Communication Department

These George �鶹��Ƶ alumni were driven to succeed with a premier NASCAR race team

Shayla Brown — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 13:53:55 +0000

These George �鶹��Ƶ alumni were driven to succeed with a premier NASCAR race team Shayla Brown Fri, 07/25/2025 - 09:53

You could say Dave Alpern, BA Speech Communication ’91, started at the bottom of the corporate ladder when he joined Joe Gibbs Racing.

Dave Alpern. Photo provided.

In 1993, Alpern landed an internship with the company. As he recalls, his office was a broom closet complete with an elementary school desk, an extension cord, and a lamp.

But that didn’t put the brakes on his enthusiasm.

“Being an intern [at Joe Gibbs Racing] was really special because I really had to earn it. I have this principle of delivering more value than you're paid, and that’s what I did,” said Alpern.

Fast forward to today: the �鶹��Ƶ alum is the president of the organization and recently made a cameo appearance in the Netflix series, NASCAR: Full Speed, which documents NASCAR teams as work as they race to win the NASCAR Cup Series.

“Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the two most successful teams in NASCAR racing, so clearly if they do a show on the sport, we're going to be a part of it in some way.”

Alpern may have had the inside track at the company as the best friend of Jason Dean “JD” Gibbs, the son of the company’s founder, Joe Gibbs, but he had to earn his way into every role. Alpern has held nearly every position in the front office and witnessed the company grow from a team of 18 employees to more than 500, including 50 engineers and an aviation department.

Around the office Alpern was known as “the T-shirt guy” because of his dedicated work in merchandise and consumer products.

Alpern was named president of the JGR in 2016 during the illness and eventual death of his friend JD in 2019.

“When he got sick and passed away, I was named president and essentially took my best friend's job for his family's business, which was very difficult,” Alpern said.

Coach Joe Gibbs (left) and Dave Alpern. Photo provided.

Now Alpern is also sharing some of the things he’s learned during his time with JGR. He’s written a book, Taking the Lead: Winning Business Principles That Fuel Joe Gibbs Racing, with all proceeds going toward the JD Gibbs Legacy Fund, in honor of his friend.

While Alpern was navigating the growth of JGR, his colleague and fellow George �鶹��Ƶ alum, Chris Helein, BA Speech Communication ’91, was following a parallel path.

The summer before his senior year, Helein got a full-time internship with the Washington Commanders in the organization’s public relations department, where Joe Gibbs was the head coach and led the team to three Super Bowl victories.

“Thankfully my professors were pretty understanding. That experience was my introduction into the world of PR and communications on that front. I really enjoy being part of an organization as opposed to the journalistic side,” said Helein, who followed Gibbs to JGR and has now been at the organization for 17 years.

Helein, who is vice president of communications and partner activation at JGR, credits George �鶹��Ƶ for giving him the tools he needed to begin his career. While on campus, he got involved in WGMU, the campus radio station, and Broadside, the student newspaper.

Chris Helein at Daytona. Photo provided.

“George �鶹��Ƶ had a tremendous amount of assets for me from the location of the campus to the connections in different fields. It [provided] incredible opportunities regardless of the industry you want to work in,” said Helein.

Topics

Alumni

Internship

Communication Department

College of Humanities and Social Science

internships

Communication alumna went from intern to CEO of national running organization

Shayla Brown — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 17:02:22 +0000

Communication alumna went from intern to CEO of national running organization Shayla Brown Wed, 10/23/2024 - 13:02

�鶹��Ƶ alumna Jay Ell Alexander, BA Communication ’08, joined Black Girls RUN!, a national running organization, as a PR intern in 2012. In 2018, she bought the company and has been the owner for the last six years.

“I was looking for hands-on work after graduate school and really immersed myself in learning every end of the business,” said Alexander. “From merchandise and working with our local groups and sponsorships to understanding how to work with corporate partners and building relationships.”

Jay Ell Alexander at one of the Black Girls RUN! marathons. Photo provided.

She added, “The consistency and passion that you need to run a business does not happen overnight, and my time as an intern and contractor with Black Girls RUN! was planting those seeds for me to have what I need now.”

Black Girls RUN! aims to bring Black women to the pavement in terms of endurance, as well as raise awareness of the health disparities that they face.

“Black women are at the top of the charts for most chronic diseases and there’s a stigma that we just don’t care about our health, but we do. We’re trying to change that narrative and show that Black women can be healthy,” said Alexander, who is also a member of George �鶹��Ƶ’s Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

“Working for entrepreneurs, you become a jack of all trades very quickly. George �鶹��Ƶ and a dynamic group of communication professors really prepared me for that,” she said.

Her time at George �鶹��Ƶ gave her a strong foundation for the tech savviness she would need to helm Black Girls RUN!

“I learned everything from writing code and how to build a website to going out and being a one woman show with a camera and mic,” explained Alexander, who received a Top 40 Under 40 Award from George �鶹��Ƶ’s Black Alumni Chapter. “I didn’t have to pay for a new company website. I just do it myself because I have the skills from those classes at George �鶹��Ƶ.”

Black Girls RUN! has roughly 248,000 members, 75 groups across the country in most of the major cities, and year-round national conferences. Members participate in national meetups and training for a 5K or a half marathon.

“These are races that we partner with across the country where you come out and meet Black Girls RUN members and we just create a community within the race that people want to come out and be a part of,” said Alexander.

Since 2021, Black Girls RUN! has been in a partnership with Saucony, the running shoes, clothing, gear, and accessory company, and produced a custom shoe, the Endorphin Speed 4 BGR, which has sold thousands of shoes. The shoes also come with a custom shoebox and key chain.

In 2020, Saucony reached out to the organization to make a donation to their Black Lives Matter movement.

“[Saucony] was really trying to make an effort to build up their initiative with supporting minorities. Those conversations we were having continued to happen and our relationships continued to blossom,” said Alexander.

Jay Ell Alexander at a shoe signing event. Photo provided.

“The shoe really has been the cherry on top of all the work that we've done over the last three years. This was [Saucony’s] first time doing a pink shoe.”

Black Girls RUN! and Saucony have a multi-year deal and another collaboratively designed shoe will be released in 2025.

“Jay Ell is a super leader. That was always a natural trait that she carried. She really brings people together; she's a facilitator, organizer, and very much so just had a strong suit in terms of operations,” said alumna LaShonda Wilson, BA Communications ’08, who was Alexander’s college roommate and is also godmother to Alexander’s children.

“All of us working together were able to create an organization that was foundationally sound and we all took turns in the various leadership roles,” said Wilson, who along with Alexander and their peers started Urbanknowlodgy 101, a hip-hop dance group at George �鶹��Ƶ in 2005, which now has a spin-off nonprofit called Dance Foundation Inc. for alumni.

“My friends and I were those kids that used to stand in line all day to buy Jordans and now my shoe is sold out. Life has just come full circle for me and it’s kind of surreal,” said Alexander.

Topics

Communication Department

Black Alumni Chapter

Alumni

Women's Health

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

A �鶹��Ƶ legacy pursues passion for journalism

Sarah Holland — Wed, 17 May 2023 17:32:21 +0000

A �鶹��Ƶ legacy pursues passion for journalism Sarah Holland Wed, 05/17/2023 - 13:32

Four years ago, Brad Byrne walked across the stage of EagleBank Arena for his high school graduation. This week, he will once more cross the EagleBank stage as a �鶹��Ƶ graduate.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

In high school, as a part of the yearbook staff, Byrne would attend conferences and hear journalism professionals talk about their work. For him, it was like a light bulb turning on. “This is what I want to do with my life,” he said. “I want to tell other peoples’ stories to the world, because everyone has a story.”

This week Byrne is seeing that dream come to fruition as he graduates from �鶹��Ƶ with a bachelor of arts in communication with a concentration in journalism.

Byrne has a story, too: an incredible family legacy of �鶹��Ƶ alumni going back to the 1980s when his parents both attended �鶹��Ƶ. Multiple family members are �鶹��Ƶ graduates or expected �鶹��Ƶ graduates—Byrne is currently joined on campus by his brother and sister, and two cousins. “�鶹��Ƶ has always been a part of my life,” he said, recalling going to basketball games with his family as a kid. “We're all from Northern Virginia, so for us �鶹��Ƶ is right next door. It’s a great cost-effective option to get a great degree.”

During his time at �鶹��Ƶ, Byrne found his niche in Student Media and worked with Fourth Estate—�鶹��Ƶ's student-run newspaper—throughout college, becoming the sole editor-in-chief for the 2022-23 academic year.

“We had a lot of challenges, but to persevere through that as one of the first solo editors-in-chief in many years and still put out important stories for the �鶹��Ƶ community is one of my greatest accomplishments from my time here,” he said.

The connections and opportunities available through �鶹��Ƶ have been vital to Byrne’s past, present, and future successes. “I made lifelong friends in the newspaper and had incredible opportunities Department of Communication, like having a one-on-one interview with Senator Tim Kaine, and studying in France for two weeks.”

Brad Byrne, '23, is heading to Columbia University for graduate studies. Photo provided

With an eye for storytelling and a passion for hard-hitting journalism, Byrne is heading to Columbia University’s Journalism School in the fall to pursue his master’s degree. It’s another full-circle moment for him. “I got my acceptance into the program at Columbia six years to the date from my first Columbia conference, so I guess it was fate.”

He hopes to one day become a correspondent for a major news publication.

“Whatever I’m doing, I really want to make a difference in the world.”