. She is involved with LSU Student Government, where she serves as the assistant director of first year experience and co-directs the Freshman Leadership Council. In addition to Student Government, she is a dedicated member and fundraising chairwoman of Alpha Kappa Psi, a professional co-ed business fraternity.
This is Williams’ first political internship, where she is responsible for a variety of tasks, from registration and emails to logistics and communication. In her spare time, Williams enjoys soaking up the jazz scene of New Orleans, eating anything created in New Orleans (including chargrilled oysters, beignets and king cake) and being a true LSU football fanatic.
Spencer Nichols is an intern at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, where he manages social networking sites , manages registration and research. Nichols is currently an undergraduate student at Louisiana State University, where he studies finance and political science. After graduation, he intends to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration. He is a member of College Republicans and is active in local and statewide elections.
In his spare time, Spencer enjoys hunting, fishing and playing golf with friends. He is a self-described “diehard and lifelong” LSU fan – he loves Saturdays in the fall and watching a weekend series in Alex Box. He also enjoys cooking traditional Louisiana food, such as gumbo, jambalaya, shrimp creole and New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp. WHO DAT!