Name: Top Women in Communications Awards Luncheon 2023
Start: 2023-02-28T12:00
End: 2023-02-28T14:30
Location: City Winery NYC

Senior Vice President & Chief Communications Officer

Eli Lilly and Company

Evolving her team, Kathryn Beiser represents Eli Lilly and Company with passion

A veteran in the field of PR, Kathy Beiser has proven year after year that she has the intellect, intuition and bold direction required to succeed in the industry. Her work spanning many areas has earned her the recognition of her cohorts, and makes her a sure fit for Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Hall of Fame.

Ever since Kathy Beiser has joined Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), she has uplifted and supported her teams’ objectives with steadfast leadership. Lilly creates medicines by pioneering discoveries utilizing chemistry, biotechnology, and genetic medicines, rendering even the most difficult diseases manageable. As the senior vice president and chief communications officer, Beiser’s reach has gone far in helping others.
In her time at Lilly, Beiser has seen important and pivotal changes to the company. She helped to shape the global corporate communications team, reorganizing and refining to create a more agile force better equipped to handle challenges. She’s developed a multitude of campaigns to drive organizational culture and encourage performance, including corporate reputation programs.

No stranger to the comms discipline, she oversees several responsibilities including, public relations, media relations, issues management, internal communications and executive communications. Additionally, she’s served as a corporate spokesperson and overseen intricate financial transactions. Whenever issues or complexities arise, she manages them efficiently and keenly, due to her focus on learning about areas of the business outside communications.
“Learn the business, learn the field, learn everybody else’s job,” she advises young communicators. “Because you’re going to be talking about all of those things. Be a great communicator, that’s fine. But the real value comes when you have a seat at the table, and you’re talking about the business, you understand the business, you are better counselor

Outside of Lilly, she’s served on the board of Bright Pink, a nonprofit aiding women in the trials of breast cancer, and on the board of Break the Cycle, another nonprofit that aims to end domestic violence and facilitate healthy relationships among teenagers. A member of the International Women’s Forum, it’s clear Beiser is a champion of women inclusion in and out of the workspace.
As she looks to the future of the industry, it’s the people around her that give her the most hope.
“I’m really excited about the caliber of people joining our profession,” she said. “I’m seeing more and more people who have a really integrated approach to communication, who are not afraid of technology, who are excited about that interconnectivity.”

Congrats to Kathy Beiser.

CEO

Ruder Finn

Ruder Finn’s CEO Bloomgarden honored with Hall of Fame status

Dr. Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO, Ruder Finn is described as a visionary. If you follow her career journey, it will be clear why. She’s being inducted into Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Hall of Fame.

Dr. Kathy Bloomgarden likely wasn’t planning a career in PR. As a matter of fact, she was busy getting her doctorate at Columbia University in political science and Chinese studies, as she thought it would serve her well in a career in government. But, fate stepped in. While doing research in a back office at Ruder Finn, the PR firm founded by her father David Finn, Bloomgarden found herself immersed in data and statistics related to Ruder Finn’s research efforts. The rest, as they say, is history.

Or, history in the making. American and Chinese businesses were working together, and Bloomgarden with her background in Chinese studies and fluency in Mandarin, expanded Ruder Finn to China. She also had a deep interest in the healthcare industry and set her sights on biopharma practices. With her back room interest in data and analytics, she has ensured that Ruder Finn stays ahead of data-driven emerging technologies, and has expanded the agency into Web 3.0 and blockchain. Today, Ruder Finn is one of the leading independent public relations agencies with offices across 3 continents including the U.S., Asia and Europe.

“When I look to the future of what’s next in communications, I am most excited about the adoption of new technologies to further enhance our storytelling, ability to analyze data, and capacity to understand each other further,” Bloomgarden said in an interview. “As digital transformation disrupts every business model, path-breaking communications is essential to building trust and navigating risk in a fast-changing marketplace.”

In her current position as CEO for 8 years running, Bloomgarden has overseen significant growth by the agency; in 2020, thanks to the agency’s work in pharma and technology, Ruder Finn had double digit growth domestically. What’s more, recognizing the need to connect authentically with the Hispanic community, Ruder Finn acquired Comunicad, a multicultural agency with 30+ years of expertise in cultural intelligence. And, with video streaming dominating media, Ruder Finn acquired and integrated film company Osmosis Films.

Her management style is hands-on by adapting to employee changing needs, treating employees like family, mentoring and concern over personal wellbeing. Ruder Finn established a TechLab incubator so that employees can explore new technologies, lead town halls, and practice reverse mentoring, as well as participate in yoga and cooking classes.

“My father, and Ruder Finn’s founder, David Finn stood by the mantra ‘Just because you don’t know how to do something, doesn’t mean you can’t,’” Bloomgarden said in an interview. “This is a mentality that I like to adopt when taking on new challenges, and is my greatest advice for young people, and women in particular, getting into the field.”

Outside of Ruder Finn, Bloomgarden is involved in The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), is a long-standing member of The World Economic Forum and the Partnership for New York City, which focuses on re-energizing the city after the pandemic slowdown.

Says Ruder Finn’s Chief Innovation Officer Michael Schubert, “I can think of no person better suited to bring David Finn’s legacy into the future. Kathy embodies David’s core values around internal culture, stakeholder capitalism, and creative disruption, but she adds a global perspective and passion for reinvention that has supercharged RF to new levels, not only driving extraordinary growth, but injecting one of the great legacy PR companies with the energy, agility and innovation power of a unicorn start-up. She’s an inspiration and it’s an honor to work with her.”

CEO

Brodeur Partners

Andrea Coville builds Brodeur Partners to new heights

By diversifying its services and strengthening existing public relations, Andrea Coville has helped to shape Brodeur Partners into a globally recognized communications agency. Her accessibility to her team members and willingness to grow, listen and evolve has earned her induction to Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Hall of Fame.

As CEO at Brodeur Partners, Andrea Coville has facilitated a reliable and purpose-driven business that consistently engages clients. Brodeur Partners is a full-service communications agency focusing on PR with a complete range of services including media relations, content creation, strategic messaging, paid and earned social media. In her time as CEO, Coville has encouraged a multidisciplinary approach to business, adding public affairs, DE&I, digital marketing, creative, purpose and sustainability.

She’s overseen the acquisition of multiple companies, and has formed integral partnerships with the American Cancer Society, Deloitte, NFL, Mastercard, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, to mention a few.

Her steadfast leadership has remained focused on staying relevant in a changing industry, to which she’s managed to achieve and maintain for years. She directs her employees with compassion and purpose, emphasizing and encouraging healthy workspaces and balanced approaches to business. Coville created wellness programs for employees, and has raised money for charities.

She’s also taken the time from her busy work schedule to share her experience with others by speaking at American University, the Harvard Dynamic Women in Business Conference, Wharton Women in Business, Simmons College, Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, Harvard’s Kennedy School, Google Author Talks and more.

Working with so many people early in their careers, Coville’s advice is to “find your fit.” “Look for a great culture,” she said. “It’s the single most important thing.”

Coville has remained a grounded, accessible leader; available to every one of her employees, checking in with staff and ensuring everyone under her employment has what they need to succeed.

She also keeps an eye to the future and what’s next in communications. “I’m really excited about the use of video and its role in storytelling in both paid and earned media,” she said. “And I think we have just begun to see the impact that sustainability and inclusion will have on brands, particularly as Gen Z realizes its economic power and influence.”

Congrats to Andrea Coville.

Vice President, Communications, Customer Experience, Retail

CVS Health

Yanique Griffin-Woodall inducted into Women in Comms Hall of Fame for career spent in B2C service

Yanique Griffin-Woodall has spent her extraordinary career focused on serving customers in a variety of B2C communications roles. From her early days of agency work to roles with Home Depot, 1-800-FLOWERS, Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. and Avon, her focus has always been on delighting customers.

“I am passionate about the customer experience,” she says.

She currently serves as vice president, customer experience and communications at CVS Health, where she focuses on creating narrative strategies that help further the retail and customer experience.

“It’s our responsibility, as a retailer, to make sure that we’re delivering on our promise to give you a stellar experience,” Griffin-Woodall says.

Outside of her corporate experience, Griffin-Woodall contributes to education in the field. She earned her own bachelor’s degree at HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY and her master’s degree in Corporate and Public Communications from Seton Hall University and a master’s business administration from the Michael J. Coles School of Business at Kennesaw State University. She is an adjunct assistant professor in George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management and is an adjunct professor at Hofstra University’s School of Communications. She also is the 2023 IPR Chair for The Institute of Public Relations.

When asked for her advice for young women looking to enter the communications profession, she offered three pieces of wisdom. First, be curious about everything. Second, to learn about not just communications, but also the business side of the equation. And finally, but most importantly, to give yourself “space and grace.”

“I am so thankful for the honor of being inducted into the Women in Communications Hall of Fame,” Griffin-Woodall says.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing people in the industry, communications and retail, and business in general,” she continues. “I’ve had the opportunity to learn from them and partner with them. And now I get the opportunity to share this recognition with amazing honorees alongside me. How lucky am I?”

Congratulations to Griffin-Woodall on a career spent in service to the customer.

SVP and Chief Communications Officer

Cisco Systems, Inc

Cisco’s Poveromo inducted into the Hall of Fame

With two decades in executive roles in the ever-changing technology landscape, Maria Poveromo recognizes the increased importance of the CCO position in an evolving business landscape. She’s an inductee to Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Hall of Fame. SVP and CCO, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Maria Poveromo is no stranger to Silicon Valley and its technology bellwethers, holding executive roles at IBM, Adobe and currently Cisco. As senior vice president and CCO for Cisco Systems, Inc., her take on the evolving role of the CCO has been to elevate the position: To actively help companies navigate business, economic, cultural and societal trends.

Poveromo leads with compassion and a vision for agile and resilient communications both internally and externally. She believes, “Brands that communicate with emotion, compassion, and facts get rewarded.”

Empathy is a critical skill for corporate comms pros, you must understand each stakeholder’s mindset, values, needs, and wants to craft successful strategies and content. When people feel empathy from a company, they’re more likely to trust it, forgive it and advocate for it.

Indeed, her advice to new communicators, especially women, is to be authentic about their own strengths — including empathy. As a young communicator, she was told she needed to be colder and more callous to succeed.

“That felt inauthentic to who I am; and conversely confirmed in me that I can lead effectively with compassion, empathy, and kindness,” she said. “Also, recognize the value you deliver as an advisor, culture leader, and brand ambassador. Your work will shape how stakeholders view, feel about, and interact with your organizations.”

Among her many accomplishments at Cisco in the last year, she’s navigated supply chain issues, the war in Ukraine, increasing cybersecurity threats, continued social justice concerns, effects of the Great Resignation, and mounting inflationary pressures. As an example, with the war in Ukraine, Poveromo coordinated with leaders across the over 70,000-employee company to ensure visibility into Cisco’s position and response. In a matter of hours, her team stood up a hub of critical materials for employees, customers and partners. It was a quick and unified response delivered with empathy and clarity and inspired confidence in the company’s decisions.

Under Poveromo’s watch, Cisco’s reach with top media outlets has increased by 27%, and Cisco has consistently been rated as the #1 Great Place to Work in multiple countries. She has pledged to reach beyond the basic DE&I expectations and implementations at the company, embedding DE&I principles into team culture worldwide, leading to standardized inclusive hiring practices in partnership with HBCUs to nurture an early-career talent pipeline. Team members are encouraged to participate in employee inclusive communities — such as PRIDE, Black Connected Professionals and Connected Asian Affinity Network — as well as join trainings and talks to learn about allyship, identity, and other topics critical to furthering social justice.

She’s optimistic about the future of communications and the role communicators have in building a better world.

“I’m excited to see how communications organizations will use collaboration tools to more deeply understand and engage with stakeholders, and to deliver even more relevant and meaningful content,” she said. “I am also intrigued by AI and believe this new frontier will require some of our best thinking, particularly around reputation management. And, certainly, I am heartened by the role communications has played in advancing ESG in each of our organizations and in our communities.”

Outside of Cisco, Poveromo serves as vice chair and a board member for Second Harvest, a food bank in the San Francisco. She also leads the Women of Cisco-San Jose community and is a champion of DEI education Cisco-wide. She’s a member of Equal Rights Advocates, a San Francisco-based organization fighting for gender justice.

Further credit includes being named one of the 25 Smartest Women on Twitter by FastCompany.

Former Senior Vice President Corporate Public Affairs

Cox Communications

Leigh Woisard’s distinguished career in public affairs recognized with Hall of Fame induction

Leigh Woisard has dedicated her professional life to communicating issues that matter. From early work in communications for lieutenant governors and congresspeople to more than two decades with Cox Communications as vice president and later senior vice president in public affairs on both the governmental and corporate side, she’s dug into the complex issues that all organizations must navigate to be a positive influence on society.

But it’s an agency internship that she counts as one of her most formative experiences.

“It’s a really good opportunity to learn a lot fast. I parlayed those skills into working in more of an elected official, government capacity, and those skills really translated,” says Woisard.

In her years in the field, she’s noticed two big shifts in the industry. First is a transition away from media relations toward employee communications. “Companies have really begun to put a high premium on communicating with their employees. I’ve seen a proliferation of employee comms departments within really big companies, and I think that’s a great thing,” she says.

Additionally, the explosion of data has changed the industry too. “On the one hand, that access to information and data has been a godsend in the sense that you can plan and check your progress because we have access to so much information. The downside of that is with so many data points, we have to be careful that it doesn’t become a distraction.”

Today, Woisard does public speaking on communications — especially how women in communications can build their brand. And she has plenty of advice for up-and-coming women in the field.

“I think it’s smart to develop your identity in a specific area and decide, ‘what do I want to be known for?’ And then be very intentional about building your brand around that.”

She noted that the very things we often do for our clients are the things we can often neglect to do for ourselves.

“Women are notorious for shying away from self-promotion,” she says. “And the result that I hear from a lot of women is they get to a certain level in their career, they’ve had a certain amount of success, but then they start to stagnate and find it hard to get to that next level.”

We congratulate Woisard for reaching the pinnacle of her own career, and earning a spot in Ragan’s Women in Communications Hall of Fame.

Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Communications

Ameresco

Ameresco’s Dillon reenergizes corporate culture, solidifies corporate reputation

Leila Dillon’s passion for innovative cleantech solutions, purpose-driven work and maintaining Ameresco’s core values makes her an honoree in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

During her now four-year tenure as senior vice president of corporate marketing and communications for Ameresco, a cleantech integrator and renewable energy asset developer, owner and operator, Leila Dillon has been able to expand on the company’s business goals, leading to the implementation of multiple complex projects. Among those, communication efforts for floating solar at Fort Bragg, an Army training site with over 50,000 active duty personnel; selection as an energy partner in Bristol City Leap, an aggressive citywide energy infrastructure overhaul to help the UK City of Bristol reach zero carbon emissions by 2030; and the groundbreaking of Kūpono Solar Project, a complex solar and storage project at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam that will provide energy security for over 10,000 homes on the island of O’ahu.

Steadfast in keeping the Ameresco name top of mind, under Dillon’s purview, the company had its first-ever earned national broadcast feature, highlighting its work helping the City of Chicago complete a citywide LED streetlight conversion project, which led to multiple full-length features that aired on NBC News Now and MSNBC.

Dillon, a champion for purpose-driven work, has worked to ensure that ESG is at the forefront of many company initiatives. She’s a founding member of Ameresco’s ESG Ambassadors program, implementing and supporting programs to properly track Ameresco’s progress toward its long-term goals. Ameresco Ambassadors was named an “ESG Team of the Year” finalist in Ragan Communications’ 2022 CSR Awards program. Living its mission “to deliver energy efficient and renewable solutions that enable a low carbon future,” Dillon also oversees the company’s ESG reports, which have been awarded distinctions from the 2022 Hermes Creative Awards and the American Business Awards.

Congrats to Leila Dillon.

Director, Global Communications

Project Management Institute

Karen Flanagan builds department from the ground up at Project Management Institute

Karen Flanagan’s actions have earned her recognition in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Karen Flanagan is no stranger to hard work, and it shows. When she joined the team at Project Management Institute — a not-for-profit professional membership association for the project, program, and portfolio management profession – eight years ago as director, she had to build a department from the ground up.

Flanagan worked to educate leaders on the value and need for communications, created a foundation and strategic framework to draw in changemakers or new potential members to PMI courses. In her role, Flanagan has grown her team to oversee not only external, social media, executive comms, but also regional communications and internal and chapter/membership communications.

Continuing to grow since 2021, the PMI global communications function now includes six regional communicators who oversee the organization’s brand building efforts in 15 markets across seven regions. Flanagan’s team also manages the more than 50 social media channels in six languages that serve more than 3 million project professionals across the world.

“Her leadership in developing the global function and oversight of chapter and member communications, has been key to helping PMI navigate major world events from the past year including the war in Ukraine and the passing of Queen Elizabeth II,” says PMI Senior Vice President Allison Szeliga, who nominated Flanagan for the award. “This has made headway among the PMI community to see PMI as a connected global player.”

The PMI social follower count has grown nearly 32% since the regional expansion of communications. Flanagan also established a Center of Excellence to assist in the delivery of integrated content and social amplification. Under Flanagan’s management, her team has maintained above industry engagement on social channels and majority share of voice against competitors all while increasing PMI’s impressions by 40%.

Congrats to Karen Flanagan.

Corporate Communications Director

Penske Transportation Solutions

Penske Transportation Solutions’ Harmsen drives the messaging to 40,000+ associates

Kimberly Harmsen is in the driver’s seat as senior corporate communications manager of Penske Transportation Solutions. She leverages her PR experience to build bridges with internal and external stakeholders alike to advance the strategic goals of the organization. She’s an honoree in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Not unlike Penske’s mission to keep the world moving forward, Kimberly Harmsen keeps the company’s communications internally and externally moving forward. She joined Penske Transportation Solutions, which provides transportation, supply chain and technology solutions, in 2017 as a public relations manager but quickly became indispensable during COVID as she led the rapid response team and quickly shifted to head up internal comms as well. Today, she leads a team of three comms specialists.

Responsible for communicating to a diverse, decentralized workforce that includes corporate associates, professional drivers, maintenance technicians and warehouse associates at more than 1,350 locations, she puts a major focus on the future of the business — from sustainability and emerging technologies to the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Additionally, she takes the lead in communications for human resources, including benefits, staffing, associate engagement and professional development, and supports Penske’s response to natural disasters and other emergencies.

Partnering with senior leadership is key to some of her other comms responsibilities, as she handles all communications needs related to acquisitions — from onboarding new associates to leadership remarks and press releases. She also manages relationships with non-profit organizations, such as Women in Trucking and Truckers Against Trafficking, as well as valued customers and business partners.

Some notable accomplishments in the past year:

Managed all communications for several acquisitions, which transitioned hundreds of associates and thousands of assets to Penske.
Supporting the transition to a post-pandemic work environment.
Developing unified sustainability messaging by breaking down siloes and assembling data from more than a dozen internal teams, including sourcing, facilities, fuels, sales and maintenance.
Led communications campaigns for new HR programs, including launching business resource groups for diverse associates, an appreciation campaign for corporate and field associates, and a company-wide associate survey.
Securing national recognition for three Penske female executives.

Congrats to Kimberly Harmsen.

Managing Director, Head of Communications & Brand Experience

ING Americas

ING Americas’ Kanter brings hybrid workplace culture to life

Melissa Kanter joined ING Americas at the height of the pandemic and has become the instrumental force in building a hybrid workplace culture. She’s an honoree in the Bridge Builder category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

No easy feat to join as managing director, head of communications & brand experience, ING Americas, in June 2020, just three months into the pandemic. But Melissa Kanter did just that and has proactively paved the way to revive and nurture culture — termed Hybrid Mode by the financial institution — in a post-pandemic environment.

The shift required Kanter and her team to introduce a new internal campaign focused on how employees can “collaborate, connect and grow” to drive business. The approach included in-person, digital, written and virtual experiences that reflect ING’s strong “orange culture” resulting in a shared sense of community and continuity. To do that, Kanter incorporated more personal and authentic messaging from senior management, a new internal visual identity to drive internal engagement efforts, virtual and in-person learning and engagement experiences, and a suite of resources focused on best practices for staying connected while prioritizing mental and physical wellbeing.

With Hybrid Mode underway, Kanter also focused efforts on supporting ING’s local communities as head of the company’s charitable committee. The committee works to align local charitable efforts with the interest of ING’s employees and global community investment approach. The committee identified key pillars of focus — from financial health and sustainability to training and education and DE&I. It also introduced a signature charitable program focused on raising funds for employees impacted by the war in Ukraine, including raising more than $8,000 to support the child of a Ukrainian employee who needed emergency surgery.

Other highlights include:

Connecting with the existing sponsorship of the CityParks Green Girls program, a science-and-STEM-based afterschool and summer program.
Allocating funding to more than 20 local organizations and securing grants from ING’s global community investment fund for programs with Minds Matter and NPower.
Encouraging employees to donate over 2,000 volunteer hours to support organizations, including New York Common Pantry, City Parks Foundation and Habitat for Humanity
As a further bridge-builder and foster of culture, Kanter has worked with employees at various levels to revive employee resource groups.

Congrats to Melissa Kanter.

Vice President of Brand Communications

Hagerty

Hagerty’s Mueller accelerates integrated communications approach

Candace Mueller connected the siloed elements at Hagerty to create a coordinated, integrated communications approach propelling the company’s automotive lifestyle brand status. She’s an honoree in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Candace Mueller certainly had to get behind the wheel and under the hood when she joined Hagerty as vice president of brand communications in the spring of 2022. Hagerty is an automotive enthusiast brand offering integrated membership products and programs, as well as a specialty insurance provider focused on the global automotive enthusiast market.

Mueller quickly made an impact internally by breaking down silos within the company to accelerate the development of the company’s corporate reputation, including Impact/ESG, crisis and thought leadership programs. Externally, Mueller began connecting the automotive enthusiast market, which in the U.S. includes roughly 69 million people, to mass consumer audiences, leaning into Hagerty’s purpose to “save driving and car culture for future generations.” To reach audiences across the nation, in Canada and in the UK, Mueller implemented a multichannel comms strategy, including media outreach, influencer engagement, events, executive thought leadership, corporate announcements and more.

Among her comms accomplishments:

Change comms with the company’s acquisition of Broad Arrow Group, a leading automotive auction company.
Hagerty events, including Motorlux — a celebration of cars, craft and community at the Monterey Car Week — and the inaugural Detroit Concours d’Elegance, both of which created opportunities to expand into the lifestyle sphere with media coverage, influencer engagement programs and media hosting.
Car enthusiast events, such as the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance and The Amelia, both of which are among the nation’s premier collector car competitions.
A thought leadership program that positioned CEO McKeel Hagerty and other C-suite leaders to business and investor audiences via interviews, speeches and contributed content.

Her leadership across internal and external brand communications has led to increased visibility both regionally and nationally, earning the company 13B+ media impressions YTD (by the end of Q3 FY22).

Congrats to Candace Mueller.

VP of Executive Communications

Genesys

Genesys’ Alice Nagle leads the way for employee communications

Calm under pressure, Alice Nagle helped Genesys navigate uncertain times. Nagle is an honoree in the Bridge Builders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Alice Nagle joined Genesys, a global leader in cloud customer experience and contact center solutions, in 2020 in the middle of a pandemic and with no executive communications function.

According to Director of Executive Communications Sylvie Tongo, who nominated Nagle for the award, Nagle is a “master at demonstrating empathy in action, guided by clear and transparent communications.”

“Her strategic communications experience and executive presence were critical during a recent corporate restructuring,” Tongo says. “Her skill at thinking through the strategy holistically, advocating for empathetic actions, and the importance of communications yielded clarity among employees amid a very challenging and uncertain situation.”

The conflict in Eastern Europe created uncertainty for employees in the region, so Nagle collaborated with business leaders to lead a project ensuring consistent engagement with teams in the region.

“Alice ensured alignment and clarity of ALL communications to both internal and external stakeholders when the decision to shut down operations in Russia was made,” Tongo says. “Her efforts resulted in zero negative feedback surrounding the winddown from employees, customers, partners, or vendors.”

During her time as vice president of executive communications at Genesys, Nagle has helped shape company culture by spearheading projects to elevate the company’s storytelling, thought leadership and strategic vision. By defining key communication objectives and developing main stage content in collaboration with her team, results achieved at these events have increased 5% to an overall 98% satisfaction rating for the Genesys internal new year kickoff event, and a segment satisfaction rating from 93% to 96% for the flagship annual customer event.

Under Nagle’s leadership, Genesys invested in an internal employee portal, “OneGenesys,” with executive sponsorship across departments. The portal launched in August 2021 and one year later, the intranet has more than 140 sites and more than 86% of employees visit the intranet monthly, beating industry benchmarks by 27%.

“Employees are responding and taking action at rates well above industry averages for internal communications,” Tongo added. “The portal powers 60,000 searches with less than 1% error – a significant employee productivity boost.”

Nagle’s innate ability to connect people through the practice of strategic communications is just one of the reasons why she is an honoree in the Bridge Builders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Congrats to Alice Nagle.

US Head of Internal Communications

Specialist Staffing Group

Armentia Snyder-Anderson facilitates positive change at Specialist Staffing Group

Armentia Snyder-Anderson’s actions have earned her recognition in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Armentia Snyder-Anderson knows firsthand the benefits of having an organizational culture committed to connectedness and collaboration.

As a member of the U.S. senior leadership team at Specialist Staffing Group, Snyder-Anderson has been a catalyst for positive change in the business by implementing a communications structure aligned with the company’s global priorities. Snyder-Anderson leads the U.S. internal communications function for Specialist Staffing Group, the U.S. arm of international STEM recruiting firm SThree Plc.

“She is a leader and asset to any team, and her upbeat personality fits into and helps improve company culture,” says Specialist Staffing Group President Sunny Ackerman, who nominated Snyder-Anderson for the award. “Armentia is motivated by people, which is why she’s committed to connecting with every level of the business and creating a workplace where all feel valued. From our CEO to the desk level employee, to a colleague in Texas to a peer in Munich, Armentia’s spirit is magnetic.”

By leveraging relationships within the company’s global network of 40 office locations across 15 countries, all from the Chicago office, Snyder-Anderson has been able to advance the organizational strategy. With nearly 20 years of experience in public relations and internal communications, she has artfully built trust and relationships with employees throughout North America, Europe and Asia, according to Ackerman.

To accomplish these goals, Snyder-Anderson orchestrates monthly town halls (with an 86% attendance rate on average) hosted by regional leaders and the president to address employee questions, concerns and other topics. Survey feedback shows continuous employee satisfaction as a result.

“Whether Armentia is leading communications efforts for a crisis situation, partnering with colleagues on an integrated marketing campaign, working with brand partners, or assisting the executive leadership team, she always provides valuable insights,” Ackerman adds. “She has gone above and beyond to give support and direction to help maintain the positive image of the enterprise.”

Kudos to Armentia Snyder-Anderson.

Senior Vice President Corporate Communications, Scientific Stature Services and Community Affairs

RTI International

RTI International’s Kami Spangenberg drives global scientific and research impact

Kami Spangenberg leads initiatives that share nonprofit research institute RTI International’s mission to improve the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. She’s a Bridge Builder honoree in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

It seems apropos that Kami Spangenberg would be among the honorees in the Bridge Builder category. Among her accomplishments, RTI’s senior vice president of Corporate Communications, Scientific Stature Services and Community Affairs, launched a new digital experience on the RTI intranet aptly named “The Bridge,” which links staff to the impact of the institute’s global work, fostering greater connections across hybrid work experiences and equipping staff to be brand ambassadors. The site launched as Spangenberg and her team helped the institute fully reopen its facilities and implement initiatives to continue providing staff a great place to work.

She has led her team in achieving increased engagement on RTI.org among target accounts and clients, in publishing more than 1,000 important pieces of scientific literature, and in creating and pitching approximately 150 news announcements and press releases to international, national, local and trade publications.

Bridging internal and external stakeholders, Spangenberg facilitated RTI’s CEO transition by implementing a communication plan that included staff engagement through messages, meetings and events, and an executive thought leadership engagement strategy — media training, message development and media interviews. As part of her crisis communications and issues response portfolio, Kami also led the development of a social issues response framework and guidance for the institute, to help guide executive leadership decision-making. Last year overall, under Kami’s direction, RTI donated approximately $1M USD to nonprofits worldwide through Community Affairs, which has grown from two to seven key programs annually. She also serves as executive sponsor of RTI’s VALoR employee resource group serving Veterans and allies.

Congrats to Kami Spangenberg.

Manager of Science Communications

Idaho National Laboratory

Idaho National Laboratory’s Nicole Stricker manages teams, delivers unified messaging

As she works to further the INL’s mission to a secure clean energy future, Nicole Stricker is recognized in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As the science communications manager for Idaho National Laboratory, Nicole Stricker coordinates all research-based communication activity – both internal and external. The lab employs more than 5,400 researchers and support staff and has a $1.8 billion operating budget.

Stricker bridges efforts between separate research directorates in order for the lab to effectively communicate its research impact within the organization and to communities and stakeholders. Her work ensures that her two-dozen-plus team members work together on all communication activities, managing crossover efforts and delivering unified messaging.

In her role, Stricker also helps to make often complicated science concepts understandable by bridging the gaps between the lab and the public. This can most notably be seen in INL’s online presence. Over the last year, Stricker’s team efforts have resulted in 16.7 million social media impressions (a 33% increase over the previous year) as well as an 18% increase in followers, crossing 100,000 across all platforms.

Under her leadership, INL has received national coverage from various media outlets such as The Washington Post, CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.

Stricker also created an employee messaging resource on the value of nuclear energy (“Let’s Talk Nuclear”) in order to bridge communication gaps between laboratory researchers and the community.

After the Netflix miniseries “Meltdown: Three Mile Island” hit the streaming service in 2022, Stricker organized a team to hold employee and public outreach Q&A panels to discuss the accident and cleanup. That same year Stricker also coordinated with a production team filming a four-part nuclear energy series for the “Tomorrow’s World Today” program on the Discovery and Learning channels.

Congrats to Nicole Stricker.

Senior Director of Communications

Blank Rome LLP

Collaboration internally and externally is key for Blank Rome’s Tavella

Kate Tavella forges relationships with internal and external stakeholders to launch new initiatives at Blank Rome LLP. She’s an honoree in the Bridge Builders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Kate Tavella may not live by every letter of the law … but she has good reason. To build a communications strategy at the Am Law 100 ranked Blank Rome firm, with 14 offices and more than 600 attorneys and principals, you sometimes have to stretch the limitations. As senior director of communications, Tavella is called upon by the firm’s leadership, attorneys, and administrative professionals to strategize and implement communications plans — from firm policies to lateral onboarding, client initiatives, community engagement and event planning. Recognizing her strategic PR insight, attorneys bring Tavella into the conversation to navigate crisis situations and advise on communications … and promote big wins. She also manages the firm’s relationship with its external PR agency and other vendors, ensuring their efforts are aligned with the firm’s strategic business plan.

“Kate [Tavella] is an integral member of our Blank Rome family. She has shepherded our firm — and its leadership — through major milestones during her tenure,” said Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome’s managing partner and CEO. “She is an authentic communicator who understands the importance of remaining genuine when promoting our firm and sharing our stories with media, our clients, and the legal industry. Kate is a highly valued member of our firm.”

Among those milestones:

Spearheading communications and programming for the firm’s first in-person All-Attorney Retreat in over a decade.
Program development for the firm’s annual Women’s Leadership Summit, bringing together the firm’s women attorneys, top clients and women industry leaders for networking and professional growth initiatives.
An integral member of Blank Rome’s Covid-19 Taskforce, formed in March 2020, to navigate the pandemic for both the firm’s professionals and clients.
In 2019, when Grant Palmer took over as Blank Rome’s managing partner and CEO, Tavella guided the firm’s communications strategy, securing coverage in key legal publications and ensuring a smooth leadership transition.
Led the comms strategy and integration of 100+ attorneys from Dickstein Shapiro when they joined Blank Rome in 2016, the firm’s largest transaction in its 75-year history. She managed the needs of internal teams, clients and reporters, ultimately securing coverage in national and regional legal media markets.

Says Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer James Stapleton, “After 35 years of leading marketing efforts at seven major professional services firms, I can honestly say Kate is the finest communications leader I have ever met. Her ability to coax the best communications from the broadest variety of people is exceptional.”

Congrats to Kate Tavella.

Vice President - Public Relations

Premier Inc.

Calm in crisis, Amanda Forster’s efforts bring company growth

With her team, Amanda Forster established Premier, Inc as a go-to resource and leader across national, trade and broadcast outlets. Amanda Forster is an honoree in the Crisis Navigators category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

In her role as vice president of public relations, Amanda Forster is no stranger to dealing with crisis. Like many companies, communications efforts at healthcare improvement company Premier, Inc have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, potential railroad strikes, and the Ukraine/Russian war.

Under Forster’s leadership, Premier worked to secure opportunities that would establish the company as a go-to resource and leader across national, trade and broadcast outlets. With breaking news coverage, views to Premier’s blog have increased exponentially.

Forster’s team verified claims about product availability and utilized data and experts to forecast trends – not just comment on news reactively – creating a lasting impact on the healthcare and supply chain industries.

“Forster’s team has delivered insights on best practices, creating healthy markets for goods and services, and improving the health of the communities Premier serves by communicating timely, accurate updates to customers, members, policymakers, and media grounded in the data and insights the team uncovers,” says Noah Zachary, senior director of public relations at Premier, Inc, who nominated Forster for the award.

Over the last year, Forster worked with Premier’s leadership to elevate company voices around key issues during critical times to influence change with Premier. These efforts resulted in a renewed interest in ensuring domestic manufacturing of critical healthcare supplies, and more forward-looking plans of action across healthcare providers, suppliers and distributors regarding supply chain needs.

“Forster fosters an encouraging environment for those within the company to feel safe coming forward with ideas, questions or concerns in relation to national events,” Zachary adds. “No matter how major the news is, she works with the team to ensure their internal stakeholders’ needs come first.”

Kudos to Amanda Forster.

Executive Director of Strategic Engagement and Crisis Communication

Dallas ISD

Dallas ISD’s Robyn Harris track record shows she’s a master crisis communicator

In a time when school safety is a top priority, Robyn Harris stepped up to the challenge. This is why Harris has earned recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Throughout her eight-year tenure as executive director of strategic engagement and crisis communication at Dallas Independent School District (ISD), Robyn Harris has helped shape the district’s reputation as a trusted source in moments of crisis. Examples of challenges she has helped navigate include the district’s decision to contest the governor’s mask mandate ban, the destruction of three campuses by a tornado, and an Ebola outbreak.

In August 2022, Harris also took on the challenge to spearhead efforts to communicate Dallas ISD’s Comprehensive Safety and Security Plan. She helped craft the plan and organized a press conference that all major local media outlets attended. With the recent Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, fresh in everyone’s minds, reporters didn’t shy away from asking tough questions and Harris rose to the occasion by setting parameters, directing questions, and ensuring the media received factual information.

Harris also helped improve crisis protocols to address the need for immediate and accurate school safety communication. This protocol includes gathering information from school leadership and crafting bilingual messages to distribute to stakeholders. Since October of 2021, Harris has overseen the creation of more than 225 letters that provided vital information to families.

“As a guiding force in the communications department, Harris leads with one quote in mind when a crisis arises: ‘those in power MUST empower,’” says Caren Rodriguez, director of news and information at Dallas ISD, who nominated Harris for the award. “By leading with empathy, she empowers her team to make the best and most necessary decisions – even when tensions are high and information is fluid.”

Kudos to Robyn Harris.

Communication Director

Providence

Providence’s Beth Hegde battles misinformation during pandemic

Beth Hegde is the go-to comms person in times of crisis. She is recognized in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Whenever a crisis arises, one of the first calls made by hospital leaders is to Beth Hegde. In her role as communication director for all Providence hospitals and clinics in Eastern Washington, she is key to a strategic, intelligent and compassionate response, according to coworkers.

With more than two decades of public relations experience, Hegde has earned the role of communication director at Providence, a not-for-profit Catholic health care ministry in Washington. She manages a team of four public relations professionals who oversee internal communication, media relations, advertising, sponsorship and events, and social media.

Throughout the pandemic, Hedge secured coverage with The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, CNN, as well as other local, regional and national outlets.

“Through every crisis, Beth looks for learning opportunities for her team. She imparts wisdom and encouragement as she shapes the next generation of public relations leaders,” says Communication Manager Ariana Lake.

When the region showed some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state, Hegde paved the way for a TV reporter to visit the hospital’s intensive care unit showing the toll of COVID-19. The resulting story garnered an Emmy nomination and national recognition.

During one of the largest COVID-19 patient surges, Hegde proposed the Project Portrait to honor caregivers. The project included 1,200 photos of 457 caregivers from across Providence hospitals and clinics culminating with a permanent display and presentation covered by all the local news outlets.

Hegde also supported ideas to reshape Providence’s social media strategy in an effort to battle misinformation during the pandemic. Within one year, comments across three social channels increased 160.5% and engagement increased by 33 percent.

Hegde often shares her experience across the industry, most recently as the keynote and organizer for a multi-county PIO emergency management training.

“Whether it’s a protesting family, or managing a multi-year health care crisis, Beth can do it all,” adds Lake. “She is a servant leader with an unwavering commitment to better her workplace, the community, and the public relations profession.”

Congratulations to Beth Hegde.

Director of Media Relations

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Kelsy Long brings grace under pressure at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Kelsy Long’s decision to share a famed dolphin’s illness journey and death is the first of its kind in the industry. Long’s actions have earned her recognition in the Crisis Navigators category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

While there is typically guarded privacy surrounding information regarding an animal’s illness in the zoo and aquarium industry, Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s Kelsy Long knew it was in the best interest of CMA to equate its communication strategy around famed dolphin Winter to that of any beloved human celebrity.

In her role as director of media relations, Long takes on all challenges thrown her way including vocalizing the organizations efforts to save manatees and critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and sea turtles, as well as promoting the aquarium as a tourist destination.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium, a marine life hospital and 501 C3 organization, is best known for rescued resident dolphin Winter, who lost her tail after becoming entangled in a crab trap. Her journey became a worldwide phenomenon featured in books and films such as “Dolphin Tale.” When Winter passed away in November 2021, shortly after her 16^th birthday due to an intestinal abnormality, CMA followed a policy of transparency and decided to share Winter’s health journey with the public under Long’s leadership.

“Kelsy’s attention to every detail during such a difficult time was unparalleled,” says Allison Garrett, communications specialist, NOAA Fisheries/U.S. Department of Commerce. “It takes a true communications professional to respond to and tell this story while dealing with the overwhelming sadness felt throughout her organization and the community.”

Long prepared all talking points for the various audience types, arranged media outreach, coordinated onsite press conferences, worked with colleagues to set up memorials, and prepare media assets. Due to her efforts, the organization was commended for the decision to bring people along.

Kudos to Kelsy Long.

Sr. Manager, Corporate Communications, Issues & Crisis

The Home Depot

Home Depot’s Margaret Smith prepares communications response after fire

In a crisis, Home Depot’s Margaret Smith is frequently the first one called. Smith’s accomplishments have earned her recognition in the Crisis Navigator category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As the senior manager of corporate communications, issues, and crisis at Home Depot, a global home improvement retailer, Margaret Smith is often the first person to get a call when a crisis arises.

In the spring of 2022, Smith received one such call when a California Home Depot store was on fire. The building was quickly evacuated and as the store continued to burn, Smith rallied partners to develop a simple yet effective strategy to handle the influx of media interest while keeping Home Depot associates and their concerns top of mind. The story was covered by every outlet in California and various top-tier national outlets, including Nightly News, CNN, Fox News, and CBS News. This resulted in thousands of news stories with more than 40% impacted by Smith and her messaging.

With Smith leading the PR response, a communications program was formed in the aftermath of the fire. She prepared messaging for HR leaders to share with displaced store associates, a CEO communication, and messaging for Home Depot government relations to share with city leaders and elected officials. Smith coordinated with teams across the company on the communications response.

Smith also utilized internal social media to keep associates from the impacted store connected and able to receive timely updates from Home Depot leadership. A call to action for all Home Depot associates to send messages of encouragement to the displaced associates also was created, resulting in more than 500 messages collected across the country.

“She brings a sense of calm to every sensitive issue, and she’s one of the safest pair of hands in the business,” says Home Depot Senior Manager of Public Relations & Corporate Communications Christina Cornell, who nominated Smith for the award. “Across Home Depot’s more than 2,300 stores, Margaret has earned a reputation among store managers as the person to call when you need help, because you know she’ll have your back, and she’ll deliver beyond expectations.”

This is just one example of Smith’s experience put into action.

Congrats to Margaret Smith.

Vice President

DCG

Chelsea Radler’s data analysis skills prove knowledge is power at DCG

DCG’s Chelsea Radler’s actions have earned her recognition in the Data Divas category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Chelsea Radler understands the importance of data.

As vice president at DCG Communications, a specialized communications consultancy focused on developing influential communications programs to help clients build brands and enhance their reputations, Radler doesn’t believe research should sit around gathering dust.

Over the past year, Radler has designed, overseen and executed more than 30 research and evaluation projects on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. She had led in-person research in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, as well as remote studies in various other countries.

“Data. Just the word can make people yawn. But data in Chelsea Radler’s hands is magical,” says DCG Director Karen Bell, who nominated Radler for the award.

To maximize data’s real-world impact, she mines it for key messages and lessons learned – connecting dots between themes and across projects. This knowledge becomes the most powerful tool in a communicator’s toolkit, forming the basis of strategic communications plans, new ways to segment audiences, and messaging frameworks that achieve the client’s mission. Her data insights are acted on at the highest levels in government.

This past fall, Radler managed a five-country project of 20 focus groups to collect public opinion data and inform how the United States can best communicate its shared values and priorities in Asia. Radler also moderated dozens of focus groups and interviews with public diplomacy practitioners that informed internal communications efforts and technology priorities.

Last summer, Radler led the coordination of nearly 100 policy-centric focus groups in eight countries. The project required adapting methodology to local contexts and COVID-19 protocols to maintain safe and rigorous fieldwork. Her analysis will be used to inform messaging on climate change and democracy around the world.

Radler also is known to share her expertise with others through mentoring a global team of more than 10 researchers. In addition, Radler has contributed to manuals on audience analysis and led trainings on using projective techniques in focus group moderation.

“Chelsea makes sure her data is responsibly sourced, strategic, and actionable,” Bell adds. “Because of Chelsea’s efforts to incorporate more data into federal communication, knowledge is power.”

Congrats to Chelsea Radler.

Vice President, Employee and Culture Communications

BNY Mellon

Joy Belgiovine strives to build a sense of belonging at BNY Mellon

From Heritage Months to virtual backgrounds that reflect employees’ diversity, Belgiovine has built a reputation for thoughtfulness and empathy. She’s an honoree in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As vice president, employee and culture communications, Joy Belgiovine leads BNY Mellon’s DE&I communications strategy, creating a culture where the investment firm’s 50,000 employees feel they belong and can succeed no matter who they are.

In 2022, for example, Belgiovine implemented an awareness campaign across BNY Mellon for nine Heritage Month celebrations, from Black History Month in February to Veterans Month in November. The campaign featured storytelling on BNY Mellon’s intranet, social media channels and web site, and at in-person gatherings across the company’s employee/business resource groups.

She also spearheaded the development of virtual backgrounds for colleagues to use on Microsoft Teams calls, showing their pride and allyship for the Heritage Months. A DE&I playbook Belgiovine created lets employees create their own content, manage events and amplify the company’s efforts.

Belgiovine’s work on Heritage Months and content creation has transformed BNY Mellon’s global employees into brand ambassadors focused on culture. Her commitment to DE&I also is evident in her work to lift up talent at the firm. She has been at the forefront of BNY Mellon’s employee value proposition; she’s also influenced a #LifeatBNYMellon campaign inaugurated with interns that is being adopted across all channels and will be a major recruiting campaign this year.

Belgiovine supports the firm’s social media and crisis communications as well. She led employee responses to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and shooting tragedies across the country. She takes a thoughtful and empathetic approach to crafting messages that put employees first and emphasize how the feeling of belonging is paramount in times of uncertainty.

Thanks to her efforts, DE&I content posted on the BNY Mellon intranet receives more than 5,000 page views compared to an average 2,000 views. Further, her DE&I storytelling is the most engaged content on the firm’s LinkedIn and Twitter channels, with views increasing more than 100% year over year.

Congrats to Joy Belgiovine.

Global Vice President, Communications and Reputation

AB InBev

Kate Laverge brews up a heady mix of diversity initiatives at AB InBev

She’s spearheaded DE&I programs in volunteering, communications and leadership development, building the bench for the brewing company’s future and earning her honors as a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Kate Laverge’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion began long before her current position as global vice president of communications and reputation at AB InBev, among the world’s leading brewers. During her 12 years at Paramount, where she led communications and culture for international business, Laverge championed programming for Paramount’s annual Inclusion Week and the launch of international employee resource groups, among other key initiatives.

In her current role, Laverge serves as the communities pillar lead in AB InBev’s Global DEI Council, which is chaired by the CEO. She has spearheaded projects like Dream Big Day, the company’s global volunteer day designed to activate a global network to empower local communities and use the company’s scale, knowledge and unique capabilities to solve significant community problems.

She also has partnered with Global Diversity and Inclusion VP Jaclyn Senner on the development of a holistic DE&I-focused communications strategy that includes an editorial strategy celebrating and communicating the DE&I work of colleagues around the world. The effort resulted in DEI-focused features in AB InBev’s newsroom, the company’s weekly On Tap Newsletter and a leadership DEI training program.

But there’s more. Laverge also has championed the company’s new global diversity, equity and inclusion platforms, a straightforward communications framework designed to encourage leaders to speak about DE&I issues credibly and confidently. The platforms — “An Inclusive Future,” “An Empowered Future” and “An Equitable Future” — build on AB InBev’s philosophy, “We Dream Big to Create a Future with More Cheers,” an approach designed to integrate DE&I into the company’s mission.

To manage brand engagement with DE&I topics in a rapidly evolving environment, Laverge partnered with internal stakeholders to develop a social issues framework designed to clarify how, when and why brands should engage on social advocacy. Under her leadership, AB InBev’s brands have taken stands on issues relevant to key communities, joining efforts with partners to say “No to racism,” “Love is love” and “Together in pride” around the world.

On top of all this, Laverge is a mentor and champion of diverse talent in the organization, building a pipeline for the next generation of leaders.

Congrats to Kate Laverge.

CEO

The Levinson Group

Molly Levinson takes on big fights in support of social issues

She’s advocated for women’s equal pay, a fallen journalists memorial, LGBTQ+ rights and more, making her a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Molly Levinson, founder and CEO of The Levinson Group (TLG), has served as an advisor to the world’s top companies and their leaders. As an advisor on major social impact and public interest engagement campaigns, she’s worked on some of the most notable and headline-grabbing issues over the last decade.

For example:

Levinson led TLG’s efforts supporting the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s pay discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, winning a $24 million settlement and new collective bargaining agreements guaranteeing equal pay. Her work for the USWNT was featured prominently in the HBO Max documentary “LFG,” which premiered at Tribeca in June 2021.

In partnership with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad and her organization Nadia’s Initiative, Levinson advocates for survivors of gender-based violence and communities in crisis, with audiences including heads of state and the United Nations.

Since founding TLG, Levinson also has worked to champion, protect and honor journalists at home and abroad. TLG is the founding strategic communications and engagement partner to the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation, and Levinson serves on its board of advisors. The Foundation’s goal is to build the first memorial honoring fallen journalists and press freedom on federal land in Washington, D.C.; since TLG’s involvement, it has secured more than $10 million in contributions and grants, as well as a siting endorsement near the National Mall from the Secretary of the Interior.

Finally, Levinson has positioned TLG on the front lines of the fight to protect LGBTQ+ rights, leading communications efforts for plaintiffs and their legal counsel challenging the controversial Florida House Bill 1557, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. TLG’s efforts produced top-tier media coverage, including a highly moving Good Morning America interview featuring plaintiff Zander Moricz and lead attorney Roberta Kaplan.

Congrats to Molly Levinson.

Senior Vice President

United Way of the National Capital Area

Phillips highlights the important work of United Way NCA

Her crucial campaigns showed off how United Way serves communities in need throughout the D.C. metro area. Nedelka Tejada Phillips is an honoree as a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

United Way of the National Capital Area (United Way NCA) champions equity for all people across the greater Washington, D.C. metro area. As senior vice president of United Way NCA, Nedelka Tejada Phillips oversees marketing, branding, communications and resource development for the $24 million annual gross revenue charity.

With her 12-person team, Phillips focuses on diversifying the organization’s revenue streams and transforming its growth model. Much of her work is focused on equity issues in low- and moderate-income communities, amplifying United Way NCA’s efforts to attract and retain corporate and community partners, allowing United Way NCA to bolster programs through financial capacity and volunteers.

Under Phillips’ leadership in the last 12 months, United Way NCA launched the Thrive United 365 brand, which focused on health equity, and the award-winning Practice Equity campaign, which places equity and social justice issues at the forefront of the United Way NCA mission. The campaigns allowed Phillips to show how United Way NCA is serving these communities as a racial/social justice issue, and how crucial the work is for the region.

As a result of Phillips’ marketing communications campaigns, United Way NCA earned an uptick in social media engagement, with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles collecting 94.7K+ total impressions; a steady stream of earned media achieved an audience reach of 336.1 million (Nov. 2021-Oct. 2022).

Phillips’ aim is to drive increased support for community impact initiatives through grants, relationships with individual employees, and meaningful opportunities for engagement and connection with the community and fellow supporters.

Ultimately, United Way NCA completed its 2022 fiscal year with strong wins and new opportunities to continue growing, diversifying and sustaining revenue. The fiscal year closed reaching 93% of its fundraising goal for all revenue raised through the United Way NCA, and 89% of its target for revenue raised and designated to United Way NCA — numbers that reflect a year-to-year increase of 4% in net revenue from fiscal year ’20-’21.

Congrats to Nedelka Tejada Phillips.

VP of Communications at Mastercard Latin America & Caribbean (LAC)

Mastercard

Mastercard’s Janet Rivera-Hernandez’s passion for digital and financial inclusion is priceless

Janet Rivera-Hernandez drives growth through strategic communications and reputation management at Mastercard. Her efforts have earned her acknowledgement in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champions category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Janet Rivera-Hernandez, vice president of communications at Mastercard Latin America and Caribbean (LAC), believes in the importance of financial inclusion as a path toward prosperity and inclusive growth in LAC. Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry.

With more than 15 years of experience at Mastercard, Rivera-Hernandez leads a team of 16 communicators across LAC (75% women, 20% LGBTQI+, and 5% men) and oversees the work of agency partners. She supervises all communications in support of the company’s employee engagement efforts in three languages (English, Spanish and Portuguese) in a region with 1,200+ employees across more than 15 countries with over a dozen offices. Rivera-Hernandez works to amplify the company’s inclusion efforts through programs such as Tech4Good and the Partnership for Central America.

By leveraging traditional and digital media, in addition to a robust program of industry events across the region, Rivera-Hernandez is able to push the mission forward among employees, consumers and partners. In early 2022, she and LAC’s communications team defined a strategy to position Mastercard as an employer of choice, using core aspects of Mastercard’s culture.

In 2022, Rivera-Hernandez’s continued work with the Gender Balance Steering Committee for the region and Mastercard’s Girls4Tech program in Latin America inspired girls to pursue education in STEM.

For International Women’s Day, Rivera-Hernandez led “Growing Together is Priceless,” an internal campaign, featuring more than 30 employees and department leads across the region, who contributed their personal stories to the company’s message and then amplified those on social media.

These are just a few of the reasons why Rivera-Hernandez’s hard work, experience and passion are priceless to Mastercard.

Congratulations to Janet Rivera-Hernandez.

Senior Director, Public Relations & Executive Communications

Century 21 Real Estate

Erin Siegel leads CENTURY 21’s efforts to influence the national conversation around real estate

Siegel was key to a documentary on COVID’s impact on home buying; she also spearheaded a program for Latina entrepreneurs. It’s led to her being named a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

CENTURY 21 has been an iconic name in the real estate industry for more than 50 years, and as senior director of public relations and executive communications, Erin Siegel has been instrumental in pushing its leaders, affiliated brokers and agents to influence the real estate conversation at a national level (for example, by positioning CEO Mike Miedler as a go-to resource for information and thought leadership with top media outlets like Yahoo Finance, Forbes, Money and Fox Business).

Siegel helped execute the launch of the CENTURY 21 National Geographic CreativeWorks documentary, “Home Rediscovered,” which illustrated how the COVID-19 pandemic affected lives and changed what people look for in a home. With her team, she secured key influencers like former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro to appear alongside real-life home buyers and sellers in the film. The documentary sought to avoid coming across as a CENTURY 21 commercial, but as a piece of content that told a story of American life.

Passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, and as a Latina herself, Siegel has worked to develop, execute and promote CENTURY 21’s Empowering Latinas program, which awarded 121 Latina entrepreneurs with funding to secure their real estate licenses and provided support and mentorship to set them on a path towards success.

The program was initially launched in 2018 as a local market effort, but working closely with her team, Siegel was able to elevate the program to a national level in the past year. Speaking with many of the winners let Siegel see for herself the positive impact the program has had on their lives and how it helped them build generational wealth and provide crucial opportunities to Hispanic communities.

On top of her day-to-day role, Siegel leads the corporate team in community service work.

Congrats to Erin Siegel.

Manager, Communications

Applebee's Grill + Bar

Batista juggles a variety of roles to keep Applebee’s on the radar

Allegra Batista is in charge of an internal newsletter, video content and social media campaigns for the casual dining brand. Her achievements have made her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As the communications manager for Applebee’s Bar + Grill, Allegra Batista wears many hats. One of her key tasks is collaborating with franchise partners and internal teams (from operations to leadership) to create and distribute the weekly internal newsletter “Core News,” distributed to 600 people each week; she’s responsible for ensuring its timely delivery stuffed with news, updates and information about the Applebee’s brand.

But there’s more: In addition to the weekly newsletter, Batista also is in charge of Team Member video content, which showcases the people who make Applebee’s what it is. Since February 2022, she’s traveled to seven states capturing content at 12 different Applebee’s locations.

On top of that, Batista is charged with growing brand awareness for Applebee’s on social media. The social space was a growth opportunity for the brand, especially among the Gen Z audience, so Batista led agency partners in creative content campaigns that have achieved an average engagement rate of 9% and more than 9.5 million social media impressions.

To position Applebee’s as a player on social media, Batista worked with agency teams to create a 360-campaign featuring the make-out song of the summer, “Taste My Face,” which dropped with the first-ever datable music video on National Wing Day and National Lipstick Day. The earned approach was designed to connect Applebee’s with its existing and newer audiences, and to help singles navigate the pandemic’s side effects on dating, from the halt of in-person dating to the fear of starting out again after months away from the dating scene.

The campaign drew more than 3.4 billion earned impressions, including mentions on The Today Show, Jimmy Fallon and the Drew Barrymore show. Additionally, Applebee’s saw a 5% increase in share of voice, 2.6 times more social brand mentions and eight times more brand engagements. Batista’s approach not only garnered a large number of impressions but reshaped the way Applebee’s appeals to its guests.

Congrats to Allegra Batista.

Senior Director, Global Communications, Culture and Brand Partnerships

Bacardi - PATRÓN Tequila

More buzz for the brand: Allie Bostwick boosted PATRÓN Tequila with collaboration

Enlisting top F1 racers, streetwear designers and music stars helped raise visibility and coverage for PATRÓN. Bostwick’s success has made her an honoree as a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Allie Bostwick started her career with PATRÓN Tequila as director of public relations in 2019. Now senior director, global communications, culture and brand partnerships, Bostwick has transformed PATRÓN from just a tequila to one of the most buzzed-about brands in culture, music, sports, entertainment and fashion.

Among her recent achievements, Bostwick brought PATRÓN into the world of Formula 1 racing. With the popularity of F1 rising, she established several first-time collaborations for PATRÓN, starting by partnering with Mexican racing icon Sergio “Checo” Perez. From there, Bostwick secured a partnership with F1 Paddock Club™, establishing PATRÓN as the first-ever exclusive tequila partner of the F1 trackside experience.

In addition, at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, PATRÓN won the No. 1 share of voice for earned media and social media, receiving multiple pieces of headline coverage from top-tier media, generating more than 500 million impressions for the brand and further solidifying PATRÓN as the most talked-about tequila brand against its competitors.

Bostwick also led two brand collaborations with famed streetwear designer John Geiger, both of which sold out in minutes. The first, centered around National Tequila Day 2021, featured a limited-edition streetwear collection inspired by PATRÓN Tequila’s annual Mexican Heritage Tin. A second collaboration, with the designer for Cinco de Mayo 2022, featured limited-edition PATRÓN x John Geiger GF-01 sneakers inspired by the brand’s agave fields in Mexico. The campaign won PATRÓN the No. 1 share of voice during this cultural holiday, gaining more than 75 pieces of coverage that generated more than 1.2 billion impressions for the brand.

Most recently, Bostwick led PATRÓN Tequila’s newest and most prestigious product launch to date — PATRÓN EL ALTO. Under Bostwick’s leadership, PATRÓN brought together music legends and innovators like Missy Elliott and Hit-Boy to launch PATRÓN EL ALTO. She spearheaded all aspects of the marketing launch, including the national launch event and securing a partnership that brought Missy Elliot back to the stage for her first live performance in three years.

To date, PATRÓN EL ALTO has garnered 87 placements and 887 million impressions.

Congrats to Allie Bostwick.

Executive Director of Communications

Bally Sports

Burak leads the biggest transition in her company’s history: a full rebrand

When Bally Sports Regional Networks joined FOX Sports to create an all-new brand, Whitney Burak’s task was to guide internal and external communications for the campaign. Her success marks her as a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Meet Whitney Burak. She’s executive director of communications for the Bally Sports Regional Networks, the largest collection of regional sports networks (RSNs) in the country. In March of 2021, Burak led PR/comms efforts for arguably the single largest undertaking in the RSN group’s 30+ year history: FOX Sports regional networks was transitioning to the all-new Bally Sports brand.

With limited time to prepare, Burak’s team had to assemble a multi-layered campaign targeting multiple audiences to showcase the depth and breadth of the complete rebrand, which called for taking charge of new marketing and production assets while leaning on subject matter experts and executives.

Burak was responsible for all external and internal communications for the rebrand. With more than 42 team partner relationships spanning the NBA, NHL and MLB, the external messaging had to be both thorough and clear. Addressing the concerns and needs of these partners was vital, and Burak’s experience with the RSNs and her ability to anticipate the team’s needs was invaluable.

Timely delivery also was crucial, so Burak worked with individual RSNs to share messages that helped in educating her partners, resulting in a smooth exchange of information.

Internal communications was equally important to such a pivotal change in the company’s identity. With the volume of elements, logos, music, graphics, set designs, etc. necessary to the project, Burak communicated the evolution of the rebrand to employees by putting together the “Bally Blast” for the launch date of March 31, 2021. This weekly newsletter became the internal mouthpiece for the rebrand, keeping employees at every level involved in the journey.

The effort required gathering information from key company stakeholders, allowing Burak to create an effective and engaging vehicle — not just to show the final shiny product, but to showcase the hard work across the company to transform the brand.

Congrats to Whitney Burak.

Vice President of Global Communications and Marketing

ICF

Lauren Dyke supports and drives change throughout ICF

She’s tackled hybrid work, M&A, climate change and more, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

In a time of unrelenting change, Lauren Dyke has transformed ICF’s marcom model. Dyke is vice president of communications and marketing for the $1.55 billion global consulting and digital services provider, leading all aspects of communications: corporate and employee communications, public relations, and priority campaigns for brand management, marketing and content strategy.

Internally, Dyke guided the ICF workforce through hybrid work arrangements sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic to the opening of a new global headquarters designed for the future of work, basing her efforts on empathetic messages from leaders, a spotlight on purpose-driven work, and cultural highlights focused on values and inclusivity.

Her work has achieved results: In a recent employee survey, 90% of ICF workers said they understand how their roles contribute to ICF’s success (10% higher than industry average), 86% believe their values align with ICF’s values (16% higher than industry average) and 83% say they’re proud to be part of ICF.

Dyke also developed the communications strategy for recent acquisitions, crafting external and internal messaging that engaged clients, employees and the broader industry, while also mitigating the concerns that often come with M&A. Her strategy emphasized key value propositions, along with expanded depth and scale, and strong cultural alignment — an approach that secured dozens of media placements.

Moving beyond traditional communications and marketing strategies, Dyke succeeded in building stronger partnerships with stakeholders, aligning internal communicators and business marketers around a transparent process for sharing information and growth goals. These partnerships resulted in 15 awards recognizing ICF’s commitment to DE&I, innovation and leadership, along with a 13% increase in web site visitors, 25% more marketing contacts and nearly 40% greater audience engagement.

In addition to all that, Dyke leads the promotion of the ICF Climate Center, a thought leadership hub featuring original content, scientific analysis and expertise from more than 2,000 climate, energy and environment experts addressing the biggest climate change challenges and solutions facing the world today. Since launch, the Climate Center has been featured in more than 80 media and trade outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, USA Today and more.

Congrats to Lauren Dyke.

Vice President

Arketi Group

Erica England brings in the business at Arketi Group

England’s Purpose offering attracted coverage and new clients, and her crisis comms work saved others. She’s a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

At digital marketing and PR firm Arketi Group, Erica England is responsible for close to $1 million in annual revenue across 10-12 clients, including brands like NCR, Cox Communications, RELEX Solutions and more. Over the past year, she and her three reports grew Arketi’s client revenue to the tune of an additional quarter million dollars. On the new business front, England brought in clients for messaging and PR support who generated more than $200,000.

That’s not all she was up to. England was instrumental in developing and launching Arketi’s Purpose offering, which helps B2B companies define and activate their corporate purpose. Her work led to the creation of Arketi’s Purpose in Practice report, an examination of 80+ marketing executives’ views of organizational purpose. The report was shortlisted for a PRSA GA Phoenix Award. England also was successful in growing and selling the Purpose offering to new and existing clients.

An eight-year veteran of Arketi, England was promoted to vice president in the past year, joining Arketi’s senior leadership. Although her responsibilities shifted with the promotion, England continued her commitment to media relations, securing coverage for Arketi in outlets such as CBS, CNBC, CNN, USA Today and a variety of local and B2B industry media.

England also played a crucial role in crisis communications, providing counsel for clients navigating data breaches, lawsuits and the death of an employee. Her work was recognized with a MARCOM Award and two PRSA Phoenix Awards.

Dedicated to developing future PR professionals at Arketi and beyond, England launched a monthly “Pitch & Tell” series for junior employees, encouraging them to crowdsource story ideas and workshop pitches in an open, safe environment. She’s also a frequent speaker and contributor to the PR community, moderating a panel at PRSA Georgia’s Annual Conference, hosting a PRSA Pro Chat for up-and-coming professionals and spearheading an open-house event at Arketi with PRSA’s Young Professionals Society.

Congrats to Erica England.

Strategic Communications Director

Paladin

Liz Gonzalez makes complex finances easier to understand at Paladin

For the financial advisory firm, Gonzalez works with clients, colleagues, creditors and more to clarify complicated matters and reduce confusion. She’s a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Liz Gonzalez can often be found volunteering to help colleagues and clients in her role as strategic communications director at financial advisory firm Paladin. She’s known for providing strategic communications expertise to clients across industries, as well as for her skills in crisis and transactional communications, where she can be relied upon to meet goals and surpass expectations.

In 2022, Gonzalez led the communications strategies for many corporate, high-profile Chapter 11 cases, including Columbia Pulp, CalPlant and TRX, among others. Her oversight and implementation of strategy made good use of her thorough understanding of financial transactions — along with her skill at communicating them to maximize knowledge and mitigate misinformation.

Working closely with clients and other advisors, Gonzalez created compelling communications programs that took companies from planning through execution, tasks that included working with media and acting as company spokesperson.

Gonzalez also has been involved in the administration of numerous restructurings, taking the lead in such intensive, detail-oriented projects as the preparation of crucial bankruptcy filing documents, along with managing and coordinating due diligence while working with company creditors, legal counsel and other parties.

In addition to her duties at Paladin, she is active with volunteer work outside the firm, currently serving as the communications co-chair of the Turnaround Management Association, Southern California Chapter. In that capacity she oversees the quarterly newsletter, leads event marketing and contributes to growing the chapter.

Gonzalez also serves on the planning committee for the Distressed Investing Conference 2023, one of the largest restructuring industry conferences, as well as volunteering for both the United Friends of the Children and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

Congrats to Liz Gonzalez.

Head of Internal and Executive Communications EMEA and LATAM

Palo Alto Networks

Céline Heemskerk stepped up to the challenge of leadership

A sudden departure thrust Heemskerk into an unexpected leadership role, but she survived and her company thrived. She’s a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

When Céline Heemskerk joined Palo Alto Networks in October 2021 as corporate communications manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), she didn’t expect a leadership departure several months later. But that led to her becoming de facto leader of EMEA and Latin America (LATAM) communications for the company, with just one teammate, a brand-new sales executive to support and a daunting set of communications, PR and analyst relations responsibilities.

It’s a challenge some people would run from. Not Heemskerk. Not only did she keep things running for the months it took to bring a new EMEA communications leader on board, she took the function to new heights while integrating a new region, LATAM, at the same time.

Employee engagement was more crucial than ever during this period, but Heemskerk embraced it with creativity and a can-do attitude. She introduced a weekly webinar connecting employees and leaders across EMEA and LATAM, providing timely information and a sense of community; participation increased 25% as she took over.

Another challenge she took on was organizing the July EMEA-LATAM All Hands, the region’s first post-pandemic, large-scale hybrid event, which took place during a visit by the company’s CEO. More than 200 local employees attended in person, with some 800 more participating remotely from across EMEA and LATAM.

In her six months at the helm, Heemskerk also created the region’s first-ever 360-degree internal and external communications strategy, built a LATAM PR program from the ground up and onboarded the new CEO of EMEA and LATAM while launching a strategic executive communications program.

Heemskerk also led a CEO media tour that earned top-tier coverage from the BBC (UK) and Le Figaro (France). At the same time, she stepped up to mentor/manage an earlier-in-career colleague, recruited and hired two more team members, and managed nine PR agencies while onboarding four new ones.

Multilingual (she speaks five languages), Heemskerk has lived and worked in three continents and brings a global lens to everything she does.

Congrats to Céline Heemskerk.

Vice President of Community and Agency Communications

Cayuga Centers

Hutchinson creates connections inside and outside Cayuga Centers

She expanded the comms team, achieved exponential growth with her marketing campaigns and won a Great Place to Work certification — all of which make her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Zoë Hutchinson joined Cayuga Centers as vice president of community and agency communications at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, she managed a team of just three people at the fast-growing human services agency, based in Auburn, N.Y., which serves youth and families through foster care and other community programs.

Since then, Hutchinson has worked to forge connections and collaboration across departments, as well as striving to enhance the experience of Cayuga Centers’ stakeholders and the communities it serves. As the agency’s needs grew, Hutchinson expanded her team to 10 employees supporting four focus areas: internal communications, external communications, employee recruitment and foster parent recruitment.

Two years into the job, her numerous external marketing campaigns for employee and foster parent recruitment have experienced exponential growth.

Among other initiatives, Hutchinson led a revamp of the Cayuga Centers brand and web site; she also oversaw the creation of supplementary materials, including rack cards, annual reports and a comprehensive guide to all 38 of the agency’s services. Further, she facilitated the agency’s participation in the Great Place to Work survey, which led to Cayuga Centers receiving a 2022 employer certification as a Great Place to Work.

Adding to that success, Hutchinson’s team led a deep dive into the Great Place survey’s data, leading to the development of “Exceeding Expectations,” an internal campaign that produced an improved staff PTO policy, new wellness initiatives and other positive policy changes for employees.

Employees couldn’t gather in person during the pandemic, so Hutchinson spearheaded the development of a monthly webinar series, CEO Office Hours, which allowed staff to engage with regional leaders in a Q&A format to learn more about programs and departments across Cayuga Centers.

All the above shows that Hutchinson’s patience, endurance and tireless work ethic have enabled her to bridge new relationships, forge understanding, and facilitate collaboration across departments, enhancing the experience of Cayuga Centers’ stakeholders and the communities it serves.

Congrats to Zoë Hutchinson.

Director of Brand Communications

IHOP

Candice Jacobson serves up a delicious batch of brand goodness for IHOP

She partnered with Pepsi, helped create the first crypto-based loyalty program and newsjacked the Choco Taco controversy, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Who doesn’t love pancakes? Since September 2020, Candice Jacobson has made pancakes her career. As director of brand communications at IHOP, she’s whipped up multiple helpings of success for the restaurant chain.

To start, Jacobson spearheaded IHOP’s annual National Pancake Day (NPD) celebration, offering free pancakes at participating IHOP locations nationwide. In 2022, the event was incorporated into IHOP’s first-ever Month of Giving, which encouraged guests to donate to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals as part of NPD. Under Jacobson’s direction, NPD 2022 garnered more than 2.3 billion impressions, a 48% increase year over year.

Jacobson also led a partnership with Pepsi that nearly broke the internet, coming together to launch the LTO Pepsi Maple Syrup Cola. The unexpected partnership drove more than 1.7 billion impressions and garnered several editorial firsts for IHOP in both online and broadcast outlets.

Additionally in 2022, Jacobson paved the way for IHOP’s first loyalty program — based on crypto. IHOP analyzed insights from internal research and tapped into the cryptocurrency trend to introduce the first-ever crypto-pancake, known as the PanCoin, for IHOP’s first-ever loyalty program. IHOP’s International Bank of Pancakes launched in early April 2022 to encourage guests to share, earn and expand their experiences.

As part of the program launch, Jacobson also enlisted talent partners like award-winning actress and comedian Niecy Nash, pro football hall of famer Emmitt Smith, and gymnast influencer Katelyn Ohashi.

When IHOP introduced new menu items like Protein Pancakes, Extra Cheesy Omelettes and the Minion Menu (in partnership with Illumination and Universal), Jacobson led creative communication programming and strategy development for the announcement, using key messaging carefully crafted to resonate with media and guests alike.

This past year she also exercised real-time newsjacking abilities by inserting IHOP into the conversation surrounding the discontinuation of the Choco Taco. Jacobson and her team worked to curate a “pancake-ified” version of the ice cream truck classic in less than 48 hours, positioning IHOP as a hero in a moment of cultural disarray. The effort culminated on Monday, Aug. 1, at an IHOP location in the Houston market where it served the Choco-Pancake creation to guests, earning national media coverage.

Congrats to Candice Jacobson.

Vice President of Marketing & Communications

Watco

Kallenbach grew her marketing comms team, expanded Watco’s image

Cori Kallenbach’s team championed employee recognition, sustainability, a new tour train and more. She’s earned the title of Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Kansas-based transportation and supply chain services provider Watco hired Cori Kallenbach as vice president of marketing and communications to grow its two-person marcom team in 2019. Her goal was to create a formal structure that would further the capabilities and professional representation of Watco internally and externally.

Since then, Kallenbach has expanded the team to nine people, and in the last 12 months, they’ve accomplished a wide array of significant firsts:

Kallenbach launched Watco’s first all-employee recognition program. Each quarter, “Be the Difference” honors individuals or groups who’ve been nominated by teammates. In the last 12 months, the program received 72 nominations and recognized 19 people.
Watco published the company’s first sustainability report, with Kallenbach coordinating between her team, the sustainability team and reviewers.
Kallenbach’s team helped create the company’s first digital asset management tool, giving Watco team members companywide direct access to more than 1,000 documents, logos, safety-approved images and videos that meet brand standards.
Kallenbach formed a new collaboration with Sports in Kansas (SIK) as a sponsor to get in front of younger audiences. SIK is a media company that covers youth sports in the state of Kansas. Under Kallenbach’s direction, Watco created posts to increase brand awareness on SIK’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages.
The team began supporting Watco’s first tour train. After Watco acquired the Agawa Canyon Tour Train last year, Kallenbach led the creation of a new web site, complete with online ticket sales, and a Facebook page.
Kallenbach coordinated new ways to tell the Watco story. After the team managed the application and certification process, Watco was nominated and selected for Newsweek’s 2022 list of America’s Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces — one of only two transportation companies on the list. Kallenbach’s team also helped facilitate Watco’s appearance as the featured company on Mike Rowe’s “How America Works,” airing Oct. 17, 2022.

Outside of work, Kallenbach devotes a significant amount of time supporting the American Heart Association. A pulmonary embolism survivor, Kallenbach also participates in the American Stroke Association’s annual CycleNation fundraiser for stroke prevention and brain health.

Congrats to Cori Kallenbach.

Vice President of Corporate Communications and Social Impact

Flagship Pioneering

Laura Kline keeps Flagship Pioneering’s messaging on track with a “science” to her method

She led the messaging behind six company launches last year while securing global recognition and hiring a crop of talented women, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As vice president of corporate communications and social impact for life sciences venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering, Laura Kline supports the development and execution of the corporate communications strategy, serves as a principal communications adviser to Flagship’s portfolio companies and also leads Flagship’s social impact strategy. What does all that entail? Read on.

Between October 2021 and October 2022, Kline led the planning and execution for the launch of six Flagship-founded companies. Her work on such projects begins months prior to the launch, working with founding teams on developing narrative, brand and visual identity, along with developing company messaging and positioning. As the new company prepares to launch, Kline also leads efforts to ensure that final messaging, media strategy and execution, creative content and thought leadership are all aligned with Flagship’s vision.

Each of the six companies Kline helped launch work on different aspects of human health, requiring her to support a wide range of focus areas. She works collaboratively with teams of scientists, company originators and entrepreneurs, also partnering with the CCO and CEO to align company messaging and launch goals with Flagship Pioneering’s overall narrative.

The six launches led by Kline all received significant media attention from top biotech and pharma publications alongside coverage from top tier outlets including The Boston Globe, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.

Kline also supports Flagship’s corporate brand and visibility by securing global recognition for its work in both human health and sustainability. Her efforts led to Flagship being included on Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2022, ranking as the No. 2 most innovative company in North America. In addition, the company also appeared on Fortune’s “Change the World” list for its approach and impact on human health and sustainability, ranking 12^th of the 53 companies selected in 2021.

Alongside her work over the past year, Kline also recruited and hired a strong team of women, bringing fresh expertise to Flagship in media relations, biotech communications, digital and social media and scientific writing — women who contribute significantly to the broader communications and public affairs team.

Congrats to Laura Kline.

Senior Manager, Communications

ChenMed

Marisa Lemen stays the course when plans go awry

Her boss at ChenMed left in the middle of her push to implement a new internal comms platform. She took on added responsibilities and thrived, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

When Marisa Lemen joined medical, management and technology company ChenMed as internal communications manager in December 2020, the company was in hypergrowth — expanding from 3,000 to 5,700 employees in less than two years. Her small internal communications team had to be nimble and efficient to keep the growing employee base informed, inspired and engaged, and she had to work cross-functionally to develop new channels and strategies to reach the growing workforce.

Over the past year, Lemen has reimagined and redesigned the weekly “ChenMed Insider” newsletter and launched a digital signage pilot program to broadcast employee communications via monitors in breakrooms. Lemen also eliminated one-off mass emails that overwhelmed employees, improving internal communications channels and making them a “go to” source for news.

One of Lemen’s big projects was developing a business case for a large investment to replace the existing “ChenMed Connect” intranet and homegrown mobile app with a more modernized platform, Firstup, to centralize and integrate communications. Lemen used her relationship-building skills and business acumen to win approval for Firstup from various business units and present the case to senior leadership.

In March 2022, she officially gained executive approval of the investment and immediately drafted a detailed plan of execution. Then she received news that would change the trajectory of the department: Her director was leaving the company, throwing the internal communications team’s 2022 agenda into a tailspin.

With the director’s departure, the entire internal communications team consisted of just Lemen and a newly hired communications specialist. To maintain the team momentum, she had to step up, taking over many of her previous director’s responsibilities.

Lemen began scripting and producing ChenMed’s live events — quarterly town halls and monthly leader updates hosted by senior executives. She also prioritized the training of her communication specialist, and through it all she continued implementing the Firstup platform, which is set to launch later in 2023.

As a result of her hard work, Lemen’s team of two created channels for employees across the entire ChenMed network to obtain trusted, reliable and relevant news and information about the company.

Congrats to Marisa Lemen.

Vice President, Communications

LinkedIn

LinkedIn’s Nicole Leverich takes on big jobs to support the platform’s users

Redefining professionalism, destigmatizing career breaks and using pronouns properly are just a few of the initiatives she’s spearheaded in the past year, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As vice president of communications at LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, Nicole Leverich heads the global communications team, playing a pivotal role in growing the LinkedIn brand while also acting as a trusted mentor, advisor and colleague to her team and external stakeholders.

In the last year, Leverich oversaw numerous high-impact public relations and marketing initiatives. The Welcome Professionals campaign was one, designed to redefine professionalism on users’ own terms and encourage them to share their unique experiences using the #IAmProfessional hashtag. Leverich also spearheaded the external launch of LinkedIn’s Career Breaks, a feature that destigmatizes taking a break from your career regardless of the reason. That launch landed top-tier press placements across Bustle, Protocol and AdWeek, as well as a three-minute spot on Good Morning America (the equivalent of $300,000 in earned ad value).

A professional with dyslexia, Leverich used her own experience as the example when launching the #DyslexicThinking campaign, which ultimately led to more than 220 press placements. In addition, she led the external campaign around the launch of LinkedIn’s Pronouns feature, designed to avoid misgendering and improve accessibility for users, and she oversaw a member safety campaign that resulted in 4.6 million views of anti-harassment videos and on-platform content.

Through Leverich’s leadership, LinkedIn has been named Business Insider’s No. 1 Most Trusted Digital Platform for three years running, a seven-time honoree of the Ethisphere Institute’s World’s Most Ethical Company list, and is frequently cited as a Best Employer by Forbes, most recently appearing on lists for Best Employers for Diversity, Best Large Employers and Best Employers for New Graduates.

Congrats to Nicole Leverich.

Chief Communications Officer

Nixon Peabody

Allison McClaine Joyce sets the tone for law firm’s internal and external messaging

At Nixon Peabody, she’s introduced a quick CEO video and oversaw the content production of a massive meeting for the firm’s attorneys, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As chief communications officer at Nixon Peabody, an AmLaw 100 law firm with 600-plus attorneys, Allison McClain Joyce not only sets the communications vision, she spearheads its day-to-day implementation. Her work includes executive positioning, crisis management, reputation building, brand strategy and more, overseeing the firm’s media relations, digital strategy, internal communications and graphic design teams.

During 2022, McClain Joyce was integral to the rollout of Nixon Peabody’s new brand, designed to reflect the positive impact the firm creates for its colleagues, clients and communities. Her previous television news experience, a useful skill in the world of hybrid work, allows her to reimagine the firm’s communications with the marketplace and between employees.

McClain Joyce’s innovations include an internal monthly video from CEO Steve Zubiago, “Six Minutes with Steve,” that clocks in at exactly 0.1 billable hours. She’s produced virtual town halls attracting live viewership of up to 75% of the firm’s population, along with dynamic, digital-first “Year in Review” broadcasts highlighting the positive impact of Nixon Peabody’s legal work. She also amplifies Nixon Peabody’s new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Services group, along with more of the firm’s legal initiatives for the marketplace.

One of her most impressive achievements in 2022 was overseeing content for Nixon Peabody’s All-Attorney Meeting, which brought hundreds of attorneys and key leaders together in one place for the first time since the pandemic. For the meeting, McClain Joyce devised a multimedia slate featuring TED-style presentations, client video interviews and thought-provoking topic tracks that fostered connection and collaboration.

Outside the firm, McClain Joyce is deeply invested in her community as an associate board member for the Greater Boston chapter of Girls on the Run, a nonprofit whose programs empower girls by building confidence, kindness and decision-making skills.

Congrats to Allison McClain Joyce.

Director, Content Strategy & Execution

Novant Health

Mitchell shifts to ‘infotainment’ to reach Novant Health’s patients and public

Janjae Mitchell’s Kwanzaa GIPHY and Super Bowl post reached a wide audience for Novant, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Since Janjae Mitchell joined Novant Health as content strategy and execution director in 2020, Novant Health’s social media has undergone a 180-degree turn, venturing into the “infotainment” space under Mitchell’s leadership. In two short years she has harnessed the strengths of her team and taken advantage of innovative tools to revamp Novant Health’s content strategy.

Mitchell has transformed the Novant Health’s communication approach, moving away from telling consumers what they need to know toward inviting them to have an open conversation. One of her key tools is Novant Health’s brand journalism platform, Healthy Headlines, which provides trending health and wellness content for consumers. Expanding the platform across multiple channels, Mitchell worked to enrich both its content and its reach.

The results? Novant Health has experienced a 260% increase in impressions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching more communities to promote access to screenings, testing and vaccinations. Overall, Mitchell and her team have seen a 116% increase in engagement since 2020, with followers growing from 120,000 in 2019 to 180,000 in 2022.

All content and visuals for Novant Health are created in-house, including content for its popular GIPHY channel, introduced in 2021. One of Mitchell’s biggest wins was the development of a Kwanzaa GIPHY, which earned over 47 million views — more than the total number of Black residents in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Mitchell uses storytelling and relatability to align Novant Health’s content with target demographics, as seen in her 2021 Super Bowl post. The message reminded a generation of women who grew up listening to the game’s star-studded halftime lineup that if they could remember the performers in their youth, it was time for them to schedule their mammograms. The post generated upward of 1 million impressions.

Brand experience and growth also have gotten a strategic overhaul from Mitchell. Specifically, she’s focused her efforts on building trust and credibility using Novant Health’s Google business profile. Mitchell oversees data and analytics to craft personalized responses to patient reviews and make sure they receive an engaged, caring response. The approach has increased patient engagement to nearly 20,000 appointments scheduled through the platform since 2021.

Congrats to Janjae Mitchell.

Director of External Communications & Social Media

Campbell Snacks at Campbell Soup Company

Snacks are more than just an occasional treat for Bethridge Toovell

At Campbell Snacks, Toovell oversees brand PR and social media for more than 13 household-name snack brands, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

For seven years, Bethridge Toovell has brought a signature mindset to her role as director of external communications and social media at Campbell Snacks, the nearly $4 billion snacking division of Campbell Soup Company where she oversees more than 13 unique snack brands.

Her 20 years of experience, paired with her people-first approach, prepared her for the role, which includes driving all brand public relations and social media for Campbell Snacks, offering strategic counsel to 100+ marketing partners across 13 household-name snack brands and coaching her internal communications team, agencies and more.

Over the past year, Bethridge guided her team to push the envelope on such brands as Goldfish crackers, Milano cookies, Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels and more. Her noteworthy work includes:

Building the launch plan for Goldfish Mega Bites, the 25th new format for the Goldfish portfolio in 60 years.
Directing her team on the 360-degree needs of legacy brands, which involved turning to social media platforms like TikTok for the award-winning #GoForTheHandful Goldfish campaign.
Paying close attention to under-the-radar snack spaces like pretzels to identify moments for Snyder’s of Hanover to own and stand out.
Coaching her team and external partners to tap into pop culture in unexpected ways, including forging talent partnerships with NBA stars Boban Marjanović and Tobias Harris, and actor Phil Morris from Seinfeld.
Supporting the Campbell Snack executive leadership team by spotlighting them as cultural pioneers.

As a mother of three, Toovell embodies a “mom who works” mindset, combining compassionate leadership with a drive to deliver cutting-edge, solution-oriented products. She firmly believes that fostering an environment where team members understand, listen and are open with each other is essential to success.

In her early years at Condé Nast, Rodale and Campbell Snacks, Toovell found that bringing her authentic self to work and using humor as a tool for connection helped in elevating the voice of communications. With a reputation as a straight-shooting New Jersey native, she’s brought unexpected ideas to the table, earning her colleagues’ respect and securing her success as a leader.

Congrats to Bethridge Toovell.

Director of Communications

Community Legal Services

Michelle Wargo takes on rebranding, a housing crisis — and a hurricane

Her role at Community Legal Services has her pitching in to help wherever needed, making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As director of communications for Community Legal Services, Michelle Wargo’s role is reaching potential clients across the 12-county area it serves in mid-Florida. One of her biggest challenges in the past year? Name recognition.

Although CLS covers 12 counties, a lot of people didn’t know about it. Wargo began advocating for a shorter and simpler name since joining the organization in 2020. She worked tirelessly with media partners, branding experts, team members and board members to rebrand Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida to just Community Legal Services, with a new logo and tag line: Legal Aid for All.

Now that she’s given CLS a new name, Wargo’s task is getting people to remember the organization and understand that it’s available to help them. She deployed multiple campaigns highlighting CLS’s work in the areas it covers, using mixed media campaigns and targeted approaches to share its mission with potential clients, donors and volunteers.

Reaching clients in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the wake of an emergency rental and housing crisis created a special challenge for CLS. The earlier people come for help, the more help it can offer, so in 2022 CLS focused on informing the public how it can help people.

Wargo put together distinct and targeted marketing campaigns for multiple grantors. Each grant focused on a different segment within the population CLS serves, some demographically and others by need. Wargo focused her targeted messaging down to zip codes based on data she collected with help from partners and data analysts. Her campaigns were so successful in reaching the right clients at the right time that CLS was awarded more funds to advertise its services halfway through the grant period.

Then Hurricane Ian hit. Before, during and after the storm, Wargo focused on her role in the CLS Disaster Action Response Team, monitoring the news, keeping track of county and government updates, and sharing information on programs, shelters, school closures and other resources with CLS’s team of attorneys and on its web site.

Wargo helped CLS shift overnight to a focus on disaster response outreach, creating a strategy to develop and organize content, and integrating new and existing communication channels to reach multiple audiences. She was instrumental in getting CLS the media coverage it needed to serve its clients and community when the winds died down.

Congrats to Michelle Wargo.

Chief Communications Officer

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Dvon Williams’ experience fuels success at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Williams secured top-tier coverage for a historic donation to BBBSA, with her CEO appearing on the ‘Today’ show to discuss the news. She’s a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

When Dvon Williams joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as chief communications officer, she brought her personal passion for serving youth, especially in communities of color — a passion she’s been committed to throughout her career in both the nonprofit and agency sectors.

Hired in January 2022 to establish a communications department leading external and internal communications, thought leadership and influencer relations, she‘s recruited top talent and spearheaded an integrated communications strategy to reinforce BBBSA’s brand position and mission.

In 2022, for example, Williams orchestrated a strategic communications plan on short notice to announce a $122.6 million gift from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. While many organizations have received funding from Scott in recent years, Williams’ communications plan focused on storytelling to generate media coverage.

Williams’ communications plan secured an exclusive, live “Today” show interview, with Artis Stevens, president and CEO of BBBSA, sitting alongside anchors to discuss the impact of the donation. The “Today” show segment garnered more than 3 million impressions and has been viewed 30,000 times on Twitter alone.

Her success didn’t stop there. The communications plan also earned print coverage in key outlets like the Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal, as well as a live interview on CNBC’s Fast Money, resulted in 3.73 billion media impressions and coverage in more than 200 media outlets.

Under Williams’ comms leadership, the organization earned more than 7 billion media impressions — amounting to $63 million in total ad value equivalency — and 281 media placements, nearly quadrupling BBBSA’s past media impressions and value.

Her experience has been invaluable to BBBSA. Prior to joining, Williams spent nearly 20 years building brand awareness and affinity for some of the country’s top consumer brands at Edelman PR and with national nonprofit brands, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National 4-H Council.

Congrats to Dvon Williams.

Manager, External Communications

Children's Health

Moving from internal to external comms, Wittman made her mark at Children’s Health

Andrea Wittman took on major initiatives for the Texas hospital, including introducing a new CMO, educating the community about CIVID-19 vaccines for children and more — making her a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Andrea Wittman joined the internal communications team at north Texas-based Children’s Health in March 2020. After learning the organization inside and out, she pivoted to external communications in 2021. Since then, she’s pushed a variety of significant projects across the finish line.

Some of her recent noteworthy success include:

Chief medical officer (CMO) visibility plan. To introduce the new chief medical officer to team members across the Children’s Health system, Wittman developed and implemented a strategic communications plan that included emails from the CMO, a video series highlighting clinical excellence in the hospital to give the CMO more visibility, and other communications tactics. Wittman followed up with an external communications plan to introduce the CMO to community members in November.
COVID-19 vaccine communications. When the FDA announced approval of COVID-19 vaccines for children 12 and under, Wittman led the communications rollout. Under her leadership, Children’s Health educated the community about the benefits of the vaccine for children, provided doctors to speak to the media and hosted a community town hall where team members, parents and reporters could ask questions.
Texas psychiatric hospital announcement. When Children’s Health announced its donation of 100 pediatric beds to the state’s first psychiatric hospital, Wittman led her team in developing the communications strategy for the news, including reaching out to top-tier media members and developing a press release incorporating feedback from stakeholders of organizations within and outside the hospital.

In addition to leading initiatives like these, Wittman manages the day-to-day efforts of the external communications team, along with the social media and media relations teams with an eye toward maintaining and growing the reputation of Children’s Health.

As a manager, Wittman provides team members opportunities to gain experience and grow into their roles, helping them cultivate relationships with key contacts inside and outside the hospital system—for example, encouraging each team member to meet with a different reporter each month to build a beneficial relationship for the hospital.

Congrats to Andrea Wittman.

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

Truckstop

No stopping Nicole Worley in her first year at Truckstop

Her 10 years of comms experience came in handy gaining visibility and coverage for the company while earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. She’s a Dynamic Do-er in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Nicole Worley joined Truckstop as senior manager, corporate communications just one year ago, but with more than 10 years of comms experience she’s already made a significant impact on the company’s brand awareness, helping Truckstop maintain a dominant share of voice in the media among its competitors.

Examples of her work over the past year include:

Customer relationships. Worley’s conversations with both broker and carrier customers resulted in the production of supporting content for Truckstop’s external communications and social media initiatives.
Executive visibility. Worley leads Truckstop’s executive visibility and thought leadership programs, working closely with leadership to create curated content pieces for multiple media outlets including Fast Company and Supply and Demand Chain Executive. Her strong media relationships resulted in Fleet Owner featuring Truckstop CEO Kendra Tucker in its annual Women in Transportation feature story.
Company recognition. Her efforts on Truckstop’s corporate awards program earned several accolades in 2022, including being shortlisted for three SaaS awards.
Media relations. Stepping into her new role, Worley quickly gained the trust of top reporters at Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, resulting in positive articles in mainstream publications.
Social media. Worley elevated Truckstop’s social presence with consistent, engaging and persuasive content. One Facebook follower commented: “This has been the best week of Truckstop posts!!” during the company’s campaign in support of National Bring Your Pet to Work week. Worley’s work expanded Truckstop’s audience across FB, LinkedIn and Twitter, growing by 141.7% in 2022.
Data management. Truckstop’s spot market data and insights were included in The Wall Street Journal’s Logistics Report on almost 10 separate occasions, and the company was mentioned in almost 70 trade publication pieces throughout the year. Worley also works with Truckstop partner Bloomberg Intelligence to announce quarterly survey results of its carrier and broker customers, consistently earning coverage in key trade publications.

Worley also helped Truckstop set a Guinness World Record for the largest toy truck sentence. Using more than 2,000 branded big rig toy trucks, Truckstop spelled “Truck drivers are the rockstars of the road!” at their Boise, Idaho, office on Sept. 9, 2022, as part of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week.

The record-breaking attempt was front and center in industry news and expanded to local and national coverage, earning 29 unique stories, three radio interviews and one broadcast story, totaling 432 million online impressions, 3 million radio impressions and over 25,000 broadcast impressions.

Congrats to Nicole Worley.

Vice President, Communications

Zillow

Zillow’s Kristina Adamski leads with confidence and clarity amidst complicated challenges

Kristina Adamski, vice president of communications for Zillow, embodies the company’s core value of ‘turning on the lights,’ creating clarity out of ambiguity and most of all, caring for her team as people first, doing whatever she can to support their professional goals and ensure their well-being. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Starting at Zillow after the company moved to a Cloud HQ (a distributed, location-flexible workforce), Kristina Adamski simultaneously led her organization and put together a comms working group to manage the storytelling strategy. With her leadership, the team has executed a tactical and strategic communications plan to position Zillow as a premier leader in the future of work – and successfully at that.

The strategy includes building new media relationships, authoring exec bylines, engaging in the future of work social conversation, media training Cloud HQ spokespeople, and taking an ‘always on’ pitching approach. She constantly encourages her team to find opportunities – both earned and owned – to keep Zillow top of mind as a leader in the future of work.

Adamski understands the value of building media relationships and has encouraged her team to sharpen their media relations skills and keep Zillow top of minds for reporters. For example, she organized meetings between Zillow’s CEO and president and multiple high-profile New York-based editors and reporters, resulting in coverage on national morning shows such as TODAY, outlets such as Reuters and Barron’s with Zillow’s economic team to provide commentary and data-backed analysis of the nation’s housing market.

In fall 2021, Adamski was faced with a complicated challenge when Zillow leadership decided to wind down its iBuying operations – an area of the business that the comms function had dedicated a ton of time and resources into building.

The communications challenge was landing a delicate balance of confidence and empathy. Confidence in reassuring all stakeholders that this pivot in strategy is the right move for the company’s bottom line, and indicative of Zillow’s faith in its long-term strategy – a difficult assertion to make internally when shuttering a business that was Zillow’s priority for two years.

Adamski led a tactical strategy in conjunction with the quarterly report inclusive of live broadcast interviews, top-tier national business outlets and internal all-hands meetings with a live Q&A. During this challenging business transition, Adamski quickly turned her and the teams’ attention to Zillow’s new long-term vision: The ‘housing super app,’ a digital real estate ecosystem to help customers in every step of their home buying journey.

This shift put the spotlight on tech and product, which Adamski seized to highlight Zillow’s customer offerings. A few examples include a partnership with Apple for a co-shopping experience and map integration, a down payment assistance tool on all Zillow listings, and launching StreetScape to give New Yorkers an AR home shopping experience on the go. The ongoing strategy Adamski helped visualize and execute has shown how Zillow is transforming how people find – and move into – their next home.

Congrats to Kristina Adamski.

SVP, Publicity, Talent Relations and Events, Hulu Originals

Hulu

Hulu’s Candice Ashton uses her moxie to shine a light on original programming

Candice Ashton was promoted to senior vice president, publicity, events and talent relations in March 2022, adding events and talent relations to her portfolio. In her role, she serves as the publicity lead across television series, films, and documentaries for all of Hulu Originals, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

In the past year, Candice Ashton has led the team that spearheaded publicity campaigns for “Only Murders in the Building,” “Nine Perfect Strangers,” “The Kardashians” and “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons,” leading them to become the most-watched comedy, drama, unscripted and series premiere, and documentary in Hulu’s history respectfully.

Under Ashton’s leadership, the launch of The Kardashians saw an extensive PR campaign with the family gracing the covers of WSJ Magazine, Vogue, Bustle and iD Magazine, as well as a takeover of sister network ABC, with a Robin Roberts primetime special and a family appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Her events team oversaw a one-of-a-kind Kardashian press day at the Nobu Ryokan Malibu Hotel, transforming the space into an immersive press experience featuring customized rooms dedicated to each woman and their respective brands — and recognized for its achievement by Adweek, AdAge and other outlets. Press got to enjoy the experience but also interview the family and take home a gift featuring a product from each woman’s line.

Ashton also oversaw the events team in partnering with the Kardashian family to celebrate the series release in true Hollywood style with a Los Angeles red carpet premiere screening at Goya Studios. As her team leaned into the weekly episode release structure, they placed clip exclusives with media outlets leading into each episode to continue to drive viewership and momentum for the series. Towards the latter half of the first season, the team secured features with The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone, as well as a myriad of broadcast appearances, including “Good Morning America,” “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” James Corden, CNN, “Ellen,” E!, Extra, “Access Hollywood,” “Entertainment Tonight” and more.

Another Hulu show, “Dopesick,” was a massive cultural moment stemming from the show’s core theme — the opioid epidemic. Under Ashton’s leadership, her team was able to secure marquee broadcast placements, including “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and major print features placements in Vanity Fair, The New York Times and others. Strategic usage of stars Michael Keaton, Michael Stuhlbarg and Kaitlyn Deever, and showrunner Danny Strong led to Keaton testifying before the U.S. Congress on the epidemic and to the Sackler name being removed from many museums in New York and London. The cultural implications which stem from this wide-ranging PR effort are still felt today and have a significant impact on the Sackler family reputation and the culture at large. In September, Michael Keaton won the Emmy Award for best actor in a limited series, capping a nearly one-year run of recognition and achievements.

Congratulations to Candice Ashton.

President

RF|Binder

Rebecca Binder of RF| Binder grew communications firm’s revenue by the double digits

Rebecca Binder, president of RF|Binder, expanded, grew and strengthened the integrated communications and consulting firm’s integrated solutions services. Binder’s achievements have earned her a spot in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

With a background in corporate and innovation strategy, Rebecca Binder is not your typical communications professional.

In the past year under Binder’s leadership, RF|Binder has expanded and strengthened its integrated solutions services, including strategic communications consulting, paid and digital media and content creation, and advanced data and analytics. As a result, the firm has achieved double-digit growth in revenue and Binder was promoted to president.

In addition, the integrated communications firm president has been committed to fostering a collaborative and fulfilling work environment, resulting in RF|Binder being recognized by both Quartz and Crain’s NY as a 2022 Best Places to Work.

As president, Binder has been invaluable in informing the future vision of the firm, specifically addressing the firm’s strategic positioning, business development efforts, integration of data analytics into all work and its overall structure, operations and business controls.

Binder also has taken the lead on RF|Binder’s talent and culture and played an integral role in developing RF|Binder’s guiding principles and employee experience.

Binder was a key voice in RF|Binder’s responses and actions following the unprecedented events of recent years, including COVID-19, the murder of George Floyd, the January 6 insurrection, the Facebook boycott, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Dobbs v. Jackson decision.

While she remains a key advisor in helping clients navigate their responses, she also is essential in communicating messages to the RF|Binder team.

Binder mentors women of color, as well as those with financial needs, looking to achieve economic mobility. She was key in developing a partnership with HBCU Hampton University where RF|Binder works closely with the school of communications to provide scholarships to two students per year, and provide networking, mentoring, learning and development opportunities to all students in the program. Last year, she joined the Board of JFEW, a foundation dedicated to helping diverse women attain a college degree and economic mobility.

Binder is a member of Chief, a network supporting women executives, a leader of the media and technology programming committee for the Harvard Business School Club of NY, and was recognized as a 2019 NextGen to Watch by Family Business Magazine.

Amidst all this, Binder became a mother in 2021.

Congrats to Rebecca Binder.

Vice President of National Communications and Public Relations for Coldwell Banker Real Estate

Coldwell Banker Real Estate

Coldwell Banker’s Roni Boyles is a powerful force behind the success of major initiatives

As vice president of national communications and public relations for Coldwell Banker, Roni Boyles oversees the public relations and corporate communications teams as they work to further the brand’s goals. Her deep industry knowledge, clever creativity and bold leadership successfully support the company’s network of over 100,000 affiliated agents in approximately 3,000 sales offices in 40 countries and territories. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Since joining Coldwell Banker in 2003, Roni Boyles continues to be a driving force behind the success of many of the brand’s major initiatives – including PR and marketing campaigns, fundraising initiatives, and a global branding overhaul to unify the network of affiliates. Under Boyle’s leadership, Coldwell Banker has been recognized by multiple industry leaders for its outstanding public relations efforts in real estate.

In October 2022, the company was awarded the MarCom Platinum Award in the “Strategic Communications” category; in June 2022, it received the American Business Award’s Gold Stevie for “Corporate Communications Campaign of the Year.” Throughout her nearly 20-year tenure with Coldwell Banker, Boyles has been committed to uplifting the brand, its network and the people and communities they serve. She co-founded the Coldwell Banker Spirit of Home Awards, which has raised nearly $2M for affordable housing-related causes in New England since its inception.

Alongside Coldwell Banker’s President of Affiliate Business and COO Liz Gehringer, Boyles co-launched Anywhere’s (formerly Realogy) What Moves Her initiative – a program that helps women in the real estate industry develop their leadership skills and realize their professional development goals. With Boyle’s support, What Moves Her has expanded to six local markets with 150 ambassadors across the country.

Her leadership alongside Coldwell Banker executives aided in ushering in a growth milestone in the second quarter of 2022 in which the brand retained over $869 million in sales volume.

Congrats to Roni Boyles.

EVP, Publicity, and Head of Communications

Disney General Entertainment

ABC’s Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul sets a new standard for innovative publicity work

Through innovative campaigns that permeated the cultural conversation, ABC & General Entertainment’s Executive Vice President of Publicity & Events Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul contributed to the success of many buzzed-about series last year across broadcast and streaming, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Over the last year and in her role, Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul encouraged her team to break down barriers and take bold risks, rising to the challenge of a socially distanced world. During a time when audiences and journalists had grown fatigued with remote engagement, Bulochnikov-Paul’s team — which includes ABC Entertainment, ABC News, Disney Television Studios (ABC Signature and 20th Television), Freeform and Syndication — developed bespoke, never-before-accomplished initiatives that were tailored to the audiences of each show, prioritizing community-wide engagement and bringing in new viewers.

For example, in part due to Bulochnikov-Paul and her team’s contributions to ABC’s freshman comedy “Abbott Elementary,” the series received overwhelming critical acclaim with a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and picked up three Emmy wins. The socially impactful publicity campaign featured teacher-focused screenings and panels; a collaboration with DonorsChoose.org; serving up school supply donations via a traveling teacher’s lounge; and Scholastic-sponsored book fairs for Title 1 schools that were otherwise unable to meet book fair minimums, which resulted in the donations of thousands of books to underserved communities across six markets. The series delivered the network’s highest-rated comedy telecast in nearly two years and served as ABC’s No. 1 comedy last season.

Reinforcing Bulochnikov-Paul’s community-focused strategy, the campaign for Women of the Movement featured a series of grassroots screenings across the country for local interest groups, students and tastemakers, including panel discussions by series talent/creators that were moderated by NAACP chapter leaders and anchors from local ABC affiliates. From conception to execution, the screenings incorporated the support from surviving relatives of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley, including Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., who was present on the night of Emmett’s kidnapping and is portrayed in the series.

Meanwhile, the milestone 30th season of Dancing with the Stars in the fall of 2021 broke barriers and pushed creative boundaries by introducing the first same-sex couple in the U.S. franchise’s history. Bolstered by strategically secured weekly press interviews, JoJo and her partner Jenna Johnson won the hearts of America, with JoJo winning a People’s Choice Award for her participation and earning the show a GLAAD Media Award nomination.

These campaigns have become a part of the cultural zeitgeist, influencing conversation and setting an industry standard for innovative and thought-provoking publicity work, solidifying Bulochnikov-Paul as a leader.

Congrats to Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul.

Executive Vice President, Client Experience

Padilla

Tina Charpentier of Padilla fosters an environment for people to do their best work

Tina Charpentier is responsible for one of the most transformational periods in Padilla’s history by implementing a strategic growth plan, and navigating difficult periods during the pandemic, social unrest and economic uncertainty. Her efforts have earned recognition as an honoree in the Leader category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Tina Charpentier’s contributions to Padilla, a full-service communications agency that helps clients build, grow and protect brands and reputations worldwide, have directly impacted the company’s growth – both in driving strategic communications for clients and cultivating an inclusive workplace culture.

Padilla’s teammates across the firm’s seven U.S.-based offices consistently describe Charpentier’s leadership style as empathetic, diplomatic and respectful.

She creates an environment that allows people to do their best work – customizing her approach and taking the time to learn what that means for each individual or team to thrive. As a leader, Charpentier is a “path-clearer.” Her strength lies in the ability to collaborate with others to shape a vision – for themselves, their careers and their teams – and then to be a champion, helping remove barriers and clear the way so they can realize and reach their goals.

Charpentier has spent 14 years at the firm and in 2021 was promoted to executive vice president, client experience – a new leadership role she helped shape.

She’s responsible for ensuring that clients from Padilla and its family of brands have access to the firm’s full range of capabilities, services and talent – applying agency best practices in strategy, planning, program execution and measurement. Under her leadership, Padilla’s 2022 client survey results revealed a 14% increase in loyalty and a 17% increase in overall satisfaction.

In the past year, Charpentier also has led major leadership transitions across multiple Padilla sectors including agriculture and environmental sciences, insights and strategy, technology and health.

For leaders promoted from within the agency, she played a mentorship role and helped them understand their new positions and shaped their direction. For leaders that were external hires, she helped support their vision and advised on ways to build trust both within the agency and with client partners.

As a member of the agency’s senior leadership team, Charpentier also helped guide the company through one of the most transformational periods in its history – by joining the AVENIR GLOBAL network, implementing Padilla’s strategic growth plan, and navigating difficult periods during the pandemic, social unrest and economic uncertainty.

Charpentier embodies Padilla’s commitment to DE&I and community service through her work with various charitable organizations. Her leadership has extended to community board engagements and professional roles including YWCA Minneapolis, Make-A-Wish Minnesota, Youth Advantage, Worldcom and The PR Council’s SHEQUALITY Project.

Charpentier joined Padilla in 2008 at a time when consumer interest in understanding food production and ingredients was increasing dramatically. This shifted her direction to agriculture, and in 2016 she was named leader of Padilla’s agriculture + environmental sciences sector.

Congrats to Tina Charpentier.

Assistant Vice President of Internal Communications

Ochsner Health

Leigh Ann Christovich is the guiding force driving Ochsner Health’s impact in the industry

A veteran to the field with more than three decades of industry experience, Leigh Ann Christovich has led her company to advancements in executive communications, crisis management and employee engagement events. Her effective implementations have springboarded Ochsner Health forward to healthier communications and place her in the Leaders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Leigh Ann Christovich’s history in communications is as commendable as it is varied, and has served Ochsner Health in ways that go beyond the office. Ochsner Health is an integrated healthcare system that operates dozens of hospitals across the Gulf South, providing cancer care, cardiology, liver and heart transplants and many other services.

As the assistant vice president of internal communications, Christovich leads strategic planning and direction for all internal communications across Ochsner Health. This includes internal communications technology platforms, such as the custom message deployment platforms and the optimization of Ochsner’s intranet. Across the 12-member executive leadership team and associated regional executive teams, she conducts the internal thought leadership.

She’s launched system-wide initiatives in her time at Ochsner, including the ‘Power of ONE’ weekly messages, an inspiration column from the CEO focused on current trends and issues. She also facilitated the Healthy State, a 10-year partnership with stakeholders to make Louisiana a healthier place to work and live.

Recently, she juggled her own duties and a year-long celebration of Ochsner’s 80-year impact, honoring the current CEO’s legacy who is departing after a decade in service. Christovich has fostered a powerful culture of open communications across all levels in her organization via listening tours featuring local and regional leadership.

With her driven efforts, she has fortified Ochsner’s position as a thought leader through the creation of a strategic framework for executive and organizational responses to major crisis and social issues.

Congrats to Leigh Ann Christovich.

Chief Communications Officer

Dallas ISD

Libby Daniels is the calm and fearless leader any team can turn to for support

In 2020, Libby Daniels took charge as chief of communications at Dallas Independent School District (ISD) and currently oversees internal and external communication divisions, as well as translation and interpretation services. Her rise to leadership is a true testament to her perseverance, expertise and dedication to her team and her craft, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

During Libby Daniels’ second school year at the helm of communications for Dallas ISD, she quickly rose to the challenge by navigating tremendous department- and district-wide change caused by the pandemic. Her keen leadership skills helped ensure a smooth transition to a never-before-experienced hybrid working environment. Despite operating in a nontraditional workspace, she pushed the team to continue cross-collaboration across all divisions to provide consistent and clear messaging.

In 2021, district leadership approved vaccine incentives for staff members. Although she understood this initiative was a polarizing topic, Daniels brazenly spearheaded various internal, social, marketing and media communication efforts to encourage vaccinations throughout the district. As a result, more than 85 percent of 20,000 employees participated in the optional incentive.

Seeing a need to increase engagement and honest dialogue with the community, Daniels developed “Community Conversations.” This series of in-person events hosted by the then-district superintendent, Dr. Michael Hinojosa, allowed stakeholders to have meaningful conversations with school leadership. Between February and May of 2022, Daniels led, organized and oversaw the communication plans for each of the 12 “Community Conversations” events across the district’s 384 square miles.

As Dallas ISD welcomed a new superintendent in July 2022, discussions surrounding school safety pegged districts across the nation once more when a gunman opened fire inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. As the effect heavily rippled across the state and immediately became the nation’s leading topic of concern, Daniels worked to effectively create and communicate Dallas ISD’s Comprehensive Safety and Security Plan in August 2022. Her comprehensive and thoughtful guidance helped stakeholders understand how the district aimed to keep schools safe and trust that safety was the top priority.

Congrats to Libby Daniels.

Vice President, Corporate & Financial Communications, Values and Reputation & Executive Brand

T-Mobile

Tara Darrow of T-Mobile leads corporate communications teams to protect the brand

T-Mobile’s Vice President of Corporate and Financial Communications: Values, Reputation and Executive Brand Tara Darrow has skillfully, passionately and tirelessly led unstoppable corporate communications teams responsible for evangelizing and protecting the brand. For her efforts, she’s an honoree in the Leaders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Under Tara Darrow’s guidance, she leads top-tier media engagement and storytelling, issues management, crisis communications, executive thought leadership, social amplification campaigns and inspired owned storytelling.

Notably, Darrow quarterbacked the creation and execution of all external public relations and media strategies promoting and defending the $26 billion T-Mobile and Sprint merger, as well as other high-stakes initiatives around business and financial news/deals, corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, reputation management, and crisis response.

Last year, Darrow methodically and calmly led crisis response communications regarding T-Mobile’s massive data breach, expertly guiding leadership and responses during a challenging time for the company.

With her direction and masterful ability to capture executive leaders’ voices, Darrow has been key to producing powerful content around the growth of a bigger and better T-Mobile that’s focused on doing good for customers, employees and shareholders.

Some examples include: A New Era of Un‑carrier, Connectivity Offers Help – and Hope – as Need for Mental Health Support Rises and 425 Business Magazine: The New Mr. Magenta.

Darrow has garnered numerous accolades in her career, including T-Mobile’s prestigious PEAK Achievement Award.

Darrow’s work is difficult, yet she brings an outstanding ability to quickly grasp and retain complex and varied details, strategically implement next steps, and internalize loads of feedback across a variety of stakeholders. She manages all this while problem-solving up, down and across the enterprise – often at all hours of the day and night. As if that’s not enough, she also has an innate talent for finding top talent, shining a light on what they do best, and supporting their career growth and development.

Congrats to Tara Darrow.

Communications Solutions Lead, GBS

PepsiCo

Natalie Green leads PepsiCo’s GBS to the next level

Natalie Green, director of communications for PepsiCo’s Global Business Services function, is a pivotal contributor to the function’s transformation and rapid growth, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Natalie Green roots her team’s efforts in powerful storytelling, an omnichannel approach, relationship building and effective branding to boost the culture and reputation for PepsiCo’s Global Business Services (GBS) internally and externally. She has repositioned GBS as an award-winning organization, leveraging a data-driven approach to prioritize recognition, Green’s efforts resulted in more than 10 awards for GBS, earning a ranking as one of the “20 Most Admired GBS Organizations” by the Shares Services & Outsourcing Network.

Another recent accomplishment Green spearheaded was elevating the comms team’s impact on business outcomes and #OneGBS culture. Over the past year, GBS grew its headcount by 50% and revolutionized PepsiCo’s ways of working, further increasing internal demand for its services. To match this growth, Green established an integrated 13-person practice with a centralized global team and strengthened localized communication leadership across seven hubs to activate global-to-local priorities. She empowered the team with deeper collaboration and best-practice sharing.

Green also executed a weeklong historic visit by PepsiCo’s executive committee, where the top 15 global leaders visited the Hyderabad hub to secure leadership buy-in through an immersive and inspiring educational and engaging experience that involved more than 1,500 employees. The success of this visit led to increased interest and visits by other PepsiCo leaders to GBS hubs.

Green also had a big stake in amplifying PepsiCo corporate’s priorities globally with infused local relevance. Green’s creativity and drive resulted in GBS being the lead participant of PepsiCo’s internal innovation program, The Next Big Idea, with more than 60 ideas submitted. A virtual event to gather donations for Ukraine relief exceeded target participation by over 300%.

Green also expanded the use of new channels and technologies to drive culture and engagement with a push for metaverse activations, apps for events, WhatsApp and Yammer beyond traditional comms tools; launched a storytelling engine to amplify GBS value to PepsiCo; and boosted GBS’s employer branding through social media.

Green has proven herself as an effective and empathetic leader — advocating for the team and empowering individuals.

Congrats to Natalie Green.

Vice President, Communications

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Lianne Hedditch trailblazes as first leader to spearhead communications team

Lianne Hedditch, vice president of communications for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, transformed communication efforts for the storied organization and has led the organization through record-breaking successes never before achieved in its 106-year history. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As vice president of communications for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Lianne Hedditch is living the dream she had as a little girl—to be an ally for wildlife and to champion the incredible stories of this world-renowned conservation organization.

Hedditch is the first leader to spearhead a comprehensive communications team for the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s global efforts worldwide, including public relations, social media, executive communications, storytelling, internal communications, philanthropy communications and publishing.

Hedditch led the team to secure more than 91 billion media impressions in 2021— surpassing any previous year in the organization’s history by 300 percent and tripling the impact these stories have both nationally and internationally.

Her trailblazing leadership amplifies these groundbreaking stories by touching the lives of nearly 5,000 team members and 5 million guests who visit the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park annually; reaching more than 5 million followers on social media; shaping the message for more than 36 million web visitors annually; and speaking to more than 865 million viewers around the globe who tune in to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s digital properties.

With a cohesive “one voice” approach across all audiences and a dynamic leadership style that has powered communications for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Hedditch has touched the lives of countless individuals this past year.

Her transformative leadership continued with the organization’s first signature keynote event featuring global conservation leaders and the largest endeavor and grand opening in San Diego Zoo history — Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.

She also led and developed San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s first comprehensive Spanish-speaking media strategy, touching millions; along with seemingly endless messages of lifesaving hope, cutting-edge science, and breaking stories, including National Geographic’s “most intriguing animal discovery of 2021” that became a global phenomenon.

Throughout all of these pivotal moments, Hedditch’s leadership has reshaped how the organization can leverage communication to fuel conservation worldwide.

Her dreams as a little girl have indeed come true, and the inspiration and impact she has had as a communications leader this year have changed the alliance’s world and beyond forever.

Congrats to Lianne Hedditch.

Vice President for University Communications and Events

Colgate University

L. Hazel Jack of Colgate University improves communications, drives DE&I initiatives

Hazel Jack’s role as a communicator is robust as she wears many hats and oversees a team of nearly 30 comms pros. An added layer: She’s the first Black woman to hold the role of vice president of communications in Colgate University’s more than 200-year existence. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Hazel Jack has led the Colgate University office of communications since February 2017, and concurrently served as interim vice president for diversity and inclusion in 2021 while she led the search to fill that new position on campus.

As the first Black woman to hold the role of vice president for communications at Colgate, Jack’s impact has been immeasurable, both in terms of improving the university’s internal and external communication efforts while also working to drive and support diversity initiatives at Colgate.

She oversees a department of 29 communications professionals, and has recently taken on oversight of all university events and athletics communications, in addition to all university-related communications.

Jack was responsible for a smooth launch of a university-wide visual brand refresh effort in 2019, and was Colgate’s voice of the administration in weekly campus messages to students throughout the pandemic, dubbed Colgate Together.

Outside of crisis communications related to the pandemic, Jack has overseen many major initiatives during her tenure, including a complex year-long celebration of Colgate’s bicentennial; a full web site redesign; a major alumni magazine redesign; the complete overhaul of all admission marketing materials; the launch of a printed community newsletter distributed to area residents; the creation of the university’s first ongoing bi-weekly podcast series (which just received a CASE District II award); the launch of a quarterly online research magazine; oversight of two commencements and two reunions in a single year in 2022; and, just a few months ago, led the launch for Colgate’s largest-ever fundraising campaign.

Outside of Colgate, Jack volunteers as a board member of a local hospital, and a nearby grass-roots community organization focused on supporting the leadership development of young students of color. Jack does all of this with good humor, a friendly approach to leadership and incredible care for her employees and others. She is constantly focused on the wellbeing of students on campus and the employees in her department.

Her leadership is a model that should be followed by others in higher education, and she’s just getting started.

Congrats to Hazel Jack.

SVP, Chief Communications & Administration Officer

Zimmer Biomet

Zimmer Biomet’s Keri P. Mattox is a leader with vision and focus

As a communications champion at the global medical technology company Zimmer Biomet, Keri P. Mattox has spent more than two years positioning the company as a global leader in the MedTech industry, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

In May 2022, Keri P. Mattox was appointed chief communications and administration officer at Zimmer Biomet (ZB), becoming responsible for building and executing a comprehensive strategy around ESG initiatives and increasing CEO visibility, engagement and accessibility. This promotion was based on the success of her leadership and strong contributions to ZB during a very challenging time in the company’s history – dealing with financial pressures due to its focus on elective procedures during a global pandemic.

During this time, Mattox led the company’s brand transformation, which included updating ZB’s messaging, look and feel, and both the internal and external communications approach to better align with the company’s new focus as a global MedTech leader — applying technology and data solutions to its nearly 100-year legacy in orthopedic implants.

Through the critical spinoff of the company’s spine and dental businesses into a new company, ZimVie, Mattox managed investor relations activities that emphasized organization growth drivers for its dental and spine businesses while simultaneously leading investor activities for ZB, aiding in the maintenance of strong market positions for both companies.

Following the development and launch of the Zimmer Biomet Foundation in late 2020, Mattox has been responsible for all philanthropic programming for the foundation — including instituting team member-focused initiatives such as a charitable match and volunteer time reimbursement program and managing the spinoff of the Movement is Life organization into an independent nonprofit organization. She also led efforts to centralize and operationalize the company’s ESG programming.

Beyond organizational growth, Mattox’s passion for philanthropy shines through in her various volunteerism efforts. She works with local foundations in the Springfield, Pennsylvania area, providing her communications expertise to the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, Springfield Little League and the Ronald McDonald House of Philadelphia. Mattox also serves as a board member of the Alpha Delta Pi Foundation, founding member for Boston University’s Center for Anti-Racist Research, and both mentor and benefactor for a Boston University athlete.

Congratulations to Keri P. Mattox.

VP, Corporate Communications

West Pharmaceutical Services

Michele Polinsky drives West Pharmaceutical Services’ communications to success

Under her leadership, Michele Polinsky’s global communications team is recognized as an integral player in business strategies. Recipient to multiple awards, her team members have become key partners heavily relied on by senior leaders. Polinsky gets an honoree nod in the Leaders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As vice president of corporate communications at West Pharmaceutical, a provider of injectable solutions and partner to drug developers, Michele Polinsky juggles many tasks. She’s the leader for PR, customer communications, internal communications, investor relations communications, executive communications and philanthropy within the company. But all of these responsibilities have given her a chance to show her unwavering confidence as a leader.

Polinsky keeps a watchful eye on trends and the general landscape while heading her team through the industry, ensuring that she’s employing the most effective strategies. She maintains high standards among her team members, but also encourages creative freedom. This has led to numerous recognitions for the team’s work, including last year’s Corporate Responsibility Report and Annual Report, each winning a Platinum MarCom award.

Polinsky and her team are clearly producing quality results: West Pharmaceutical has extended vastly in global markets, receiving an Ireland US Council Award and the Corporate Social Responsibility Programme of the Year from the Pharma Industry Award.

Online, the company’s web site has seen a 167% increase in pageviews and a 60% increase in engagement.

Internally, there’s been an increase in team member engagement scores, and it’s clear Polinsky is committed to keeping team members engaged, encouraged and connected to one another.

“We are very fortunate to have Michele at West,” says Eric Haman, director of global corporate communications. “Her strength, knowledge and confidence in leadership, mixed with her empathy and true care for her team, make her the perfect leader to drive best in class communications within our company.”

Congratulations to Michele Polinsky.

Associate Director for Communication Science

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

CDC’s Rachel Powell led team of 70-plus in monkeypox response

Rachel Powell, associate director of communication science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leads with empathy, care and compassion when communicating federal public health messages. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Rachel Powell is known for her strong team leadership but the way she used her skills and experience in the past 12 months is of particular note: She played a significant role in the CDC’s monkeypox response, where she oversaw a team of more than 70 staff working around the clock to ensure that accessible, actionable public health information was available to the public.

Powell, who has years of experience working with communities of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM), possesses a deep understanding of their lived experiences and therefore the language used to communicate about monkeypox was very important to her.

From her first day on the response, she worked to ensure that there were established and consistent communication objectives to address rapidly emerging questions, concerns, uncertainty and fear.

To do this, before any products or content were developed, Powell established a communication and content strategy and challenged her team to construct messages that showed a deep understanding of the unique needs of the intended audience and that avoided stigma and blame. Additionally, she was able to work collaboratively with senior scientists to translate data and research into actionable content that informed all channels and products associated with the monkeypox response.

Her influence is still felt today; the content formed the basis of all response messages and is still used months later across monkeypox communications developed and disseminated by CDC and across the U.S. federal government.

Powell’s monkeypox efforts are a testament to her leadership skills. With patience, humor, coaching and encouragement, she pushed her team to assert and advocate for the people who needed clear, concise, and actionable health communication information. Powell taught them the value of knowing your audience and helped them have the courage to fight for affected communities’ needs, even during the most stressful days of an unprecedented response.

She was responsible for overseeing the development of over 75 message documents and products that are used to communicate and inform communities to this day.

“While our topics affect the entire American population, they often have a greater impact on some people and groups,” Powell says. “It is important that our materials reflect the needs of individuals within those communities as well as providers. Each piece of communication coming out of the center must be developed with the focus audience in mind to affect the greatest positive impact.”

Congrats to Rachel Powell.

SVP, Communications | Digital Marketing | E-Commerce

Jackson Family Wines

Kristen Reitzell puts Jackson Family Wines on a global stage with successful PR campaigns

Kristen Reitzell, senior vice president of communications, digital marketing and e-commerce for Jackson Family Wines, has built a strong reputation, resulting in thousands of stories featuring the company’s wineries and wines, reaching billions. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Kristen Reitzell’s creativity, gut instincts, long-term vision and strategic thinking have helped Jackson Family Wines execute successful consumer PR campaigns for its wineries across the globe.

This includes executing successful PR campaigns that put the company’s diverse range of wines, lifestyle brands, and luxury and international wineries on the global stage among wine trade, media and consumers.

For example, luxury wines in the $250-$500 price range are extremely difficult to build prestige through media exposure alone given their limited availability in the marketplace, yet Reitzell’s strategic expertise, PR chops and leadership helped secure coverage on these wines through impactful luxury lifestyle media, a partnership with key sommeliers and media properties, influencer marketing, and events.

Reitzell’s ability to shift gears and keep focused on each brand’s target market also has inspired the teams’ efforts on national PR campaigns targeting a broader media audience, such as the recent Murphy-Goode “A Really Goode Job” campaign; Kendall-Jackson’s partnership with the Kentucky Derby; and La Crema’s sponsorship of San Francisco’s PRIDE celebrations.

She also has established strong relationships among the major wine critics, resulting in more than a thousand 90+ point wine reviews annually for the past five years, while also securing major industry awards, including Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Awards for Winemaker of the Year, Wine Executive of The Year, and numerous other prestigious awards.

It’s also worth noting that she led PR and communications efforts through several difficult crises in wine country, including the wildfires that Napa and Sonoma endured over the past five to seven years.

Reitzell has been an incredible change agent and voice within the organization to champion DE&I efforts among family ownership, executive leadership and the entire workforce.

She has championed PR pitches and activities that promote the company’s diverse workforce, including securing profiles stories on female ownership to showcase its strong leadership and vision for the global wine industry; lifting up the profiles and building awareness for the company’s talented female winemakers, and advocating for the implementation of new policies and initiatives that advance DE&I in the company and within the global wine community.

Currently, she is a member of Jackson Family Wines’ IDEA Alliance, an internal DE&I and social responsibility committee comprised of employees and stakeholders, that is building a strategic roadmap to enhance the company’s culture. As part of this committee, Reitzell is an executive sponsor leading the company’s internal and external communications strategies.

Congrats to Kristen Reitzell.

Vice President of Community Engagement, Clinical and Patient Communication

Providence

Mary Renouf conquers challenges to bring organization to Providence

Though the difficulties within her field have been numerous, Mary Renouf still managed to meet and surpass expectations, creating a new approach to internal management that has been met with overwhelming support and appreciation by her team. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

While the circumstances presented to Mary Renouf in her role as vice president of community engagement, clinical and patient communication were difficult, her ground-breaking changes were invaluable to maintaining a comfortable and open workplace for her team. Providence is a healthcare organization that’s committed to serving underrepresented populations, encouraging reform and making healthcare affordable to all.

These last few years have tested so many people, especially those within healthcare organizations. Renouf took it upon herself to uplift and strengthen those under her leadership with noteworthy dedication and care. Her involvement was a vital component to reaching team members who might have been struggling with mental health needs by providing them with the same tools offered to so many of their clients, making strides to ensure her own team’s needs were met.

Under her leadership, she committed herself to instilling transparency and encouraging team members to move around their own obligations as they saw fit; changes heavily appreciated all around.

Renouf also developed new partnerships, including a podcast secured with Boston Scientific set to launch soon. And, she’s often hosting episodes in the Providence podcast discussing various health care topics.

As a leader, she’s always taking time to help grow others both in current and future roles, mentoring and coaching them to prepare for meetings and help them navigate their own future careers.

She has demonstrated clear direction, and solution-oriented answers when problems arose. She’s facilitated a safe and constructive environment for her team against trying odds.

Kudos to Mary Renouf.

Director of Global Communications

Bell

Bell’s Karen Testa helps drive a caring and positive workforce

Karen Testa brings nearly 20 years of industry experience to her work as a top leader in the corporate communications field. What makes her leadership so effective is how she leads with compassion and empathy. She’s an honoree in the Leaders category in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

As the director of global communications at Bell, Karen Testa oversees all internal and external communications for its over 8,000 employees spread across worldwide facilities.

Testa manages a team of 16 people located throughout these facilities, including Singapore, China, Canada, and the United States. She acts as a thought partner to executives and leads a variety of communications initiatives, tailoring to Bell’s diverse commercial and military customers.

It goes without saying that Testa owns important work, but what makes her a noteworthy leader is her confidence, empathy and compassion.

While the world is going through tough times with the offsets of the global pandemic causing market and employment restructuring, Testa continues to be an advocate for keeping her team healthy, less stressed and productive. She consistently reminds each team member how valuable their individual contributions are and how their own strengths are what contribute to the strong team.

This is achieved through weekly staff meetings, where Testa listens and advises her teams through different communications plans and updates, as well as through private recognition and genuine interest in who her staff is outside of the workplace. Not only does she actively coach her employees and make them feel like they are truly important members of the team, but Testa also is known to fiercely advocate for her team and highlight their accomplishments during annual performance reviews.

Since these reviews can be somewhat of an intimidating, ambiguous process and cause feelings of stress for some employees, she has provided valuable insight into the process and increased visibility on the interworking of related initiatives like Talent Review with Bell’s parent company.

As a thought partner and communications leader at Bell, Testa has taken the initiative to coach various executive leaders in having difficult conversations with employees. Most importantly, Testa ensures that Bell executives lead and communicate with empathy for their own teams – helping to drive a positive and caring workforce.

Testa is known as someone who can be presented with a complex and stressful situation, and “walk the walk,” explain the why, and treat everyone with kindness – making a difficult situation far less difficult.

Congrats to Karen Testa.

Senior Director, Global External Communications

Zebra Technologies

Therese Van Ryne of Zebra Technologies brings the company into focus

Much like a zebra stands out amongst other wildlife, Zebra Technologies’ Senior Director of Global External Communications Therese Van Ryne has also emerged as a clear standout, spending the past year expanding the worldwide footprint of Zebra communications from the inside out, helping drive impactful growth, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Zebra Technologies may not be a company most consumers know by name, but chances are high that they interact with Zebra daily, as it supports much of the Fortune 500 with frontline edge technologies. Therese Van Ryne — one of Zebra’s global communications leaders — has created a vision to propel the organization’s success forward while devoting her time outside the office to community impact projects.

Due to her successes and vision for Zebra’s global external communications function, Van Ryne significantly expanded her responsibilities and more than tripled her team’s size over the past eight years; a group that now includes PR, corporate and crisis communications, thought leadership, CSR, social media and customer advocacy. This accelerated growth reflects Van Ryne’s commitment to reaching existing and future customers with sound communications strategies while exceeding business-driven goals aligned directly with company objectives.

Van Ryne’s accomplishments in the past year include:

Took on the management of the social media team and saw social accounts achieve a 17% growth in followers and a 26% increase in social engagements.
Helped to secure spots for Zebra on Fast Company’s 2022 Best Workplaces for Innovators List, Great Place to Work certification, and Newsweek’s Most Loved Companies.
Managed media efforts for Zebra’s NFL relationship and hosted a panel during Super Bowl LVI week, continuing to push Zebra forward in the sports statistics category.
Oversaw implementation of the company’s first corporate Instagram page, @lifeatzebra, focused on staff successes and employee culture.
Led Zebra’s philanthropic program to support charitable organizations in communities where “Zebra Nation” gives back through volunteerism, storytelling, cash and technology donations.
Participated in the Great Cycle Challenge with more than 250 employees and partners to raise more than $100k USD for the Children’s Cancer Research Fund.
Was appointed to the leadership team for Zebra’s Women’s Inclusion Network, a group of more than 900 employees engaged in networking events, volunteering and other activities to support Zebra’s inclusion and diversity efforts.
Contributed to industry best practices as a trustee for the Institute for Public Relations.
Volunteered as a guest speaker in local college classrooms and at communication conferences to foster knowledge sharing, bringing more young people into PR.

Van Ryne’s list of accomplishments clearly shows why she is, and continues to be, a leader in communications.

Congrats to Therese Van Ryne.

Director of Communications

Southern Nuclear

Southern Nuclear’s Lizzy Yates pursues high-level excellence that moves the organization forward

Lizzy Yates leads the internal and external communications function for Southern Nuclear, which runs six nuclear reactors, with two more under construction, and over 3,500 employees in five locations, making her a Leader in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Nuclear power is a technology often misunderstood. In many respects, it is a battle of hearts and minds, and it’s where Lizzy Yates, Southern Nuclear’s director of communications, often finds herself. Through Yates’ leadership, her geographically diverse communications team takes the exacting environment needed at the highly technical organization and makes it a point of pride — pride for the product produced, the communities they serve and in the operational perfection they chase every day.

Over the years, Yates has been instrumental to Southern Nuclear’s continued pursuit of excellence, working with leadership to develop and implement the company’s vision and strategy. Since launching this strategy, the organization has moved to the top of the nuclear industry according to industry performance data. Externally, its nuclear sites maintain a 90% public favorability, which is well above industry benchmarks and results from the public and charitable outreach programs managed by Yates’ teams.

Yates and her team also are acutely aware of the sacrifices the workforce makes in this 24/7/365 environment and routinely paint incredible pictures of employees’ unique contributions in a way that successfully aligns and engages employees and stakeholders. In addition to improved company performance, the positive effect on Southern Nuclear’s culture is significant, contributing to high retention rates, extraordinary engagement scores and strong community involvement.

Finally, the effects of Yates’ leadership can be seen beyond Southern Company’s walls. Within the industry, Yates helps lead national working groups that shape rhetoric to advance nuclear perception. Further, she has had a transformative impact on the local and state philanthropic organizations she serves, helping to redefine the 25-year-old Kiwanis Birmingham Business Hall of Fame and the Women’s Foundation of Alabama’s annual fundraiser. She also has contributed leadership modules to Alabama’s PRSA chapter and the University of Alabama’s student-run PR firm, Capstone Agency.

Congrats to Lizzy Yates.

Senior Director, Communications & Community

Muck Rack

Linda Zebian takes the reins as first director of communications at Muck Rack

Trailblazing in her position, Linda Zebian has created fresh and innovative policies that breed internal collaboration alongside inclusivity. She’s built a place for herself that has brought new opportunities to her company that Muck Rack wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Her ingenuity places her as an honoree in the Leaders category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Earlier last year, Linda Zebian brought her 17 years of experience to Muck Rack, a company that enables organizations to build their brands through earned media. She immediately set to work building Muck Rack’s enterprise by setting communications strategy internally and externally.

Specializing in PR tech, Muck Rack didn’t boast a strong communications function before Zebian’s involvement. She knew this was a critical component to success and set up many faculties to ensure this goal. She’s established brand messaging that has been utilized across the company and is now the standard for all external communications.

She set in motion a formal plan to encourage frequent and engaging communications internally. Zebian established ‘Brown Bag’ monthlies and created more inviting spaces in Slack to maintain those interactions in and around the workspace. The first cohesive strategy to convey Muck Rack’s DE&I policy was implemented under her leadership, creating an understanding and accepting workplace for all in a consistent and predictable fashion.

The benefit to her involvement is unparalleled, as Muck Rack has been invited to moderate its first panel at SXSW and received its first outside investment of $180 million in series A funding. She’s facilitated over 20 press hits across relevant sources and continues to maintain those relationships with media outlets.

Through her deliberate leadership as director of communications, Muck Rack was placed in the Inc. 5000 and awarded Quartz Best Places to Work for Remote Workers. She’s worked with the product team to ensure quality design, authored numerous blogs on PR and led a thought leadership bureau to share diverse opinions across various industries.

Congrats to Linda Zebian.

Chief Communications Officer

KeyBank

KeyBank’s Susan Donlan lives the values and character of a top communicator while mentoring others

Since joining KeyBank, Susan Donlan has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor, strong leader and sought-after partner across one of the country’s largest banks, earning her recognition as a Mentor in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

While many inside and outside KeyBank see Chief Communications Officer Susan Donlan’s leadership and tangible impact on the organization’s messaging and reputation, something that is not as visible to many is her deep commitment and investment in her team’s career development. Despite being a team of less than 30 for most of 2022, Donlan found creative, strategic ways to create career opportunities at all levels of her team. In doing so, she has supported her team’s career aspirations and growth, from early-in-career talent and first-time managers to continuing senior leaders development.

Between October 2021 and October 2022, Donlan invested in and championed several opportunities for her team, including:

Provided two senior managers with the opportunity to switch roles on the team and lead new areas, which continued their professional development.
Identified opportunities for two team members to evolve or expand their responsibilities, including supporting new areas of the business.
Promoted two team members into new roles within the corporate communications team, acknowledging their impact and influence.
Supported two corporate communications teammates into new roles within the organization, serving as a proud champion, advocate and exporter of talent across the company.
Creatively restructured an open role that allowed an individual contributor to step into a management role for the first time in their career.
Created a leadership development opportunity for an individual contributor to serve in manager role for a 2021 summer intern.
Nominated three teammates for development programs for aspiring leaders, providing exposure to executives and professional development opportunities.

Donlan’s strong leadership also led to the expansion of her responsibilities. In 2022, she assumed leadership of the client communications team, which was initially positioned within marketing. This transition increased the corporate communications team size by 30%. She lives her values rooted in a commitment to career development, enthusiastically taking on new opportunities for the team and company.

“Because of Susan’s leadership, the communications team’s reputation across Key has really grown and solidified,” says Amy Kilbane, senior communications manager at KeyBank. “We are viewed as true subject matter experts and people seek to engage us.”

In just five years, Donlan has not only afforded her team intentional and strategic opportunities to grow but has cultivated a culture that others are excited to join and proud to be a part of.

Congrats to Susan Donlan.

VP, Enterprise Tech and Business Development

Crenshaw Communications

Crenshaw Communications’ Sasha Dookhoo understands the power of mentorship

When Sasha Dookhoo joined Crenshaw Communications, her top priority was implementing better mentorship for all team members. One year later, she is one of the top mentors, and her dedication to educating her teammates and coworkers has led to significant improvements across the board. She’s a Mentor honoree in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

One of the first things Sasha Dookhoo did when joining Crenshaw Communications as an account director was to institute a formal bi-annual review process that allowed managers to communicate with employees about their progress clearly, identify tasks they are excelling at and any areas for improvement through an open and constructive dialogue. Dookhoo has ensured that these reviews motivate and enable teams to do their best work.

Dookhoo knows that a manager can’t mentor everyone in the same way, so she leads with a dynamic mentorship mindset. She has proactively worked with each member of her six-person team to ensure they feel adequately supported and driven. As a result of her ongoing efforts, two team members she oversees were promoted to senior account executive and account supervisor. Post-promotion, she worked with them to ensure they were effectively managing, liaising with clients and feeling confident about their new roles and responsibilities across accounts.

Another area that Dookhoo championed was composing a PR Guidebook that serves as a key learning module for new staff members and is consistently referenced by everyone at the organization. The guidebook outlines essential PR tips, common mistakes in AP Style of writing, highlights communication tips on how Crenshaw corresponds with clients and eliminates many questions managers typically field from new employees.

Dookhoo is not just a mentor within Crenshaw. Over the last decade, she has served as a mentor for the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Multicultural Advertising Intern Program. As a 2011 alumna of the program, Dookhoo most recently mentored a student from her alma mater, the University of Central Florida, during her summer internship at GCI Health. She advised her mentee on how to work across various teams and offered mitigation techniques for managing difficult situations.

Inspiring the next generation, Dookhoo’s teams and mentees praise her dedication and commitment to them and the life-long lessons she’s bestowed.

Kudos to Sasha Dookhoo.

Head of Internal Communications and Employer Brand

One Medical

Kathleen M. Haley led unprecedented mergers across healthcare, CPG and tech

Kathleen M. Haley’s ability to manage large mergers and launches with a focus on conversations and curiosity has earned her recognition in the Trailblazers category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Kathleen M. Haley has worked across industries in the high tech, consumer packaged goods and healthcare spaces, demonstrating a knack for navigating crisis and change with a focus on building culture. That skill set empowered her to lead Iora Health communications, where she joined as the first marketer and communicator and led the team with a patient-first approach to saving lives when COVID hit. She also led the company through a merger with One Medical while ensuring Iora’s teams had what they needed to do their jobs. Based on the results of integration, Haley was offered her current role has head of internal communications and employer brand at One Medical.

“Kathleen has not only been pivotal to the integration of our two companies, but continues to level up our communication strategies and tactics to engage our employees,” says Amir Rubin, chair, CEO and president of One Medial. “She has a passion for building culture and ensuring we bring our team members along our journey through every word and action. She pushes the organization to always be better.”

Haley started her career in PR and soon moved in-house at HP, where she led global PR for HP DesignJet printers from Barcelona and helped drive sales through storytelling. While at HP, she also led the Europe, Middle East and Africa team through the largest IT merger ever at the time, introducing the new HP and Compaq brand to internal and external audiences across two companies working in multiple countries to drive a coordinated launch and tell the same story.

Eventually, Haley was offered the opportunity to become HP’s first Hispanic marketing manager, tapping into her Salvadoran heritage to launch fully integrated marketing programs that drove an 85% YOY growth in target markets while becoming a national spokesperson in English and Spanish.

Despite being told she needed to stick to her industry, Haley moved to consumer packaged goods and led global brand communications at McCormick & Company. In two years’ time, she helped launch the iconic flavoring brand’s first retail location, and led the campaign for McCormick’s 125^th anniversary from concept to launch.

Indeed, Haley is a seasoned marketing and communications leader with no signs of losing her flavor for pushing both industries forward.

Kudos to Kathleen M. Haley.

Chief Communications Officer

UiPath

Tori Iafrate led UiPath to become a driving player in the future of work

Tori Iafrate’s success building and positioning UiPath as the undisputed leader in the automation field has earned her recognition in the Trailblazer category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Though Tori Iafrate is celebrated as a results-oriented leader in technology communications, her impressive business acumen is grounded by her exceptional soft skills — including a contagious energy along with a sense of charm and wit that colleagues, partners and stakeholders alike all agree make her a pleasure to work with.

Iafrate is the vice president and chief communications officer at UiPath, where she leads global external comms, executive comms, public affairs and social media initiatives for the brand. Whatever the channel, Iafrate’s mission is consistent in advocating for automation as a means to achieve better business outcomes and enhance employee experience. As such, she has launched several high-impact campaigns to educate audiences on the value of automation amid times of unprecedented uncertainty including the rise of COVID-19, mass resignations and grim global economic outlooks.

“Toni is a strategic leader,” says Bobby Patrick, chief marketing officer at UiPath. “She excels at communications, of course, but it is her personal determination and grit that propelled UiPath to its dominant market awareness and position.”

Iafrate’s specific wins for UiPath (and automation awareness on the whole) include getting the company profiled in a Forbes cover story that branded company Founder/CEO Daniel Dines as the “Boss of the Bots,” securing speaking slots at leading tech conferences and winning top-tier awards that position the company as an iconic tech brand.

Over the past year alone, Iafrate coordinated comms initiatives for the appointing of former Google Cloud executive Robert Enslin as co-CEO, spearheaded UiPath’s acquisition of natural language processing company Re:infer, and evangelized UiPath’s continued commitment to unleashing human achievement through automation in features for The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch and more.

While doing all of this, Iafrate also has served as president of the PR Club of New England and shared career insights with several young professionals. In recognition for her work, Business Insider named Iafrate one of its Top 36 PR pros in the tech industry.

One thing’s for sure — the automation field is better for Iafrate’s human touch as a leader.

Kudos to Tori Iafrate.

President and Founder

Grey Matter Marketing

Holley Miller built Grey Matter Marketing to focus on employee enrichment and creating community

Holley Miller’s decision to lead Grey Matter Marketing with a focus on cultivating community and empowering employees to drive change has earned her recognition in the Trailblazers category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Holley Miller is the type of leader who inspires others to give back, share knowledge and foster community. That’s why the president and founder of Grey Matter Marketing started the first marketing performance agency focused on changing industry paradigms for good.

“Without (her) willingness to spend time thinking about our company and pushing us to dig deeper, we would have stopped way too soon and too shallow,” says Bill Kerr, MD, CEO of Avalon Healthcare Service.

Miller’s career was largely spent working in a “boy’s club environment,” which motivated her to create a company that helped employees and clients alike grow physically, mentally and emotionally. This included educating everyone about the fundamentals of brain science in business and launching a 10^th-anniversary campaign for the agency that awarded 10 med tech start-up companies with 10 hours of free strategic consulting each.

Thanks to Miller registering with the “Be the Match” database, she was matched in 2021 with a woman who urgently needed a bone marrow transplant. Miller flew across the country despite the pandemic to undergo an invasive procedure and help save the life of a woman she’d never met.

As a leader, Miller understands the motivational power of handing over control to her team to let them thrive, empowering them to make key decisions in the agency. She regularly tasks team members to implement improvements they wish to see and encourages ownership in the process.

Miller made the decision to transition Grey Matter to a full-time employee model in 2021 with a focus on attracting the best talent and ensuring they felt valued from the outset. The same year, Miller helped a veteran number explore new career opportunities outside of the organization because she knew the move would be in the employee’s best interest. Employees value her willingness to never take such situations personally and always leave the door open for future work or collaborations.

Miller’s strategic leadership has led Grey Matter to increase revenue and clients through the pandemic and into 2022, including 2021 YOY organic growth per existing clients that averaged 5x growth in annual revenue. In typical Miller fashion, she used this growth as an opportunity to add five new full-time employees to the team.

Miller’s knack for finding multi-dimensional talent and unicorns stems from the fact that she is, herself, a truly people-first leader in her field.

Kudos to Holley Miller.

VP, Head of Retirement Services Marketing & Communications

Wilmington Trust/M&T Bank

TJ Aspen Givens led an award-winning campaign to help M&T bank customers through tough times

TJ Aspen Givens’ ability to lead comms initiatives that change the lives of the communities she serves earned her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

It was during her time at Columbia University, interning with JAY-Z’s Roc Nation Sports, when TJ Aspen Givens first fell in love with communications. After securing media coverage and brand partnerships with a notable roster of NFL clients, she eventually moved to Horizon Media’s SCOUT Sports and Entertainment, getting the change to work with brands like GEICO and Honda. In addition to learning that she wanted an in-house career, this time also taught Givens that she wanted to work for a brand that focused on community engagement, creating change and nurturing collective understanding.

This realization led Givens to join M&T Banks’ management development program in 2019. She’s been promoted four times since before landing her current role as VP, head of retirement services marketing and communications for the bank’s Wilmington Trust arm.

Givens got there through a string of accomplishments that included leading the firm’s “Managing Through Challenging Times” content series, a multi-touch campaign that answered the questions of C-suite commercial banking customers live. The campaign was a two-time Gramercy Institute winner that also earned her a Thirty Under 30 Award from the Mid-Atlantic Real Estate Journal.

Over the past year, she also took over marketing and comms efforts for M&T’s insurance agency, which led to a record-setting year that saw content consumption increase by 35% and social media metrics grow overall by 10% YOY.

Somehow, Givens accomplished all of this by enrolling and successfully completing a six-month intensive course at Columbia Business School.

“TJ Givens is on my team and in 10 months has quickly established herself as a top performance marketer,” says Laura Cleveland, SVP and head of marketing for institutional client services at M&T Bank & Wilmington Trust. “She brings modern thinking to the table, pushes boundaries, and delivers results – all while building lasting relationships through warmth and positivity.”

Givens’ star continues to rise as she focuses on nurturing partnerships inside and out — be they M&T Insurance Agency’s announcement as the official insurance brokerage partner of the Buffalo Bills or the continued professional development of other women at M&T Bank by serving as the national representative of M&T’s Women’s Interest Network and Co-president of the NYC Multi-Generational Resource Group.

Kudos to TJ Aspen Givens.

Senior Account Executive

The TASC Group

Lisa Burkert drove coverage for cancer patients and Black Trans LGBTQ+ vaccine awareness at The TASC Group

Lisa Burkert’s ability to win victories for six major client accounts that put advocacy and values first earned her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

During her past few years of nonprofit public relations experience at nonprofit agency The TASC Group, Lisa Burkert has led multi-million-dollar accounts by crafting effective strategy plans, maintaining strong client relations and media relationships, and securing top-tier coverage. Over the past year alone, the senior account executive led six separate client accounts to major victories.

In the most recent victory, Burkert crafted a media strategy on behalf of cancer patients who sought to expose a major brand’s efforts to suppress that its talcum powder was laced with asbestos. Her efforts helped the team secure national coverage in The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other top-tier publications. During this campaign, Burkert also brought awareness to the Texas Two-Step system, which allows a company to break into two to transfer lawsuit liability to a subsidiary and declare bankruptcy to avoid paying settlements.

Earlier last year, Burkert also led a campaign to broadcast vaccine equity initiatives by the Black Trans-led LGBTQ+ center Destination Tomorrow. Burkert developed an in-depth comms strategy for the organization’s leadership that included media training, ultimately generating over 1,150 media hits on national and local levels. During this campaign, Burkert also positioned the organization’s founder, Sean Ebony Coleman, as a national expert and thought leader, helping Coleman to win several accolades, including Crain’s Notable Black Leaders 2022 and Crain’s Notable LGBTQ Leaders 2022.

Following Burkert’s push, Coleman also was invited to be part of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson’s transition teams. This national recognition earned the organization $8.7 million in funding from the city to open a new LGBTQ housing project, along with a new center in Atlanta.

While Burkert’s skill for nurturing clients and driving award-winning nonprofit campaigns earn her continued success, it’s her continued commitment to doing good that fuel her rising star.

Kudos to Lisa Burkert.

Account Supervisor

Haymaker Group

Catie Gelhert navigated Haymaker Group clients through pivotal announcements

Catie Gelhert’s ability to win the trust of CEOs of multi-million-dollar tech companies with her strategies has earned her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communication Awards.

Though she’s only 27, Catie Gelhert’s unique approach to strategy development as an account supervisor at Haymaker Group has propelled her to lead strategies for some of the biggest names in tech — earning the trust of C-suite clients in the process. Among her many wins, Gelhert developed a strategy for the online education platform from the co-founder of MasterClass, Outlier.org, that helped the platform break through to media outlets not previously possible across multiple verticals. To do this, Gelhert worked with lead professors to position them as media sources available for comment on relevant, timely topics, including economic data. This approach earned Outlier.org placements in Quartz, accounting today, Forbes, CNBC and others,

Gelhert also helped Liteboxer with a product launch that earned the company a presence at CES and coverage in WIRED, TechCrunch and more. The company was Haymaker’s first client to have this level of exposure at the technology trade show, and as a result the company was invited to subsequent high-profile tech events.

Internally, Gelhert also has made great strides to improve Haymaker’s core offerings. She worked closely with leadership to establish a new consumer business pipeline, along with agency policies for revised scopes of work and out-of-pocket client requests. She’s helped reshape the employee onboarding process as the company remains operating on a hybrid work model. She’s also become a significant mentor for junior team members, overseeing each team while ideating and managing workstreams to ensure their success from end to end and coach team members on what they can do next.

With her focus on in-depth storytelling and solutions that are anchored in client expertise and data, Gelhert’s strategies will continue to make her a communicator on the rise.

Kudos to Catie Gelhert.

Senior Communications Specialist

Nordson

Carly Gessel helped the communications team at Nordson change the tone of its internal comms

Carly Gessel’s knowledge, leadership and instincts to help Nordson’s communications practice rethink its strategic impact earned her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Over the past five years, Caroline “Carly” Gessel has helped Nordson, a manufacturer of fluid dispensing and management tech, completely rethink its communications function. Working with a lean team of three internal comms pros, Gessel helped navigate nonstop requests to move beyond memos and integrate new, technological approaches to reach, inform and engage Nordson’s employees.

During Nordson’s two acquisitions over the past year, Gessel played a pivotal role in co-leading the communications planning to ensure all employees understood what was happening and why, including how the acquired employees would fit within the organization and help meet business goals. Navigating the many moving parts of the M&A, Gessel’s approach contributed to an 82% participation rate in a post-acquisition integration survey.

Gessel also boosted engagement on Nordson’s Yammer, transforming the platform from one that was barely used to a daily repository of posts on business, innovation, employee recognition, volunteer activities and more.

While navigating the CEO blog through an executive transition, Gessel also managed to build viewership and engagement while showcasing the personality of President and CEO Sundaram Nagarajan. Working directly with him, Gessel translates his thoughts to strategic company priorities and facilitates a direct connection between the CEO and employees, facilitating a sense of transparency that affects business performance.

Suffice to say, Gessel’s ability to partner with Nordson’s SMEs and executives to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time is no small feat — especially for a global manufacturer with over 7,000 employees around the world.

Nordson leadership has certainly recognized Gessel as a rising star internally for her willingness to educate, inform and engage its employees, and they believe her shine is so bright that it deserves to be seen externally, too.

Kudos to Caroline “Carly” Gessel.

Manger of Brand Communications

IHOP

IHOP’s Emily Glickman achieves communs milestones while leading the way for women

As the essential right hand to IHOP’s head of communication, Emily Glickman, manager of brand communications, has helped spearhead menu launches, liaise with IHOP franchisees and even kicked off the brand’s first-ever loyalty program, earning her recognition as a Rising Star in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Emily Glickman has proven to be a vital asset on the IHOP communications team, tackling responsibilities that range from leading integrated PR and marketing strategies to working closely with franchisees and external agencies. At under 30 years of age, Glickman has accomplished many communications milestones in the food and beverage space.

Recently, IHOP launched its first-ever loyalty program that required internal and external communications regarding the program’s creation, logistics, launch activations and more. Glickman played an integral role in those efforts by moving key parts along from start to finish, such as internal messaging and talk tracks for executives, ensuring the quality of paid integrations with talent partners, and keeping all external agencies on track. In just six months, the launch received over three million members, 120% more than the year-end goal, and garnered a total of 246 online and broadcast placements with more than 442 million impressions.

Glickman also took the reins for a promotional event at IHOP’s New York City Flatiron location to increase location awareness of the brand’s new fast-casual iteration of IHOP-inspired menu items by partnering with a notable drag artist to drum up additional excitement. From handling operations of a brand-new restaurant to briefing IHOP executives for interviews, not only was the event impressively executed and well-received by employees and executives alike, but it also was a sales success, garnering the highest sales numbers for the location since its grand opening.

To support women’s career growth, networking and more, Glickman serves as the founding chair of “Women@Dine,” a Dine Brands employee resource group. She has helped form the group, spearhead networking opportunities and is an advocate and mentor for all women at IHOP. She recently planned and executed the group’s first in-person event, called Embracing Life’s Challenges with Success, inspiring all attendees to move through life in a healthy, happy, safe and cozy way.

Glickman is a rising communications star, showcasing her abilities as an ultimate team player, leader, and everything in between … and she is just getting started.

Kudos to Emily Glickman.

PR Manager

Crumbl Cookies

Kadee Jo Jones helped secure Crumbl Cookies biggest PR wins with a humble, grounded approach

Kadee Jo Jones rose quickly at Crumbl through her dependability, vision and willingness to mentor, earning her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Often the first to jump into a new project despite juggling several responsibilities, Kadee Jo Jones quickly became a PR manager at Crumbl Cookies since joining the brand on the internal comms side in December 2021. Her data-driven and forward-thinking innovation touches everything from event planning to building media relationships and has allowed her to facilitate some of the cookie brand’s biggest PR moments — from its “Let’s Get Ready to Crumbl” influencer campaign that aired on ESPN to the 25 billion in reach she earned through one article placement on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.

Jones also oversaw the majority of details for Crumbl’s three-year partnership with the Utah Jazz, along with its relationship to Utah State University.

Amid all of these accomplishments, Jones maintains a grounded and humble approach to working with and mentoring other employees. She’ll always take a beat to jump in and help another teammate working through something, and has become a trusted advocate for those seeking to grow within the company.

“Kadee Jo Jones is one of the most capable individuals that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” says Crumbl Cookies CCO Britnee Neuring. “In the short time she has been with Crumbl Cookies, she has established herself among peers and executives as dependable, strategic and an outstanding company representative. Her PR contributions to numerous campaigns and initiatives across the company have garnered millions of positive views, impressions and sentiment improvements for the brand, along with supporting crises navigations in stride. I’ve had a front-row seat to her greatness here at Crumbl & eagerly await to see what THE Kadee Jo Jones accomplishes next.”

Like cookie dough in the oven, Jones’ star only continues to rise.

Kudos to Kadee Jo Jones.

Senior Account Executive

Crenshaw Communications

Hannah Kasoff quickly rose to join the leadership team at Crenshaw Communications

Hannah Kasoff’s ability to secure big wins and media placements at Crenshaw despite having no prior PR experience earned her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

When Hannah Kasoff joined Crenshaw Communications as an account executive in May 2021, she only had experience as a marketing manager. But sitting at the center of Crenshaw’s advertising technology team, she quickly played a crucial role in securing big wins for clients including Yahoo, DoubleVerify, Innovid and Cooler Screens — demonstrating a knack for drafting press releases that can quickly result in high-profile media coverage.

A big part of this workplace commitment is evident in Kasoff’s commitment to championing mental health and self-care at work. She openly speaks publicly about her own mental health and struggles with ADHD, encouraging others to speak their minds and be heard.

Though only 25, Kasoff sits on Crenshaw’s senior leadership team where she is encouraged to weigh in on important company decisions regarding personnel and culture-building while acting as a voice for other junior team members. As a manager, she guides her team to success by making sure they grow alongside her and share wins. She consistently helps and listens whenever someone needs it, demonstrating collaborative leadership in action.

Kasoff will become Crenshaw’s marketing lead in 2023. As part of the promotion, she’ll build a new team and division that focuses specifically on creative and paid media strategies while supporting existing PR efforts.

“Hannah is an unstoppable force,” says Crenshaw Partner Chris Harihar. “She isn’t just a rising star – she’s what every PR person, new or longtime, should aspire to be. Even as a partner at the firm with 13 years of experience in this industry, I learn new things from Hannah every day. And, critically, clients love her, too.”

While such growth and success in such a short amount of time might prompt the thought that Kasoff’s star has already risen, but the opportunities that lie ahead prove she has nowhere to go but up.

Kudos to Hannah Kasoff.

Senior Manager

Walgreens

Zoe Krey made a lasting impact by leading Walgreen’s product communication effort

Zoe Krey’s eagerness and creative drive to develop interactive campaigns, events and partnerships at Walgreens earned her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Though Zoe Krey just joined Walgreens in 2021, the senior communications manager has made great impact that earned her a promotion in her first year and allowed her to take the reins of product communication for the retail giant — including Walgreens-owned brands that drive the retail business. She’s become adept at communicating the benefits of Walgreens-owned brand products through creative means, including interactive experiences alongside traditional media and social media challenges.

Krey’s communications expertise are driven by her thoughtful approach to every person, project and product she works with, earning her wide respect as a valued team member whose impact on Walgreens retail business is palpable.

Seeking to build affinity for Walgreens-owned brand summer products like sunscreen and aloe, Krey constructed an interactive campaign that targeted families looking for summer staples. She also negotiated Walgreens first-ever partnership with CAMP, a company that hosts play experiences for kids, to spotlight the Walgreens-owned products with in-person customer demos. The Brooklyn event sold out in minutes and saw over 1,000 attendees try sunblock, play through a sand scavenger hunt and other fun activities. This resulted in several media placements, over 1.7 million impressions and significant influencer engagement.

Krey also was instrumental in developing Walgreens’ “Wake Up Well” campaign that invited over 30 influencers to share their definition of wellness by using Walgreens-owned products. Krey ensured the influencer pool was diverse across age, gender, ethnicity, race, ability and sexual orientation in order to reflect the wide breadth of Walgreens’ customer base. Her clear vision and direction helped create a pool of influencers that were 79% diverse, 21% of whom drove direct purchases of owned brand health and wellness products.

Considering Krey’s measurable impact on Walgreens’ retail business in under two years, it’s no surprise that everyone she engages with considers her a rising star.

Kudos to Zoe Krey.

Account Supervisor

Max Borges Agency

Erin Ovadal makes waves at Max Borges Agency with lifestyle and women-focused brands

Erin Ovadal’s ability to deliver insightful strategies and impactful results while being an engaged mentor and colleague has earned her recognition in the Rising Stars category of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

From day one at Max Borges agency, Erin Ovadal has been praised for her work ethic, strategic analytics skills, account management and mentorship abilities. As such, it’s no surprise that she was quickly promoted from senior account executive to account supervisor in just a few months.

Ovadal quickly demonstrated a passion for working with emerging lifestyle and women-focused brands, such as her recent work with virtual fitness platform Alo Moves. Created by the Alo Yoga brand, Alo Moves wanted a PR firm that could bring awareness to its new user interface and content, shifting perceptions from it being just another yoga app to become a leader in the virtual fitness space. Suffice to say, Ovadal delivered. Since January 2022, her team secured 350 total placements in outlets including AdAge, Glamour, NBC, The Wall Street Journal and more.

“There aren’t enough great things I can say about Erin! I started working with her on Alo Moves in December (2021) and was immediately impressed with her work ethic, attention to detail, communication (written and oral), strategic analysis, account management … I could go on,” says an Alo Moves senior account director. “This is the only account I am on where I do not need to spell out exactly what to do next, because Erin knows what to do. We are almost always on the same page with recommendations for the client. This is priceless to me. She is definitely on her way to becoming a director.”

Ovadal also proved herself an effective manager of the client/agency relationships for applicance and television brand Hisense. Working as account and comms lead, Ovadal effectively ensures everyone on the team is aligned on strategy, communication and activities. Her efforts taking tech-heavy product descriptions and crafting them into submissions for HiSense at CES 2022 resulted in the brand being recognized as a CES Innovation Award Honoree among other accolades.

With her passion and determination shining through everything she works on and reaching everyone she works with, Ovadal is on the way up and rising fast.

Congratulations to Erin Ovadal.

Communications Manager

Pinterest

Pinterest’s Arianna Thomas is an up-and-coming comms phenomenon

At Pinterest, Arianna Thomas leads Pinner (consumer) communications, including press launches, policy announcements, inclusive product features, as well as trends, pop culture, heritage and seasonal moments. She’s a Rising Star in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards.

Arianna Thomas joined Pinterest in 2021 following stints in PR developing and executing strategies for leading lifestyle, art and beauty brands including Airbnb, MoMA Design Store, The Business of Fashion, and more. As a communications manager at Pinterest, Thomas exhibits incredible poise and professionalism in making critical decisions on which trends and moments the organization capitalizes on for its Pinners.

In addition to working closely with the data and product teams, Thomas actively ensures there are diverse voices and perspectives across press announcements, as well as driving inclusivity, authenticity and relatability to an audience of 430 million pinners.

At Pinterest, Thomas has led some of its biggest consumer initiatives, including:

Body Neutrality Report: To foster a more inclusive platform for Pinners, Pinterest banned all weight loss advertisements in 2021. A year later, Thomas worked with the data team to lead a Body Neutrality Report focused on how the ad ban may have changed Pinner behavior. The analysis found that searches containing the search term “weight loss” had decreased by 20% across the platform. The report led to a hero story in Forbes and 30+ stories globally.
Climate Misinformation Policy: Last year, Pinterest became the first digital platform to ban climate misinformation. Thomas developed a consumer strategy and enlisted intersectional environmentalist and creator Leah Thomas to reach Gen Z Pinners on the importance of the policy and secured interviews in Ebony, Essence and WWD.
Hair Pattern Search: Hair pattern search is a first-of-its-kind technology, created with Black, Brown and Latinx Pinners in mind, that empowers users to search for hair inspiration by hair type. Thomas led the consumer press effort and spokesperson prep for renowned hair stylist and creator Naeemah LaFond — resulting in coverage in Cosmopolitan, Glamour, ELLE, Refinery29 and Allure, cinching Pinterest’s narrative as a bold and inclusive platform for all.

Being strategic, creative and passionate about communications, Thomas is making a significant impact at Pinterest as a rising star.

Kudos to Arianna Thomas.

Congratulations to Ragan’s Top Women in Communications, Class of 2023!

Keynoter

Guest Presenters

Presenters

HONOREES

The Women in Communications Hall of Fame, Class of 2023

Bridge Builders

Community Givers

Crisis Navigators

Data Divas

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champions

Dynamic Do-ers

Leaders

Mentors

Trailblazers

Visionaries

Rising Stars

Congratulations to the Top Women in Communications!

Additional Awards

QUESTIONS