Members and Non-Media Contact: 407-444-8402

Media Contact: 407-444-8000

AAA Public Relations Staff

Yolanda L. Cade

Managing Director, AAA Public Relations
Expertise: Crisis Communications, International Media & Club Relations
407-444-8000

Shaping the organization’s national public relations and strategic communications efforts, Yolanda oversees public relations offices in Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla. She is responsible for managing all aspects of communicating public policy and national business line activities to the public and media. Prior to joining AAA, Yolanda served as the chief spokesperson and director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) under the Department of Homeland Security. In her role, Yolanda was responsible for managing internal and external communications, and the TSA website. Previous to her federal service, she served as deputy director of public relations for the world’s busiest airport: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In 2002, she was voted one of Georgia’s 100 most powerful and influential women and in 2007 was featured in Black Enterprise Magazine’s “On the Move” feature for highly visible professionals. Yolanda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast journalism from Florida A&M University and is a native of South Florida.

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Nancy White

Director, Public Relations
Expertise: Advocacy, Traffic Safety & Gas Prices
407-444-8000

Nancy brings nearly 18 years of association public relations experience to her role in overseeing public relations for AAA’s Traffic Safety and Advocacy issues. As a seasoned communications professional, Nancy has developed and directed media relations, advertising and marketing campaigns for national organizations such as the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). A Michigan native, she began her Washington, D.C., area association career in public relations at the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). While there she developed consumer outreach programs aimed at educating motorists about the vehicle service and repair experience and helped coordinate ASE’s involvement with the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills contest. Nancy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wayne State University and is based in Washington, D.C.

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Cynthia Brough, CTC, ACC, DS

Director, Public Relations
Expertise: Travel, Financial Services, Automotive, Driver Safety and Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills
407-444-8014

Cynthia Brough leads the Public Relations team that represents and publicizes several AAA core business lines and programs including Travel, Financial Services, Automotive, Partnership Programs and Publishing. Since joining AAA in 1988, first at AAA East Central and with the AAA National Office, Cynthia has logged more than two decades of television, radio and print media interviews, as well as keynote speeches on all things AAA. Cynthia has in-depth expertise on travel and has authored many articles on travel destinations, personal travel safety and travel planning advice. She is especially adept at media crisis communications, responding to current events that affect both domestic and international travel. Cynthia earned several prestigious professional travel certifications and specialist designations including Certified Travel Counselor (CTC), Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) and Disney Specialist (DS). Cynthia is based in Heathrow, Fla.

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Ginnie Pritchett

Manager, AAA Public Relations
Expertise: Automotive, Driver Safety and Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills
407-444-8003

Ginnie manages AAA’s automotive media relations and publicity. She works on initiatives such as driver safety, AAA Approved Auto Repair, automotive technology, electric vehicles and automotive mobile products. Ginnie also oversees publicity for the FORD/AAA Student Auto Skills competition, AAA’s annual nationwide competition that highlights the country’s top high school mechanics. Ginnie joined the AAA public relations team at the beginning of 2012, bringing with her 7 years experience working in both the auto racing and hospitality industries. After obtaining her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL, Ginnie started her career working as the marketing & advertising account executive at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa in Sanibel, Florida. Her most recent position was at NASCAR, where Ginnie supported the media outreach for all three national racing series, planned advance marketing events/ media tours across the country and oversaw at-track media opportunities including post-race victory lane. Ginnie is based in Heathrow, Fla.

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Heather Hunter

Manager, AAA Public Relations
Expertise: Publishing & Partnership Programs
407-444-8005

Heather provides media relations for AAA’s publishing programs such as the AAA Diamond Ratings, TripTik®, TourBook® guides and other mapping and guidebook products. Heather also manages publicity for the AAA Show Your Card & Save program. Heather joined the AAA public relations team in June 2007, bringing more than 13 years of experience, including extensive work in both the travel and publishing industries. As a public relations professional, she has participated in campaigns to promote hotels, resorts, tour operators, travel guide publications and travel organizations and conducted sweepstakes and special events. For more than five years she worked for Wiley Publishing managing public relations activities for Frommer’s travel guides, Frommers.com, the Unofficial Guides and the For Dummies travel series, which she helped to launch. In her most recent position, Heather served as director of publicity for North Shore Animal League America. Heather tweets for AAA at Twitter.com/AAA_Travel and is based in Heathrow, Fla.

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Laura Palermo

Manager, AAA Community Relations
Expertise: Community Outreach & Involvement
407-444-8011

Laura leads AAA National Office volunteer and outreach programs in Central Florida and seeks ways to disseminate information about AAA’s priority issues and safety programs at the grassroots level. Laura joined AAA in 2000 and managed automotive communication projects prior to taking her place on the Public Relations team. Previously, she held marketing and public relations roles in the retail and tourism industries. Laura earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Laura tweets for AAA at Twitter.com/AAAcares and manages the “AAA Giving” photo gallery on Flickr.com. She is based in Heathrow, Fla.

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Michael Green

Manager, AAA Public Relations
Expertise: Advocacy, Traffic Safety & Gas Prices
407-444-8082

Michael supports public and media relations for AAA’s Traffic Safety and Advocacy initiatives including fuel prices, energy and distracted driving. Michael joined AAA in 2012 after managing award-winning communications campaigns for PR agencies GolinHarris and Xenophon Strategies. In this role, Michael helped a wide variety of clients such as the Air Transport Association, the Dow Chemical Company and ATR Turboprops to communicate on a diverse range of transportation and energy policy issues. Michael previously worked on Capitol Hill as both a Press Secretary and Legislative Assistant for Congressman John Culberson (TX-07) and worked for the majority staff of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Michael also served as an English-education volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps in a village near Kherson, Ukraine. Michael earned a master’s degree in communication from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Wake Forest University. Michael is based in Washington, D.C.

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Erin Stepp

Coordinator, AAA Public Relations
Expertise: Advocacy and Traffic Safety
407-444-8013

Erin provides public relations support for AAA’s Traffic Safety and Advocacy initiatives, leading bicycle safety, child passenger safety, impaired driving and school safety outreach. Erin joined the AAA National public relations team in early 2011, bringing her experience as an Assistant Account Executive for St. John Partners Advertising and Public Relations in Jacksonville, FL were she was responsible for coordinating all advertising efforts for the firm’s major automotive client. Prior to that, she served as the Advertising and Promotion Coordinator for the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens where she coordinated all advertising campaigns, managed the redesign of the Zoo’s website and worked closely on rebranding efforts for the attraction. Erin holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and tweets daily for AAA at Twitter.com/AAASafety. She is based in Heathrow, FL.

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