News Articles

AAF Cincinnati Joins the Sept. 12 Steve Reece Celebration: the Ad Executive Years.

Celebrate 70 years of trailblazing. AAF Cincinnati has been asked to help spread the word about a Celebration on Sept. 12 at Duke Energy Center. 

Did you know that Steve Reece was AAF Cincinnati’s (then Ad Club) first African American Board Member? It was 1978 when he was elected to our Board.  At the time, Reece and his wife Barbara ran a downtown marketing and events-promotion company called Communiplex Services that they’d founded in 1975. That company would later move to Integrity Hall, a Reece-owned meeting and banquet facility in Bond Hill.

"Steve Reece and I were both elected to the AdClub Board for the first time in 1978. Knowing Steve Reece – and, of course, his daughter Alicia -- has helped me make great connections in the Cincinnati business community,” says AAF Cincinnati’s Executive Director Judy Thompson. “When I was at Cincinnati Bell, Communiplex was one of our ad agencies. At a time when custom calling services like 3-way calling and call hold were the new thing, Steve helped us introduce those.”

It was Alicia Reece who reached out to us with her invitation to attend this celebration. No reservations necessary. Just show up!