ABCBS Names Alison Melson VP of Corporate Marketing (Movers & Shakers)

Alison Melson of Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield in Little Rock.

Alison Melson has joined Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield as vice president of corporate marketing. In her new role, Melson will have responsibility for all marketing and communications strategies, public relations and consumer experience for Arkansas Blue Cross.

Melson was previously communications manager at Entergy Arkansas and was vice president of communications and marketing for CARTI. She also worked as a public relations associate at Acxiom Corp. and as an assistant director of public relations at Stone Ward.

Early in her career, she was a features writer for the High Profile section of what is now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Melson is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, a past president of the Arkansas Chapter of PRSA and recipient of the 2018 PRSA Crystal Award for lifetime service to the profession of public relations.

A Pine Bluff native, Melson holds a bachelor’s degree in public information and journalism from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Trent Goins, president and CEO of O.K. Foods in Fort Smith, has been installed as vice chairman of the National Chicken Council.

Before joining O.K. Foods, Goins was a legislative assistant working on agriculture and trade policy for U.S. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark.

Lizzie Phillips is now a full-time chief information officer at Stephens Insurance in Little Rock. Phillips was previously a data visualization analyst working with the company’s life and health and property and casualty teams.

Mary Waldrup is a new account manager at CJRW in Little Rock.

She was previously a senior media account manager at Saatchi & Saatchi.

See more of this week’s Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.