Our Senior Staff
Brian Hilson
President and CEO
Brian Hilson is President and CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) and is responsible for all areas of the BBA, including economic development, public policy, communications and other programs designed to grow and diversify the regional economy and enhance the quality of life for all citizens.
Hilson was previously the President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Alabama, where he worked closely with state and local officials to promote the area, recruit new companies and help local employers expand. He joined the Chamber in 1992 as Senior Vice President of Economic Development and was named President of the Chamber in 1997.
Previously, Hilson was a Vice President of the Birmingham Metropolitan Development Board and has held economic development positions with the Birmingham and Mobile Chambers of Commerce.
A native of Huntsville, Hilson is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute. He is a graduate of Leadership Alabama and Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, and is active in a number of state and national economic development organizations. He is past president of the Economic Development Association of Alabama and the Japan-America Society of Alabama.
He and his wife, Windy, have two children. Carlton is an attorney with Burr & Forman in Birmingham. Abby is a senior at Auburn University.
Rick Davis
Senior vice president of economic development
Rick Davis serves as the vice president of economic development for the Birmingham Business Alliance. He is responsible for economic development recruiting activities and the targeted marketing of the Birmingham region to the world. As part of his duties, Davis is responsible for planning and implementing strategies and programs to attract and place new business and investment in the Birmingham seven-county region.
Prior to his joining the BBA in September 2011, Davis served as director of Cummings Research Park for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, Alabama, for eight years. Cummings Research Park is the second-largest research park in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world. It is home to more than 300 companies, most involved in aerospace and defense and supporting the dozens of federal agencies housed at nearby Redstone Arsenal. As director of the park, Davis managed the sale of more than half of the 900 acres available for development, which today represents more than 5.2 million square feet of office, research and manufacturing space and $1.2 billion in capital investment.
Davis is an award-winning journalist that spent many years in sports broadcasting on radio and television and for professional baseball. He also was a sports and business writer for The Huntsville Times. After his career in media, he went to work at Teledyne Brown Engineering as director of communications before joining the Huntsville chamber.
During his many years in Huntsville, Davis served on numerous boards for civic, charitable and non-profit organizations, including Sci-Quest, the North Alabama Science Center, and Huntsville Aerospace Technical Societies. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and earned his Economic Development certification from Georgia Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Debbie, have two daughters, both of whom are students at Auburn University.
Barry B. Copeland
Senior Vice President of Operations
Barry Copeland is responsible for the internal operations of the BBA. Included in his area of responsibility are a number of disciplines, including: finance, investor relations, events and special projects, information technology, and the implementation of the Blueprint Birmingham strategic plan.
Copeland previously served as the Interim President of BBA, prior to the appointment of Brian Hilson in March of 2011. He was executive vice president of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce for a number of years, during which he was responsible for the daily operations of the organization. Before joining the Birmingham Chamber in 2001, he was regional director of external affairs at BellSouth where, for almost 17 years, he directed the company's corporate and external affairs programs in the Birmingham metropolitan area.
He was news director of Birmingham television station WVTM-TV (NBC 13) in the early 1980s and held a similar position at station KTVI-TV (ABC 2) in St. Louis, Mo., from 1982 to 1984.
He has served as board chairman of several community agencies, including Operation New Birmingham, the Literacy Council of Central Alabama and the Metropolitan Arts Council. He was founding chairman of Birmingham's Downtown City Center Partnership and has served on the boards of numerous charitable and civic agencies including United Way of Central Alabama, the Rotary Club of Birmingham, the Birmingham International Festival, the March of Dimes and the foundations of both the Homewood and Jefferson County public schools.
Copeland is a graduate of the 1991 class of Leadership Birmingham and the 1999 class of Leadership Alabama. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama, holding both B.A. and M.A. degrees in communications. He also completed a postgraduate course of study in the executive management education program of New York's Columbia University School of Business. He and his wife, Kathy, have three adult children.
Myla Calhoun Choy
General Counsel and Senior Vice President Regional Development and Public Policy
Myla Choy is General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Regional Development and Public Policy for the Birmingham Business Alliance. Choy is responsible for all legal matters and public policy initiatives of the organization. She also directs the development of initiatives and programs that will enhance the quality of life and create a more livable seven-county region including regional revitalization, intellectual capital and small business initiatives.
Choy previously served as chief legal counsel for United States Pipe and Foundry Company, LLC. At U.S. Pipe, she was directly involved in negotiating the project development agreements that led to the site selection and construction of the company's Marvel City Mini-Mill in Bessemer, the first ductile iron pipe facility built in the U.S. in more than 60 years. Before joining U.S. Pipe, Choy was associated with Spain & Gillon, LLC, where her practice focused on urban renewal and revitalization, municipal finance and governmental affairs.
She is a founding member and President of the Board of Directors of Main Street Birmingham, Inc. and also serves on the board of directors for the YWCA of Central Alabama, Jefferson County Assisted Housing Corporation and the Birmingham Museum of Art. Choy was a participant in the 2004 class of Momentum, a women's leadership development program in Birmingham. In June 2009, Governor Bob Riley appointed her to serve on the Board of Trustees of Tuskegee University.
Choy is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta and the University of Alabama Law School and is admitted to practice law in Alabama and Georgia. She lives in Birmingham with her two daughters.
David C. Rickey
Senior Vice President of Communications
Dave Rickey is Senior Vice President of Communications for the Birmingham Business Alliance. His responsibilities include serving as the organization's spokesperson, overseeing media relations, communications, web development and online presence.
Rickey previously served as vice president of public relations for Alfa Insurance and Alabama Farmers Federation where he directed public relations and consulted executive management on critical public relation issues and served as the primary company spokesperson. Prior to that position, Rickey served as senior vice president of public relations for AmSouth Bancorporation from 2000-2004. He also worked in public relations at Alabama Power Company for eight years in the 90's, and served as vice president of public relations from 1998-2000. Rickey began his career at WSFA-TV (NBC 12) where he worked for seven years in a variety of positions, including assistant news director.
He is 2012 Secretary of the Public Relations Society of America. Previously he served on the board of directors for Kid One Transport, A+ Education Foundation, Public Relations Society of America, Public Relations Council of Alabama and the Southern Public Relations Federation.
Rickey graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Journalism. He is also a graduate of the Executive Development Consortium Program at Emory University and is an Accredited Public Relations Professional. He and his wife, Lisa, have three children.