Women Law Students Recognize Alumna With Gayle Pettus Pontz Award

Submitted

Regina Hopper

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas School of Law Women's Law Student Association will honor Regina Hopper (B.A. '81, J.D. '85) with the Gayle Pettus Pontz Award at 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, at Fresco Cafe and Pub on Center Street in Fayetteville.

Hopper is the senior vice president of global public policy for GRIDSMART Technologies, Inc., an advanced traffic management system designed to deliver smart traffic management solutions to communities to reduce urban congestion, maximize efficiency and reduce environmental impact.

As a litigation communications consultant for A2L Consulting, she guides organizations on cases around the country. Through her varied career, which has included work in the fields of transportation, telecommunications, energy, media, communications and law, Hopper has become known as a leader in national and state advocacy initiatives.

She was named a top CEO by CEO Update and The Hill for her demonstrated leadership in positions such as president and CEO of ITS America, the country's largest industry association advocating for research and deployment of intelligent transportation systems, president and CEO of America's Natural Gas Alliance, executive vice president of US Telecom and the American Trucking Association and senior vice president of litigation communications for Ryan McGinn.

Hopper, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, She began her television career reporting for both the ABC and CBS affiliates in Little Rock and practiced law with the then Little Rock law firm of Arnold, Grobmyer and Haley before heading to New York and Washington, D.C.

In addition to Emmy Awards for her work on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and for investigative reporting on 48 Hours, she has also been a network news correspondent for the CBS Morning News, CBS Weekend News and CBS affiliate division Newspath. She covered the Bush and Clinton White Houses, anchored the network's overnight broadcast and reported on breaking news around the country from the New York and Washington, D.C., bureaus.

While in law school, Hopper was crowned Miss Arkansas and deferred school for a year to serve her term. As Miss Arkansas, she won the non-finalist talent award at the 1984 Miss America Competition and led that year's Miss America USO overseas tour. She later chaired the Miss America Foundation Board of Trustees and was member of the Board of Directors of the Miss America Organization. She has recently re-joined the organization to assist in instituting new governance and management best practices.

Hopper is a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences who stays connected to her home state and alma mater. She is a Johnson Fellow and serves on the Boards of Directors for both the University of Arkansas Alumni Association and the Arkansas State Society.

Each year, members of the Law Women's Law Student Association, known as WLSA to law school students and alumni, select a female graduate or a woman with connections to the local legal community to receive the Gayle Pettus Pontz Award. The students identify women who promote the association's objectives of helping women thrive in law school, creating a community that will raise awareness of women's issues and advancing women in the legal profession. Awardees are chosen to recognize those who best represent the accomplishments of women and the legal community as a whole.

The award was established in 1985 to honor the first woman graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law. Pontz (LL.B. '37) was also the award's first recipient. After law school, Pontz returned to her native Louisiana, where served as the state's first woman assistant U.S. attorney. She was a law clerk for the Louisiana Supreme Court in New Orleans and the Louisiana 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal in Shreveport. She retired from the 2nd Circuit Court in 1978.