Bill Moak

Education

• B.A., University of Mississippi
• M.S., The University of Southern Mississippi

Bill Moak, APR is Chair and Assistant Professor of Communication at Belhaven University in Jackson, Miss. Since 2016, Bill has led Belhaven’s Communication Department, allowing him to use his more than 32 years of communication experience to help guide students as they prepare to enter the communications profession.

Education and Family

With deep roots in Southwest Mississippi, Bill’s love of writing started at an early age. He attended Southwest Mississippi Community College (where he wrote his first news story for the Southwest newspaper The Pine Burr). He then went on to complete his education at Ole Miss and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Bill and Lori (his wife of 30 years) have two sons, Daniel, an engineer and Caleb, a college student. Bill and his family attend Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison, where he currently serves as Chair-Elect of Deacons and in the Media Ministry. In 2016, he wrote his first book, entitled Don’t Eat the Cat Food! about how Christians should change our thinking about God so we can live more abundant lives.

Career

Bill got his start as a general assignment reporter for the Enterprise-Journal newspaper in McComb, where he won several writing awards. His love of communication eventually led him to a career in public relations for the nonprofit, medical, government, educational and association industries. He spent a decade as CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Mississippi, where his peers elected him to the national organization’s Executive Committee and as Governor of the organization’s Southeastern Region. In addition to his work at Belhaven, Bill writes a weekly consumer column, helping educate and protect consumers.

Public Relations Profession

Bill has been involved in the public relations profession since 1990, when he was elected as PRAM Central’s Rookie of the Year and later was named as a Senior Practitioner by the Southern Public Relations Federation (SPRF).

He earned Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) in 1996, and currently is a member of PRAM Central and the Public Relations Society of America.

He currently serves as President-Elect of PRAM Central, and has served as president of the Mississippi Hospital Public Relations Society and the Mississippi Communication Association.

Civic Involvement/Personal

He has served a number of organizations, including Rotary International, where he was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow. He’s also helped lead the Mother’s Milk Bank of Mississippi, the Mississippi Council on Economic Education and Boy Scout Troop 15 in Madison. In 2013, he was elected as a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s service organization. He enjoys writing, making homemade jelly, woodworking and a good Sci-Fi TV show, book or movie.

About

Bill Moak is an author and communications professional from Madison, Miss. A native of Lincoln County and the son of a minister of music and school teacher who taught him to seek God first, he accepted Christ into his heart at the age of eight.

While attending Bogue Chitto High School and Southwest Mississippi Community College, Bill began to develop his writing skills and learned that he had a gift and passion for the written word. It was at Southwest that he published his first crude news stories in The Pine Burr, Southwest’s student newspaper. Following the advice of a wise Journalism teacher at Southwest, Bill enrolled at Ole Miss, where he earned his Bachelor’s in Journalism and developed his writing skills at the Daily Mississippian newspaper until he graduated with a Bachelor’s in Journalism.

After working as a daily newspaper reporter for two years at the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Miss., Bill returned to school at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned his Master of Science in Communication and completed an internship at Mississippi Power Company. For the next 11 years, he worked as a public relations representative for several organizations, until he accepted a position of President/CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Mississippi, where he spent the next decade.

During his varied career, Bill’s work has won several awards, and he has been recognized by his peers. His honors include recognition as Rookie of the Year by the Public Relations Association of Mississippi (PRAM) and recognition as a Senior Practitioner by the Southern Public Relations Federation (SPRF). He earned Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) in 1996 from SPRF, and served as President of the Mississippi Hospital Association’s Society of Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations. During his tenure as President of the BBB Serving Mississippi, his peers elected him as Southern Regional Governor and as a member of the national BBB Executive Committee.

Bill has served in leadership positions for a number of organizations, including president of the Madison-Ridgeland Rotary Club in 2007-2008, during which time he was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow and received a Rotary Service Award.

Other organizations have included the Mother’s Milk Bank of Mississippi (founding board member); the Mississippi Council on Economic Education (board member, executive committee); and Boy Scout Troop 15 in Madison, Miss. (assistant scoutmaster and troop treasurer). In 2013, he was named as a brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s service organization.

Today, Bill works as a newspaper columnist, writing a consumer column at the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. He has served as adjunct faculty for Belhaven and Tulane Universities, teaching courses in business writing. Bill and Lori (his wife of 25 years) attend Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison, where he has served as a deacon since 1993. He currently serves on the Worship Ministry Media team, and has served in a number of ministries in the past including Sunday School teacher, choir member and hospitality team driver.

Bill recently wrote his first book, entitled Don’t Eat the Cat Food! about how Christians should change our thinking about God so we can live more abundant lives. He enjoys gardening, upcycling pallet wood into usable objects, writing on his blog (billmoak.wordpress.com) and spending time with his family. Bill and Lori are proud of their sons Daniel and Caleb. Daniel (20) is currently studying Civil Engineering at Ole Miss, and is an Eagle Scout. Caleb (15) attends Madison County schools, where he plays trumpet in the school band.