Keynote Speaker
MARY ANN PIRES
The Pires Group, Inc.
Mary Ann Pires, who has worked in the Upstate since 2000 and resided
in the community since 2004, has 40 years of diversified Public Relations experience.
Head of her own boutique consulting firm, she has done some of the field's pioneering work in
Public Relations Marketing, Strategic Philanthropy, and Government Relations.
Ms. Pires has written and spoken extensively for more than 25 years on Public Relations and Public Affairs topics, both in the U.S. and abroad, and more recently in Upstate South Carolina. She has spoken extensively on the subject of "Volunteerism", as a result of her receipt of a Presidential and Congressional Medal for Service from the late President John F. Kennedy in 1962 and her continued volunteer involvement since then.
Ms. Pires holds a B.A. in Sociology from Nazareth College, Kalamazoo, Michigan,
and an M.S. in Public Relations from the Boston University College of Communication,
which honored her in 1998 as one of its "Distinguished Alumni."
