Top Women in Communications Awards 2022

University of California, Irvine

Ria Marie Carlson forges partnerships to benefit a wide array of publics

At University of California, Irvine, Ria Marie Carlson rebranded the university’s identity, helped bring global companies to the UCI Research Park and crafted messaging that drew Barack Obama as a commencement speaker. She deserves her place in the Women in Communications Hall of Fame in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

When she arrived at the University of California, Irvine, Ria Marie Carlson had a vision and a goal: for UCI to be recognized as one of the world’s finest universities. Bringing more than 20 years of experience at publicly traded corporations, Carlson offered a fresh perspective to the world of higher education.

Carlson leads UCI’s Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs, providing internal and external communications services for an institution the size of a small city, with some 30,000 students, 22,000 employees, 16 schools and a medical center with a 500,000-square-foot hospital and trauma center.

As chief communications officer, Carlson rebranded the university, differentiating it from others to broaden its reach and visibility. A national advertising campaign and a global media relations program garnered top-tier coverage of the project. The media relations effort spotlighted groundbreaking UCI research programs in local, national and international media markets, and continues to showcase the work of UCI’s faculty, students and staff.

Carlson played a pivotal role in developing the messaging and outreach strategies that convinced former President Barack Obama to address the UCI class of 2014 graduates. During his 30-minute speech, Obama highlighted UCI’s ambitions and innovations, including its commitment to tackling climate change with science-based, actionable solutions, and UCI’s Nobel Prize-winning professor-student duo whose research led to better understanding of climate change. The speech earned national and international media attention.

Carlson also creates partnerships that benefit UCI’s Orange County community. She worked with private real estate firm The Irvine Company to rebrand University Research Park, a 185-acre workplace community, as UCI Research Park; it’s now home to Intel, Cisco and more of some of the world’s most influential companies.

The partnership allows students and faculty to work and form relationships with both global corporations and pioneering startups. Carlson has also formed partnerships with California State University, Fullerton, Santa Ana Unified School district and Santa Ana Community College.

Royal Caribbean Group

Rosanna Fiske’s career spans the world of corporations, education and the nonprofit sector

Rosanna Fiske has led executive searches, helmed the PRSA and counseled college students in the PR field. That puts her in the Women in Communications Hall of Fame in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Rosanna Fiske currently serves as Royal Caribbean Group’s global chief communications officer, making her responsible for, among other things, internal communications for more than 80,000 employees. But she has worn many hats throughout her PR career, overseeing product launches, managing crisis communications and handling strategic planning initiatives both domestically and internationally.

Fiske has served as CEO and chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) — the first Latina CEO in the organization’s 70-plus-year history. As chair of PRSA’s first National Diversity Committee, she created a first-of-its-kind Diversity Toolkit to guide national, district, chapter and section leaders in promoting greater inclusivity. The toolkit became an essential document for research studies and training manuals inside and outside the PR profession.

During her tenure as a professor at Florida International University’s School of Communication and Journalism, Fiske led a team that refocused and rebranded the master’s program in global strategic communications. She also developed a recruitment strategy to attract more qualified students, doubling the number of applicants within 18 months and increasing student enrollment by nearly 40%.

Fiske’s commitment to mentoring and career counseling at FIU influenced many students’ lives. One student contacted her for advice on what track to take: creative development or account management? Fiske suggested PR classes and PRSA meetings, and also counseled her; the student completed two internships and got a job offer immediately after graduation.

Fiske’s commitment to diversity is evident in the more than 100 conferences and seminars about diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism she has participated in.

She has also volunteered her time and expertise to helping nonprofits recruit candidates for executive leadership roles. For the Beacon Council, a public and private nonprofit agency supporting minority-owned businesses in Miami Dade, Fiske served as search committee chair as the council looked for a new CMO. She also contributed to the creation of an executive search process for a new executive director of the Washington D.C.-based arm of the National Education Association.

Westinghouse Electric Company

Marta Ronquillo Newhart spearheaded a challenging project to lead a clean energy revolution

For Westinghouse, Marta Ronquillo Newhart was tasked with making nuclear energy part of the solution to climate change. She used the talents and experience that have put her into the Women in Communications Hall of Fame in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As a newly appointed chief communications officer to a recently appointed CEO at a company emerging from Chapter 11, Marta Ronquillo Newhart found herself working in a highly regulated and misunderstood industry with a skeleton crew of a marketing communications team when she took the reins of the iconic Westinghouse brand in spring 2020.

Newhart’s assignment at Westinghouse Electric Company was to lead a clean energy revolution with a new purpose statement, visual brand identity and website that depicted the ability of nuclear energy to empower the world safely and sustainably. Making an already challenging assignment more difficult, the Westinghouse brand is owned by CBS, but Westinghouse Electric Company is owned by a private equity firm.

Despite these constraints, Newhart worked to amplify the voice of Westinghouse and the nuclear industry. As a result of her efforts, politicians, big thinkers like Bill Gates and young energy activists are starting to think of nuclear power as a reliable and resilient component of the clean energy equation.

Newhart began repositioning the brand under already challenging market and ownership circumstances just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Despite the obstacles, Newhart worked to rebuild and reshape her team into a premiere international marketing communications function remotely. She and her new team quickly went to work, creating a new brand identity, narrative and storytelling strategy to bridge the gap between Westinghouse and its stakeholders.

Often the first or only Latina in a top position, Newhart, who has an MBA from Pepperdine University, focuses on uncovering and articulating complex issues to prompt understanding, acceptance and action. She has built her reputation on developing and nurturing diverse groups of strategic storytellers who employ marketing and communications to generate revenue.

Newhart believes communications is a great equalizer: “If you are creative and understand the power of words, building brands and connecting with consumers you will be successful—especially if someone takes the time to show you the way,” she says.

Intel

Melissa Beers excelled at speedy rollout of new comms channels at Intel

Melissa Beers, channels strategist at Intel, rolled out two brand-new communications channels in just six months. The bridges she built throughout Intel stretch from the technical tools the organization makes and uses to the people who put them through their real-world paces. To launch both channels, she needed organizational, technical and people skills to all come together. Her efforts led to recognition as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Taking on additional work on top of her job title led Melissa Beers to success. As well as serving as a communication channels strategist, she launched two new communications platforms. Both platforms launched on time, replacing an end-of-life channel and saving the company time and money. The new platforms are mobile responsive, branded and available on desktop and mobile. After six weeks, more than 105,000 employees had registered on the new mobile platform.

Her work launching the new channels included bringing together stakeholders and employees from IT, the vendor, communicators on her team and across the company. First, she set up a steering committee to align company-wide communications governance and reduce confusion. She took stock of what embedded communicators needed and wanted from their tools. From there, she worked with two vendors and two IT groups on the rollout. She made sure all 100+ communicators who would work on the new platforms were up to speed and organized a global contest, swag, and welcome parties to make the change into an exciting, morale-boosting occasion.

Working as a liaison between people and the tech that can improve their work and life is a process of iteration. Beers’ bedrock for this process is gathering input from those using the tool, testing her understanding of the use cases to understand if a solution is viable for the user. Next, she does research to understand the end user experience. By using this process of rigorous knowledge, in-depth research, and talking to real people, she uses tech to meet employees where their needs are.

—MC

ARUP Laboratories

Lisa Carricaburu successfully managed change during pandemic

Lisa Carricaburu, director of marketing communications and clinical decision support at ARUP Laboratories, earns recognition as one of our Bridge Builders in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications for building bridges in a hard time. Stepping into a higher leadership position in the thick of the pandemic, she improved the organization’s media mentions and exceeded event participation goals by more than nine times.

Nonprofit national reference laboratory ARUP Laboratories was a critical part of the COVID-19 response. As a testing facility, it saw an influx of COVID-19 testing. In response, Lisa Carricaburu’s communications team took things in hand. Carricaburu thrived under pressure, receiving a promotion to director of marketing communications and clinical decision support in October 2020. She pioneered a virtual Lab Leadership Symposium to improve ARUP’s reputation, which brought in more than 950 people after setting a modest goal of 100 participants. Under her leadership, media mentions grew to more than 181 between March and October 2020. Her 29 news releases over the next year generated another 138 mentions.

During the pandemic in particular, she organized the creation of external COVID-19 testing information and resource pages for health-care clients and the public. These involved making, highly technical, scientific content that required extensive review and vetting by medical directors compelling and readable. Carricaburu steered this effort successfully, as the pages have drawn over 200,000 views. She also oversaw 15 COVID-19-related podcasts, 50+ company articles, and 11 educational webinars or videos.

If the pandemic wasn’t enough of a change, Carricaburu was also faced with promoting positive messages around the retirement of the CEO and president and the opening of a new facility. Set for June 2021, both were changed from virtual to in-person under her supervision as pandemic restrictions lifted.

Internally, she faced the challenge of unfavorable employee perceptions of leadership. To counter this, she oversaw the creation of first a regular CEO email, a leadership feedback portal and COVID-19 intranet pages. Plus, she established a central review team for communications quality control in support of the organization’s marketing writers. With pressure on the organization, she used all her expertise to support her employees and make the labs a trusted authority in the eyes of the public.

—MC

Robert Bosch LLC

Alissa Cleland handles connections throughout a global, multi-billion-dollar organization

Alissa Cleland, vice president of corporate communications and government affairs, Americas and Australia at Robert Bosch LLC, works as a bridge builder as her voice reaches across the U.S. and international employees. From podcasts to presentations to leadership, she makes herself heard with a global reach. She has been recognized as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Alissa Cleland’s reach at technology company Bosch is global. As a leader in the company’s communications and government affairs activities in North America, South America and Australia, she needs to build bridges between technology and the human element. navigating complex topics within the highest levels to drive the right communication strategy.

She took the lead on the creation of the company’s first two podcasts for current and former employees. That includes “From Know How to Wow,” the organization’s first international podcast.

During COVID-19, Cleland juggled an internal communication strategy centering around empathy, authenticity, transparency and external efforts focused on business continuity. She featured regular associate messages from the organization president, promotions around health and safety protocol, and a toolkit to support communication at more than 100 locations. Her external strategies closely engaged with trade organizations and local communities, preserving essential work at the company’s manufacturing plants.

The company and her coworkers express their trust in her in a variety of ways, including seeking her expertise in her capacity as a member of the N.A. Executive Committee, Benefits Committee and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council. She’s also a member of the company’s global executive council for communications and government affairs, where she leads international project teams. What else displays building bridges but encouraging global cooperation within a complex, multi-billion-dollar organization?

During the pandemic, she also spoke to the global executive leadership team on the topic “Leading in the New Normal.” Going forward, she is confidently driving the company through its post-pandemic cultural evolution.

—MC

Xero

Karen Davis tripled the size of her communications team to build not just bridges, but avenues

As executive general manager of communications at Xero, Karen Davis helped transform the organization. From proving herself to a CTO “unconvinced about the value of communications” to punching with the strength of a much larger company, she has more than proved the worth of her work. Her efforts have landed her among the Bridge Builder honorees in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As a cloud-based accounting software company, Xero is all about making day-to-day work easier for small businesses. When Karen Davis first arrived at the organization in 2018, it needed some streamlining of its own. While the company was successful and expanding globally, it needed a bridge-builder when it came to communications in particular. The communications team was understaffed, underfunded and not globally aligned with a headquarters function. Davis brought her experience with former employers PwC and IBM into play quickly, transforming how the company looked at communications and showing what a difference a strong, aligned team made.

“When Karen arrived at Xero, it’s safe to say I was personally unconvinced about the value of communications,” said Mark Rees, Chief Technology Officer, Xero. “In a remarkably brief period of time, Karen turned that around — showing me the difference a high-caliber communications team can deliver as my organization drives a sweeping change management program that touches every aspect of Xero’s technology infrastructure. I’m a believer, an advocate, and I consider Karen a most trusted advisor.”

Despite the challenges of growing an organization during COVID-19 or the difficulty of hiring and retaining employees today, Davis made the case for the power of good communications professionals and got the leadership buy-in to triple the size of the communications team.

Some of her accomplishments addressed today’s urgent climate transformation. She created a new social and environmental impact strategy and team, as well as launching Xero’s environmental impact program. Her efforts drove the company to achieve a net zero energy certification from the Australian government.

“Karen Davis took a small communication team and engineered a strategic function that can compete on equal footing with any platform company, including companies that are many times larger than Xero,” said Rachael Powell, Chief Customer Officer at Xero. “The transformation reflects her personal leadership on two levels: the coaching and mentoring of a team that punches well over its weight, and her ability to create trusted relationships across our C-Suite and Board.”

—MC

SWM International

Mary Gibson brings SWM International’s varied facets together

For Mary Gibson, director of Enterprise & Brand Communications at SWM International, a lot was riding on the company’s 25th anniversary. How to bring disparate parts of a widely distributed organization together? She brought the message into the spotlight — and all during the pandemic. These efforts led to recognition as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Like many people, Mary Gibson had grand plans for 2020 that needed to rapidly change in the face of the pandemic. For SWM International, it was already a year of transformation. The company’s 25th anniversary as a standalone public company was coming in November, and the goal was to focus employee messaging around unity. As SWM International includes a legacy company and multiple new acquisitions, showing the employees how the different areas of the company were alike was key for morale and a feeling of continuity and long-term success.

Even though they couldn’t hold planned events in person, the COVID-19 versions of the celebration were very successful. A month-long employee campaign in June 2020 themed around the anniversary drove a 14% increase in traffic on the intranet. LinkedIn posts created for the occasion received more than 12,000 impressions.

When SWM International acquired UK public company Scapa Group Plc, it could have emphasized to employees that SWM is made up of splintered, loosely connected acquired companies. Instead, Gibson had the messaging in hand to bring Scapa smoothly into the fold. She ran a team of internal and external experts as they shaped a global celebratory launch for the new company. Its tagline: “Greater Together.” The team created a signature graphic for Teams backdrops, digital screens, posters and other materials, an email from the CEO with a video message, a SWM + Scapa sizzle video, and a video of employees sharing selfies from all around the new company.

Since then, the “Greater Together” theme has been expanded to a wide variety of employee communications. In 2022, the team hopes to continue to illustrate the company’s shared purpose for external communications.

—MC

CNSI

Janice Moore gives back to her community in a time of change

Janice Moore, internal communications manager at health information technology company CNSI, came in on the ground floor as CNSI was creating a new mission and values. She made the difficult COVID-19 period a time of positive change, finding creative methods to promote the organization’s values. Plus, her efforts to increase employee giving brought in $25,000 for a local food drive and earned her recognition as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Janice Moore faced a challenge: joining CNSI. She needed to write internal communications for a team that had gone through many changes, with a new management team, vision and mission at the same time as people were starting to work from home. That meant that she needed to build bridges within the organization quickly to create coherence in a time of change. She helped the company create an intentional focus around its newly forged values.

In addition to creating a mission, a vision, a values relaunch campaign, using multimedia and elevating voices of employees at all levels of the company, she also developed creative ways to show off the new values. The company designed T-shirts with each of the values. From there, employees could pick their favorite and have the shirt shipped to them. Janice was also instrumental in designing digital backgrounds for video calls, reviving a stale intranet, and creating bi-weekly posts focused on the organization’s mission.

This dedication and thoroughness extends to her day-to-day work as well. In 2020, she created a monthly newsletter and wrote a monthly CEO column to help the employees get to know leadership.

When it comes to giving back to the community, Moore revived an inactive corporate responsibility program. In December 2020 she organized a community-wide food drive, which brought in $25,000 in employee contributions. She brought a new coat of paint to the corporate social responsibility team and helped it go global, supporting nurses and schools in the U.S. and India and raising $5,000 in pre-packaged food items and masks to U.S. food pantries.

—MC

The American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Makini Nyanteh brings her knowledge to the American Institutes for Research

As vice president of Communications & Public Affairs for the American Institutes for Research (AIR), Makini Nyanteh changed the organization’s culture. She took the lead on a complete rebrand and is recognized as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

With the American Institutes for Research’s background in science, it took an extended hand to connect the worlds of academia and marketing. AIR’s leadership and staff were nervous about bringing “branding” and “marketing” into their efforts, so Makini Nyanteh’s first job was to take practical steps toward a total cultural change. Her bridge needed to stretch from her background in Big Pharma, public utilities and private industry to AIR’s research and evidence. A nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution, AIR seeks to advance education and equity through behavioral and social science research, as well as delivering technical assistance.

On the audience-facing side, Nyanteh’s job was to rebrand AIR’s website and the entire look and feel of the organization’s public face. After the new website launch, the site saw a nearly 25% increase in site traffic compared to the same time period last year.

The new branding statement, “Advancing Evidence, Improving Lives,” encapsulates the rebranding effort to portray the organization with authority and dignity, plus a modern look. Over the course of several months, Nyanteh was integral to coordinating between internal and external stakeholders and creating a concise new mission statement to sum up AIR’s efforts as well: “AIR’s mission is to generate and use rigorous evidence that contributes to a better, more equitable world.”

Communicating entirely new branding during the pandemic, while the offices were closed, presented its own challenges. At the same time, AIR was integrating two other research organizations recently acquired. Nyanteh needed to communicate about the new brand and website, ensuring staff, clients and partners understood how to use the brand language and visuals. She rose to the occasion.

AIR’s Communications and Public Affairs team now thrives as a close-knit part of AIR’s identity as a mission-driven organization. They played a key role in AIR’s new $100 million Equity Initiative launched this year, having gained the organization’s trust enough to plan and execute communications to address what AIR sees as our nation’s most pressing challenge: inequity.

“What Makini has accomplished is about more than a new brand and new website,” said AIR President and CEO David Myers. “It’s been about bringing people together, creating a culture of excellence, and moving our institution’s communications efforts into the 21st century.”

—MC

Providence

Melissa Tizon kept the focus on health and truth during COVID-19

As the health system that treated the first known COVID-19 patient in the United States, Providence had no choice but to be a leading voice in the pandemic. Vice President of National Communication Melissa Tizon rose to the occasion, focusing the message on Providence’s trustworthiness and authority and earning recognition as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Good communication is about responding to people as much as it is about pulling the right numbers, and success depends on both. At Providence health systems, Melissa Tizon’s communications leadership helped the organization’s earned media reach an audience of 94 billion and increased share of voice from 33% to 44%, resulting in top SOV among peers.

Treating the first known COVID-19 patient in the country meant that Providence inevitably had the nation’s attention. Tizon was at the forefront of the effort to provide timely, trustworthy information in a time of mounting anxiety. Tizon was instrumental in bringing the communications department together to express a clear message.

To help, Providence appointed a public information officer (PIO) to give the communications team live updates as the virus spread and day-to-day life for hospital workers changed. Tizon’s public relations team identified Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips as a subject matter expert and arranged for her to speak to the public as a CNN medical contributor. A Providence doctor also addressed foreign media at a State Department briefing and appeared in a PBS Frontline documentary to promote confidence in possible treatments.

Tizon was also a key mover and shaker in Providence doing good throughout the network outside of COVID-19 leadership. She was instrumental in her team’s push for messaging around Providence’s $50 million commitment to mitigating racial disparities in health care. Her team also oversaw the announcements of the health system’s Environmental Justice Collaborative, which committed to going carbon negative by 2030.

“Her ability to work across regions, service areas and lines of business to find alignment, scale strategies, and amplify our voice is unmatched,” wrote a Providence representative.

—MC

U.S. Department of Labor

Susan Wool brings together communications and technology

Susan Wool, branch chief of Strategic Outreach & Communications in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) for the U.S. Department of Labor, has a country-wide reach and a serious responsibility. She built bridges between departments, with a particular focus on teaching employees about IT tools and resources. Wool shows how today’s communications intersect with IT solutions and safety, earning her a nod as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Today’s information technology is changing rapidly, creating both more opportunities and more chances for employees to fall prey to confusion or cyberattacks. Susan Wool has been an “insightful team leader with poise and purpose” in increasing her department’s resilience in this area, said Deputy CIO Lou Charlier.

Wool has built bridges for both herself and others over the course of her career in the Department of Labor. In particular she closed the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders and communicated out the impact of OCIO’s work in providing IT solutions for the department’s internal and external communications. She created trainings for both department employees and new political appointees

Part of her recent work involved overseeing a complete overhaul of two department newsletters. She took the lead on developing a new look and feel for the newsletters, as well as refreshing website pages. At the same time, she managed an IT Job Aids intranet page with over 100 resources, which garnered over 6,800 unique page views during the past year.

In the time since she moved from being a supervisory client engagement manager to branch chief of communications, she took the initiative on new tasks as well. It was her idea to address a need within the department for online trainings focused on IT technologies. Her 90-minute OCIO training on IT tools and resources, created in partnership with the human resources department, received a 90% satisfaction rating.

Wool also taught the IT portion of the OHR’s new hire orientation. These trainings have been so successful that the department expanded them to incorporate them into the creation and maintenance of a new OCIO training program launching later this year.

—MC

Ascension

Rosie Ford fights human trafficking and supports health

Rosie Ford, executive vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at Ascension, won the Community Giver award in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards due to her health care-focused charitable efforts. She spearheaded Ascension’s rebrand, the largest in the health care provider space. Her company podcast was so successful that it expanded to a morning newscast.

As part of the leadership for Ascension, a non-profit Catholic health system, Rosie Ford’s work in creative development and execution for brand marketing initiatives has helped push the organization to become a nationally recognized consumer health care brand. She had a pivotal role in Ascension’s massive rebrand across 2,600 sites of care in 20 states. In addition, she led a national advertising campaign in collaboration with Olympic gold medal gymnast Shannon Miller.

As an example of the way Ascension combines charity and business, Ford shepherded the marketing effort for the inaugural Ascension Charity Classic. This new PGA Tour Champions golf tournament raised more than $800,000 for local charities in 2021. As well as reaching this monetary milestone, it broke attendance records for a first-time PGA Tour Champions event and supported economic development in North County, St. Louis with a goal of expanding access and creating more diversity in golf.

Within Ascension, Rosie put together the Good Day Ascension podcast, recording 24 episodes over the last year. The podcast encouraged organization community and spirituality by sharing inspiring stories from across the ministry. The podcast was so successful that the organization expanded it into the Good Day Ascension Newscast, targeted at bringing together caregivers and associates.

She developed a policy and training program for frontline clinicians to help them recognize victims of human trafficking and serves on the Grant Award Committee for the Marillac Mission Fund, which supports efforts to stop this crime as well as to support older adults living independently, veterans, immigrants and refugees.

Outside of work, Ford brings her passion for leadership and creative stewardship to the Sexual Assault Response Team for YWCA Metro St. Louis, where she counsels victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in times of crisis.

—MC

KAH Consulting Group

Kerry-Ann Hamilton brings together pro bono public service and consulting

Promoting community elevates Kerry-Ann Hamilton’s work with the KAH Consulting Group and gained her a Community Giver award in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards. From earning 1 billion online views to news about America’s largest Black bank to appearing as an expert on NPR, she has proven experience and social impact. As a volunteer speaker and consulting voice, she also contributes to community-building efforts in her personal time.

As founder and principal counselor of KAH Consulting Group, Kerry-Ann Hamilton chooses causes she believes in. Making it part of the group’s goal to be driven by purpose, she demonstrates that drive with both pro bono consulting and the clients she chooses.

In 2021, she led the merger announcement of the largest Black bank in the United States. The campaign, using 32 unique pieces of coverage, reached 1.85 billion in online readership and received 160,000 social shares. Top-tier coverage, including a New York Times exclusive, the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and CNBC and others reported on it as not only a transaction, but a story about transformation and opportunity for an under-represented community.

For FarmLink, a nonprofit founded by college students during the pandemic, Hamilton’s communications efforts resulted in nearly 40,000 pounds of food going to people instead of into the trash. FarmLink connects farmers to food banks — in this case, the United Hands of Compton Food Bank — to find a use for food that would otherwise be thrown away.

In addition, the largest public charter network in the country, KIPP Public Schools, chose Hamilton and her team for their rebranding, which put the voices of students and families first.

Her work has not gone unnoticed. In 2020, Hamilton was named a Washington Business Journal 40 under 40 Awardee for “a strong record of innovation in their fields, outstanding performance in business” and “meaningful community involvement.”

Along with her prestigious paid work, Hamilton volunteered to consult with non-profits on crisis communications as they shifted gears to remote or limited in-person offerings during the pandemic. She also provided expertise for NPR and others on the topics of the digital divide and more, all on a volunteer basis.

—MC

IMA Financial Group

Ruth Rohs and IMA give back to the Colorado community

Ruth Rohs, SVP of Corporate Communications and executive director of the IMA Foundation, IMA Financial Group, turns personal experience into community outreach. IMA itself includes volunteers who collectively gave 4,750 hours to area nonprofits. Her work is being honored in the Community Giver category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

“Everyone has an opportunity to roll up their sleeves and make an impact,” Ruth Rohs says.

The impact she makes with this philosophy can be felt in both her career and the community. At work as senior vice president of corporate communications, she took a leading role in growing IMA Financial Group from 700 to 1,300 associates in the last 12 months. Her responsibilities encompass the IMA Financial Group’s family of companies, a more than $300 million enterprise, including one of the fastest-growing insurance brokerages in the country.

When the company founded two state-wide initiatives, Colorado Companies Uniting Against Racism and Colorado Inclusive Economy, Rohs took the lead as relationship manager and chief communicator.

In 2020, IMA took part or led multiple charitable initiatives. These included:

IMA associates volunteered 4,750 hours at area nonprofits
More than $566,000 in grants awarded to about 100 nonprofit partners
The IMA’s Difference Maker Fund, an employee assistance fund which Rohs established, assisted three associates in need
Dollars for Doers, a fund which Rohs established that matches employee volunteer hours with donations, donated $3,500
IMA associates serve as advisors for 65 nonprofit boards

This interest in diversity and community-building extends to her personal life, too. She has founded two nonprofits, including the Mardi Gras Krewe de Colorado, the only such organization in the country with a giving mission. She and eight fellow breast cancer survivors formed Community Chest, an organization in support of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado.

The American Heart Association named her their Denver Woman of Impact 2021 after she became one of their top four fundraisers in the country. This initiative, started after the tragic passing of her mother from a heart attack, perfectly illustrates how Rohs’ charitable efforts stem from her life and turn adversity into opportunity for the wider community.

—MC

Prudential

Michele Stellato’s ALS diagnosis launched a $100,000 fundraiser

Michele Stellato, director of technology communications at Prudential, has a personal reason to push for ALS research. Her advocacy gained her a place among Ragan’s Community Givers in its Top Women in Communications Awards.

When she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, Michele Stellato looked at what she could do to help others.

“ALS is the worst thing that’s happened to me, but I’m hoping to be the best thing to happen to ALS,” she said.

Since her diagnosis in 2020, she has set out to use the skills she holds as Prudential’s director, technology communications to help other people with the neurodegenerative disease. Since she already knows how to do outreach, the fit with ALS advocacy organizations was natural.

“It was a call to action,” Stellato said. “In a way, it was something I was meant to do. As a community, we needed someone who could communicate our message, get people to listen and inspire them to do something.”

“It’s a rare person who’s able to absorb a diagnosis like ALS and then jump right into activism,” said Valerie Estess, co-founder of Project ALS, a research nonprofit.

And Stellato has done a lot of activism. She spoke at Project ALS’ annual galas in 2020 and 2021, plus webinars presenting her honest story of what it was like to get the diagnosis at age 32. The disease, which causes a person to lose the ability to walk, talk, swallow and breathe, is usually fatal within two to five years.

Stellato’s contribution was “an instant and enormous help,” said Erin Fleming, director of Research Operations for Project ALS.

Fox 29 Philly and Pix11.com featured her to promote Act for ALS, legislation that would fund expanded access to therapies and accelerate approval of new drugs, in December 2020. She also joined Her ALS Story, a network for women diagnosed before age 32, and appeared with this group in a Project ALS Research Live Facebook webinar with 3,700 viewers, compared to an average of 1,000 users.

She also raised $100,000 for Prosetin, a new ALS drug, with her organization Fight ALS Now. Even as her disease progressed, both her Prudential work and activism continued.

—MC

W.W. Grainger, Inc.

Renee Young guides both employees and youth in need

Renee Young, director of CEO and company communications for W.W. Grainger, knows the power of telling a cohesive story. Her forward-looking guidance helped steer the company through the pandemic with clarity. Plus, she brings her business acumen to volunteer work. These efforts have earned her recognition as a Community Giver in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

It’s all about the story. For Renee Young of W.W. Grainger, Inc., a business-to-business maintenance, repair, and operating supplies distributor, the story of her social commitments permeates the office and beyond.

In her day job, Young heads up the most popular event for the organization, a regular leader and team member call led by the executive team. When W.W. Grainger won the Great Place to Work designation, Young was behind the more than 20-page narrative about the company’s culture, employee experience and HR approach that launched the company to success.

When COVID-19 and other global events brought challenges, Young rose to the occasion. She spearheaded the company’s first racial justice social media post by the company’s CEO, and works with the CEO, CHRO and head of diversity on messaging around social issues such as Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ issues and hate crimes against diverse populations.

When it came time for pandemic precautions, Young led 23,000 team members through safety protocols and guidance. As the communication leader on the Pandemic Leadership Committee, she also correctly predicted upcoming changes, such as the federal vaccine mandate, and had content ready to go before it had gone into effect. Working with the general counsel and chief human resources officer, she both provides clear-eyed direction and influences decision-making.

Outside of work, Young serves on the board for the Lake County Forest Preserve Foundation. She brings her business acumen to the annual fundraising plan and budget, grant requests, and organizational processes and procedures. With her work on the College of Lake County Foundation, she raises money and awareness for students who need scholarships and grants to point them toward a better future. She also brings her skills and desire to uplift others to the advisory board for UCAN, a Chicago-based organization which provides youth who have suffered trauma with resources to become future leaders.

Now that’s a story worth telling.

—MC

Caliber

Debbie Braden helped Caliber Collision create a COVID-19 hub to help keep first responders on the road

When Caliber Collision was deemed an essential business, Debbie Braden worked hard to keep everyone safe so that business could continue during a time of uncertainty. For her efforts in keeping all 21,000 employees informed and up-to-date, Braden received recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Even during the early days of the pandemic when shelter-in-place requirements were instituted, first responders, medical professionals and other essential employees were out on the road. These heroes were instrumental in helping the rest of us navigate an unprecedented crisis.

Caliber Collision kept its doors open so it could repair and maintain the fleet of vehicles that were vital to first responders. Its team was also there to help the rest of us remain safe as we took trips to the grocery store or to check in on loved ones.

As director of internal communications, Debbie Braden helped Caliber Collision successfully pivot and adapt to a new set of challenges.

Even before COVID-19 altered everyone’s plans, Caliber Collision partnered with employee experience platform Unily to create a unified, integrated intranet site for its four lines of business. Although that intranet plan never came to fruition due to the health crisis, Braden revamped the plan and quickly revised it so that a COVID-19 hub could be established to keep staff in 38 states informed.

Braden designed and launched the COVID-19 hub, which provided the workforce with all the information they needed to ensure that workers, their families and their customers stayed safe.

The COVID-19 Hub included:

Education on everything from evolving symptoms to vaccine readiness, myths vs. facts and updates on variants
A digital guide that offered access to the most accurate and up-to-date information, including a search function
Support resources that enabled teammates to access Caliber Family at work, from home, or when on leave.
Resources focused on health and well-being.
Ability to virtually with employee assistance, healthcare providers, vaccine resources, and the human resources team

—RM

Raytheon Technologies

Pam Erickson was working towards implementing a Raytheon vaccine mandate before The White House announced its policy

Pam Erickson was immersed in the process of announcing a vaccine mandate at Raytheon when her team learned that The White House was also ready to make that important call. She is commended for her foresight, leadership, and bravery for making such a bold, but necessary move to keep everyone safe. For her vision in leading the aerospace and defense company, Erickson received recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

After nearly two years responding to constantly shifting COVID-related information, communications teams across the globe were confronted with a new dilemma: how to effectively and empathetically roll out corporate vaccine mandates.

So many people had deeply entrenched stances on the topic. Conflicting information about vaccines made the task even more daunting.

As chief communications officer of Raytheon Technologies, Pam Erickson was at the helm when the aerospace and defense company considered implementing its own vaccination mandate. At the time, this was particularly noteworthy since it was long before many other major companies announced mandates.

Erickson spearheaded the campaign for all 125,000 U.S.-based employees. Developing a strategy without a model required agility as multiple changes in the implementation and timing needed to be considered and incorporated.

She challenged her team to be aware of pitfalls that could derail the campaign as well as opportunities to strengthen it. This led to strong coordination with a wide range of perspectives — from legal and human resources to government relations and employee groups.

Erickson remained on guard for any changes that occurred beyond the company’s control. Days before the planned announcement, her team learned that President Joe Biden would soon be announcing vaccination requirements for large companies and federal contractors.

After considering nearly every possible response and developing messages for employees across all 50 states, Erickson’s plan was put on pause while her team awaited guidance from The White House.

Once Biden announced the new policies, Erickson’s team updated its messaging to align with The White House’s direction. Days after the executive order was announced, Raytheon announced its policy. The timing was key since the announcement positioned Raytheon as the first in its industry to mandate vaccinations.

The campaign’s messaging garnered positive feedback from employees. Raytheon also received accolades from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Reuters.

—RM

HIMSS

Karen D. Groppe managed communications around cancellation of 1st global conference to be called off due to pandemic

Karen D. Groppe effectively managed the messaging for the first global conference event to be canceled due to the pandemic. This move sparked a parallel task to call off a speech that then-President Donald Trump was scheduled to present at the conference. She handled these tasks with skill and strategy. For her extraordinary ability to lead, Groppe has earned recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Telling the right story to the right people at the right time is a key part of Karen D. Groppe’s skillset. As senior director of strategic communications for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Groppe heads communications for its annual Global Conference and Exhibition.

A seasoned leader, Groppe brought more than 20 years of expertise to her role. With an eye on the pandemic in early February 2020, she continued to monitor the situation while leveraging communications tactics to keep more than 47,000 registered conference attendees informed.

By March, the pandemic was escalating. As the sole point person for press relations, Groppe managed the initial backlash to the announcement that then-President Trump was scheduled to speak at the conference. Days before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, Groppe shared messaging about how the conference would proceed.

Her role became particularly challenging when events needed to be cancelled due to safety concerns. Groppe is commended for her ability to direct all messaging related to the cancellation of the HIMSS conference — the first global conference event to be canceled due to this health crisis. This move sparked a parallel task to call off the speech that then-President Donald Trump was scheduled to present at the conference.

During the five days following the cancellation announcement, Groppe served as spokesperson in 48 interviews. She continued conversations with The White House on how the cancellation would be managed and how the president would reference it. Thanks to Groppe’s crisis management skills, Trump never directly mentioned HIMSS in his conversations about the cancellation.

The messaging and strategy Groppe employed set the stage for the subsequent cancellation of other scheduled HIMSS conferences. Throughout the crisis, Groppe demonstrated her outstanding communication skills, trustworthiness, and bold, assertive approach.

—RM

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Melanie Johnston maintained calm as she shared pandemic news with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s employees

Thanks to her keen organizational skills and mastery of communications, Melanie Johnston is applauded for keeping more than 5,000 staff members at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory safe and productive during the pandemic. For her efforts, Johnston earned recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

On the heels of a packed professional year where Melanie Johnston made exceptional contributions as the interim manager for internal and mission support, she was tapped to lead pandemic communications for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). As one of the United States Department of Energy’s national laboratories, PNNL is managed by the Office of Science.

When information was limited, guidance changed frequently. Johnston remained tuned in and was adept at adjusting messaging on safety requirements and employee expectations as the team pivoted to remote work.

“In part due to the Melanie-led staff communications effort, staff worked safely and productively, whether on campus or on extended telework,” says Greg Koller, senior public affairs advisor and newsroom manager, PNNL. “The number of staff who contracted the disease is far below the rates in our community.”

Results like these are only achieved through skill, hard work, and dedication. Johnston showed up at daily meetings held at 7 a.m., tirelessly pulled 12-hour workdays and was always available for meetings on the weekends.

Johnston either created or reviewed nearly all COVID-19-related communications. It included more than 45 internal articles, 14 senior manager meetings, five all-staff meetings, and more than 40 FAQ updates. She also served as the voice on PNNL’s internal whiteboard.

Beyond addressing staff, Johnston helped inform leadership about COVID-19’s ever-changing science, regulations and requirements. All communications were handled with diplomacy and respect for all employees.

Recognized as an internal communications COVID 19 best practice, Johnston’s work was spotlighted in Science Public Outreach Community, a Department of Energy publication.

“Melanie approaches every situation with a calm and thoughtful manner, which is so critical on complex, highly charged efforts,” concludes Koller.

—RM

Cooper University Health Care

Suzanne Lane’s leadership helped Cooper University Health Care coordinate the regional COVID-19 response

Suzanne Lane was instrumental in assisting Cooper University Health Care in its prominent role coordinating the regional COVID-19 response for part of New Jersey. For her ability to lead with transparency, Lane earned recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Suzanne Lane is a leader who has a way with words. That’s why Cooper University Health Care, an academic health system and Level 1 Trauma Center serving southern New Jersey, brought her on board as director of internal communications.

Just a few months after Lane joined Cooper University, the pandemic swept the globe. The state of New Jersey designated Cooper one of only three academic health systems to coordinate regional COVID-19 response. The health system was charged with ensuring that there would be enough critical care beds, PPE and transportation for patients.

A seasoned professional, Lane stepped in to keep Cooper’s 8,500 employees and 850 employed physicians working in unison. She proved to be a vital member of Cooper’s Incident Management Team (IMT). As lead communicator, Lane worked closely with senior leaders, clinical and administrative staff to translate complex issues and rapidly changing information into written materials, emails, intranet posts, signage, and videos.

Lane swiftly demonstrated her commitment to Cooper and the community it serves. She often put in 10-to-12-hour days to ensure that communications were frequent, clear and relevant.

To facilitate internal communications, Lane developed a campaign to launch the Pulse+ mobile app. Success came quickly. Within two months, more than 2,000 users signed on. Lane also spearheaded a campaign to refresh and promote Cooper’s new mission, vision and values.

The communications guru is credited for creating a supportive, collaborative work environment where team members feel respected and valued. Her colleagues were quick to notice that Lane was among the first to volunteer to pitch in to help, brainstorm ideas or provide encouragement.

—RM

Kaseya

In the wake of cyberattack, Kaseya celebrated one of its best quarters, thanks in part to Dana Liedholm’s work

From her helm at information technology and security management provider Kaseya, Dana Liedholm managed the fallout from a sophisticated cyberattack. She used the spotlight to clarify misinformation and share the ways in which Kaseya’s achieved success through collaboration and taking swift action. For her success, Dana Liedholm was recognized in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As if a pandemic wasn’t enough of a challenge, this information technology and security management solutions provider faced a sophisticated cyberattack.

In July, a cybercriminal group exploited vulnerabilities in Kaseya’s VSA software. Its mission: to spread ransomware that would cause businesses to lose their access to data. To remedy the situation, customers had to disable Kaseya’s software.

Liedholm responded by drafting customer and media-facing updates, which were shared on Kaseya’s website. The information provided customers, the public and key stakeholders with an accurate source of information. It was updated every three-to-five hours with date and time stamps. These updates were shared through Kaseya’s social media pages and emailed to its VSA customers.

As senior vice president corporate marketing and communications, Liedholm was involved in meetings with legal and financial stakeholders, government officials in the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). She ensured that all parties were involved in creating the content.

Liedholm worked to ensure that misinformation was dispelled. To counter the misleading narrative about the “millions of businesses impacted,” she created a video featuring Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola who detailed the steps the company took to protect its customers. The video garnered more than 28,000 views.

To ensure that people learned that less than 60 of Kaseya’s 35,000-plus customers were breached, Liedholm shared the video with The Wall Street Journal and Good Morning America. Kaseya’s overall media sentiment moved from neutral to positive.

News outlets credited Kaseya’s transparency, swift action, and collaboration. Customers praised its efforts on social media and in customer meetings. Another win: In the quarter after the attack, Kaseya’s sales experienced an uptick of 22%.

—RM

Penn Medicine Princeton Health

Carol Norris-Smith helped shape Penn Medicine Princeton Health’s pandemic-related response

Under Carol Norris-Smith’s leadership, Princeton Health launched a successful reopening campaign. By the end of the year, patient volume was restored to pre-pandemic levels. For her success, and her leadership around vaccine messaging, Norris-Smith was recognized in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Carol Norris-Smith is credited with having the vision, skills, and intuition to keep Princeton Health a step ahead of emerging issues. As vice president of marketing and public affairs, she used her expertise and wise council to help shape the New Jersey health system’s pandemic-related response.

Norris-Smith successfully managed Princeton Health’s vaccine-related communication and education efforts to an audience of physicians, nurses, healthcare professionals and community members.

While navigating all the uncertainty that came along with the pandemic, she used her skills and foresight to overcome hurdles.

Since vaccination efforts were part of a statewide system, Princeton Health wasn’t in direct control of the situation. This presented several challenges and required the health system to communicate vaccine availability in accordance with New Jersey state guidelines.

Recognizing that the initial demand would far exceed the supply — and that appointments would fill up in a flash — Norris-Smith was sensitive about how Princeton Health shared news about availability. She strived to be equitable while fulfilling state vaccination requirements.

Norris-Smith realized that when supply chain issues eventually resolved, other topics would emerge. She worked hard to address vaccine hesitancy, vaccine access, misinformation and school safety.

Norris-Smith helped Princeton Health achieve success by:

Communicating via the website, email, social media, photos, and video
Partnering with county government and community organizations to administer vaccines in easily accessible, convenient locations
Launching an education-based vaccination program for school and university employees
Using planned community wellness events as platforms for providing information, answering questions and debunking myths
Identifying alternative approaches to communicating with hard-to-reach populations
Using publications to communicate vaccine information. News was shared though Princeton Health, which is distributed to 80,000 households six times annually

—RM

NCR Corporation

Anne O’Neill drove NCR Corporation forward during a time of crisis

Anne O’Neill’s ability to remain calm in a crisis and lead NCR Corporation through the COVID-19 pandemic has earned her recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Anne O’Neill greets crisis with calmness and reason. That’s why the senior communications manager, corporate marketing and public affairs at NCR Corporation, was tapped to take the reins during a time of uncertainty.

“When people tell me I am calm, I remind them ducks look calm on the water, but they’re paddling like crazy. That’s what I do,” says Anne O’Neill, who joined the company only three years ago.

Since NCR was deemed an essential service, the software- and services-led enterprise provider was tasked with establishing a global COVID-19 Response Task Force early on, when information about the virus was limited.

O’Neill tapped her expertise in journalism, public relations, and communications to help lead and direct the company’s 36,000 employees worldwide. Since NCR works with the financial, retail and hospitality industries, she was tasked with effectively helping pivot its brand narrative to #KeepCommerceRunning.

O’Neill is adept at crafting engaging, effective campaigns and content. Beyond leading her team to create the NCR Safe Work Playbook, which provided health and safety information and return-to-office requirements, O’Neill was instrumental in the development of the “NCR Office Re-entry Communications Playbook.” Managers worldwide turned to its FAQs section and templates for assistance.

Thanks to O’Neill’s fact-based decision-making and safety-centric communications, NCR was proud to report COVID-19 rates below the global average.

Through O’Neill’s strong thought leadership, internal and external updates, and strategic partnerships, the fearless leader also led restaurant recovery communications, which helped mitigate the impact to NCR’s hardest-hit sector.

“Anne evolved into the go-to person for crisis communications. When the world stopped, she kept going. Her journalist instincts kicked in. She was unflappable,” said O’Neill’s colleague.

This self-proclaimed “duck” is truly a courageous crisis lion.

—RM

Ascension Illinois

Olga Solares led AMITA Health’s pandemic response with grace, grit and determination

Olga Solares stepped up to manage pandemic-related issues for AMITA Health, juggling messages and audiences while staying calm in an emergency. For her achievements and abilities, Olga Solares was recognized in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

The last few years have certainly been rife with challenges. During a health crisis such as COVID-19, there are so many events that require a sense of urgency and swift decision making. Olga Solares has successfully managed AMITA Health’s response during this chaotic time.

As system associate vice president of communications and media relations, Solares spearheaded the messaging about all things COVID — from personal protection to vaccine rollouts and mandatory vaccinations. Regardless of the topic, her campaigns were always clear, concise and consistent.

As one of the larger health systems in Illinois, AMITA Health operates 19 hospitals and more than 230 sites of care. With 900 providers in its medical groups, AMITA Health has more than 26,000 associates and 7,000 physician partners signed on. The health system serves more than 6.6 million residents in the greater Chicagoland area.

Since AMITA Health was charged with managing the care of a COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic, Solares had to continually shift gears to adjust messaging as guidelines and advice evolved.

She is recognized for her outstanding ability to simultaneously manage the messaging for several different audiences, each with their own sets of questions.

Solares represented the team on many committees, subcommittees and task forces. As their leader, she was quick to draft detailed communications plans for each project. She adeptly handled internal communications for associates and physicians while crafting messaging for the media, website and consumer CRM.

Although challenging situations continued to arise, Solares gracefully and skillfully managed disinformation, privacy concerns, and other volatile situations. These issues spanned from media relations and internal communications to new media.

“Olga is always calm and rational when thrown into emergencies and we’ve certainly had a few situations that qualified this past year,” said a colleague.

—RM

Horizon House

Laura Tufts used creativity and a team approach to keep Horizon House’s residents connected

With limited resources, Laura Tufts managed to keep the residents of a retirement community connected and well-informed during the darkest days of the pandemic. For her ability to foster trust through honest communication and partnerships, Tufts has earned recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As the pandemic swept from one side of the globe to the other, life became more challenging for everyone. Many of the things we take for granted such as socializing and sharing meals with one another immediately came to a halt.

During this time, Laura Tufts brought a sense of optimism and hope to Horizon House, a vibrant retirement community in Seattle. As the newly appointed head of marketing, sales and communications, Tufts helped establish a COVID Task Force, along with assistance from the residents’ Health Advisory Group.

She supported the management and distribution of communication materials to Horizon House’s 550 residents. Unfortunately, the isolation that was necessary for keeping everyone safe also made a huge impact on residents’ well-being.

Since Horizon House’s communications systems weren’t up-to-date, Tufts used teamwork and a dash of creativity to keep everyone connected. With support from the technology team, she helped residents embrace new tools and technology. During a stagnant era, people at Horizon House learned to master new skills.

With help from her colleagues in technology, Tufts helped establish the K4 Connect communication system. Residents stayed connected via digital screens, an internal TV channel, and an Amazon Alexa Echo Dot, which was donated by Amazon.

Since Tufts understood the importance of sharing Horizon House’s news with families and friends in real time, she encouraged residents to use the “COVID-19 Updates” webpage and social media. The page quickly became a trusted, transparent source of information.

Tufts also collaborated with the information technology team to unveil an app that allows residents to learn about community offerings. They can use the app to sign up for events, view the daily menu, access a resident directory and schedule hair, gym, and massage appointments. The social-centric app also allows residents to converse and share information with friends and family.

—RM

Providence

Adrienne Webb’s foresight and organizational skills enabled Providence Medical Group’s earned media to reach an audience of close to 100 billion

Adrienne Webb was well-prepared for her mission as commander of pandemic-related communications at Providence Medical Group, due to strong foundational systems. For her success, Webb was named an honoree in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

When the first U.S. COVID-19 patient landed at Providence hospital in Everett, Washington, Adrienne Webb knew she was in the eye of a career-defining storm. As the director of communications assigned to national issues management, Webb served as COVID-19 public information officer.

Webb ensures that the information Providence shares is factual, understandable and current. During the pandemic, this became particularly challenging since information about testing, personal protective equipment and the virulence of the virus changed almost hourly. To complicate matters, so much of the news was presented with a political spin. Regardless of these challenges, Webb was well prepared for her mission.

Early on, she developed Providence’s issues and reputation management guidebook. To facilitate the sharing of information, Webb aligned all communication teams across seven states. She also developed protocols and procedures to help her colleagues on the national and regional communication teams. Webb and her team relied on these foundational tools and systems, which proved to be stormproof during the healthcare crisis.

A virtual emergency operations center was already in place to support the preparation and response to the COVID-19 crisis across the organization. Local and regional communication leaders plugged into their command centers so they could exchange information and drive local strategy. Channels that were already established for routine input and feedback enabled decision makers to continually evaluate approaches and make revisions to achieve their goals.

Webb’s ability to collaborate with all levels and departments helped pave the way to success. Regional leaders and C-suite executives depended on her expert advice and her communications colleagues relied on live updates, so they could, in turn, provide accurate information and prepare local spokespeople with the latest information. Webb’s work was also pivotal for Providence’s extraordinary media effort, which included regular CNN updates and local and regional press reports.

—RM

MikeWorldWide

Carreen Winters finds silver linings and transforms negative events into positive brand stories

Carreen Winters demonstrated her keen ability to overcome obstacles as she polished the reputations of two clients in crisis mode. Thanks to her work, both clients have been recognized for reaching new milestones. For her efforts, Winters received recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As chief strategy officer at public relations agency MikeWorldWide, Carreen Winters ensures that C-suite leaders use their platforms to support their company’s missions and values.

Beyond advancing MikeWorldWide’s DEI capability, Winters offers guidance to clients as they strive to better represent a range of voices and perspectives. Working across diverse fields, she keeps abreast of current events and the changes that have been taking place in today’s corporate arena. In fact, that’s where this star shines brightest.

Winters has a talent for providing a path forward during uncertain, chaotic times. The Washington Football Team certainly wasn’t regarded as a winner before Winters stepped in to tackle its identity issues.

Since 1991, the team continually failed to win a Super Bowl. It also had a long history of failing to win a playoff game. Despite a frenzy of controversy around allegations that the team was hostile to women, Winters put a positive spin on its scandal-rocked image.

She cast the spotlight on the achievements of Jason Wright, the first Black team president in NFL history. Reaching this pinnacle required a clear line of demarcation between the old team and the new. Winters proved her success when the team’s negative sentiment dropped from 97% to 10%.

She also demonstrated her steely resolve and ability to influence when she managed a volatile situation for Smithfield Foods — a pork producer with more than 40,000 employees and 40 facilities nationwide.

When its Sioux Falls, SD facility was identified as an early hot spot for COVID-19, Winters helped the company prove its commitment to safety. She helped silence the voices from a group of bold, often misinformed critics, which ranged from politicians to unions, community leaders and the public. After months of hard work, The Wall Street Journal spotlighted an editorial heralding Smithfield as a company that did everything possible to keep workers safe.

—RM

Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

Leah Yaw’s grace and determination helped Devereux support some of society’s most vulnerable

Leah Yaw used her skills to communicate messages that helped keep Devereux’s community of people with emotional, behavioral, and cognitive differences safe during the pandemic, earning her recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

An unwavering advocate for children, adolescents and adults with emotional, behavioral and cognitive differences, Leah Yaw strives to ensure that the 25,000 individuals and families who Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health serves receive compassionate, top-notch care.

The national nonprofit that Yaw helms supports individuals, families, schools, and communities by serving people in the areas of autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, specialty mental health, and child welfare.

As senior vice president and chief strategy officer, Yaw oversees planning, builds and sustains organizational alignment and momentum, and directs the marketing function. In her external affairs role, she handles crisis management, public policy and advocacy as well as internal and external communications, brand management, strategic marketing, and fundraising.

Yaw is also a notable leader. At the onset of the pandemic, she helped create a COVID-19 Task Force. She tirelessly worked seven days a week to ensure that the nonprofit addressed every critical issue to protect all clients and staff.

Beyond discontinuing in-person visitation, launching telehealth services, and expanding sanitation protocols, Yaw helped:

- Provide ongoing communications between staff and families
- Lead public relations efforts, which resulted in nearly 40 news articles
- Worked with community supporters to build the PPE supply
- Introduced 12 private Facebook pages for families, established new “PPE for Devereux” Facebook and Instagram pages, and instituted 14 800-numbers
- Launched a COVID-19 webpage, which offered news, announcements, and resources
- Developed an “Inspiration” webpage to share messages of hope and resilience
- Supported staff by offering dedication bonuses, flexible schedules and hazard pay. Yaw also advanced paid time off/sick time.

Beyond her ability to shift and adapt, Yaw helped spearhead the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative for Devereux’s 7,500-plus employees spanning 13 states.

—RM

Evoke KYNE

Sara Aghajanian, MPH helped develop Evoke KYNE’s DE&I framework, promote equity

Sara Aghajanian, MPH has always strived to level the playing field for people who hail from various backgrounds. She guided Evoke KYNE in developing its DE&I strategic framework and a workgroup devoted to this initiative. For her success in getting 98% of employees to believe that the communications agency is committed to DE&I, Aghajanian was recognized in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As a child of Iranian immigrants, DE&I is part of Aghajanian’s DNA. In her first job, she was involved in resettling refugees from Afghanistan, Burundi, Iraq, and Nepal. To ensure that underserved communities are included, she went on to earn her Master of Public Health degree.

“I’ve always been passionate about making sure people of different backgrounds are heard, understood, respected, and have a seat at the table,” says Aghajanian who serves as vice president of the agency that works to advance health and well-being.

Aghajanian knows firsthand that only when people feel safe, supported and respected can they bring their best selves to work and evolve into strong leaders. That’s why she helped shape Evoke KYNE’s DE&I efforts.

In the wake of events in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aghajanian teamed up with leadership to demonstrate that they could lead by example. She lent her talents to developing the DE&I strategic framework and the first DE&I workgroup that would work to build and nurture a culture of inclusion.

Aghajanian has worked with Evoke KYNE’s more than 40-person global workgroup and the head of DE&I to create live panel discussions around Black History Month and gender identity topics. Together, they advocated for leadership trainings and drove communications. She also spearheads the DE&I newsletter.

On the COVID front, Aghajanian led Evoke KYNE’s efforts for Pandemic Action Network (PAN)—a coalition that addresses preparedness and works toward global vaccine equity. In March, she helped coordinate a campaign with 40 African-American celebrities and influencers. She also developed an #ItsOurShot toolkit, empowering more than 150 partners to drive evidence-based vaccine conversations.

Under her leadership for PAN’s #WorldMaskWeek, culturally appropriate toolkits were created in Arabic, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. More than 170+ countries joined the efforts. The campaign is applauded for reaching more than 158 million social and 165 million media impressions.

—RM

Encounter Your Potential

Sandra Garcia combines DE&I leadership with sales and marketing to help organizations grow

Encounter Your Potential CEO Sandra Garcia uses her passion for helping minority- and female-owned businesses bridge the digital divide and thrive through her consulting work as well as through workshops, presentations and more in New York City. That dedication has earned her recognition as a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion in the Top Women in Communications Awards.

Founder and CEO of Encounter Your Potential Sandra Garcia consults on intersectional marketing and diversity, equity and inclusion. Even during a time of pandemic, her business is growing, with two new full-time and three part-time hires. She also has recently locked in contracts with recognizable brands like Cisco, Vox Media, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and more.

Encounter your Potential is a certified Minority Women Business Enterprise and a hybrid consulting firm specializing in marketing, branding and business as well as DE&I. They approach diversity through a consulting and sales marketing lens in order to help minority-owned emerging companies develop and execute strategies to grow and sustain their business. They’ve served more than 2,700 businesses, mostly minority- and female-owned, as part of their own mission to serve the community and provide services to bridge the digital divide.

Garcia also serves the New York City community of small businesses, particularly Black- and Latinx-owned organizations, with workshops on marketing, digital skills, social media and more. Garcia also participates in events, panel discussions and fireside chats on the topics of marketing and DE&I for organizations including the New York Public Library, Dell Technologies Women in Tech, Forbes, Essence Magazine and more.

“To be around Sandra is to know that she is not just passionate but a natural in the sharing of her craft,” writes nominator Ruth Etienne. “As an Afro-Latina, she’s experienced the multicultural world, and that fueled her fire to serve and transform the world we live in and the ecosystems we work within.”

Congratulations to Garcia for her work!

— AC

Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group, LLC

Sheila Thorne of Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group makes an impact during COVID-19

Sheila Thorne, CEO and president of Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group, uses her more than two decades of designing and implementing cross-cultural health education programs, marketing and more to make a positive difference for all people, especially communities of color. It’s that dedication and passion that make her a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion in the Top Women in Communications Awards.

The pandemic and the killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans thrust cultural competency, especially in the health care space, into the heart of national conversation. Sheila Thorne used her unique expertise to help urge vaccine access and uptake in communities of color, where historic mistrust of the health care profession can be high. She worked with churches and other organizations to improve vaccine accessibility, decrease hesitancy and advise on strategic outreach to key communities. In addition, Thorne led a series of conversations on Paths to Impact and Change on the COVID Advocacy Exchange.

“Sheila’s work in cultural competency is of the highest quality and demonstrates the expertise that she has honed over the years as a leader within her field,” says Dennis A. Mitchell, DDS, MPH Vice Provost of the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine.

Her work and reach extended beyond COVID-19. Thorne led a series of empowering conversations on people of color living with multiple sclerosis, taking into account race, ethnicity and community. In addition, she led training with the Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients for Advocacy for Equity in Access & Quality for the Underserved. Diversity and equity in the workplace extends beyond putting photos of people of color on websites. That’s why Thorne’s work DE&I work extends to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce by building healthy organizations that understand cultural insights and the diversity of communities of color.

“Sheila Thorne is by far the most knowledgeable and engaging presenter that I’ve experienced on the topic of cross-cultural insights!” says Toiya Honoré, National Director of Communications for the American Heart Association.

— AC

Wilmington Trust/M&T Bank

Marcy Tolkoff uses her talent for communication and advocacy to promote equity at M&T Bank

Marcy Tolkoff has worked to promote equity through development of a podcast series, alignment of M&T Bank’s thought leadership with Women’s History Month and Pride Month, and actively promoting financial literacy. For her success, Marcy Tolkoff was recognized in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Marcy Tolkoff is always willing do what needs to be done in the best interests of M&T Bank’s clients. Although she faced her own personal challenges and losses throughout the pandemic, she never lost her drive, creativity, energy or wit.

Described as an “award-winning, creative, and dexterous wordsmith,” Tolkoff serves as senior communications manager for M&T Bank’s asset management division. She promotes its investment intelligence and thought leadership to clients, prospects and COIs.

During the pandemic, Tolkoff was on the front line with M&T’s top investment professionals. She played a key role in the development of its Capital Considerations podcast series with CIO Tony Roth. In addition to writing and editing all associated communications, including scripts, emails, social media and staff talking points, she brought compelling guest speakers on board.

Tolkoff excels at distilling complex concepts into reader-friendly language. Equally adept at crafting content for digital and print, her work is crisp, captivating, and intelligent.

She is applauded for spearheading the creation of articles that aligned M&T Bank’s thought leadership with events such as Women’s History Month and Pride Month. Her engaging work on Pride Sans Prejudice spotlighted one of M&T Bank’s senior executives. She also helped M&T establish its Pride Resource Group in the mid-Atlantic region.

An advocate for promoting financial literacy, Tolkoff also rallied for her cause through her role as managing editor of several key leadership articles. She was also instrumental in developing M&T Bank’s annual Capital Markets Forecast, which shares the firm’s perspective on the economy, and made vast contributions to its debut in a new digital format.

—RM

APCO Worldwide

Kelly Williamson helps its workforce APCO and clients become catalysts for progress

Kelly Williamson has come a long way from her early days as an intern with APCO. She helps the consultancy and its clients shape their cultures and helps develop programs to advance racial equity and justice. For her efforts in advancing equity, Williamson earned recognition in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Kelly Williamson’s tenure at the Washington, D.C.-based global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy can be traced back more than 20 years. Although she walked in as an intern, Williamson now shapes company culture from her post as North America region president.

This fearless leader has created a positive work environment in which employees can thrive. Responsible for building and protecting client reputations, Williamson develops programs that address a changing, more involved society.

After George Floyd’s murder, Williamson united employees through a series of conversations that enabled people to share their feelings and experiences in a non-judgmental way.She also spearheaded the development of the Accelerate What’s Right, APCO’s initiative to advance racial equity and justice. The industry-wide program complements APCO’s DEI Council efforts. It includes employee learning and ally development, local community collaborations, equity of hiring opportunities and convening change-makers and clients to forge solutions. Williamson also helped formally establish APCO’s DEI goals, reporting, and tracking and contributed to the creation the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Playbook. Many leaders have already stepped up to participate in unconscious bias training.

To ensure an unbiased evaluation of all job candidates, Williamson instituted the Situation, Task, Action and Result (STAR) method of behavioral interviewing. She also hosts regular town halls with speakers that dive deeply into equity and social justice issues.

A champion for employees working on APCO’s DEI initiatives, Williamson establishes informal ways in which people can share their thoughts. For example, a group text with the DEI Council’s mid-level co-chairs empowers people to raise concerns in a quick, casual way.

Veterans Health Administration Innovation Ecosystem

VHA Innovators Network’s Allison Amrhein wears many hats as communicator, veterans’ advocate

Allison Amrhein, director of operations with the VHA Innovators Network, wears many hats while advocating for veterans’ health-care programs, earning her a spot as one of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications in the Dynamic Do-ers category.

Amrhein leads two teams of dedicated colleagues who work to make innovative health care more accessible to VA members through communications. In addition to heading up the VHA Innovators Network (iNET) team, Amrhein is also chief of the VHA Innovation Ecosystem program at large, where she works to expand the program’s offerings to veterans across the country. During the pandemic especially, Amrhein worked to amplify the successes of the VHA, its employees and collaborators.

Her day-to-day duties include leading media engagement, internal and external communications, leadership engagement and social media strategy.

With iNet, Amrhein collaborated with veteran non-profit Challenge America to host a series of COVID-19 brand events. These “Make-A-Thons” brought together innovators from across the country to develop solutions to problems faced by subsets of essential health care workers.

Additionally, Amrhein leads the Spark-Seed-Spread Innovation Investment Program, “which identifies and accelerates employee-inspired innovations to improve health care experiences for Veterans.” During Amrhein’s tenure as its leader, the Spark-Seed-Spread Innovation Investment Program has seen more than 700 applications, with 300 innovators invited to join and more than 1 million veterans impacted by their solutions. The program was crucial in “escalating and elevating VHA IE’s profile, strengthening internal and external stakeholder relationships, and therefore extending its impact.”

Additionally, Amrhein’s media relations strategy has been key to the success of an annual VHA Innovation Experience event. She led two email campaigns which increased subscribers by 1,423 and garnered engagement rates of about 50%. And in just over 10 months, VHA IE received 19 media placements. More than 1,600 people attended the VHA Innovation Experience Event.

Congratulations to Allison Amrhein.

Harman International

Harman’s Carole Pucik Campbell innovates marketing strategy using audio

Carole Pucik Campbell, senior director of global communications and lifestyle audio for audio commerce company Harman, led the way in reimagining the company’s media relations and social media strategy, earning her a spot as a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Carole Campbell is fluent in three languages, but that is far from the most impressive thing about her.

For Harman, Campbell led the launch of a study about the importance of music within society. She took the results of the survey and used them to build a compelling narrative about how we create, play and listen to music, positioning Harman as a thought leader in the industry.

Thanks to the study, Campbell also spearheaded a new Harman podcast: Audio Talks. Harman calls it an “easy-listening program featuring bi-weekly episodes that highlight interesting and informative audio-related content.” Campbell recruited music journalist Oisin Lunny as host, and she herself oversees strategy, content and selection of guests, which include music legends, audio scientists and industry thought leaders. Campbell’s ownership of the program included the design and implementation of a social media strategy for the podcast, covering Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. This campaign received more than 335,000 initial impressions.

In addition to thought leadership around sound innovation and the launch of Audio Talks, Campbell also led the charge on a media campaign for Harman’s first virtual showcase of its newest audio products and solutions. Harman ExPLORE 2021 cumulated in the latest experience-led innovations for the connected lifestyle and uncover informative sessions with Harman SMEs for the company’s target audiences and key customers. The corresponding media campaign secured 124 media briefs and interviews.

“Carole was also instrumental in leading communications planning and execution of the subsequent HARMAN ExPLORE Autumn 2021 virtual press conference, where her integrated communications programming helped unveil HARMAN’s latest sustainability initiatives and new products across portables, headphones, gaming, and home audio,” Harman writes.

Congratulations to Carole Pucik Campbell.

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)

SMUD’s Cara Chatfield juggles social media, crisis comms leadership with ease

Cara Chatfield, corporate communications manager for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), balances tending to comms crises and personnel changes with promoting the district on social media. She is honored with a Dynamic Do-er award from Ragan’s Top Women In Communications Awards.

After the past few years, Cara Chatfield is practically an expert in change communications.

She has helped the electric services provider navigate personnel changes and crisis situations alike, including all 2,200 employees working remotely during COVID-19, a new CEO and general manager, a severe winter storm in Sacramento, and the Caldor Fire roaring dangerously close to SMUD electric lines.

Amid these times of tumult, Chatfield has not only handled the crises with ease, she’s also developed and implemented several effective communications programs and policies. She developed SMUD’s 2030 Zero Carbon Plan, which is the most aggressive clean energy plan of any large utility in the U.S., and began communicating details of the plan to stakeholders, customers and community members. Chatfield also led the way during the effort to complete an organizational realignment within SMUD in order to make the 2030 goal a reality. Thanks to her help, SMUD was able to pass an industry-leading rate change that will reshape the way the company compensates customers who have rooftop solar panels.

Chatfield has also been instrumental in expanding SMUD’s presence on social media channels — particularly when it comes to content highlighting the work of SMUD executives and members of the company’s board of directors. She leads the corporate communications, social media and video teams, all of which contribute to the social media content put out on SMUD social media accounts.

“Today, SMUD’s eight chief executive leaders rely on Cara’s expertise, guidance, opinions and support to ensure the organization is effectively communicating with its employees about the many significant decisions that make SMUD one of the best employers in the Sacramento region and top publicly owned electric utilities,” SMUD writes.

All of these responsibilities result in a packed calendar, which Chatfield navigates with grace and ease.

Congratulations to Cara Chatfield.

KeyBank

KeyCorp’s Susan Donlan leads multiple teams, stays cool under pressure

Susan Donlan, chief comms officer with KeyCorp, helped lead the company to a new normal during the second year of the pandemic. This is just one reason why she’s been chosen as a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women In Communications Awards.

As the pandemic evolved, KeyCorp’s internal comms strategy evolved with it, shifting to messaging about returning to the office, mask mandates, vaccine requirements and more. Donlan’s leadership made the transition seamless, thanks to her guidance on employee engagement programs and media relations strategy.

Her responsibilities with KeyCorp include coordinating intranet content, conducting in-person and virtual employee engagement campaigns, assisting with enterprise-wide program rollouts, advising on internal and external CEO and executive comms strategy, and many line-of-business communications that reach all 17,000-plus KeyCorp employees.

Donlan was crucial to the rollout of a new executive-led taskforce at KeyCorp, helping fast-track strategic change management communications counsel and collaborating with consultants and leaders across the organization. But Donlan’s leadership didn’t stop there.

She also served on KeyCorp’s Core Pandemic Response Team, leading pandemic-related comms, and as the corporate communications liaison to the Strategic Pillar Accelerator Workforce, in addition to her comms role with KeyCorps. Donlan recently led the comms response team in a crisis situation simulation, conducting top-to-bottom research, consulting with crisis lawyers and communicators and creating a communications playbook to be used by all channels in the bank, internally and externally.

“Susan has earned a reputation for being a source of wise counsel among her colleagues, peers, and leaders, while remaining unflappable, fearless, and embodying grace under pressure to her team,” KeyCorp writes. “When the waters get deep, she jumps right in. She leads by getting in the trenches and doing the important work that has supported Key’s growth, profitability, and reputation.”

Congratulations to Susan Donlan.

Reckitt

Reckitt’s Christine Dwyre perseveres through the pandemic to ensure employee safety

Christine Dwyre, communications lead with consumer products company Reckitt, was crucial in the company’s employee engagement strategy throughout the pandemic, making her a Dynamic Do-er honoree in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Reckitt owns hygiene and cleaning brands like Lysol, Air Wick and Finish. So when the pandemic hit, the company’s communications team was essential to providing customers and employees with accurate, fast information about what Reckitt was doing to help keep them safe.

Christine Dwyre played a crucial role in this operation, mobilizing resources to connect more than 5,500 Reckitt employees who were spread out across the country, as well as handling media relations for the company.

At the end of 2020, Dwyre planned and hosted a full-day virtual conference to highlight Reckitt’s accomplishments and get employees up to speed on the organization’s goals for the next year.

Dwyre also helped to established Reckitt’s “Stronger Together” conversation series, an internal peer-to-peer storytelling initiative focusing on diversity and inclusion. And during the holiday season, Dwyre was integral in developing and distributing Stay Safe Care Packages, gifted packages to employees containing cleaning supplies and vitamins meant to help keep them and their families safe and healthy.

To receive a care package, employees had to register online using their Reckitt credentials. Dwyre created a digital handout with step-by-step instructions, making it clear exactly how to register and answering questions or concerns that might arise during the registration process.

“As the holiday season approaches, we hope that you will be opening your home to family and friends and making cherished memories,” Dwyre wrote in the handout. “We also want you to stay healthy and keep your homes germ-free!” Reckitt notes that the care packs were extremely popular among employees.

In addition to internal comms efforts, Dwyre’s media relations and social media strategy helped establish Reckitt brands as thought leaders.

Congratulations to Christine Dwyre.

Hope-Beckham Inc.

Hope-Beckham’s Gina Espinosa-Meltzer’s hard work leads to new partner title

Gina Espinosa-Meltzer came to be a partner at Hope-Beckham Inc. when she merged her successful bilingual firm with the Atlanta PR powerhouse. Her role in the merger earned her honors as one of Ragan’s Top Women In Communications in the Dynamic Do-ers category.

When GPR Global, one of the American South’s top Hispanic PR firms, merged with Hope-Beckham, Gina Espinosa-Meltzer was at the forefront of the new relationship — especially following the sudden death of Hope-Beckham founding partner Paul Beckham.

When Hope-Beckham’s Bob Hope needed a new partner, all he had to do was look to the company’s newly acquired entity. “But while [Espinosa-Meltzer’s] credentials are impressive, ultimately, Bob needed a partner who would improve morale, increase business, and make things happen. He needed someone who would get things done,” Hope-Beckham writes. “He chose Gina.”

Her leadership style blends an emphasis on hard work and commitment with an understanding of the importance of family and personal wellness outside of a career. This is reflected in the initiatives she spearheaded after the merger, including orchestrating improved benefits packages for all employees, advocating for higher pay, recruiting new employees (including a female senior vice president) and bringing in five new clients, with several more in the pipeline.

Espinosa-Meltzer’s resume outside of her work with Hope-Beckham is equally as impressive, having served as an advisor to three separate Mexican consul generals, in addition to consuls from other Latin American countries. She has represented influential organizations such as the Latin American Association, 100 Black Men of Atlanta and Mundo Hispanico.

During the pandemic, Espinosa-Meltzer provided pro-bono services to organizations that needed help spreading information about COVID-19 safety, grants and services.

“The combination of Hope-Beckham and GPR is right for the times for both the agencies and Atlanta,” Bob Hope said in a press release. “Gina has done an amazing job and become the top leader in multi-cultural and specifically Hispanic public relations in Atlanta, and that is more important now than ever and will be even more important in the future.”

Congratulations to Gina Espinosa-Meltzer.

10Fold Communications

Caitlin Haskins helps people grow and drives positive results for clients

A leader in communications and a force behind business opportunities and client satisfaction at 10Fold Communications, Caitlin Haskins is being recognized as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Caitlin Haskins is vice president of 10Fold Communications’ AI, Big Data and Cloud practice, a group consisting of 16 clients in all parts of the high-tech ecosystem. In just six years, Haskins has increased the practice by 267% while maintaining high client satisfaction and stellar results. She has exceeded revenue forecasts in 2020 and 2021 and has kept a 100% client retention based on satisfaction with her team’s work. Haskins not only won four out of four new business opportunities in Q2 but was also able to integrate them successfully in Q3.

Haskins also works with her group’s account managers to ensure they have the skillsets and expertise needed to deliver for 10Fold’s clients. She has motivated and retained three account managers that represent some of 10Fold’s top talent, as well as a lead media strategist and writer.

An additional six people in her group have been recognized with a promotion for their dedication and growth. Haskins drives 10Fold’s internal training initiatives to identify gaps in 10Fold staff’s skill sets, source, create and document appropriate training to help teams build their capabilities.

Haskins and her group achieved numerous results for clients in the past year, including the acquisition of Volterra by F5 Networks. Haskins and her team launched this company out of stealth in late 2019, and the company was acquired after a quick run in January 2021. A strong brand and media recognition built by 10Fold were among the items that attracted F5’s attention.

Haskins has been a member of the Junior League for the past 10 years in Los Angeles, Oakland-East Bay and Austin. She has led philanthropic efforts for the league and also served on the board of directors for the Junior League of Oakland East-Bay. Currently, she supports the Junior League of Austin’s efforts to spread literacy among elementary students with a community partner, Bookspring.

Haskins showed her ability to quickly jump into action to develop a media strategy, in which she secured over 45 articles, including features in Forbes, Fortune, Inc. Axios, Silicon Valley Business Journal and Business Insider ahead of $150 million funding announcement with only days to prepare and prove why Haskin is an exemplary candidate as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers.

Cisco

Jaclyn Kline conquers obstacles to make way for success

Jaclyn Kline does not slow down – there’s no challenge too great or obstacle too large to get in the way of success. That determination, passion and work ethic at Cisco has led to recognition as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Jaclyn Kline, equipped with superpowers of proactivity, is seamlessly able to network, create new relationships and build things from scratch.

Kline joined Cisco in a role centered around organizational development for the global comms team during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite taking on a new role in a new company during a completely unprecedented time, she quickly established herself as a critical member of the organization, whether by finding answers to tricky questions, identifying gaps and quickly identifying solutions, or lending a hand on projects that span across functional teams.

In the last year, Kline has played a role in nearly every critical project across the global comms organization. However, there are projects where she exceeded the expectations and often voluntarily took on the majority of the work herself.

Traditionally, the Global Comms organization would come together for a live team-building offsite summit each year, but the pandemic brought that to a halt. In order to create an atmosphere where the team could still focus on growth and teamwork, Kline put together the team’s first virtual Summit Series.

Over a four-month period, she organized a series of events that brought together more than 180 communications professionals across the globe, creating a platform for them to meet or reconnect with colleagues, grow, develop and learn.

Kline designed and launched the Global Comms org’s first annual innovation contest, including funding, a full CTA, two rounds of judging, coordination of a presentation coach for the finalists and a final presentation round for the whole global organization.

The winning project is already under way and making an impact on how the brand is perceived across new audiences.

Kline is always looking for ways to bring the global team closer together and break boundaries. With the shift away from an in-person Summit, there was a risk of missing a key opportunity to recognize the team’s accomplishments without the accompanying awards program.

Kline took initiative and launched the nomination process for the global Comms Excellence Awards and spearheaded a virtual awards program, timed with the end of the year to wrap up with team celebration. She coordinated gifts and props, sent to every employee to build a sense of community and festivity.

Kline led the design and execution of the inaugural Global Comms intern program from initial concept and hiring and pairing through onboarding through final presentation.

As a result of the program, three full-time offers were presented and it created a diverse pipeline of high-performing individuals.

Kline’s commitment to Cisco and her department sets an example to other leaders in comms.

—ISM

Goodwill Industries International

Lauren Lawson-Zilai leads with purpose, passion and intention

A thought leader who aims to inspire those around her with ambition and leadership, Lauren Lawson-Zilai of Goodwill Industries International is being recognized as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our 2021 Top Women in Communications Awards program.

As the head of PR and spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, Lawson-Zilai‘s job is demanding — leading strategic communications for the world’s leading workforce provider for millions with disabilities and disadvantages.

Within the last year, Lawson-Zilai Launched Rising Together, a unique initiative to equip 1 million people with sustainable careers by 2025, and secured partnerships with Bank of America to Google. In addition, she revamped the website and implemented Google Analytics, resulting in more 125,000 unique visitors.

A host of other accomplishments from Lawson-Zilai include:

Doubling sponsorships
Launching quarterly DEI Dialogues
Selecting a pro bono client
Launching the first virtual event for association/nonprofit leaders to learn from topic experts during a time of limited resources
Launching virtual coffee chats for members to network
Founding the first advisory council for strategy
Financially assisting local university PRSSA chapters
Establishing the first partnerships committee
Rolling out the first video on demand series of learning events

Lawson-Zilai served on the PRSA Voices4Everyone taskforce, focused on inclusive, civil discourse through DE&I, civic engagement, combating disinformation and civility. She also steered the strategic direction of Washington Women in Public Relations as part of its Advisory Council, developed programming for communicators and media as part of the National Press Club Communicators Committee, and was an advisor to the National Digital Roundtable. Lawson-Zilai was recently selected to be on PR Daily’s Leadership Network as a thought leader.

These voluntary leadership positions had unexpected challenges, but Lawson-Zilai showed grit, determination, and a positive attitude. In addition to juggling her 24/7 job and shuttling a talented 7-year-old to her myriad activities, she knew the show must go on. She cherishes being inspired but inspires others in not only what she does in her spare time but how she does it. Wherever she can find an opportunity to make a difference, she does, diligently and with heart.

trivago

Trivago’s Stephanie Lowenthal goes against the grain with risk-taking PR strategy

As global head of communications with travel company Trivago, Stephanie Lowenthal pushes the envelope with a smart, daring PR strategy. She is a recipient of the Dynamic Do-er award in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

The pandemic wreaked havoc on the travel industry, which is just now beginning to recover from the losses. Faced with largely negative sentiment about the travel industry, Stephanie Lowenthal commissioned a survey to find out what people would give up in order to travel again. The top answer? “Intimacy with your partner.”

Lowenthal led the Trivago press release with this finding, despite internal opposition, and the campaign garnered 574 earned media placements with an estimated reach of 757 million. The story was included in publications like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNBC and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Additionally, Lowenthal made waves using Trivago’s partnership with Chelsea Football Club. She took the opportunity to invite Londoners to imagine a tropical vacation despite the pandemic-related lockdowns, creating “Stamford Beach” on the world-famous Stamford Bridge soccer pitch.

“For one day only, Stephanie oversaw and executed the planning, development and in-person media around a tropical island in the middle of London, complete with sand, deck chairs and a tiki-bar that brought excitement to the Chelsea fan base and demonstrated the power behind trivago’s new tagline, Let’s Go,” Trivago writes.

The partnership became the biggest sponsorship activation ever hosted at Stamford Bridge, garnering more than 200 earned media posts and 5,502 social media posts. The Stamford Beach campaign reached 300 million.

“Even though 2021 continued to be a tough year for trivago, you wouldn’t know it from the caliber of work Stephanie has produced during her short time with the brand,” Trivago says. “While the industry goes through a reset and continues to recover, Stephanie continues to bring new ideas and strategic initiatives that push through the noise.”

Congratulations to Stephanie Lowenthal.

NCR Corporation

Michelle Morris is the puzzle piece to effective strategic communications

A steadfast leader and communicator at NCR Corporation, a software, consulting and technology company, Michelle Morris has earned a spot as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Michelle Morris uses her communications skills to help employees feel they are an integral part of a huge, global puzzle – each a unique piece that makes a difference to NCR, its customers and each other.

“Like a piece in a puzzle, everyone on the NCR team has a unique position. I see my role as the puzzle master. I have a unique viewpoint to see how it all fits together,” Morris said.

As a communications partner at NCR Corporation, Morris provides comprehensive communications strategies to support members of the executive leadership team.

These communications plans ensure employees understand the impact their job has on business growth, culture and the organization’s transformation to a software- and services-led company.

She’s an inaugural member of NCR’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Global Inclusion Council where she works to educate and encourage employees to self-identify their information in Workday to better understand them and improve diversity initiatives, launching the DE&I intranet community, and the DE&I podcast, Amplify Inclusion and supporting quarterly sessions and town halls on topics like diversity in the workplace and allyship.

Morris also works in mergers and acquisitions. NCR has had several acquisitions in the last year and relied on Morris to provide key messaging. She was able to use previous experience to create communications materials to support the buy-in, engagement and connection needed to join the companies together.

For instance, she created employee engagement processes for each transaction to ensure employees joining the NCR family were informed through emails and town hall meetings about business updates and more.

She also provided standardized templates to ensure these companies could create consistent messaging for leadership and customer announcements. Working closely with NCR Brazil leaders, she created a year-long communications integration plan for IT organization OKI in São Paulo – NCR’s largest non-U.S. acquisition – facilitating focus groups and developing culturally appropriate messaging to its 2,000 Brazilian employees.

Morris credits her team for her ability to roll up her sleeves and get things done because they are supportive, hardworking and composed.

As a champion of DE&I initiatives and a creator of employee engagement, who has welcomed hundreds of new staff with educational sessions, quarterly town halls, email announcements and listening sessions, Morris can now add Dynamic Do-er to her list of robust titles.

Acuity Brands

Chrystal Neely’s passion for strengthening corporate culture is boundless

Steadfast enthusiasm, expertise and energy in corporate communications has earned Acuity Brands’ Chrystal Neely a nod as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Chrystal Neely, director of corporate communications at Acuity Brands, is responsible for internal and external communications. Driven by the desire to innovate and to help others thrive, Neely crafts communications with those goals in mind. She elevates employee understanding, creates alignment between employees and business objectives, and strengthens employee engagement.

In the past year, she directed communications for Acuity’s hybrid work model, Acuity Anywhere, using a mix of video, written content and a webinar series for new work options, policy updates, and employee flexibility.

The webinar exceeded participation of similar employee events by 140%. Additionally, Neely helped develop and execute the refreshed Acuity Brands website and careers website. In the first month after release, website traffic increased by 56%.

She founded MAGIC (Minorities Amplifying Growth, Inclusion, and Community), an Acuity employee resource group. Under her leadership, MAGIC has increased its membership by 102% and now offers mental health awareness, virtual concert series, Learning from Leaders events and a benefits education awareness program. She also mentored a team of associates to help launch the Employee Resource Group PRIDE.

Neely serves on the Atlanta Chapter’s International Association of Business Communicators Professional Development Committee, and mentors Inspire Atlanta participants raising money for low-income women and girls. She recently participated as a speaker at the CommsConnect Conference hosted by Contact Monkey and the Internal Communications Culture & Wellness Conference hosted by Ragan Communications.

Neely serves on the inaugural Executive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, helped develop and educate leaders and associates on Acuity’s first-ever DE&I survey and an overall culture survey improving survey participation by 15%. A trusted leader within the Acuity Brands organization, she implemented Tuesday Talks, an employee recognition event hosted by the leadership team. Over 700 virtual viewers attended its inaugural event, beating the record set by the Acuity Anywhere virtual events, and it received a 4.5 out of 5 rating.

—ISM

City of Hope Orange County

City of Hope’s Lisa O’Neill Hill is savvy, indefatigable

Lisa O’Neill Hill, director of external communications for the City of Hope Orange County, imbues every PR and marketing effort for the cancer center with tenderness and hope. She is a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women In Communications Awards.

Under Lisa O’Neill Hill’s leadership City of Hope has achieved top-tier awareness in its community — even before it opens its transformational cancer center.

Her colleagues call her “savvy” and “indefatigable” thanks to her ability to produce timely, meaty content that is both educational and promotional in nature.

When COVID-19 began to wane in the Newport Beach area, it was O’Neill Hill’s messaging that helped reassure immunocompromised patients to return to the City of Hope’s medical offices, which helped mitigate missed screenings that would precipitate potentially dangerous delays in care. “Her campaign helped bring patients back and ensured their well-being,” City of Hope writes.

O’Neill Hill’s media relations skills are as sharp as her marketing ones — following a massive donation to the new cancer center, she devised a media relations strategy that garnered more than 40 pieces of national, regional and local news coverage. And a corresponding campaign that spotlighted those who received treatment from City of Hope was so moving and powerful that the medical center received even more donations, with the number of donors totaling 12,000.

O’Neill Hill also worked her magic on a partnership with local artists who had been impacted by cancer, engaging them to draw chalk murals at iconic area locations like Disneyland, John Wayne Airport, the beach and vaccination sites. The initiative brought people together after months of separation and inspired hope as well as building brand recognition for City of Hope Orange County.

“Lisa continues to work her magic,” City of Hope writes. “When City of Hope expanded its locations this summer, Lisa led a media strategy based on the poignant theme ‘Hope is Growing.’ Every piece of coverage captured that key message.”

Following O’Neill Hill’s efforts, City of Hope has seen 77% awareness and a 25% increase in share of voice year over year.

Congratulations to Lisa O’Neill Hill.

Capsule

Teal Pennebaker showcases steadfast leadership in challenging times

A relentless commitment to supporting hundreds of employees by implementing a platform for open communication and programming that prioritized the health and well-being of employees at Amazon Worldwide Communications has earned Teal Pennebaker a spot as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Teal Pennebaker, head of Business Operations and Technology for Amazon Worldwide Communications (WWC), leads the Corporate Affairs Business Operations and Technology team for WWC — while also doubling as the chief of staff to Drew Herdener, vice president at Amazon WWC.

As chief of staff to the VP of WWC, Pennebacker has unique insight across Amazon Communications’ more than 900-person global team. As a result, during the early days of the pandemic, Pennebacker was tasked with building out and running the communications’ COVID-19 working group, which was developed to ensure all teams across Amazon WWC were coordinated in their plans, communications to customers, and most importantly, were identifying ways and implementing programming that prioritized employees’ mental and physical well-being.

Pennebacker implemented and still runs a monthly Town Hall series that connects Amazon Communication’s leadership with hundreds of employees, providing them with an informal forum to discuss relevant topics and surface questions and comments from employees to leadership.

Before taking on her role as chief of staff and building out the Corporate Affairs Business and Operations and Technology team, Pennebacker served as the senior manager of corporate communications and focused on workforce and workplace reputation for Amazon.

Pennebacker finds ways to foster connections among employees–no matter where they are based globally. She has grown the business operations and technology team from four to 26 team members in just one year, which is responsible for making Amazon Communications more effective, efficient, and inclusive, including overseeing the team’s organizational health and skills development and DE&I programs.

Prior, Pennebacker worked in a series of communications positions in the political and health-care sectors, including serving as the speechwriter for the president of Planned Parenthood, and as a communications consultant for The World Bank, while simultaneously running her own strategic consulting firm where she helped clients in speech writing, policy communications and general communications initiatives.

She holds a master’s degree of public policy in negotiation from Harvard and a bachelor’s in American studies from Wellesley College. A political junkie and spicy food enthusiast, she lives in Austin with her husband and two young children.

—ISM

Ascension

Ashley Pollard is a ‘visionary force’ in consumer marketing and campaign development

Making waves and a positive impact in marketing strategy and campaign development at Ascension, a Catholic health care system, Ashley Pollard has been recognized as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Ashley Pollard, director of marketing strategy and campaign development at Ascension, successfully launched and steered a marketing campaign geared toward patients with chronic conditions who needed medical care and individuals with emergency situations, in an effort to reassure them that getting the medical care they needed was still safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grassroots word-of-mouth marketing campaign created ambassadors out of friends and neighbors, which leveraged trusted voices like physicians and Ascension associates to create a ripple effect throughout the community, reinforcing the importance of not delaying care.

Pollard was also instrumental in developing Ascension’s national public education program and deployment strategy to build confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.

This summer, Pollard’s team launched a national advertising campaign featuring Olympic gold medal gymnast Shannon Miller sharing her experience overcoming ovarian cancer with an early diagnosis.

The campaign reinforces the importance of women prioritizing their health and making time for annual medical appointments and preventative screenings. Featured in People Magazine, the campaign has generated more than 27 media hits and more than $1.5 million in publicity value.

Pollard prioritizes bringing innovative new ideas forward to enhance Ascension’s success. She is dedicated to advancing Ascension’s mission to deliver compassionate, personalized care to all, especially persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable.

This includes initiatives to educate communities about critical healthcare services and bringing to life the stories of patients whose lives have been transformed. Under her leadership, Ascension has won numerous national industry awards.

In addition to her high achievements at work, Pollard also dedicates time and focuses her energy on causes that are important to her, including Good Shepherd Children and Family Services and Saints Peter and Paul Parish Hall in St. Louis, where she helps to serve meals and advise on marketing strategies. She is also a charter board member for American Heritage Girls, dedicated to teaching young girls to be strong, contributing members of society.

Through her long-time community work, Pollard discovered her passion for helping others, ultimately leading her to focus her career in health care.

—ISM

PandoLogic

PandoLogic’s Jennifer Ravalli’s marketing strategy is driven by data, relationships

Jennifer Ravalli, VP of marketing with AI recruitment company PandoLogic, uses diverse industry relationships to personalize her marketing strategies. This strength is just one of many that garnered her a Dynamic-Doer honor in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Jennifer Ravalli’s commitment to supporting and encouraging women in the workforce has informed her work with PandoLogic and iCIMS since the beginning. With iCIMS, she created a presence for women in tech and led the way for other iCIMS employee resource groups (ERGs), and with PandoLogic, she leads the company’s D&I taskforce and is also responsible for internal D&I communications and strategy.

“Jennifer’s unique grit and goodwill enable her to build a robust network of industry insiders that seek her guidance and expertise on topics surrounding leadership, future of work, and other HR Technology trends,” PandoLogic writes.

Ravalli has spearheaded massive growth in PandoLogic’s marketing strategy and results, garnering $14 million in bookings and $54 million in pipeline revenue growth in just her first year with PandoLogic. Her first year also saw the creation of the company’s DE&I product strategy and internal DE&I task force.

In addition to those accomplishments, under Ravalli’s leadership, PandoLogic has seen a 200% increase in new customers and 368% growth in closed revenue, as well as a 500% increase in social favor and a 400% increase in website traffic — the company now sees nearly 30,000 unique sessions per month.

Ravalli’s focus is on data-driven marketing. “Examples include engaging in broad-reaching and well-respected industry influencers to introduce them to PandoLogic and the opportunity that PandoLogic’s unique capabilities provide employers – bolstering brand presence,” PandoLogic writes.

It’s not all about the numbers for Ravalli, however. She leverages dynamic and diverse industry relationships to glean first-to-market insights about innovative new marketing ideas that help personalize the technology she supports.

Congratulations to Jennifer Ravalli.

Rite Aid

‘Transformation junkie’ Joy Seusing shows the power of comms at BIC

Tasked with helping bring the classic brand into the 21^st century, Joy Seusing rose to the challenge, setting goals and meeting them with time to spare. She led global efforts to harness the power of influencers and bring BIC’s principles to life. That passion has earned her recognition as a Dynamic Do-er in the Top Women in Communications Awards.

When Joy Seusing joined BIC in 2019, the 75-year-old company was on the cusp of a new generation of family leadership and a new era of transformation. Seusing was tasked with modernizing the brand, and she wasted no time.

Within two months, she had a strategy to update the brand and its communications. In just 18 months, she exceeded the KPIs of that three-year plan.

The strategy centered on increasing emotional connections with BIC both internally and externally. She identified influencers including Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart and Olympic swimmers Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel as brand ambassadors. The Dogg-Stewart partnership proved especially potent, launching the EZ Reach lighter to exceed its sales goals and increasing brand affinity across demographics.

She built a “small but mighty global team” to lead the messaging around the brand’s refreshed mission, vision and values, including education. The BIC Cristal Pen Awards, developed and launched by Seusing, celebrated educators in connection with Global Education Week.

Upholding the value of creative expression, Seusing also led BIC to commission a collection for Arab Fashion Week inspired by the company’s products, held an art contest to encourage African and Middle Eastern artists to showcase their work and launched a Miss Soleil Squad competition to laud women who embody confidence, empowerment and fun.

Rounding out her busy calendar, Seusing oversaw the acquisition of smart reusable notebook brand Rocketbook and oversees promotion of BIC’s sustainable development efforts. Through all her efforts, Seusing shows the value of communications and how it can help a brand exceed its business goals.

Congratulations to Seusing for her win.

—AC

ORBCOMM Inc.

Julie Spizuoco blazes a path of leadership, growth and development

A crisis navigator, the highest-ranking woman and mentor to dozens of women at ORBCOMM, Julie Spizuoco has earned recognition as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Julie Spizuoco, senior vice president of solution delivery at ORBCOMM, an industrial IoT company, is the highest-ranking woman in the company and a mentor and role model to 170 female employees.

Spizuoco has leveraged her 25 years of experience in the communications industry leading large, global teams to create effective business models and process improvements that drive digital transformation, customer experience and customer success in go-to-market organizations to build ORBCOMM’s solution delivery function from the ground up.

Spizuoco is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of ORBCOMM’s IoT products and services from installation to deployment to customer support, leading a team of 150 employees in eight countries who provide around-the-clock service in seven languages.

Prior to her tenure at ORBCOMM, the company had limited processes in place to operate efficiently and service its thousands of customers spanning the transportation, heavy equipment, maritime and government markets.

She created a method of ensuring successful transition and delivery of customer products by implementing a contact center solution and a CRM leveraging cloud technology, which was critical in scaling and streamlining the company as they integrated 13 acquisitions over six years.

There were also no accountability measures in place to track her team’s performance, so Spizuoco put into practice a comprehensive set of customer-centric KPIs and reporting metrics to ensure the group was running at optimal efficiency, consistently meeting service-level agreements and creating a world-class customer experience.

Spizuoco has also translated her natural ability as a leader into her role as a mentor, not only for the company’s ORBCOMM Women Connect group, but also for Women in Technology, for which she serves as the co-chair for their nationwide Mentor-Protégé program.

Spizuoco’s ability to lead cross-functional teams and serve as a collaborative business partner with every department – from engineering to sales to product management to finance – have enabled her to execute on a number of high-profile, strategic initiatives integral to the company’s long-term growth.

—ISM

Newell Brands

Beth Stellato fostered trust with transparent communications and inspired employees

A proficient leader in managing internal relationships and developing her team at Newell Brands, Beth Stellato is being recognized as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program for her hard work.

Beth Stellato, vice president of corporate communications at Newell Brands, leads internal/external communications, public affairs, crisis management, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability communications and is head of the Newell Brands Charitable Foundation.

Stellato took the helm at a critical time following a challenging acquisition. A new CEO arrived and she became a critical partner to improve morale through transparent communications.

As president of the Newell Brands Charitable Foundation, Stellato has led the launch of two employee programs: the annual Local Impact Grant Program that enables employees to nominate and vote for nonprofits to receive grants from the Foundation, and a soon-to-launch employee matching campaign that will invite employees globally to give back to one or more of its nonprofit partners and have their donation matched.

The foundation made monetary donations to nonprofit groups leading the charge for positive change around racial justice.

Stellato oversaw and facilitated donations to Georgia Black United Fund, Black Women’s Health Imperative and Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective. In support of the Asian-American community following the shootings at Atlanta-area spas, a contribution was made to Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Stellato is the host of Leaders Live!, the Newell Brands’ internal podcast, where she produced and hosted 33 total episodes, housed on its employee mobile app. Leaders Live! has consistently outperformed all content on the employee app.

Additionally, in the past year, she has led:

A refresh of the corporate website with new imagery and content that highlights the company’s brands/products, exemplifies its values, demonstrates diversity and appropriately conveys its culture
Increased caliber of earned media placements for the CEO such as Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CNBC, Barron’s and more
Nearly 100% of professional employees are now registered users on the internal employee app
An internal survey found that nearly 90% felt optimistic about Newell’s future because of leadership communication
A Glassdoor Rating of 2.5 and 25% approval of the CEO improved to 3.5 and 92% approval of the CEO

Stellato’s contribution to Newell Brands by motivating and developing people and helping them achieve their goals, leading the charitable foundation and being an integral player in positively changing the view of the company and its leadership add up to the definition of a dynamic-doer.

—ISM

Novavax

Silvia Taylor exudes a positive energy about her work and it’s contagious

An inspirational leader with expertise in developing communications and marketing campaigns and overseeing investor relations, Silvia Taylor’s talents and work ethic at biotech firm Novavax has earned her a spot among the Dynamic Do-ers in Ragan’s Top Women in Communication Awards.

Silvia Taylor, senior vice president, global corporate affairs and investor relations at Novavax, has worked on some of the biopharmaceutical industry’s biggest and most innovative brands that have focused on pioneering new markets like sexual health, bringing to market disruptive technologies like insulin inhaled directly into the lungs, and an oncology drug candidate that harnesses the power of a patient’s own immune system to defeat cancer.

Taylor has served in senior communications roles at Pfizer, MedImmune and Sucampo, among others, but faced her biggest challenge yet when she joined Novavax in June of 2020.

She has spent the past year and a half at Novavax on the front lines of bringing a game changing protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to market.

Taylor has built a global communications and investor relations function from the ground up, starting with only one team member. She now has a team of more than 20 employees working under her leadership to ensure Novavax fulfills its commitment to help vaccinate the world against COVID-19.

Born in Argentina, Taylor is fluent in Spanish and thinks globally. The Herculean effort by Novavax during the pandemic has taken her around the world to ensure that everyone, from clinical trial site leads to manufacturing partners, from investors to media, and from regulators to governments, is receiving consistent, transparent communications to accelerate Novavax’ mission to “create tomorrow’s vaccines today.”

During the past year, Taylor has led the launch of a new corporate brand and website for Novavax.

As a mom to two boys, she sets a great example to her team on finding work/life integration. Her passion for her work is contagious. She is a master at managing with grace and enthusiasm, always with a smile on her face. Her extraordinary positivity drives her leadership style. At the same time, she sets high expectations for herself and her team.

Taylor led investor relations as the stock price fluctuated throughout the past year, amid heavy trading and ongoing scrutiny, established stakeholder engagement best practices, oversaw a media engine that has issued an average of two to three press releases each week, and has served as an inspirational leader and mentor to her team.

—ISM

McDonald's USA

Heather Woodard is a changemaker and trailblazer at one of the largest companies in the world

Exceeding in a role at McDonald’s USA that combines her passions of PR and connecting brands in often underserved communities in relevant and meaningful ways, Heather Woodard is being celebrated for her work as one of Ragan’s Dynamic Do-ers in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

As director of cultural & community communications, Woodard leads PR for McDonald’s USA’s multicultural customer segments and is responsible for executing communications strategies to earn trust with critical diverse audiences, including the Black, Hispanic, Asian-American and LGBTQ+ communities.

This past year, Woodard played an integral role in several brand initiatives, helping the organization reach new audiences and authentically engage diverse brand fans on a deeper level.

Woodard is a catalyst behind the brand’s swift reaction to social justice issues, always encouraging the company and her team to let their values guide how they show up for customers. Earlier this year, she pushed to get the brand’s stance out around #StopAsianHate on social media quickly, making McDonald’s one of the first major brands to issue a statement and action on this issue. She took the same action in 2020 following George Floyd’s murder as a key member of the team that pushed out McDonald’s “One of Us” statement on social, denouncing injustice and racism.

Woodard also led the communication strategy to increase spend with diverse-owned media, content and production companies from 4% to 10% between 2021 and 2024. This is part of McDonald’s USA’s focus on long-term partnership investments and actions to help dismantle barriers for growth among diverse-owned companies.

Woodard’s role as a DE&I workplace champion and fostering record-breaking social engagement shines a positive light on McDonald’s. Her integral role in several brand initiatives has helped the brand reach new audiences and authentically engage diverse brand fans on a deeper level. Her leadership led to widespread industry coverage in outlets like Ad Age and Forbes. Woodard’s contributions are to be celebrated.

—ISM

MikeWorldWide

A ‘people-first ethos’ is the backbone of Gina Cherwin’s leadership at MikeWorldWide

As an HR Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards, Chief People Officer Gina Cherwin views supporting the PR agency’s employees as a responsibility and a privilege.

When Gina Cherwin was promoted to chief people officer at MikeWorldWide (MWW), she had been with the public relations agency for three years and she was five months pregnant with her first child. Her personal and professional passion for human resources and diversity, equity and inclusion has helped Cherwin as she leads the charge on MWW’s people-first ethos and developing benefits and experiences that manifest the company’s values. Her range of experiences, both personal and professional, have given Cherwin as she likes to say, “a PhD in psychology and an MBA in business.”

When the pandemic disrupted workplaces and lives in general, Cherwin leaned into her role to protect and support the mental health and well-being of the MWW team. Mental health days, monthly health and wellness stipends, and unlimited paid time off provided opportunities for the team to relieve additional pandemic-related pressures. A “Friday Freeze” policy places a 2:00 stop on internal meetings and emails to strengthen the demarcation between work and weekends for employees.

After an expectant parent employee in a same-sex marriage approached Cherwin about the company’s parental leave policy, the inequity of traditional leave policies became apparent, so Cherwin led the charge to accommodating this new parent — and everyone going forward. MWW now offers 12-weeks all-parental leave.

This responsiveness was also evident in the efforts of Cherwin and MWW’s DEI Council following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. They formalized commitments to advance DE&I efforts and ensure the company’s transparency and accountability in progress. Highlights from these efforts include:

Auditing the company’s recruiting and evaluation processes, including holding managers accountable for developing, retaining and advancing diverse talent.
Ongoing education about historic and persistent race-related issues in the workplace and how to overcome them.
The launch of an annual program that provides pro bono work to small diverse-owned businesses.

Year-over-year, these efforts have increased the Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) representation at MWW by 7%, bringing the BIPOC representation to 26% of the overall employee population. These efforts are just another example of Cherwin’s dedicated approach to people, policy and process.

UScellular

Deidre Drake is a thoughtful changemaker

For starting conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have led to internal policies that shape DE&I every level of UScellular, Deidre Drake is being recognized as one of Ragan’s HR Leaders in our Top Women in Communications Awards program.

Deirdre Drake, executive vice president and chief people officer at mobile network operator UScellular, introduced new internal communications vehicle, “Inclusion is How We D.O. Conversations,” after discovering professional obstacles some employees were facing.

These conversations focused on deepening cross-cultural understanding of issues surrounding equity and advocated for more training/growth opportunities for associates across the entire organization – from corporate offices and call centers to field engineers and frontline store associates. They also provide an overview of the benefits of having a diverse slate of candidates and how UScellular promotes and supports the hiring of diverse talent.

Drake’s efforts helped secure financial resources that support diverse partnerships that aid in attracting and retaining top talent and provide associates more training, mentorship and growth opportunities. She introduced additional training on racial inequity and continues to embed diversity into UScellular’s leader expectations and goals so managers can approach conversations without bias.

Recently, Drake spoke with the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) about how UScellular promotes and practices DEI within internal hiring practices and how other organizations can start this journey to ensure all associates feel represented.

The efforts she has outlined, including using metrics and benchmarks to track goals, has consistently placed UScellular on Best of Workplaces lists, including Forbes Best Employees for Diversity, the Chicago Tribune and others, plus a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index three years in a row.

In August 2021, Drake led the planning and execution of UScellular’s annual week-long, company-wide virtual inclusion summit, attended by 1,000 people.

Drake serves as a board member for the Red Cross of Chicago and Chicago Public Library Foundation, as a Lifetime Member of the National Black MBA, and is a supporter of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. She also dedicates time to UCAN, NAAAHR, By the Hand Club For Kids and Impact Grants Chicago. In May 2021, Drake was announced as the newest member of the UScellular Board of Directors.

CommonSpirit Health

Jessica Dixon delivers on unifying the enterprise

At a time when communication is more critical than ever, the CSH Population Health System director advocated for a solution to bring the organization together and earning her recognition within the Leader category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

CommonSpirit Health’s (CSH) Population Health function is comprised of 22 organizations that support value-based care responsible for more than 2.7 million people, and Jessica Dixon serves as system director for the organization’s marketing and communications. When she came aboard, a communications strategy was needed to bridge the divide among the geographically dispersed organizations, address uneven messaging between enterprise leaders and physicians and staff, and strengthen a lacking enterprise culture.

Dixon led the efforts to form an overarching communications strategy that resolved those issues and supported CSH Population Health’s massive change management initiative. Tackling the urgent communication needs, Dixon pioneered a comprehensive website for the Physician Enterprise and Population Health teams to provide a single source of truth for data and collaboration. She also saw the need for a secure platform that would enable greater collaboration and strengthen internal communications and convinced top leaders it was necessary.

Launched in 2021, the secure platform features a regularly updated news feed, department quick links, intuitive search and access to more than 300 resources like meeting templates, toolkits, maps and more. Since the launch of the platform and related strategic communications, employee engagement, collaboration and morale have increased by 37%. There has also been an 82% increase in time efficiencies to provide data to the enterprise.

While the launch of the secure website and platform showcased Dixon’s position as a communication thought leader, she also led efforts around communicating with physicians, staff and patients regarding COVID-19 protocols and the vaccine rollout. She developed a comprehensive strategic communications program to educate and advise providers on the vaccine as well as give resources for overcoming hesitancy and access challenges within vulnerable populations.

Pinterest

Dr. LeMia Jenkins Thompson amplifies Pinterest’s well-being initiatives

As the social media platform strives to create an inspiring environment, the head of global communications elevates these efforts and garners recognition as an honoree in the Leader category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

In her role as head of global communications at Pinterest, Dr. LeMia Jenkins Thompson spent 2021 overseeing and spearheading communications campaigns that amplify the social media platform’s brand values of emotional well-being, positivity and inspiration. Two examples are the efforts around World Mental Health Day and the banning of all weight loss advertisements from the platform.

Part of Pinterest’s efforts around World Mental Health Day in 2021 was the creation of Havens: Invest in Rest, an on- and offline destination designed to assist users with exploring the relationship between mental health and rest. Online Havens formed a collection of relaxing imagery and “idea pins” about rest from Pinterest creators. The offline destination took place in Chicago’s Boxville community, where local artist Dwight White created an art installation demonstrating the importance of rest and mental health. Jenkins Thompson served as the spokesperson around these efforts. She and her team hosted community events at the installation over two days and met with local press to discuss the platform’s commitment to mental health and emotional well-being. Further coverage also appeared on Cheddar TV and in a range of publications like TechCrunch and AdWeek.

Jenkins Thompson also oversaw the launch of Pinterest’s announcement it was banning all weight loss advertisement from the platform. While it had previously prohibited body shaming and dangerous weight loss products and claims, this global policy furthers Pinterest’s commitment to embracing body neutrality and making it a positive, inspiring environment for people of all shapes and sizes.

For the launch, Jenkins Thompson and her team secured over 1,600 earned media placements across the world, including more than 130 placements in the U.S. in top-tier outlets like Business Insider, Reuters, Newsweek and Forbes. It also garnered coverage in TV and radio segments across the country, including on CNN, Today, NPR and NBC’s Nightly News, reaching 27.5 million viewers.

UPS

Laura Lane delivers purpose at UPS

Being recognized in the Leader category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards, the chief corporate affairs officer advances UPS’s equality and sustainability missions.

Laura Lane wears many hats at the United Parcel Service (UPS). She is the chief corporate affairs officer, overseeing communications, public policy and government affairs, sustainability, community relations, and The UPS Foundation. Also, Lane essentially served as the company’s chief purpose officer by translating UPS’s mission into its first purpose statement. That in turn became the basis for communications and employee engagement campaigns highlighting how its 540,000 employees are “moving our world forward by delivering what matters.”

Under Lane’s leadership, the UPS communications team launched a fully integrated and visual campaign that shared UPS’s vaccine distribution story, both philanthropically and commercially, in the developed and developing world. The campaign spotlighted UPS heroes and the company’s health care logistics capabilities via earned media, owned social media and internal and external communications. Lane also led the storytelling efforts around UPS delivering help and hope during the pandemic.

As a founding member of the UPS Equity, Justice & Action (EJA) task force in 2020, Lane led UPS to:

Launch unconscious bias training for all management employees
Run a pay equity study for all business units and act upon the results
Work with state and federal legislators to advance voting reforms
Support efforts to enact hate crime legislation where legislative gaps existed at the state level
Launch the UPS Store Minority Incentive Program and UPS’s Women’s Exporter Program to help with economic recovery efforts

In 2021, Lane spearheaded UPS’s pledge and roadmap toward achieving carbon neutrality across its global operations by 2050. She is a frequent public speaker who often speaks on environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) topics as an advocate for greener and more socially responsible solutions at the intersection of public policy and business.

Outside of her work at UPS, Lane serves on the board of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees USA, the CDC Foundation and as co-chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, among others.

Spring Green Communications

The Mathews Group was virtual before virtual was real

Melissa Mathews founded her virtual agency long before Zoom, but it thrived before and during the pandemic, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Melissa Mathews founded a 100% virtual strategic communications firm in 2010, years before the era of Zoom meetings and social distancing. Her professional career included stints at CNN and NASA, but when she became a mother and her husband took a travel-heavy job with the U.S. Foreign Service, she had to find balance in her life when remote work wasn’t yet a popular strategy.

She started her own agency, The Mathews Group, out of her home office, and ported it around the world, pioneering a business model that would attract and engage top talent no matter where people live or where they are in life.

Mathews’ one-woman shop developed into a partnership with a former NASA colleague, along with multiple employees and a network of design, communication and digital specialists. The company’s biggest corporate clients, Phillips 66 and Lockheed Martin, have been with The Mathews Group since its founding. Clients rely on the team for high-profile campaign support and communications, like supporting spinoffs at Phillips 66, planning for crises, and penning investor and stakeholder reports.

In 2020, The Mathews Group’s expertise as a virtual agency paid off when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down offices worldwide and many companies scrambled to navigate a remote working world. Mathews spent the pandemic year balancing a hectic workload, remote school and solo parenting while her husband was abroad in Jordan and she and their three children were locked down in Florida. Mathews worked with her business partner to secure a PPP loan and took a pay cut to retain valuable employees and keep the business healthy.

It worked. The Mathews Group nearly doubled its client roster over the course of the pandemic and was on track to have its most profitable year ever in 2021.

In November 2021, The Mathews Group was rebranded to Spring Green Communications, signifying the company’s fresh approach to strategic communications and its commitment to people. The new name is an homage to the vibrant color of the original Mathews Group logo, and it reflects the level of skill, service and spirit the team brings to their work.

Committee for Children

Shauna McBride navigates a year of challenge, change and growth

Shauna McBride, the woman behind communications relating to organizational change, crisis comms and DE&I initiatives at Committee for Children is well-deserving of recognition in the Leader category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Critical race theory has become a hot-button issue within K-12 public education, and Shauna McBride, vice president of public relations and communication, has led the Committee for Children’s response to this buzz. That response included supporting client-advocates for the nonprofit’s programs with talking points as well as training client-facing staff around having authentic, empathetic conversations around difficult topics. McBride has also kept Committee for Children in the media, acting as both a resource and representative.

These efforts are set against a backdrop of organizational change, which included McBride’s own promotion into the role of vice president of public relations and communications. She led the organizational communications strategy for a number of executive hires, including the new CEO, vice president of marketing and communications and her own advancement. The strategy she created included a rollout of internal messaging for staff, video interviews with the Committee for Children’s new CEO, press releases and more.

McBride led the launch of a number of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Committee for Children, including:

The development of the organization’s equity statement
A webpage devoted to highlighting its DE&I commitments
Video panels that bring students and educators together to discuss DE&I within education
More videos that celebrate and amplify voice for Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, LGBTQ+ Pride Month and Hispanic Heritage Month
Joining the organization’s Grow Kinder podcast as host to lead conversations around how social emotional learning (SEL) can assist in navigating challenges around DE&I

The 2020 and 2021 “Captain Compassion” campaign strategies to prevent racially motivated cyberbullying were also led by McBride. She was the visionary behind a public awareness campaign focused on parents’ mental health, called “A Psychologist’s Guide to Winter Well-being.” Additionally, McBride drove the strategy for the “Hot Chocolate Talk” public awareness campaign to prevent child sexual abuse and the affiliated how-to guide for families garnered about 30,000 downloads. She was also in charge of the media relations strategy for two new products from the Committee for Children: Second Step Social Emotional Learning for Adults and Second Step Digital Elementary program.

The ALS Association

The mission comes first for Morgan Roth

Like many, The ALS Association had to pivot when the pandemic began, but Morgan Roth’s efforts set a new standard of engagement for a campaign and recognition in the Leader category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

The goal Morgan Roth set out when she became vice president of marketing and communications at The ALS Association in 2019 was to solidify the brand and ensure its place as the preeminent nonprofit in the ALS disease space. While the viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from years prior had heightened awareness, the association stood poised for its next chapter.

Drawing upon her experience as a cross-functional collaborator and trusted advisor to national and international leadership in academia and the nonprofit sector, Roth had begun elevating the organization’s communication and marketing efforts when the pandemic hit. This necessitated a change in focus, and Roth delivered The ALS Association leadership and cross-country affiliate network a strategic communications plan that reassured that its patient population programs and services would continue.

A modified marketing plan from Roth set a new standard of engagement for The ALS Association, earning over 5.3 million media impressions, nearly 2 million video views, a 205% increase in conversations and an 81% lift in new donors. Other achievements in her time with the association include:

Online revenue increased by 16% due to Roth’s targeted strategy that emphasizes engagement and alignment ahead of solicitation
A formal SEO initiative increased search visibility by 25% and domain authority by 10%
The organization’s first brand lift study with Meta (formerly known as Facebook) to gain intelligence around audience segments, ad recall, brand perception and intent to donate

These efforts by Roth keep The ALS Association’s mission at the forefront of communication and marketing efforts. Under her leadership, the organizational culture now values strategic communications work, and she is an advisor to leadership and a role model to junior staff.

Beyond these career successes, Roth is a founding member of Chief, a private network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. She also serves as a board member for iRise Above Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to offering empowerment and support for young women diagnosed with breast cancer.

TrueBlue, Inc. | PeopleReady |PeopleScout

Caroline Sabetti supports her company’s mission ‘To take our clients from now to next’

Her work for TrueBlue brings employers and workers together in many different ways; one of her big projects was a marketing campaign highlighting an Indianapolis 500 winner. All that makes her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As senior vice president of communications for TrueBlue, a provider of specialized workforce solutions, and chief marketing officer for TrueBlue’s PeopleReady and PeopleScout brands, Caroline Sabetti supports TrueBlue’s mission to be a global force connecting people and jobs. Responsible for brand management, product development, interactive and content marketing, creative services, event management, public relations, and communications, Sabetti strives to inspire not just her teams but the entire TrueBlue organization.

In 2021, Sabetti spearheaded a brand refresh and website redesign for PeopleReady, which specializes in quick and reliable on-demand labor for employers. The effort was completed entirely in-house, including the development of a new brand promise, tagline and brand story, all designed to attract and engage businesses and workers from a diverse range of industries and backgrounds.

Sabetti also launched the most comprehensive integrated marketing campaign in PeopleReady’s history in 2021. Spotlighting PeopleReady’s sponsorship of two-time Indianapolis 500 champ Takuma Sato, the campaign reached millions of people — including hundreds of thousands of clients and associates — garnering thousands of earned media stories and encouraging more than 500,000 people to join the workforce amid a worker shortage. Sabetti’s efforts included PeopleReady’s first-ever TV ad, featuring Sato, which reached millions of viewers.

For PeopleScout, a recruitment process outsourcing provider, Sabetti guided the marketing team’s effort to support clients and internal teams through the upheaval of the pandemic, creating relevant thought leadership content and resources.

Caroline Sabetti also oversaw the launch of PeopleScout Spark, an innovation hub that allowed employees to submit suggestions for changing the way PeopleScout operates for clients and for internal teams. The campaign successfully aligned PeopleScout teams with the company’s brand promise “to take our clients from now to next.”

CNSI

Kelly Schlageter racks up business accomplishments while elevating diversity

Despite juggling many plates during the pandemic, the CNSI senior vice president successfully transformed the marketing and communications team and is recognized as an honoree in the Leader category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

When the pandemic shut down the CNSI offices, Kelly Schlageter, senior vice president, marketing and communications, had just four months in the role under her belt, but she stepped up to this additional challenge. While juggling remote work, remote school for her children, caring for aging parents and family health issues, Schlageter modeled grace under pressure and extended compassion and support to her team as they underwent their own challenges.

Schlageter persevered in transforming the communications team with the hiring of a new internal communication manager, promoting a specialist and hiring for the newly added role of marketing director. Her efforts of support extend beyond her own team as Schlageter championed work-life balance at CNSI with mini-campaigns on “No Internal Meeting Fridays” and “Take a Break” to encourage enjoying a real lunch hour without email, meetings or calls. She also drafted, administered and analyzed a future of work survey with an 86% participation rate. The results then informed CNSI’s return-to-work strategy and new hybrid model.

Additional accomplishments by Schlageter in 2021 were:

Overseeing the redesign and relaunch of the CNSI website to better convey the company’s business proposition to clients and attract talent
Co-launching the DEI Council, overseeing the creation of a CEO Statement on Diversity and establishing a calendar of recognitions to both celebrate and educate employees around the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of the global workforce
Serving as executive sponsor for the redesign and relaunch of the company’s corporate social responsibility program, CNSI Gives Back
Launching “Lean In” Circles and growing membership to include 60 women in five circles across U.S. and India offices

The CNSI website redesign Schlageter oversaw produced a 139% increase in overall page views and 189% increase in careers page views. Her efforts around the relaunch of CNSI Gives Back have resulted in a commitment to at least one company-wide philanthropic activity per quarter and more than $80,000 donated by the program as of the awards submission.

The Thomas Collective

Pamela Thomas builds a workplace around employees feeling valued

The founder and president of The Thomas Collective took the agency’s culture and business virtual without missing a beat, validating her recognition in the “Leader” category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards

Upon opening the doors of her business 15 years ago, Pamela Thomas, founder and president of The Thomas Collective, knew it was possible for a workplace to prioritize diversity, creativity and joy, even in an unpredictable, timeline-driven industry. As she built her company, Thomas created a workplace where every employee feels valued and is empowered as a decision maker.

The arrival of the pandemic necessitated a remote new normal, and Thomas worked to again foster that sense of community that drives the agency’s work. Some of the programming that retained staff and built connections included:

Watercooler Wednesdays, where staff met weekly to discuss current topics
The organization of virtual small group lunches
Sending kits that facilitated group play
Hosting seasonal celebrations that ranged from Zoom whiskey tastings to virtual Yankee Swaps

In addition to the focus on community, Thomas adapted business in the virtual space with the introduction of new, collaborative platforms and adapted the agency’s rapid-fire brainstorming sessions for virtual participation. She also instituted a daily silent hour that is free from calls and meetings.

A new onboarding model for remote employees was also implemented. Thomas believes the onboarding process is an opportunity to communicate the company’s beliefs at the onset and articulate the employee’s role in The Thomas Collective’s success. To accomplish this virtually, Thomas oversaw the addition of interactive elements and engaged multiple staff members to participate in the training process. She also led a company-wide exercise around identifying tangible examples of the firm’s core values to illustrate and clarify communication and behaviors that reflect the firm’s beliefs.

This emphasis on employee engagement and culture is a result of Thomas’ purpose-led leadership and earned recognition for The Thomas Collective on the 2021 Great Place to Work list. Her efforts and guidance also resulted in the creation of several award-winning campaigns and a 27% growth of the business.

Workday

Jeanette Volpi leads the effort to reshape the Visa brand

Jeanette Volpi took a multipronged approach to telling the Visa story across all channels, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

In 2021, Visa launched a multiyear, companywide initiative to transform its brand. Jeanette Volpi and her team were tasked with changing the perceptions of the company among influencers, including investors, regulators, government officials and the media. Volpi set out to create a common story and then integrate it into all Visa’s channels.

The team’s strategy for traditional media was to promote Visa stories that combined internal priorities and external influences, increasing Visa’s share of voice and driving extended coverage in areas like crypto. The effort resulted in 17 interviews in fiscal year 2021 and 32 in fiscal year 2022.

Executives participated in multiple thought leadership opportunities around events and in traditional media, which were amplified on Visa’s owned and social channels. This produced bigger impacts from a single engagement, with content spanning multiple channels — for example, a Washington Post interview with Visa’s CEO that included a feature article, a video and social media content.

For the project’s digital strategy, Volpi took a paid, earned, shared and owned approach to integrating multiple channels. The team coordinated social media activity globally, replacing one-off promotions with a campaign-based approach that tied content together under a cohesive theme and message. Data-based insights allowed the team to optimize its social content and posting strategy, resulting in a 387% increase in average engagement and a 487% increase in clicks year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021.

To reposition the company with its clients, Volpi’s team launched Visa Navigate, a digital destination for data-driven insights and perspectives on payments and commerce designed specifically for Visa clients in North America. The effort produced continued growth of client subscribers, with readers spending strong time on site, along with improved email newsletter open rates. In addition, an increasing number of visitors come to the site from organic search, demonstrating a growing awareness of the platform generally.

IEX

Marija Zivanovic-Smith found a new life in the U.S — and a PR career

Arriving from Serbia, Marija Zivanovic-Smith made her impact at multiple organizations, now leading comms at NCR. She’s a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Marija Zivanovic-Smith immigrated from war-torn Serbia to the United States 27 years ago with just $500 and a suitcase. Today she leads corporate marketing, communications and external affairs for NCR Corporation, a $6.6 billion Fortune 500 company.

She began her career as a core strategist for IBM’s Energy & Utility business, then moved to a position at GridPoint, where she led strategy and execution for government affairs, policy formulation and stakeholder engagement. Now, as NCR’s executive vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, she has contributed to the company’s emerging market growth and positive shift in brand perception.

One of Zivanovic-Smith’s proudest professional achievements is the work she and her team did to change the skyline of Atlanta. Her negotiations to relocate NCR’s global headquarters to Atlanta sparked significant interest from the news media, potential employees and partners. Zivanovic-Smith secured more than $360 million in investments for the relocation, including the highest grant of support ever from Georgia and the city of Atlanta.

Zivanovic-Smith’s work in Belgrade is close to her heart. She negotiated with the Serbian government for incentives to build the NCR digital services Belgrade campus, which consolidated 4,000 employees across six locations into one centralized campus. In 2018, Zivanovic-Smith received the Serbian Medal of Honor for her contributions to economic growth in the region.

Zivanovic-Smith also leads NCR’s global COVID-19 Task Force, responsible for transferring more than 95% of NCR’s office staff to remote work within two weeks. In addition, she and the team launched a hub for customers and communities to access crisis-related resources. The hub has seen more than 140,000 unique visitors and 188,000 page views since March 2020.

As executive sponsor of NCR’s Black Professionals Forum, Zivanovic-Smith works to advance NCR’s culture of diversity and inclusion, hosting DE&I conversations for NCR leadership and employees, with such guest speakers as Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

JSA+Partners

Jennifer Stevens Acree focuses on helping young women succeed

Jennifer Stevens Acree’s internships at JSA+Partners prepare college students for the real world of PR. In the meantime, she’s helping her teenage daughter become an entrepreneur. That makes her a Mentor in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Jennifer Stephens Acree, founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based communications agency JSA+Partners, is passionate about supporting and inspiring young women to succeed.

In addition to managing a successful boutique PR agency with nine employees, Acree lends her expertise to up-and-coming PR professionals through JSA+Partners’s internship program, providing college students with authentic, hands-on experience into the inner workings of a PR agency.

These interns don’t just do the photocopying and go out for coffee. Acree invests in her interns, enabling them to not only assist the agency and its employees in their work, but gain real-world experience that prepares them for full-time positions after graduation. She’s hired several former interns for positions at JSA, and others have taken roles at Brunswick, Hulu, Fabletics, Adobe, Okta, L’Oreal and more.

Acree also sits on the Board of Advisors at the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations, where she helps develop the curriculum that will shape the next generation of PR professionals.

The PR pro shares her knowledge and perspective on female entrepreneurship at industry events like The Lead Event and the USC Own It Women’s Leadership Summit. She has also been a guest lecturer at both USC and LMU and serves as a contributing writer and member of the Forbes Business Council.

Acree also serves as PR “executive” (and proud mom) to her 13-year-old daughter’s small business, Bath & Body By the Seaside, which specializes in products like hand sanitizers, scrubs, soaps, candles, bug sprays and repellents. Throughout the pandemic, a portion of the business’s proceeds were donated to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, providing more than 2,600 meals to food-insecure communities across Los Angeles (and landing a feature on LAFoodBank.org).

Crafted Communications

Allie Marsh is a dynamic leader with an eye for youth marketing, crafting communications

Allie Marsh is the youngest vice president at Crafted Communications and knows how to reach younger markets that can be puzzling for older generations. She’s been recognized as a Trailblazer in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As the youngest vice president at Crafted Communications, Allie Marsh has proven herself a dynamic and charismatic leader. She is known for developing and executing strategic campaigns for the company’s clients that involve not only out-of-the-box ideas, but headline-grabbing storylines. Bridging the gap between younger colleagues and more senior leaders with a unique voice, Allie has made a position for herself as an integral member of the agency’s management team. She is responsible for branded materials as the head of marketing, where her passion for design and aesthetics shine.

Working with client Plenty of Fish for over two years, she met the challenge of finding fresh ways to connect with their existing and prospective members in an increasingly competitive market as the volume of dating apps continues to grow. Working with her team, Marsh integrated new tactics including influencer content and a paid digital content partnership, strategically timing the Dating Trends campaign to launch after the presidential election and ahead of the holiday season. The campaign resulted in 520 pieces of coverage and 3.5 billion impressions – a 46% increase over the prior year’s results.

When one of the trends, “Fauci-ing,” went viral, it was due to one of Marsh’s new tactics. Dr. Anthony Fauci himself was asked about it during an interview on HBO’s ”Axios,” and his reaction was so favorable that it garnered coverage in top outlets like Forbes, New York Post, Mashable, HuffPost, Vanity Fair and more.

Marsh’s campaign went on to be a finalist and winner of several industry awards including: PRNews Digital PR Awards: Viral campaign (Winner), Ragan’s Media Relations Awards: Content Marketing & Brand Journalism (Winner), PRNews Digital PR Awards: Media relations (honorable mention), PRNews Digital PR Awards: Integrated marketing campaign (honorable mention), Ragan’s Media Relations Awards: Newsjacking (honorable mention), and was recently announced a finalist for the PRNews Platinum Awards: Branding (winners announced in November).

Kudos to Allie Marsh and her team.

—SD

Nymbus

Allison Netzer champions to customer at Nymbus

Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Allison Netzer has revolutionized digital financial services in her position at Nymbus, forging new methods for online banking and credit unions, making her a Trailblazer in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Allison Netzer has what she calls a “marketing mindset,” navigating expansion for technology brands and organizations with consideration toward data and customer focus. As chief marketing and strategy officer at Nymbus, she helps financial institutions achieve growth in the digital age.

Director of Communications Susie Dougherty says, “The financial services industry is grappling with a technology problem that has plagued us for more than a decade, and Allison is one of the biggest forces for change to make digital banking experiences better for everyone. She has the mindset, skill set and experience to close the chasm between the promise and the delivery of digital banking transformation and she is inspiring countless new marketing leaders to help their organizations make these vital, massive changes.”

Championing the customer throughout her career, Netzer has worked for 20 years in cross-functional roles, beginning in sales leadership at Dell, transitioning to high-profile marketing responsibilities, and ultimately becoming an essential voice in corporate strategy development. While at Dell, Allison led the vision for the next generation of Dell.com. As senior vice president for Strategy and Marketing at digital banking platform Kony, she helped the company grow by 500% in two and a half years, as well as playing an instrumental role in the run-up to a $580 million acquisition by Europe’s third-largest software company, Temenos.

At Nymbus, Netzer rethought how digital banking should work. Rather than simply moving traditional processes online, she’s revolutionizing how banks and credit unions connect digitally with their customers. Dougherty continues, “She’s leading the effort to tell the unique Nymbus story that — with an empowering approach and accountable partner — any financial institution can use digital to grow beyond traditional boundaries.”

We congratulate Allison Netzer.

—SD

College of DuPage

Wendy E. Parks speaks truth and forges paths at College of DuPage

With her campaigns aimed at combating racism and making college inclusive and welcoming for students and staff alike, Wendy E. Parks has been instrumental in making the College of DuPage a 2021 Forbes Best-in-State employer and a best mid-sized employer. She has set up new scholarships, forging new paths for students of the future and leading by example along the way, making her an honoree as a Trailblazer in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Wendy E. Parks is the first person of color to serve as vice president of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications since College of DuPage opened in 1967. She hasn’t wasted her time in the position, forging the way for others to follow in her footsteps. Thanks to her leadership of enrollment communications, the college’s adult Hispanic and Black populations have grown significantly even during the global pandemic when many other institutions struggled to achieve similar results.

Parks’ communication strategies have fostered higher interest in College of DuPage through forward-thinking PR and social media campaigns, garnering more than 1 million new YouTube visitors for the college during the 2020-2021 academic year.

With her drive and her talent, Parks made a positive impact outside the bounds of the college in the local community. One of her projects included setting up a scholarship for those interested in starting a first-responder career, announced at the college’s 20th anniversary commemoration of 9/11. Parks invited local first responders to join the college’s police recruits and staff on the day in messages of commemoration and hope and encouragement, including through a Facebook Live ceremony allowing those who could not attend in person to be part of the event.

Through her careful and strategic planning, Parks has brought the college and the local community closer together. As one of the driving forces behind the year-long Chaps Unite Against Racism initiative and the “Speak Your Truth” blog, she has provided people from all walks of life a platform to share experiences and allowed individuals to develop specific actions against racism through meaningful conversation and nurturing a better, more inclusive environment for everyone. We congratulate Parks.

—SD

Acuity Brands

Dr. Candace Steele Flippin looks beyond the glass ceiling at Acuity Brands

Dr. Candace Steele Flippin has gone above and beyond her role in her mission to help others dust off the shards from a smashed glass ceiling and reach their fullest professional potential. Through her tireless work on a variety of platforms and media including books, academia, and LinkedIn, Flippin has supported and inspired thousands of young people not only at Acuity Brands but across the world. Her work led to recognition as a Trailblazer in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

The predictions would prove true for a young Dr. Candace Steele Flippin, who was hailed as one of PR News’ One to Watch in 2002. With a doctorate under her belt, Steele Flippin accepted a position as research fellow at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University to research the future of the workplace. The author of books including “Generation Z in the Workplace” and the article “The Glass Ceiling Is Breaking… Now What?”, Steele Flippin has made a thoroughly positive contribution to her field, serving as the 2022 Chair of the Arthur Page Seminar, as the first African American chair of the PRSA Health Academy, and as the treasurer of the Diversity Action Alliance.

Straddling both the academic world and the world of business, it is no surprise that Steele Flippin has proven popular on TV and news platforms, making appearances on Forbes, CNBC, CBS, and Today.com. Her recent LinkedIn Masterclass for young professionals garnered 60,000 impressions.

As the chief communication officer at Acuity Brands, Steele Flippin leads all elements of the lighting and space technology management company’s global communication strategy, covering and supporting her teams with all types of communication including corporate, brand management and media relations. The experience she has gained as a change agent in non-profit, agency, corporate, and academic settings has helped her transform six businesses in industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to finance to her current role in industrial technology.

Her mission to make a better world for marginalized groups continues at Acuity Brands, where Steele Flippin is the executive sponsor of Acuity’s PRIDE employee resource group and serves on the company’s Executive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion council. An inspiration to women, people of color, and countless others inside and outside of Acuity, Steele Flippin will continue to inspire and change the people and workplaces she meets. Congratulations, Steele Flippin.

—SD

Amazon

Amazon’s Pia Arthur brings click and mortar to life

As director of public relations for Physical Retail & Technology at Amazon, Pia Arthur puts the mortar in the click and aims to educate audiences on how Amazon technology can shape the way consumers shop. She’s earned recognition as a Visionary in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Amazon’s online shopping experience has reached new levels in the last decade, expanding from its online presence to traditional brick-and-mortar stores with a tech touch. Leading the public relations efforts for Amazon’s Physical Retail & Technology communications is Pia Arthur, who oversees and manages a team of 15 as part of Amazon’s worldwide comms team.

Arthur and her team have comms oversight of Amazon’s various physical store formats such as Amazon Go, a chain of physical convenience stores in the US and UK that allows customers to purchase products without needing to check out at a traditional cashier or self-checkout station. Additionally, the team spearheads comms around new products and services like Amazon Fresh and physical store technologies such as Amazon One, a free, contactless service that lets you use your palm to pay or identify yourself, and Amazon Dash Carts, a smart shopping cart that uses a combination of computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify items in your cart and process payment via your Amazon account).

Most recently, Arthur and the team helped to announce the use of Just Walk Out technology at a new full-size Amazon Fresh grocery store and at two Whole Foods market locations. As the name implies, customers just walk out with checkout-free shopping.

Technology is at the forefront for Arthur. She encourages her team to seek out new and different ways to communicate the differences and value for customers in shopping in physical stores versus online at Amazon.com. To drive innovative storytelling, Arthur suggests the team think big on how technology is transforming everyday life for consumers who want convenience and speed in their daily shopping experiences while sharing how Amazon works to make the physical shopping experience even better for customers.

Arthur also worked in Amazon public relations during her 10 years with the company. Prior to joining Amazon, she worked at a startup and various PR agencies on brands such as Procter & Gamble and YouTube. She lives in Austin with her husband and three children.

—JG

Profitable PR Pros

Jen Berson leads the next generation of PR pros at Jeneration PR

A working mother, Jen Berson runs her award-winning PR company from home and helps others do the same. She believes everyone can create the work-life balance they want, which resulted in a place among our Visionary honorees in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

The President and founder of Jeneration PR, Jen Berson set out to create a company with the kind of work-life balance she wanted when she became a mother. She runs her award-winning public relations company from home, serving thousands of professionals in the beauty and baby industry worldwide, all while being present for her two young boys.

Berson has never thought that industry secrets should be kept close to the chest. Through her Profitable PR Pros community, she offers free weekly training to help other professionals advance their businesses. She believes that there are paths to a career in PR beyond the traditional, and that people can carve their own way rather than simply rising through the ranks of a traditional agency.

Aiming to help aspiring PR pros hone their skills, she has created multiple educational programs to serve professionals at every stage of their career created from her own experience in the industry, including The Pitch Lab, a membership community which provides participants with cost-effective education and training in media relations. As of 2022, Berson has supported more than 2,500 publicists around the world, earning awards including Top Mentor to PR Professionals by the Stevie Awards, PR News and Ragan’s PR Daily.

During the height of the pandemic, Berson launched several programs to help PR professionals navigate a rapidly developing situation, using her extensive network to create training programs on crisis communication and the changing social media landscape.

To see Berson’s real impact, though, one only needs to look to the pages of glowing testimonials from those in her programs. “These programs lay a strong business foundation and the community you have built provides a fierce support system for all of us,” writes Sonia Braga. “Your programs are changing lives all over the world.” Well done, Jen!

—SD

Anat Gerstein, Inc.

Anat Gerstein serves nonprofits and creates lasting change

Receiving recognition as a Visionary in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards, Anat Gerstein has been working exclusively with nonprofits, helping them to get the attention and results they may not otherwise be able to achieve.

Anat Gerstein formed her communications firm with the goal of exclusively serving nonprofits. Anat Gerstein, Inc. was created after Gerstein spent 15 years working in advertising, communications and city government, a background which gave her the knowledge and the experience of serving some of New York’s most vulnerable populations. Having seen the challenges faced by nonprofits during her time as chief of staff for public advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Gerstein formed the firm “with the goal of making good—every day—on three core promises to clients: The firm will always be looking for opportunities and better ways to achieve clients’ goals; will always be available and on-call; and will become part of the team for each client.”

Following pandemic lockdown, Gerstein’s team reacted immediately, knowing there would be a need to get their nonprofit clients in front of potential donors. Their response helped nonprofits like BronxWork, who were able to increase their food pantry programs by over 500% in the midst of COVID. As vaccines became widely available, Gerstein continued to work to increase New Yorkers’ awareness of programs available to them such as food and housing assistance, job training programs, and other safety-net services.

Gerstein was also behind management of the press for Girl Scout Troop 6000, Girl Scouts of America’s first troop composed entirely of girls living in homeless shelters. They helped bring in $2 million in donations, as well as record-breaking cookie sales which help to fund Troop 6000’s activities.

Under Gerstein’s leadership, the firm has seen a 45% increase in personnel, 20% increase in clients, and has a client retention rate of over 90%. President and CEO of Associated Medical Schools of New York, Jo Wiederhorn, says of Gerstein: “We work on the same issues year after year. Anat keeps coming up with creative new ideas and angles to get us the attention we need to move our advocacy agenda forward.”

Congratulations!

—SD

Cisco, Inc

Cisco’s Katy Hayes paves the way for leaders and strategic communications

Recognizing the future of work, Katy Hayes rallied senior leadership to form an executive summit and create the Cisco storyline for the C-suite. Her efforts earned her recognition as a Visionary in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Given the pandemic and the need to transition to hybrid workplaces, Katy Hayes, Cisco’s vice president of CEO and Employee Communications, recognized the need for multiple touchpoints between leaders and employees. In one initiative, she persuaded Cisco’s leadership to invest in an executive summit for senior vice presidents to work on strategic alignment, real-time problem solving and team bonding to aid Cisco’s 77,000 employees transition to hybrid work. One of the highlights of the strategic guidance were monthly employee check-in events, which created a new level of transparency and authenticity with leaders and has become an important touchpoint for employees. Event participation has increased 100%.

Hayes has been essential in creating a strong storyline for Cisco, working directly with CEO Chuck Robbins and other Cisco executives to effectively communicate to employees, customers, partners, shareholders, media and via social media. She’s worked to develop messaging so that Robbins could discuss difficult topics with grace, from COVID spikes in various parts of the world to mental health, employee well-being and racial injustice. In September 2021, Hayes played a leadership role in defining Cisco’s and Robbin’s storylines for its first Investor Day in four years, helping senior executives deliver a compelling narrative around Cisco’s progress with business transformation and strategy for the future.

Hayes consistently brings a unique and fresh perspective, leads with infectious enthusiasm and fun, creates a team camaraderie that enables all members to feel they can accomplish great things, encourages risk-taking, and ensures strong alignment across functions at Cisco, according to her award nomination.

She remains committed to comms alignment across the Communications Leadership Team and Cisco’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to ensure messaging is consistent and the company’s storyline is carried through effectively. Finding the value in the alignment, members of these teams now meet regularly to discuss upcoming communications initiatives, presentations and events.

Congratulations to Katy Hayes.

—JG

VSC

Maggie Philbin uses communications for social good at VSC

Maggie Philbin has always been a champion for those who need it most, spending the pandemic not only helping VSC, a public relations firm, increase its headcount, but by getting PPE and medical supplies to the Navajo Nation, which makes her deserving of recognition as a Visionary in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

A tireless advocate for social causes, Maggie Philbin uses her role at VSC to inspire change, particularly among marginalized voices. Having joined the firm as an account manager seven years ago, Philbin is now a partner, with over 12 years of PR industry experience.

The first in her family to attend college, she turned her internship at Brock Communications, a crisis communications firm in Tampa, Florida, into a full-time job. There she learned about work in PR and began her first foray into the communications industry, where her success led to her being named as a 30 Under 30 by Tampa Bay Business Journal.

In the course of her career at Brock, Maggie served as the strategic planning chair for the Public Relations Society of America. Here she began working toward advancing the causes of the communications industry at large, and continues to do so as a board member of Young Professionals of San Francisco and as a guest lecturer at higher education institutions around the country, including the City College of New York.

She advocates tirelessly for women in PR and beyond. Philbin is the co-founder of Whisper Voice Roar, a women’s activist group which advocates for equality, immigrant rights, transparency and human kindness.

Philbin’s work at VSC saw her increase the company’s headcount by 50% in the midst of the pandemic, at a time when managing rapid growth was more difficult than ever.

She also saw in the pandemic a need for advocacy for groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and leveraged her network to bring attention to the Navajo Nation, which experienced more deaths per capita than any state during this time. She mobilized three organizations — XWing, which develops software for autonomous air cargo vehicles; Osmo, which develops educational games and other school resources; and GetUsPPE, a non-profit that provides critical supplies to frontline workers — to deliver hundreds of pounds of hospital-grade masks and gowns, school supplies, and educational tablets to the Navajo Community using autonomous cargo drones.

We congratulate Maggie Philbin.

—SD

Owens Realty Services

Isabelle Owens helps her family real estate business thrive

Leaving NYC for Orlando to work at her family’s Owens Realty Services, Isabelle Owens focused on strategy and innovative solutions to succeed. That and her philanthropic work make her a Rising Star in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Isabelle Owens was pursuing a digital marketing and communications career in New York City when her entrepreneurial spirit pulled her back to Orlando in 2018 to join her family’s firm, Owens Realty Services, as vice president of corporate marketing and communications. Since she headed south, the firm has seen a 66% increase in overall revenue growth.

How did she do it? Owens streamlined the company’s brand and business development strategy, developing a unified brand identity built on the original pillars of the company. She led her team to identify and develop innovative facility solutions and craft a cohesive message that reimagined the company’s brand.

Her e-commerce and digital marketing expertise came in handy, helping her develop and launch a new website and social media strategy to stay relevant in the industry and position the company as a leader in full-service real estate services.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Owens spearheaded internal and external communications for the company, leading its internal COVID task force in responding quickly to challenges, client inquiries and concerns. She worked with an in-house industrial hygienist to develop communications and safety protocols supported by the CDC to keep the company’s frontline team members and client facilities healthy and safe.

Throughout the pandemic, Owens also ran a grocery delivery service for team members who were sick or experiencing hardship. Additionally, she leads volunteer days, clothing and toy drives and food drives, as well as individualized support efforts for team members.

In December 2020, Owens established the family’s nonprofit foundation, the Robert D. Owens Family Foundation, as part of her commitment to philanthropy. She hosts an annual private cocktail event in Manhattan on behalf of the company in support of Give Kids the World Village. Plus, she has traveled to Fiji, Tonga and Uganda to volunteer with elementary-aged children and orphans.

Haymaker Group

Solange Pittet succeeds with top clients while building a strong team

At Haymaker, Solange Pittet is crucially involved in hiring and onboarding while also earning coverage and respect for clients like Etsy and Zocdoc. She’s a Rising Star in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

At 29 years old, Solange Pittet is a trusted advisor to CEOs and executives of some of the most prominent technology companies in the U.S. Only five years into her PR career, Pittet leads the press strategies for boutique public relations agency Haymaker’s enterprise accounts —companies like HubSpot, Etsy and Angi, along with high-growth startups like Zocdoc and Mark43.

Since joining Haymaker, which had only two employees at the time, Pittet has assembled a team of 15 people. She’s been involved in every hire, developing the agency’s onboarding process, laying the groundwork for its internship program and onboarding external talent agencies, all while providing mentorship to junior staff. And as the sole woman on the firm’s senior team, Pittet works to empower women and promote diversity at Haymaker and its clients.

Here are just a few examples of Pittet’s impact over the past year:

In the wake of COVID-19, Pittet worked closely with Etsy’s communications team to rebrand the artisanal goods platform as a global e-commerce leader providing essential goods. She led campaigns to solidify Etsy’s position as a tech leader, garnering regular press coverage of the company’s social impact strategy and driving international recruitment efforts. These efforts contributed to Etsy being named one of the top-performing stocks of 2020.
Pittet launched an executive visibility campaign for the CEO of the Boston-based fintech company, offering his expertise to explain the Paycheck Protection Plan rollout and using Numerated’s proprietary lending data to provide insight into the loan origination and forgiveness processes. This earned opportunities for the CEO in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Inc., among others, and led to the company’s client base growth in 2021.
Pittet worked closely with the health care company’s CEO to craft comprehensive messaging on the company’s emergence into telehealth. This resulted in strong messaging pull-through among top health care media outlets and established Zocdoc as a major telehealth player in the minds of reporters on the health care beat.

HIMSS

Morgan Searles brings harmony to strategic communications

At HIMSS, Morgan Searles applies her journalism background to her strategic comms career. She’s a Rising Star in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Morgan Searles likes to think of words on a page like the notes in a song. As manager of strategic communications at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), she fine-tunes the rhythm, clarifies the message and makes words resonate.

She recognized and honed this skill in college writing classes and bustling newsrooms, but nowadays Searles edits strategies, processes and relationships for HIMSS, leading the development of strategic communications programs to elevate the organization’s global reputation. Searles manages internal and external projects for HIMSS, supporting the senior director of strategic communications and mentoring the strategic communications program manager.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Searles was part of the strategic communications efforts surrounding the annual HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition for 2020 and 2021. The event usually draws more than 40,000 health care professionals, but the 2020 conference was canceled days before it was set to kick off in Orlando.

Searles directed media monitoring efforts around the event; she helped draft, edit and publish urgent communications and statements for a variety of stakeholders; she also compiled activity reports. She then applied the practical knowledge and experience she’d gained during 2020 to prepare for and navigate the challenges of executing the 2021 conference, with a successful result.

Using her journalism background and a knack for developing and maintaining strong relationships with reporters, Searles has helped to develop a faculty expert database at Northwestern University, where she’s part of the media relations team, earning media placements for faculty members in trending and breaking news stories.

She adapted this strategy at HIMSS, building a subject matter expert library to survey in-house expertise and create a collection of regularly updated reference documents used in press outreach. The project earns HIMSS press mentions and op-eds in national, international and trade publications like Politico, Business Insider and Becker’s.

Integral

Taylor Shawver helps clients soar while building a startup agency

Vision boards help Taylor Shawver plan strategy for clients like WWE and IBM, as well as helping her own employer, Integral, grow. She’s a Rising Star in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Integral, an employee activation agency, was founded in 2018. Its first employee was Taylor Shawver, who came on board as client strategist. One of her first high-profile clients was WWE.

Although she didn’t exactly pin The Undertaker, Shawver did wrestle WWE’s needs into shape, creating a communications plan to build employee pride during an impending headquarters move. Shawver co-developed a campaign to instill a digital-first mindset in WWE’s workforce and recommit to the company’s Code of Champions values. COVID-19 put the move on hold, but the client praised Integral’s work and partnership.

Currently, Shawver is leading an a change communications initiative, “Project Afterburner,” in partnership with IBM leaders. Its goal is to transform its 5,000-person marketing team into a digital-first organization, with communications focused on changing systems, processes and behaviors. Shawver established new internal communications channels, content and experiences to get IBM marketers engaged in transforming how the organization works.

As a result of Shawver’s work, thousands of IBM marketers now participate in regular town hall meetings, listen to internal marketing podcasts, watch video training and more. Her communications strategy and tactics have been repeated across the IBM organization as well as with clients undergoing similar transformations.

Shawver brought her personal experience of creating vision boards — something she learned from her mother — to chart the culture, rituals and employee social contract for Integral when it was just a two-person agency, imagining what the agency could become: a real office with real employees and really big clients.

Integral now has nine employees and a number of the iconic companies she targeted on her vision board now count among its clients. Shawver today manages four people while serving as account lead for IBM and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation and leading organic and new business development.

Susan Davis International

Susan Ann Davis: Leader, mentor, comms icon

The trailblazing expert in crisis management and government relations has earned a well-deserved spot in Ragan’s Women in Communications Hall of Fame in our 2021 Top Women in Communications Awards.

At the age of 26, Susan Ann Davis took a bold step and bet on herself.

When she first arrived in Washington, D.C. after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, relatively few women were succeeding in the world of government relations—and even fewer owned their own business. Now, nearly four decades later, Susan Davis International is still helping clients solve problems, solidify reputations, mitigate (and avert) crises, communicate with key audiences and achieve outstanding messaging results, no matter how ambitious their goals.

Davis has personally represented the heads of more than a dozen countries on issues ranging from economic crisis to nation-building and trade expansion. In terms of top-level executive messaging, she has truly done it all.

As Davis’ business has grown, she has expended more effort building on her passion for gender equity. She is a long-term strategic communications consultant on U.S. military and veteran’s issues for the Department of Defense agencies, services and support organizations, and has personally raised $5 million to establish the Women in Military Service Memorial, honoring women who have served since the Revolutionary War. For eight years she was board chair of Vital Voices Global Partnership, a prominent NGO that has empowered more than 15,000 emerging women leaders in 144 countries.

Davis was a founder of the 7,000-member International Women’s Forum and served as its first international president. She is the board chair for Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation, which provides more than 700 young women and girls in rural Afghanistan a safe education.

Davis has worked as an advisor to the Irish and Northern Ireland governments and is a board director and communications chair of The Ireland Fund. Her groundbreaking work includes creating the U.S.- Ireland R&D Partnership, which has funded 65 projects across key sectors including agriculture, health, science and engineering, telecommunication energy and sustainability.

Davis has authored two books, including “Uplift, What People Themselves Can Do”, and she has contributed to many others. Most recently, Susan wrote the foreword for “The Internet of Women: Accelerating Cultural Change.”

Most importantly to her, Davis mentors more than two dozen women from countries such as India, Panama, Israel and Tanzania who have started public relations agencies. She regularly counsels and mentors them via Skype, WhatsApp and We Chat, and she supports women fighting against human rights abuse in Iraq, the Congo, Serbia and Cambodia.

Washingtonian Magazine has called Davis one of “Washington’s Most Powerful Women” and the Washington Business Journal recognized her as one of the Washington D.C. region’s “most influential businesswomen.” But perhaps most importantly, she has blazed a trail for future industry leaders and proactively empowered the next generation of industry icons.

Entergy

Michelle Delery is a fearless, inspirational communicator worthy of honor

The director of employee and communications services for Entergy Corporation earns a nod in Ragan’s Women in Communications Hall of Fame in our 2021 Top Women in Communications Awards.

Michelle Delery is an inspirational communications leader who has been a catalyst for positive change throughout her 21-year career at Entergy Corporation, an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations.

Delery is actively sought by leaders and peers for her expertise, creativity and strategic thinking. Through hard work and candid conversations, she has gained the trust and respect of Entergy’s executive leadership team, allowing her to provide strategic counsel on issues affecting the business. She consistently pushes the organization to consider broader implications of any request and how it impacts key stakeholders.

A leader with strength, integrity and humility, Delery never shrinks from hard choices and understands a strong team culture is foundational to sustained success. She champions personal and professional development, constantly preparing her team for the inevitable changes that drive our profession. She pushes teammates to broaden their understanding of our business.

A team player, Delery is a sounding board for peers, who consistently seek her advice. Her ability to build agreement among leaders is integral to our overall success. She monitors industry trends, constantly seeking ways to improve our ability to reach all employees.

Delery has led communications into the digital age. She transformed Entergy’s in-house digital and creative services capabilities, creating a state-of-the-art studio staffed by in-house graphics and video teams. She garnered budget resources and leadership support to triple the size of the creative services team. The multimedia studio has become a key channel for leaders during the pandemic with hundreds of live webcasts and in-house video productions during the peak of the pandemic and hurricane season, including 44 separate video productions for Hurricane Laura alone. Delery’s teams are entrusted with producing major external events for company leaders, shareholders and Wall Street analysts.

Two years ago, Delery persuaded executive leaders to fund a Facebook Workplace pilot that created an online social network and significantly increased online leadership engagement. Under her leadership , they built Workplace into a major company tool for keeping 9,500 employees and contractors informed and connected. She equipped senior leaders with Workplace tools to communicate company priorities. Additionally, a targeted virtual speakers series on Workplace resulted in a 3,000% increase in total active users in a Workplace group for top leaders across the company.

In internal surveys, employees consistently rate highly their understanding of the business, Entergy’s brand and their role in its success.

Delery has directed employee communications strategy during major crises and change initiatives including hurricanes Katrina and Rita, company mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, cyber events, reorganizations, and leadership transitions.

Her innovative mindset and work to modernize communications platforms and reliance on them by employees and executive leaders played a key role in 2020 by helping Entergy adapt to working in new ways through the pandemic and an unprecedented sequence of hurricanes.

Delery is a fearless, inspirational and game-changing communicator worthy of honor. She continues to make incredible strides in her career and has made an indelible impact on Entergy’s success.

Proof Point Communications

Anne Marie Squeo, ‘battle proven’ messaging master

For her remarkable career as a high-profile journalist and topnotch communicator, Xerox’s chief comms and brand officer has earned a well-deserved spot in Ragan’s Women in Communications Hall of Fame in our 2021 Top Women in Communications Awards.

If Anne Marie Squeo could be described in two words, they would be “battle proven.”

She has held senior roles across different industries and major corporations, including IBM, Netflix, Lockheed Martin and Xerox. Along the way, she’s earned a reputation for being an inspiring leader, strategist and forthright advisor whom CEOs ask for guidance.

Prior to corporate communications, Anne Marie was a business journalist for nearly 15 years at The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. At the WSJ, she was part of a small team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and also received the 2004 Gerald R. Loeb Award for Beat Reporting.

Today, she is transforming a legacy brand known for inventing the copier into a workplace technology company as the Chief Communications & Brand Officer at Xerox. In this role, not only is she repositioning the company, Squeo has integrated Marketing and Communications into a single brand team that works seamlessly to support all stakeholders including employees, customers and partners. This move stands apart from industry norms—and is a precursor of likely future shifts.

In the thick of pandemic stay-at-home orders, Squeo leveraged the moment to demonstrate how Xerox supports the new hybrid work environment. By simultaneously launching a new Make Now Work brand campaign and Xerox’s first Future of Work survey in early June 2020, survey results underpinned social media and marketing while driving international PR coverage and arming sales leaders with industry-specific data to enhance customer pitches. In less than two months, a brand survey conducted by Quartz found a 19% increase in awareness of Xerox’s offerings and a 12% increase in the company’s perception as a “leader.”

Squeo has consistently gravitated toward more challenging roles. At Netflix, she volunteered to lead the announcement for a year-long, secret plan to launch the entertainment TV service globally. The result: #netflixeverywhere, a hashtag she created that encapsulated the entire moment and trended globally on Twitter. From the main stage at CES, Netflix surprised the audience and the world by “flipping the switch” on 130 countries during its hour-long keynote. Media coverage was 95% positive, with key message penetration of nearly 100%. Netflix was the most searched keyword on Naver, South Korea’s No. 1 search portal, and the launch story was among the top 10 most-read business stories of all time on the Times of India’s website. Netflix subscriptions jumped 21% over the previous quarter.

At Lockheed, she led more than half of the company’s 500-person communications team, managing employee engagement, marketing, events and PR. She initiated strategic planning and messaging across all programs, emphasized the need for strong writing and launched the organization’s first companywide intranet.

Squeo has elevated the profession at every turn, challenging herself and her teammates to earn their seat at the table and deliver results, not activity. She applied journalism skills to corporate communications and retained robust credibility with the media. She is widely respected by CEOs and communicators alike, and she is a credit to the profession.

Texas Association of School Boards

Karen Strong: Innovator, listener and leader

For her many years of faithful, fruitful service to public education, the comms legend earns entry into Ragan’s Women in Communications Hall of Fame in our 2021 Top Women in Communications Awards.

Karen Strong was already breaking barriers in the early 1970s when she received a BA in mass communications—an uncommon field for women at the time.

Her career began with a decade of service as a lead communicator for the City of Austin Public Information Office. She then served as managing partner of a marketing consulting firm. In the late 1980s she began a distinguished career with the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). She retired in October 2020 but continues to serve in a consulting role.

Strong’s tenure at TASB proved to be an exciting era in which the nonprofit member association refined its advocacy, training and legal support for more than 7,000 school board members and exponentially expanded its offerings in the areas of risk management, cooperative purchasing, investment services, energy procurement, employee benefits, and more to the 1,024 school districts of Texas.

Strong helped define TASB’s outstanding reputation by demonstrating qualities of an accomplished communicator and savvy leader. She excelled as a:

Skilled writer/speaker. A polished wordsmith, Strong wrote countless op/eds, speeches and magazine articles for TASB leaders and connected with the membership through her popular Q&A column in the Texas Lone Star. She frequently educated board members on communication and marketing topics and advised the TASB Board of Directors and TASB staff on linking communication strategies with TASB’s mission.

Listener. She refined the customer journey experience long before the term was coined. Initially without the benefit of digital data, she did it through conversations with members, never hesitating to pick up the phone to listen to their challenges and ideas. Even after shifting to digital data gathering and a member-centric approach to UX research, she continued to build empathy for members through personal connections.

Innovator. Where she identified opportunities, Strong presented ingenious solutions. Examples are business/education initiatives, a training conference for district administrative professionals, a student video contest, a long succession of public campaigns like Proud Products of Texas Public Schools and Stand up for Texas Public Schools, and social media advocacy outreach through Texans for Strong Public Schools. She readily embraced new communication tools, such as the online Member Center, and eagerly educated TASB staff and members on their benefits.

Leader. Strong led the 34 employees of an award-winning communications department, setting a high standard of excellence for TASB’s communications, branding, public relations, marketing, and public advocacy efforts and contributed to the association’s forward movement as part of the executive leadership team. She represented the entire organization on a long list of organizations, committees, task forces, and coalitions through the years and constantly nourished relationships with stakeholders. She was a trusted liaison with fellow education organizations, members of the Texas Legislature and the community.

Strong led with confidence, consideration, and a knack for defending the association’s stance on issues with kindness, wit and candor. Talk with any school board member or education leader in this large state, and chances are that they not only know Karen Strong but greatly appreciate her contributions to public education.

Congratulations to Ragan’s Top Women in Communications, Class of 2022!

HONOREES

The Women in Communications Hall of Fame, Class of 2022

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