This year's 15-to-Watch list features an eclectic mix of young PR pros working in every facet of communications and public relations. Rest assured, it wasn't easy to whittle
down dozens of respectable nominees to just 15 PR pros, aged 35 and under. But we have a solid list of winners, recognized for innovative and outstanding achievements throughout
the world of PR.
Our winners run the PR gamut, hailing from corporations, agencies and nonprofit groups. Whether they're steeped in community relations, planning glittery events for major
consumer magazines or handling communications in which lives are truly at stake, they're making PR strides that we think ought to be noted. We extend our thanks to all
supervisors, colleagues and clients who took the time to write in all the nominations.
Although our winners work in widely disparate areas of communications, they all share a few things in common: drive, an ability to think out of the box when necessary and a
sixth sense for serving their client, members of the press and any other parties with a vested interest in the story.
Some of our winners have launched their own PR agencies while others have in short periods achieved a "seat at the table" in the legal, charitable, gaming and housing arenas.
They're also winners who are blazing new trails on the agency side of the business, particularly in the high-tech sector. All told, it's a pretty impressive roster.
Missy Baker Acosta, 33
Account Manager, Ackermann PR
Knoxville, TN
[email protected]
After doing PR for the music industry for several years, Missy Baker Acosta changed her tune. In the last three years she's made a successful transition from ForeFront records,
an independent record label specializing in Christian music, to Ackermann PR, a generalist firm with a wide range of corporate clients.
"It was a matter of clearing the cobwebs out of my head and getting back to the skills needed to work on corporate accounts," says Acosta, who studied PR at Xavier University
in Cincinnati. She recently wrapped up a News Bureau project for an economic initiative in the Oak Ridge/Anderson & Roane County area, with major placements in Southern Living
(5 articles); a piece in Computerworld featuring Oak Ridge as an "emerging tech hub" and The History Channel's feature on The Manhattan Project that included interviews with seven
Oak Ridgers. In the last few weeks she's helped the communications team at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport develop a communications guide and reports. She's also started to do PR for
The Book Market, a company that sets up temporary book stores, with coverage in the Chicago Tribune, Nashville City Paper, Nashville Business Journal and the United Teachers of
Los Angeles newsletter and Web site, among many other vehicles.
One of Ackermann's most impressive examples of client growth was Acosta's work with IPIX, a high-tech company spawned from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and
most famous for its 360-degree Internet photography. "We kept them in the local papers, Silicon Valley press and some good CNN coverage," says Acosta, who was able to get a lot
of bites from the media after IPIX started working with the Pentagon. Although IPIX decided to switch agencies, during her time on the account, Acosta grew agency revenues to as
much as seven times that of the initial retainer.
Dory Anderson, 34
Partner and Chair of Home and Shelter Industry Group
Carmichael Lynch Spong
Minneapolis, MN
[email protected]
Dory Anderson, partner and chair of the Home and Shelter Industry Group at Carmichael Lynch Spong, was looking to generate some buzz about a new washer/ dryer technology
offered by her biggest client, Maytag, which eliminates the "agitator" in the washer to make more room for laundry. She helped set up a unique display booth at the recent Kitchen
& Bath industry show in Orlando with the hope that the product would make a big splash.
After checking out Maytag's new product, producers from cable's HGTV (Home & Garden TV Network) agreed to feature the washer/dryer on the network's "Best of Kitchen &
Bath" show airing several times this June. Maytag is one of five new clients Anderson and her team acquired in 2002, along with Amana, Ceremaspeed, Formica and Wagner Spray Tech.
Anderson's PR efforts have been honored with several national awards, including four consecutive PRSA Silver Anvil Awards. She got the itch for home products PR when she first
started at Carmichael Lynch in 1995 following a brief stint as an A.E. at Bozell Worldwide.
She attributes her career path to Douglas Spong, managing partner of Carmichael Lynch Spong, who taught Anderson how to strike the right balance between the creative and
business pursuits of PR. She's parlayed the advice, for instance, to create the annual "World's Ugliest Bathroom" contest on behalf of American Standard. The contest, which kicks
off in August, encourages people to contribute essays on why they deserve a brand new bathroom from American Standard. This year's contest is in partnership with Home Depot, which
is plugging the event in all of its 1,200 outlets nationwide. Last year, the contest drew 2000 essays and more than 200 media placements.
Melissa Barreca, 28
PR Manager, Ameristar Casino St. Charles
St. Charles, MO
[email protected]
Melissa Barreca knew it would be a gamble. Barreca had been working as an A.E. on the Krispy Kreme account at the PR firm CKR --- "My budget was donuts," she says -- when she
got a call in May 2002 from Ameristar Casinos. Executives there asked if she wanted to be the PR director at Ameristar Casino St. Charles, which was gearing up for the Grand
Opening, that August, of its $360 million casino to be docked along the Missouri River. The PR position had been vacant for a couple of months, the casino's communications team
was short-staffed and the clock was ticking.
Barreca took the job and has since crafted several PR plans for the casino that have turned up aces. Perhaps most important, extensive coverage of the casino appeared on all
local television and news radio stations for eight days leading up the grand opening. Barreca also developed a media program that drove attendance at Ameristar's employment open
house to more than 300 applicants after paid advertising had failed to generate an adequate number of applicants.
The Grand Casino opening wracked up a slew of PR awards, including the 2003 IABC St. Louis chapter Bronze Quill Award of Merit, External Communications Program for the
"Ameristar Grand Opening" and Pinnacle Award from the PRSA Las Vegas chapter in the news release category, "Ameristar Casinos to Hire 800 Plus Team Members."
Her PR work has led to sell-out crowds for entertainment and earned a cover story in St. Charles magazine. Yet Barreca has also taken pains to publicize the casino's charitable
efforts. These efforts include distributing office equipment that had been used during the casino construction to non-profit groups throughout the St. Louis area, which was picked
up by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "[The casino] has been doing these types of things all along," Barreca says, "there just hasn't been anyone to make sure we're getting credit
for being a good corporate citizen."
Travis Carter, 33
Director of Communications, Bickel & Brewer
Dallas, TX
[email protected]
For years, Bickel & Brewer, the Dallas-based law firm specializing in high-stakes commercial litigation, used an outside PR agency when the firm was in need of public
relations. That changed in 2001 when Travis Carter was recruited as the firm's first Director of Communications. Before starting, Carter was assured a seat at the table. "They
[the firm's managing partners, John Bickel and Bill Brewer] recognize PR not as an expense but as an investment and an opportunity," says Carter, who rose through the PR ranks at
Allstate Insurance Co. before joining Bickel & Brewer. "I learned from them that PR could do more than support business or legal issues and can in fact dramatically and
positively alter their outcomes."
Since coming aboard Carter has been managing communications, community relations and media for the firm, and, in many cases, the clients it represents, including the Dallas
Independent School District and Novo Networks Inc.
In the last year alone the Associated Press, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, among other media outlets, have all reported extensively on the firm's
legal representation. "One of the advantages of having PR resources in-house for any corporation is being able to build relationships over time with tier one publications," Carter
says. In addition to media relations, Carter holds court in many other areas Bickel & Brewer deem important.
For instance, he's developed and successfully launched two community relations programs -- The Future Leaders Program and the National Public Policy Forum -- and serves as
executive director of Strategies for Success, a national legal conference hosted in conjunction with the Cornell Hotel School. "From a community relations standpoint, The Future
Leaders Program -- which brings together private and public schools to provide learning opportunities for at-risk youth -- is the program I'm most proud of," Carter says. The CBS
affiliate in Dallas did a feature on the program as did several weekly magazines in the Dallas region. "The focus is on getting the program up and running."
Michael Cianfrocca, 24
Account Executive, The Castle Group, Inc.
Boston, MA
[email protected]
Mike Cianfrocca has been breaking new ground at The Castle Group. He signed on as an intern, and in 2000 he became Castle's first PR hire directly from the intern program.
Since then, he's been promoted twice.
The Castle Group, a small agency, is betting heavy on Cianfrocca, and so far those bets have paid off. In one of his most successful efforts, he engineered the entire media
relations campaign for StudentUniverse.com. By positioning the client's executives as experts in the little-known field of student airfares, Cianfrocca drew some 35 million print
impressions in a little more than a year for this previously unknown company.
Cianfrocca is guided by his mentor, Castle VP Mark O'Toole. "He is always a tough critic, but he is also there with reassurance and advice," says Cianfrocca. "When I started
here, client contact was something that was brand new to me, and he has really helped me to understand how to work with clients, how to respond to their issues, how to think the
way they think."
As an entrenched member of the Internet generation, Cianfrocca sees a new world of media opening up for forward-thinking PR practitioners. "I definitely see a trend towards
more use of online sources, and I don't mean just news sites," he says. "I am thinking in terms of chat rooms, news groups. Those are becoming an increasingly important outlet for
PR people, as more and more people turn to those sources for information."
Kristen Collins, 29
Founder, KMCpartners
Boston, MA
[email protected]
The publishing industry is littered with once high-flying, technology-related magazines that have gradually been shot down ever since the markets started to collapse in 2000.
The Industry Standard, Red Herring and Upside are just a few of the titles that have folded. But Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Technology Review -- which launched in
1899 as The Technology and was relaunched in 1998 to focus more on emerging technologies - is plugging right along. Through April, Technology Review's ad pages were up 48%
compared with the same period in 2002, while ad revenue rose 56% during the same time, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. And Kristen Collins, founder of KMCpartners,
who was brought in 18 months ago to handle Technology Review's PR, has played a crucial role in the publication's success.
"We've been sticking with what's new in the labs and not what's new with the hype," Collins says. "I work very closely with editor-in-chief [Bob Buderi] to make sure when I do
know what we're covering I know it's at a high integrity level and then I call the writers who are at the same level." The Boston Globe ran a front-page story earlier this year
in the business section about how Technology Review is expanding internationally. Another piece ran last summer in Bob Tedeschi's e-commerce column in The New York Times about the
TR-100, a conference sponsored by the magazine featuring 100 technology innovators.
Collins engineered a separate piece in Tedeschi's column on how Technology Review was one of the first publications to launch digital subscriptions. "Lightning rarely strikes
twice," Collins says, "so it's been a good year." Another major "get" was a piece written by an AP education reporter about the history of the magazine that was picked up by 500
newspapers nationwide. "He was interested in the M.I.T angle," Collins says. M.I.T. is Collins' other major client. Collins, who generally flies solo in her work, launched
M.I.T's first media campaign related to admissions issues with major coverage in the Boston Globe, People, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CBS' Early Show and CNN.
Michael Ertel, 33
President, Inform Inspire Involve
Orlando, FL
[email protected]
Before he launched his own PR firm in January, Michael Ertel decided to head back to school. He completed a two-day Harvard Law School program on "Dealing with an Angry
Public," which, according to Ertel, should be compulsory for people entering the PR field.
"Too often in public relations, we focus solely on how we can affect the media and allow the media to transmit our message," says Ertel, president of Inform Inspire Involve.
"What the course taught me how to do was to use not only the media to convey your message but other avenues as well: community leaders, elected officials, your employees and the
average Joe on the street." The course has come in handy for Ertel, who specializes in nonprofit clients. Since launching his firm - which relies on a stable of freelancers --
he's landed five clients, including the city of Longwood, Family Care Council, Orange Mall (a local, indoor flea market), One Business Place (a Web site directory) and Quest, a
nonprofit concern focused on community relations. Ertel is currently developing a PR program for Longwood to help the city negotiate its contract with Progress Energy, the local
power company. He's also gotten the Orlando Sentinel to do a piece on a program he devised for the Family Planning Council designed to raise awareness about the 10,000 Floridians
who are on a disability waiting list.
Tons of weekly and community newspapers have run stories about One Business Place directory. Ertel, who was a military spokesman for the Army during the L.A. riots in 1992 as
well as for U.S. intervention in Bosnia, says he's always had a knack for community relations. "It's interesting to meet fellow communicators, bend their ears and maybe have them
unfold their wallets for a good cause," he says. "It's also an opportunity to make connections which can lead to more business."
Allison Guerra, 24
Communications Specialist, Philadelphia Housing Authority
Philadelphia, PA
[email protected]
As the communications specialist for the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), Alli Guerra is the point person for reporters who show up when a new building is going up or an
old one is coming down in the Philly area. She helps with media relations and arranges interviews and follow-ups for stories that tend to get decent play in the local media.
"It's helpful to have a friendly approach," she says. "They [reporters] like it when you remember their name." Yet asked who garnered the biggest hit for the authority, however,
and Guerra doesn't hesitate: "Definitely Bill Cosby."
Cosby grew up in Philly's Richard Allen Homes Project, one of the city's most famous housing developments. During a Richard Allen-related event, Cosby helped to create the time
to participate -- and Guerra made sure he spent it wisely. (The two share the same alma mater, Temple University, where Guerra graduated from the communications program). "A lot
of times people are concerned about us re-doing these housing developments and then seeing them crumble. Bill is a great person to help get our message out about teaching
residents to be self-sufficient and to take care of their homes," Guerra says. "He does a lot for the community and the residents respect that. They see someone who has come out
of the projects and really made something for themselves, and say, 'Hey I can do that.'"
Aside from steering the PHA's messages, Guerra has also taken the lead in overhauling the Authority's written materials -- both design and production -- and earlier this year
launched a new employee newsletter. In May she spearheaded the PHA's "clean sweep" program, in which a thousand PHA employees blanketed Philly's community developments with
dustpans and brooms for a massive spring-cleaning. The program speaks to Guerra's talent for taking care of both internal and external communications. "It gives our employees a
chance to see the developments because sometimes they don't get out there and it gives residents a chance to see that we're helping them to improve their quality of life," she
says.
Kristi Hedges, 33
Co-Founder and Principal, TheSheaHedges Group
McLean, VA
[email protected]
Falling stock prices. Shrinking marketing/ communication budgets. A slackening economy. The constellations have not exactly been aligned for the tech sector the last few years,
and it's anyone's guess as to when it will bounce back. And while many PR agencies with clients in the tech space have taken a wait-and-see approach, Kristi Hedges, co-founder and
principal of TheSheaHedges Group - which specializes in technology clients -- has gone the opposite track. In 2002, she landed more than a dozen new clients, including Deltek
Systems, Dimension Data and BulkRegister and others, representing more than $400,000 in new revenue for the firm.
"We're figuring out where tech companies need to go," says Hedges, who founded the firm in 1997, which has since grown to 17 employees. "Tech companies tend to fall to the
tyranny of the urgent, and that means that strategy goes and tactics dominate...But tech companies need to blend strategy and tactics together so that your taking the company
somewhere and not just kicking up a lot of dust."
Hedges, who worked as a PR consultant to tech firms before launching her own company, says there's a great need among tech companies in the D.C. metro market for more effective
PR strategies. "These days you have to be extremely creative because most publications don't have the space or ink they used to have," she says. For instance, Hedges recently
pitched a story about Deltek, which this time a year ago went private after starting as a public company. The story ended up running on the front page of the business section in
The Washington Post earlier this month. "As with anything these days, it's not enough to just have a good company to talk about. [The story] has to be very timely for the readers
of the publication," she says.
Hedges has received numerous PR awards, including Largest Public Relations Firms in the (DC) Metro areas in 2001 and 2002 and Top 25 Women-Owned Businesses in 2001 and 2002 by
the Washington Business Journal as well as PR Firms with the Best Buzz by BusinessForward magazine. Hedges is also a board members of the MindShare, a group of entrepreneurs
working in the tech sector.
Michelle Herman, 35
Vice President Global Programs, The Hoffman Agency
San Jose, CA
[email protected]
Under the management of Michelle Herman, the Silicon Valley-based Hoffman Agency has gained major ground in Asia. In the last several months Hoffman's Asia Pacific network has
doubled in size and enjoyed 230% revenue growth.
Herman has pulled off some impressive wins, such as helping client Brocade launch a suite of storage area networking products. With no hard news to sell, a super-technical
product and an unknown client, Herman nonetheless positioned Brocade as the leading player in growing industry. She landed ink in the Asia Wall Street Journal, as well as in the
U.S. and European versions of the Journal. "If you are working with teammates in different parts of the world, and you really work together, you can get a real one-two-three punch
for your client," she says.
Mentor and agency president Lou Hoffman helps her learn to keep her cool. "He has shown me that sometimes it is better to be lucky than good," she says. "You can plan, and most
of the time it works. But sometimes the best wins are those that come when you are just lucky. He has shown me that you cannot be in control of everything."
Herman has seen globalization firsthand, fielding tough press questions in China in the midst of that country's recent spy-plane tiff with the United States. Some might have
shied away from such an appearance, but Herman says globalization demands that PR players take a freer hand. "It means trying something different, breaking down boundaries," she
says. "It means being able to embrace that which is risky."
Darren Irby, 32
Vice-President, External Communications, American Red Cross
Washington, D.C.
[email protected]
Darren Irby knows how the other half lives. After working as a White House intern during President Clinton's first term, Irby returned to his home state of Arkansas as a
reporter for the Arkansas Democratic-Gazette and stringer for the national desk of The New York Times. "I developed a sense of what [reporters] are looking for, how to cut
through the spin and make a story resonate with the public," says Irby, executive VP, external communications for the American Red Cross.
Irby, the youngest VP in the organization's 120-year history, joined the national Red Cross in 1997 when Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who was running the organization at the time,
invited him to come aboard. (Irby got to know Dole after he started to work as her press secretary at several disaster sites). Currently, Irby directs 57 worldwide employees,
2,142 volunteers and operates a $14 million budget. In the last seven years, he's directed the communications efforts for 87 national crises, the utmost being the Sept. 11
attacks.
After the organization's president-CEO, Dr. Bernadine Healy, resigned amid controversy about how 9/11 financial donations to the Red Cross were being distributed, Irby
coordinated all crisis and reputation management initiatives surrounding the subsequent yearlong crisis. "The one thing I learned from a communications standpoint through the
struggle is that the message should always be about the safety and well-being of people and not the organization," he says. "It's easy to beat up a big organization, but hard to
beat up the people we're serving."
After 9/11 Irby created the "Power of Two," a Red Cross program that encourages people to volunteer for Red Cross efforts for two hours, two days and/or two weeks twice a year.
He's also been the driving force behind the 'Together We Prepare' PSA campaign, which launched in March. The campaign, focusing on how the Red Cross has been a leader in
preparedness, is timely, what with the national alert level toggling back and forth from yellow to orange and back. Media that have covered the campaign so far include CNN,
Business Week and USA Today. "It may seem corny," Irby says. "But with my job, lives are truly at stake."
Ken Kerrigan, 35
Acting Director, Americas Public Relations, Ernst & Young
New York, NY
[email protected]
Ken Kerrigan has the less-than-enviable task of keeping intact the reputation of Ernst & Young at a time when the entire accounting industry is under fire. He does it, at
least in part, by highlighting the firm's other services, especially its "white hat" hackers: Computer gurus paid to ferret out flaws in clients' systems.
Kerrigan recently invited reporters to "spend a day with a hacker," and the reporters were dazzled. Major stories appeared in the Financial Times, PC Magazine and elsewhere.
Now Ernst & Young is replicating the media event around the world. He takes his cues from past conversations with his mentor, the late Robert J. Wood, author of "Confessions
of a PR Man." "He said to never be afraid to involve others in the crafting of an idea," Kerrigan says. "It's the ability to be open and willing to listen to other ideas."
Kerrigan urges today's senior PR executives to make sure they in turn are sharing what they know. "A lot of today's young professionals came into it during the 1990s during the
publicity mania of dot-com, and they may not be trained in the core fundamentals of what public relations is all about... yet they are going to be the elder statesmen in 10 or 15
years," he says. "While the PRSA does a lot in terms of leadership and training, the senior leaders still need to be more active in making that happen."
Ian Lipner, 27
Account Manager, Stanton Communications
Founder, YoungPRPros.com
Washington, D.C.
[email protected]
Ian Lipner says PR can make a difference. Take for instance an event he helped coordinate for the launch of Sprint's new picture phones. The product came out just as the war
started in Iraq. Lipner and his colleagues brought a pile of the phones to Andrews Air Force Base, where they invited the families of military personnel to e-mail pictures of
themselves to loved ones overseas. The event scored major local media coverage, "but more than that, it wasn't just fluff," says Lipner. "It was actually about helping
people."
Lipner is guided in his efforts by mentor and agency president Peter Stanton. "He has taught me the importance of thinking hard when you are doing PR," says Lipner. "It means
taking the time to understand what the heck you are talking about, understanding all the implications of an event for a company. It's about strategic thinking."
Looking ahead, Lipner sees a changing PR scene, one in which media convergence will create a whole new information landscape. "When TV schedules are wiped out and everything
becomes available on demand, there is going to be so much more content, so much more noise, and so we have all got to learn to find new opportunities as everything gets louder,"
he says.
To ensure that his peers are ready for that change, Lipner in September 2000 created YoungPRPros (http://www.YoungPRPros.com), an online professional group that helps some 800 early-to-mid-career public relations pros share career tips
and best practices.
Mike Neumeier, 33
Vice President, Abovo Group
Atlanta, GA
[email protected]
Mike Neumeier started his career in higher education, promoting scientific breakthroughs at both the University of Florida Health Science Center and at Mercer University. Now
he has taken that expertise to the agency side.
In the past couple of years, he has scored big for client MAPICS, helping the little-known manufacturer build buzz for its enterprise software programs. Working with trade
publications and local media, "we went from having zero name recognition in the industry to being seen as one of the leaders in the space," he says. In 2002 MAPICS logged a media
interview every two and a half days.
Neumeier gives much of the credit to mentor Micky Long, a former boss and now a client, as director of marketing communications at MAPICS. Long taught him the power of
integrated communications, "how to really be able to make your PR mileage go as far as possible," Neumeier says.
Unlike previous generations of public relations pros, Neumeier takes it for granted that a corporation's PR leader will have a decision-making role at the highest level of
corporate life. And that, he says, creates some serious potential. "PR has a great opportunity now to really take a leadership role, because of the ties that PR has within the
executive suite," he says. "It's not just about generating clips. The smart PR leaders are getting out there and looking at how that is going to help to generate sales."
Shawna Seldon, 26
Director of Media Relations, The Rosen Group, New York, NY
[email protected]
Shawna Seldon, director of media relations at The Rosen Group, takes on a lot of the magazine accounts at a PR agency that has carved a fairly comfortable niche in the
consumer-publishing world. Seldon, who started at The Rosen Group in 1999 after a stint in the health care practice at PR firm Porter Novelli, has been instrumental in getting the
word out on Budget Living, which had a successful launch last year despite having 'Budget' in the title, a potential turn-off for advertisers. Says Seldon: "It's a matter of
breaking down the barrier and convincing [the press] that 'budget' is not a dirty word." Stories about Budget Living have appeared in USA Today as well as The Today Show on NBC
and all the media trades.
Seldon also does a great deal of PR for Smithsonian, including the upcoming CultureFest, a kind of rolling Smithsonian scheduled to hit the Providence, Portland, Oregon and
Sante Fe markets this year. Last fall, when CultureFest visited Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San Jose, Seldon secured more than 25 media hits, including radio segments in each
city and feature news columns in Metro (Philadelphia) and The San Jose Mercury News. In 2001, Seldon helped to showcase Air & Space/Smithsonian's exclusive article, "Made in
the U.S.S.R." which uncovered evidence about how during World War II the Russians copied the design of the U.S. B-2 Bomber when they built their own Tu-4 bomber. The event was
held at the Russian Embassy in Washington and brought together Russian historians, World War II veterans and representatives from the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.
"It was a great story," recalls Seldon. "It wasn't critical of the Russians, nor was there any gloating but a real sense of openness and real personality. Plus, it was new news."
The press ate it up, with Associated Press stories in dozens of dailies, including The Washington Post, the Hartford Courant and The Arizona Republic. NBC Nightly News, CNN,
CNN Headline News and Discovery Science Channel also ran stories, while The History Channel turned the piece it into a documentary.