Nicholson School of Communication and Media Welcomes New Advisory Board Members

Brick building with "Nicholson School of Communication and Media" on the facade, surrounded by greenery and pink flowers, under a partly cloudy sky.

By: Majdulina Hamed

Published to Nicholson News on August 28, 2025.

If you have any news, accomplishments or highlights about your work or life, please be sure to share them with us, by emailing us at NicholsonNews@ucf.edu.

The Nicholson School of Communication and Media (NSCM) is welcoming several new members to its Advisory Board beginning this new academic year. The new members bring a range of expertise and leadership from digital gaming and media, sports marketing, and military industrial/AI technologies, further strengthening the bridge between NSCM and professional industries.

This year’s additions also include seasoned industry veterans who have made significant contributions to the Central Florida media landscape across print, television, radio, and digital platforms. The members include Alan Byrd, Alex Perna, Jon Albertson, Danny Peterson, Margaux Pagán, Rebecca Simons, and Wayne Weinberg.

The NSCM Advisory Board plays a vital role in the school’s mission by fostering partnerships with alumni, community members, and industry professionals. Board members draw on collective knowledge and insight, providing valuable guidance to enhance the quality of teaching, scholarship, and service across the school. The board is comprised of a group of leaders from different geographic areas and industries who are passionate about advancing the work of NSCM.

In addition to lending their professional expertise, Advisory Board members are deeply committed to supporting the Nicholson Director’s Excellence Fund, which helps fund annual faculty awards, the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and faculty research initiatives. The board also contributes through mentorship, guest speaking, curriculum advising, philanthropic efforts, and support for faculty and student projects throughout the year.

“We’re excited to continue the NSCM Board’s history of faculty, student, and industry collaboration by welcoming such a diverse and accomplished group of industry veterans,” says Sean Perry, Chair of the NSCM Advisory Board. “Their contributions span multiple fields while remaining deeply connected to the Central Florida and Knight community. We look forward to the many opportunities that their experience and knowledge will offer to the Nicholson students, administration, and alumni.”

Please see brief bios of the new NSCM Advisory Board members below:

A bald man with glasses, a beard, and a mustache is smiling broadly. He is wearing a dark blazer over a white shirt, sitting in front of a plain gray background.

Alan Byrd

Alan Byrd founded Alan Byrd & Associates in 2009 and has since worked with hundreds of clients to help develop and grow their brand through public relations, marketing, public affairs and business development.

For more than a decade, Alan Byrd worked for Orlando Business Journal and covered tourism, transportation and sports business – one of the first reporters in the country to cover the business side of sports. These beats gave Alan a unique perspective on a wide variety of industries and businesses. His “Tourism World” column on page 3 of OBJ was one of the best-read sections of the paper.

During the next nine years, Alan won dozens of local, state, regional and national awards for his stories. In 1998, his reporting of the Moscow Circus was named the best business story in the United States by the Society of Business Editors and Writers. His work also included writing for Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal as its Central Florida correspondent. He led the magazine’s national coverage of the United States’ bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from UCF.

 
A man in a gray suit jacket and light blue shirt smiles at the camera against a neutral, gradient background.

Alex Perna

Alex Perna is an award-winning communications leader with over a decade of experience spanning sports, entertainment, and education. He currently serves as Senior Director of Communications at IMG Academy, where he leads brand storytelling and strategy, driving record-breaking media visibility.

A 2014 graduate of UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication, Alex has also held impactful roles with Universal Orlando Resort, NASCAR, and Golin, supporting large brands, such as Toyota Racing.

 
A man with short gray hair stands outdoors in front of a building, smiling at the camera. Leafless trees and a brick walkway are visible in the background.

Jon Albertson

A graduate of UCF/FIEA’s inaugural game development class in 2007, Jon Albertson brings roughly two decades worth of experience in creative production for simulation, serious games and education technology industries. Jon has served in roles as varied as 3D generalist, technical producer, motion graphics animator, and project lead for organizations including Florida Virtual School, Z-Space, Cambium Learning, McGraw-Hill and Elsevier.

Jon has also served as an adjunct instructor at both UCF and Florida Polytechnic University, where he has taught classes in computer animation, game design, human/computer interaction, and core digital media courses. He is currently with Elsevier, where he’s working on a suite of virtual reality applications that will be used to train future nursing students on practices in empathetic communication and best-in-class medical protocols on VR patients.

 
A man wearing a blue button-up shirt and a dark plaid blazer stands smiling in front of a plain dark background.

Danny Peterson

Danny Peterson has more than 15 years of experience in revenue-generating roles and 12 years in the subscription industry, specializing in acquisition and revenue operations management with an aim to enhance the overall customer experience. He is currently the Senior Director of Direct-to-Consumer Marketing at CNBC.

As a leader in the subscription and media industry, he has helped to establish foundational structures for new and old subscription businesses and modernized outdated vendor and technology stacks to enhance performance across all operations. These improvements have led to growth.

His focus is on finding solutions to improve revenue and identify efficiencies that can be applied across all business units. I’ve discovered that siloed organizational structures lead to inefficient work and creating those improved work patterns will lead to improved customer experience and higher acquisition. He continues to represent the Knight community as a UCF alumni with a bachelor’s degree in communication.

 
A woman with long, wavy dark hair and a black top smiles at the camera against a gray textured background.

Margaux Pagán

Margaux Pagán, CFRE, CNP, serves as the Senior Administrator for Philanthropic Strategy at the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), where she leads strategic initiatives to elevate community partnerships and drive transformative fundraising efforts that benefit students across the school district.

With over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Margaux has focused her career on harnessing the power of technology to advance development and fundraising outcomes. Her work earned national acclaim as a Fundraising Star by Fundraising Success Magazine.

Margaux’s unique blend of expertise in nonprofit management, marketing, and technology has empowered mission-driven organizations nationwide to significantly increase fundraising results and become tech-forward and data-driven. She’s supported successful transformations through website development, data analytics, CRM implementations, strategic campaign planning, and integrated fundraising systems.

A proud UCF graduate, Margaux studied Organizational Communications and continues to champion the next generation of leaders. She holds the respected credentials of Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP).

 
A woman with long wavy hair, wearing a gray blazer and white shirt, stands indoors with her arms crossed, facing the camera. Wood-paneled walls are in the background.

Rebecca Simons

Rebecca Simons is a proud UCF alumna, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English in 2011. Withmore than 13 years of experience as a communications professional, Rebecca specializes in executive communications and brand reputation management. She began her career as a legislative intern at Gray Robinson working out of the Florida State Capitol and later went on to work on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for a Florida congressman, gaining valuable early experience in public policy and government affairs. She currently serves as an External and Executive Communications Manager at Cisco, where she strategizes and delivers high-impact communications for senior leadership, drives thought leadership and manages strategic responses to complex industry regulations around AI and tech. Her extensive career also includes senior communications roles at Lockheed Martin Space, Ovintiv Oil and Gas, and FTI Consulting.

 
An older man with gray hair wearing a navy suit, white shirt, and patterned tie sits on a wooden chair, hands folded, looking at the camera.

Wayne Weinberg

Wayne Weinberg is an award-winning broadcast journalist whose many years in the media positioned him well for his subsequent career as a Central Florida community leader in the non-profit, academic, community engagement and governmental fields. His proudest UCF accomplishment was his role as Director of Development for UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, helping to secure naming rights to the Engineering Three building which became the L3 Harris Engineering Center.

 
You can see the other NSCM Advisory Board members here.