Everything I do is about communicating ideas and nurturing a culture of communication within organizations. To bring its vision of a new, highly competitive company to life, management needs to place a high priority on communicating to internal and external audiences. Strategic communications can be a key driver of a company’s success. It isn’t something that can be delegated. It starts at the top with the CEO.
Over the years, I’ve helped improve communications for a lot of organizations – either inside companies, as a senior communications executive, or in prominent public relations firms and, now, as a consultant to individuals and companies.
My work spans marketing communications, training and development for brand-name organizations like Marsh & McLennan, JPMorgan Chase, Citicorp, Deloitte Consulting, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG, A.T. Kearney, Latham & Watkins and PricewaterhouseCoopers. I’ve also been fortunate to work for nonprofits like the American Heart Association, Aging in America, the Center for the New American Workforce at Queens College, and the Women’s Venture Fund.
It was my experience as a senior vice president for the venerable Bowery Savings Bank that indelibly impressed on me how a culture of communication can work magic with employees and customers. The Bowery is long gone now – its parts spread far and wide as part of the consolidation in banking. But for over 175 years, The Bowery had an outsized reputation for its size – all because of its ongoing communications with customers. I managed the Bank’s PR, advertising, promotion, and market research. The CEO believed that training was the most important function in the Bank (no kidding). And he felt the most important communications were between a manager and his or her direct report. He was right because employees are the company’s face to its customers. So, I also got to manage the School of Banking, responsible for management development, selling skills, and technical training. At the Bowery, the CEO said everyone went to training and so they did.
A number of honors have come my way: Fellow of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), New York Women in Communications (NYWIC) Matrix Award as PR woman of the year, and PRSA-New York’s John W. Hill Award for outstanding leadership in the practice of public relations and service to PRSA and the public.
I began my career as a business reporter so hopefully my blogs will be literate as well as interesting. Let me know.
