experience
My 20+ year career is a mix of marketing, communications, and government relations. Through it all, the goal has always been to find and tell the most compelling stories to get results. In the summaries below, I get right to the main idea of each role. For detailed descriptions of my responsibilities in each role, check out my resume.
Corporate Director, Communications & PR, Public Consulting Group
2021-present
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The PCG story is all about solutions that help the public sector improve lives. Solutions that matter to the millions of people served by our clients. Every day, I get to lead an awesome team of communications and public relations pros who are committed to telling the story of a company that lives to boost the power of the public sector and serve as a partner in solving complex problems.
Vice President, Public Policy, Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce
2019 - 2021
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Strategy, collaboration and results are at the heart of everything I do in this role. With those values always in mind, I lead our Chamber's efforts to develop, recommend and support policies that are good for the community and serve the interests of our 1,300 members and the 80,000+ people they employ. We think and act regionally, seeking out opportunities to partner with leaders and organizations at the local, state and federal levels to spur job growth and upward mobility for everyone in Greater Gainesville. We are biased toward action and don't reinvent the wheel.
Senior Director, Public Affairs, Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce
2018 - 2019
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Anyone who works is a member of the business community. My role in this position was to tell that story by highlighting the alignment of values between the Chamber and the community, and illustrating that, in most instances, what's good for business is good for people. 2018 wasn't without its challenges, and so I did a lot of listening that year and in 2019, to make sure the Chamber had a solid understanding of every perspective on every major issue. By the end of 2019, our partnerships had grown in number and productivity, and two of three ballot initiatives we actively supported were approved by voters.
Communications Director, Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce
2014 - 2018
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Greater Gainesville has a 50+ year legacy of innovation, firsts and solving problems of global concern. The problem was that in 2014, nobody knew that but us. In support of our economic development marketing efforts, my job in this role was to tell national media and site selectors the story of Greater Gainesville as an ideally located, culture-rich, innovative region with a passion for solving problems of global concern. Using quantitative and qualitative research, we identified our the target industries that held the greatest opportunity for growth, and directed our story at site selectors and talent in those industries. We economized by leveraging locally based, far-reaching networks, such as UF alumni, and concentrating our media outreach efforts across a targeted list of 75 national and international outlets, conducting inbound and outbound marketing delegation trips and calling national attention to local company and regional developments. Our region was covered in 80% of outlets with which we had in-person contact and resulted in securing editorial space worth more than $370,000 in advertising dollars,
Communications Manager, CareerSource Florida
2008 - 2014
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My role here summed up in five words: Getting Floridians back to work. I started this position just weeks before the economic crash that led to the Great Recession. People needed jobs and businesses in target industries needed the right talent to get back on track. To support this effort, I worked with internal staff and an agency team to execute statewide, testimonial-based marketing campaigns. I also oversaw the digital transition as a component of an award-winning statewide rebranding project, and led a statewide consortium of workforce communications professionals in 24 regions across the state.
Communications Director, Florida Legislature/Florida Energy Commission
2007 - 2008
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This position was a game-changer for me. Our commission was charged to inclusively develop the Florida Legislature's first set of comprehensive energy policy recommendations. While leading media outreach and communications for the Commission, I picked up first-hand, foundational understanding of the Legislature's inner workings that serves me well to this day. Much of the work of this commission informed then-Governor Charlie Crist's 2008 Climate Summit and the resulting Energy and Climate Action Plan.
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