Roland is sessions' leader for Gavin-Hodges Associates' professional development seminar series and also a IABC-Recommended Speaker. He is a recipient of The Gold Quill Award of Excellence for communication training from (IABC) the International Association of Business Communicators. He has consulted with and leads internal communication management training with organizations in the U.S., Canada and Australia. 

With over 25 years of communication management experience, Roland is a frequent faculty member at annual IABC international conferences. His most recent presentation was entitled “Pat your head, rub your tummy and whistle through the leadership graveyard.” Participants ranked him #1 among speaker at the Chicago conference with the topic, “How to rope and ride the three-legged career monster that never sleeps.” That followed on the heels of his New York conference presentation where he interacted with a standing-room-only audience with the topic, “Piano lessons for 1,000-pound gorillas: how to help your managers tap internal communication’s bottom-line value.” He also was featured during an IABC & Aon Consulting Conference with the topic,"Contracting a murder of anti-champions: designing communication strategies that steer organizational direction."

He has held memberships in IABC, Council of Communication Management, American Society for Training and Development and American Management Association. 

Roland spent 12 years with Scott Paper Company as manager of employee communications and primary internal communication consultant to seven U.S. operating divisions and international affiliates in 22 countries. Prior to Scott, he served as director of public information and education at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Mental Health Center; a publications editor at Hercules, Inc.; and as a reporter and features writer for The Associated Press wire service. 

Roland has worked with clients in the U.S., Canada and Australia that include American Century, Armstrong World Industries, Bayer, Boeing, Chrysler, Cisco Systems, Cigna, Deere, Federal Reserve Bank-NY, Kansas City P&L, Kimberly-Clark, Kodak, Kraft, Labatt's Ontario Breweries, PSE&G-NJ, Sprint, SunLife of Canada, The Gap, The Williams Companies, Westpac Bank (Sydney, Australia), United Technologies and the U.S. Postal Service. Organizations represented in the public seminar sessions he leads include major corporations in the U.S. and Canada as well as non-profits and federal and state government agencies.  

"I understand what staff communicators are up against," Roland said. "I appreciate what it means to be ignored by an operating manager who thinks that your job is just p.r.and that communication has nothing to do with achieving operating objectives.

"A common question from people in my seminar sessions is 'You expect a lot from us, don't you?' My answer always is 'Yes'. That's because I assume that the people who come to a training session are there to learn, upgrade or refresh their communication targeting skills. My mission, each time, is to help them return to their jobs more confident of their skills than when they left," he added.

Participants in Roland's sessions value both his communication targeting knowledge and his personal advice on how to make the communication process an organizational value. The sessions always are challenging and rewarding experiences. 

Roland became managing associate of Gavin-Hodges Associates in 1984 following 12 years with Scott Paper Company. He served Scott as manager of employee communications and primary internal communication consultant to seven U.S. operating divisions and international affiliates in 22 countries. 

Prior to Scott, Roland served as director of public information and education at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Mental Health Center; a publications editor at Hercules, Inc.; and as a reporter and features writer for The Associated Press wire service. ^Top
 

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