PITTSBURGH—America’s Communications Association (ACA) Connects President and CEO Matthew M. Polka announced the following staff changes. John Higginbotham has been promoted to the organization’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. Caroline Persinger has been promoted to manager of Grassroots; and Tomeika Slappy has been promoted to assistant to the president and CEO.
“The changes we are making at ACAC will allow our association to be even stronger for our members in key service areas, building upon the strengths John, Caroline and Tomeika already bring to our team,” said Polka.
Higginbotham, currently ACAC’s executive vice president of membership and finance, joined ACAC in February 2020 and will now be responsible for all operational and staff matters as Polka focuses more on association relationships with its Members, industry partners and policymakers in Washington. Prior to joining ACAC, Higginbotham served for more than 20 years as assistant general manager of telecommunications at the Frankfort Plant Board in Kentucky, one of ACAC’s members.
In a press statement, Polka said about Higginbotham, “He is a true leader with vast industry and management experience who will help ACAC meet the needs of today and our future. In a very short time, John has become a valued colleague to our members and team alike, with many new initiatives led by John to come in 2021,” Polka added.
After a period of time away from the organization when her family moved to Fla., Persinger once again becomes ACAC’s grassroots manager, working with members on building their relationships with their policymakers in Washington, developing good grassroots practices and helping to expand ACAC’s political action arm at ACA PAC.
Tomeika Slappy previously served as ACAC’s executive assistant, but in the past year has taken on more responsibilities including not only executive management, meeting organization and organizational efficiencies, but also membership communications and logistics and executive and industry relationships.
