The Chagrin Valley Salutes our First Responders is a week long event bringing the community and businesses together to say THANK YOU to our First Responders around the Chagrin Valley.  The event will start on Sunday, September 9 and end on Saturday, September 15.  

So many things going on this week and so many ways to salute our First Responders.  We ask all residents to change their porch light to a red or blue bulb during this week.  Red and Blue bulbs can be purchased at Chagrin Hardware in Chagrin Falls or Kredo Hardware in Pepper Pike or place a red or blue ribbon on a front yard tree.
 

Everyone knows how painful lawsuits are.  They’re time-consuming, energy-consuming, distracting and expensive.  Here’s a dirty little secret that every lawyer knows:  most business lawsuits and investigations, or exposure from them for damages, fines and expenses, are entirely preventable if a company follows some simple pre-emptive steps.  The lunch and learn will begin with a presentation by Alex Gertsburg, CEO of the Gertsburg Law Firm and CoverMySix, who will pass along some proven strategies for saving companies boat-loads of money both inside and outside the courts.  Afterward, CMBA Director Becky McMahon will moderate a panel discussion composed of in-house and outside attorneys about legal minefields that businesses routinely fall into and need to avoid in their operations.

Alex Gertsburg has worn four hats in his 17-year legal career including serving as a business litigator with a large law firm, in-house counsel with a large corporation, and an officer with a line-haul truck company in the Army with a year of combat deployment in Iraq. He is currently the CEO of CoverMySix and head of the Gertsburg Law Firm in Chagrin Falls.

Presenters:

• Alex Gertsburg, CEO, The Gertsburg Law Firm
• Lori Kosakowski, The Sherwin-Williams Corporation
• Chris Thorman, Thorman Petrov Group Co., LPA
• Becky Ruppert McMahon, CEO, CMBA, Moderator

Schedule:

• 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.  Registration & Lunch
• 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.  Presentation
• 1:15 – 1:30 p.m.  Networking

Purchase tickets and reserve your seat at www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-stay-out-of-court-tickets-48421073735

$20 per person includes lunch

Parking available in the One Cleveland Center garage, Galleria parking garage and numerous other garages and surface lots in the East 9th and St. Clair area.

Please direct any questions to CMBA at (216) 696-3525 or by email at CLE@clemetrobar.org

Shelton’s career spans 42 years. He graduated in 1972 and reported for The Cleveland Press and hosted Here It Is, a public affairs program on Cleveland’s NBC affiliate WKYC-TV. While studying for a master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin, he taught journalism at UW-West Bend and served as the school’s public information officer.

An interview in 1975 with acclaimed singer Roberta Flack for a Milwaukee Sentinel feature influenced a career change and a move to Los Angeles. Shelton became a writer and publicist for Motown Records.  Rick James was his first artist. From Motown he moved to CBS Records were he worked for Columbia and Epic Records. As Michael Jackson’s publicist, he wrote the official Jackson bio for the multi-platinum LP Off The Wall. He returned to Motown in 1981 as manager of press and artist relations to help launch Lionel Richie’s solo career and to publicize the Emmy Award winning Motown: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow television special. After leaving Motown, he was hired by CBS to promote Jackson’s Thriller. Before returning to Kent State, Shelton was vice-president of media relations for Warner Bros. Records.

Shelton’s work has been behind the media profiles of such artists as Jackson and Richie, Prince, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield,  Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Seal, Michael McDonald, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle,  Earth Wind and Fire, Ronald Isley, The O’Jays, Barry White, Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, Randy Meisner of The Eagles, George Clinton, Chaka Khan, George Benson, Mavis Staples, Tevin Campbell, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, Biz Markie, The Winans, Take 6 and countless others. He knew Shawn Carter and Sean Combs before they became internationally known as Jay-Z and Puffy, Diddy, etc.

Shelton wrote liner notes for Motown’s Diana Ross Anthology and greatest hits albums by Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Four Tops. He publicized the film soundtracks to Boyz in The Hood,  New Jack City, Quincy Jones’ Listen Up!, Graffiti Bridge and A Thin Line Between Love and Hate. In addition he wrote Gene’s Hollywood Hotline for teen magazine Right On!

His public relations work was not limited to the music industry. He was a publicist for the late motorcycle daredevil Evel Knivel, network television stars Taurean Blacque (Hill Street Blues) and Marla Gibbs (227). He served as press secretary to the late U.S. Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D.CA) and he directed public relations and marketing campaigns for The Coca-Cola Company for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, McDonald’s Gospelfest, Coors Brewery, Martin Luther King, Jr. Week for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Bishop Charles Blake and The West Angeles Church of God and Christ, The Charles E. Drew University and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Courses taught by Shelton include: Media, Power & Culture, African American Media, Record Promotion and First Year Experience.