Morgan Bohannon recently joined Cumulus Media as vice president/market manager for its four-station group in Memphis, which includes KIX 106, 98.1 The Max, 98.9 The Vibe and 103.5 WRBO. Bohannon comes to Cumulus from iHeartMedia-Memphis, where he most recently served as area president. He worked for iHeartMedia/Clear Channel Radio for more than 20 years in various capacities and markets.

MORGAN BOHANNON

Hometown: Memphis

Experience: After graduating from FACS in Memphis, I went to UT determined to become a play-by-play sports announcer. When that path didn’t work out, I took my first on-air job at a 1,000-watt AM station in Clarksdale, Mississippi. My career progressed from on-air talent to sales then sales management and now multistation management. After 30-plus years, I’m still in the business I love. 

What talent do you wish you had? I wish I could play the saxophone.

Who has had the greatest influence on you and why? My father, John O. Bohannon. He instilled in me a work ethic that drives me even to this day.

What attracted you to Cumulus Media? Mary Berner, our CEO. She is an honest, candid and transparent leader. Once meeting her, there was no question I belonged at Cumulus Media. 

And what are your goals there? My goal is to make our group of radio stations the most community engaged in the market as well as win the ratings and revenue battle.

Your radio career has spanned more than two decades. How has the radio industry evolved during that time, and where do you see it headed next? Our industry is still about providing live/local content on a daily basis and being engaged in our community. The thing that has evolved is the delivery of the content.
We have more platforms providing on-demand content than one can count. We have personalities loading podcasts of their shows on various platforms, we have apps on our phones that allows us to hear our favorite radio station anywhere in the world with a click of a button. We are steaming content on our websites 24/7 and have more video capabilities than ever before.
Making our content available for the audience on multiple platforms is the biggest evolution. You can now select the content you want and consume it on your timetable. Of course, our over-the-air delivery is still the king of content-delivery systems, but being in all the other places gives us an opportunity for multiple touch points for our advertisers. 

Are any changes planned for Cumulus’ Memphis stations? More often than not, the answer to that question is no. In this case, I can tell you that we plan to change a lot. We plan to change how we service our customers and serve our community, all for the better. We have unique ways to let our customer know we appreciate their business, and we are already busy deploying those techniques.
We will be the most engaged group of stations in this market when it comes to community involvement. As a native Memphian, I know the needs all too well. I currently serve as the board chair for both Junior Achievement of the Mid-South and First Tee of Memphis. Our team will be deployed across the market so we can serve even more organizations that do so much good with little resources.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Growing people in their career. I’m fortunate to have been a small part of helping a number of people accomplish their goals professionally. Seeing them achieve great things after moving on to “run their own show” has been very rewarding for me personally. It seems the more I help people achieve their goals the more I achieve mine. 

What do you most enjoy about your work? The people. Our business is very fast-paced, and working with a high-energy team is very rewarding for me.

If you could give one piece of advice to young people, what would it be? I often use a Bill Parcells quote to help keep my teams focused. He said, “Success is like a martini, it will relax you.” 

SHAWNA ENGEL

Shawna Engel has joined Financial Federal Bank’s Memphis headquarters as business development officer, a role in which she will serve as an internal facilitator between customers and lending officers, as well as an external liaison for the bank’s community relations. Engel’s career includes more than 20 years of fund development experience for higher education institutions in Memphis. Most recently, she worked at Memphis Goodwill Inc. 

Jeremy Reed of Loeb Properties has received the Building Owners & Managers International High-Performance Sustainable Buildings designation. Reed is the property manager of Loeb’s flagship properties, including Overton Square and the Highland Strip, and is president-elect of the Building Owners & Managers Association Memphis. He is the first person in Tennessee to receive the BOMI-HP designation.

David Rochester, financial adviser with Shoemaker Financial in Germantown, has earned the American College Retirement Income Certified Professional designation. The designation is for advisers who have completed various college-level courses and passed a series of exams. They must also have three years of experience, meet stringent ethics requirements and participate in a continuing education program.

RAJIV GROVER

Rajiv Grover has been named to the Memphis-based Peer Power Foundation’s board of directors. Grover is dean of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics and the holder of the Sales and Marketing Chair of Excellence at the University of Memphis.

Mercedes-Benz of Collierville has been recognized by the luxury automobile brand as a Best of the Best for 2016. The Best of the Best program recognizes the top 15 percent of dealers for their exemplary performance in sales, service and parts as well as excellence in operations and customer experience. 

Pinnacle Financial Partners has earned a place on People’s inaugural “50 Companies That Care” list, jointly chosen by People and Great Place to Work. Pinnacle came in No. 20 on the list, which was based on more than 368,000 surveys from individuals employed by U.S. businesses across a range of industries. Honorees were also selected based on the generosity of their benefits and charitable work, as well as personal accounts of the impact these organizations have made on the lives of their employees.