About Ragan Communications

Diane Schwartz is the Chief Executive Officer of Ragan Communications, a leading media company that serves communicators worldwide with education, networking and unparalleled event experiences. Brands include Ragan, PR Daily, Communications Week and Ragan Training. Tentpole events include the Employee Communications Conference, Future of Communications, Social Media Conference at Disney World and the newly launched Women’s Retreats. Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council is the premier member organization for communicators at large, multinational organizations.

Diane joined Ragan in 2019 after serving for 23 years at Access Intelligence, where she was SVP of the media communications division and oversaw the growth of brands including PR News, Cynopsis, AdExchanger, Admonsters and many others.

Schwartz has launched more than 100 conferences, training and certificate programs, awards competitions and subscription products that put customer and premium content front and center. A former journalist, Schwartz is a frequent guest lecturer at universities nationwide, a board member of the Institute for Public Relations and a founding member of Chief. She is a wish granter for Make a Wish, a volunteer for the Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Fairfield County (CT), a mother of two young adults and a rescue dog.

Connect with Diane on LinkedIn for more insights.

Amy Urban Jefferies is the Chief Marketing Officer at Ragan Communications, a leading provider of training, education, networking and events for communications, public relations and marketing professionals. With over 15 years of experience in marketing and communications, she is passionate about developing and executing successful behavioral-driven campaigns around content and marketing strategies that drive revenue growth, brand recognition, customer engagement and lead generation.

Prior to joining Ragan Communications, Amy was at Access Intelligence where she was the vice president of marketing of the media communications group and oversaw the marketing of several brands and conferences including the Social Shake-Up, PR News, Admonsters, Cynopsis and others.

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn for more insights.

Brian Gilbert is an accomplished Certified Professional Accountant serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Ragan Communications. Ragan is a globally recognized media company providing education, networking, and unparalleled event experiences for professional communicators. With a solid background in accounting, Brian joined Ragan in 2015 after gaining extensive experience as an accountant in various industries, initially beginning his career in public accounting.

At Ragan, he not only oversees financial operations but also leads key departments including human resources, information technology, legal, and web development. Brian is an active CPA and holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting from Northern Illinois University. In addition to his role at Ragan, he actively contributes to the community as the President of the Communality Nutrition Network and Senior Services Association and serves on the board of the Meals on Wheels Foundation of Northern Illinois.

Connect with Brian on LinkedIn for more insights.

Mary C. Buhay is Chief Growth Officer and Head of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council. A communications executive with more than 25 years of experience, Mary develops communities and stories that connect businesses meaningfully with people—customers, employees, investors, journalists, and other stakeholders—whose trust helps to drive growth. Mary joined Ragan Communications in 2021 from Women Presidents Organization, where she was global director of growth.

Mary was previously senior vice president of marketing for G&S Business Communications. In this role, she advised internal and external clients and implemented plans for corporate social responsibility, healthtech marketing and business-to-business communications. Earlier, Mary held the dual role of corporate officer and senior vice president of corporate communications, marketing and sales for Medialink Worldwide, a digital media-technology venture whose Nasdaq-listed IPO she helped to launch as a member of the executive leadership team.

Dear Ragan community,We have a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion within our own organization, as well as using the Ragan platform to advocate for change in our industry and beyond. We are continuously taking the time to educate ourselves, raise awareness and have much-needed conversations around social injustice. With the help of an internal committee and industry advisors, we have established goals to create a more racially diverse workforce, advance representation and equity for marginalized groups in the communications industry, and amplify the voices and issues impacting underrepresented groups.

We make these commitments to ourselves, to our colleagues and to you. We intend to accomplish many of the following goals in the upcoming months with the acknowledgement that real change requires consistent and sustained focus:

• Partner with external organizations to diversify our hiring pool and ensure 25% of new hires across all job titles at Ragan in the next three years will be BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color).
• Amplify the faces and voices of BIPOC by ensuring they are always represented in our editorial content and speaker lineups.
• Donate time and money on a quarterly basis to groups promoting racial and social justice.
• Offer more programming and content to our audience that will improve understanding and advancement of racial justice, and diversity, equity and inclusion. These include two Diversity & Inclusion conferences and workshops in August and September of 2020, and the launch of the D&I Collaborative within Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.
• Continuously educate ourselves on how we can improve our efforts to create a more fair and welcoming workplace that reflects our diverse world. The Ragan team completed its first unconscious bias training in July 2020, and Ragan’s D&I Committee is dedicated to keeping management and the entire staff accountable.

We have seen so many of you make similar commitments and we are proud to be a part of a community dedicated to using its power and platform to benefit all. There is a lot of work to be done and we hope to continue to serve you in this urgent and overdue conversation. Please reach out to us with your story, your ideas, your needs.

Sincerely,
The Ragan Team