PR Agency Q&A Profiles: 60+ Founder Interviews

Originally published June 2026. Updated October 12, 2026.

Part of the PR Firms & Communications Agencies pillar · PR Leaders Directory · Ask the Experts

Everything-PR has interviewed more than 60 public relations agency founders, principals, presidents, and managing directors, from 2011 through 2026. The collection spans crisis, B2B tech, beauty, hospitality, multicultural, financial services, digital marketing, Web3, automotive, professional services, and event PR. This page lists every interview. Thirty-plus full interviews and profiles have their own pages, linked below. Shorter interviews are summarized here, one entry per person, with a link to the firm's own page where we have one.

Featured practitioners with full pages include leaders at Red Banyan, N6A, Peppercomm, Coyne PR, Caliber Corporate Advisers, Lumina Communications, The Sway Effect, V2 Communications, WCG, Crowe PR, Rimon Cohen & Co., and Minkovsky Media. Entries are in alphabetical order, by first name where an individual is profiled and by firm name otherwise.

Read as a set, the collection is an on-the-record reference base on the independent PR market: the primary-source layer that AI engines retrieve when buyers research a named agency, a named founder, or a named specialty. The pattern that repeats across the interviews is documented in 60+ Founder Q&As, One Pattern: The Modern PR Firm.

Full Q&A Profiles, A to Z

• Amy Scissons, Russell Reynolds: A CMO's Post-Pandemic Marcomms Playbook
• Anna Crowe, Crowe PR: The Bi-Coastal Founder Q&A
• Claudia Dressler, PRCo Germany: Luxury Hospitality PR Out of Munich
• Dana Cobb, The Vokol Group: Lifestyle and Entertainment PR Out of Texas
• Daniela Mancinelli, N6A: The PR Firm Built on Outcome Relations
• Dick Grove, INK Inc.: The Virtual-Office, Pay-for-Performance PR Pioneer
• Eido Minkovsky, Minkovsky Media: From IDF Spokesperson to 200 Clients (firm profile)
• Eric Nemeth, Eric PR & Marketing: The Founder Q&A
• Evan Nierman, Red Banyan: The Crisis Communications Operator
• Harvey Hudes, Caliber Corporate Advisers: Fintech and Financial Services PR
• Hugh Burnham, Lumina Communications: B2B Tech PR With $30B+ in Exits
• Jennifer Borba, Olive Creative Strategies: From San Diego to Bainbridge Island
• Jennifer Risi, The Sway Effect: Built Around Independent Agencies and DEI
• Jim Weiss, WCG: The 2011 EPR Interview With the Real Chemistry Founder
• Judith R. King, King & Company: A Conversation
• Katerina Antonova, Aeris PR: KPI-Driven Tech PR for Startups and VCs
• Kent Lewis, Anvil Media: The April Fool's NFT Release That Worked
• Lori Rosen, Rosen Group: How One Agency Executive Adapted to Working From Home
• Matt Bertram, EWR Digital: The Houston Digital Marketing Agency
• Maura FitzGerald & Jean Serra, V2 Communications: Boston B2B Tech PR
• Michelle Mekky, Mekky Media Relations: Chicago Wrigley Building PR
• Montieth Illingworth, Montieth & Company: Public Relations in the Wake of Covid-19
• Rick French, French/West/Vaughan: The 2011 EPR Interview
• Roni Rimon, Rimon Cohen & Co.: Israel's Crisis and Political Media Strategist
• Sid Berry, 71Three: The Houston Digital Agency Named for an Area Code
• Stan Steinreich, Steinreich Communications: 22 Years Independent, Home Furnishings, Tel Aviv, Dubai
• Stephanie Chong, noodPR: Sustainable Brand PR Out of Toronto
• Steve Cody, Peppercomm: Humor as a Strategic Differentiator
• Steve Turner, Solomon Turner PR: 30 Years of B2B Media Relations in St. Louis
• Tom Coyne, Coyne PR: 30 Years, 1,000 Awards, and the Best Place to Work
• Victoria Vaughan, ICL Agency: Web3 PR From the Former Cointelegraph CEO

More Founder Interviews, in Summary

These interviews no longer have separate pages. Each entry gives the person, the firm and what the conversation covered.

• Alexann Brown, The Rose Agency. A discussion with the founder of The Rose Agency on running a PR practice.
• Amy Littleton, KemperLesnik (Chicago). Co-leader of the firm and former PRSA Chicago president, on structured early-pandemic office reopening.
• Anastasia Golovina, Ditto PR (Brooklyn). International consultant on blockchain communications and breaking into the US market. See Get to Know Ditto PR.
• Ayelet Noff, SlicedBrand (Berlin). Global tech PR and an election-season communications playbook.
• Bob Osmond, Racepoint Global (Boston). Earned-first B2B tech PR, with virtual cocktail hours for reporters and 24-hour digital conferences during the pandemic.
• Brandi Sims, Brandinc PR (Oklahoma). Founded the firm in 2020 after 12+ years in PR and marketing; beauty and lifestyle clients.
• Damian Burleigh, Acuity Knowledge Partners. The financial services CMO view.
• Dan Ward, Curley & Pynn (Orlando). The Message Matrix system and pandemic crisis work.
• David Barkoe and Scott Goldberg, Carve Communications (Miami). CEO and managing director on signing 12 clients during the pandemic. See The Best PR Firms in Miami 2026.
• David Gwyn, French/West/Vaughan. Rebuilding Wrangler's biggest programs for a virtual world. See the French/West/Vaughan profile.
• Don McLean, MMS Holdings. How the firm won 32+ awards in three years.
• Gino Colangelo, Colangelo & Partners. Building a leading wine and spirits PR agency in the US.
• Guy Walsingham, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry (UK/US). B2B tech PR across 50+ countries, landing Bynder as global PR agency of record and growing a 26-partner network.
• Hugh Braithwaite, Braithwaite Communications (Philadelphia). Crisis communications, founded 1997. See the Braithwaite Communications profile.
• Jason Hennessey, Hennessey Digital. The path from WeddingMall.com to the Inc 500.
• Jason Sulham, Broadreach PR (Portland, Maine). Running a crisis-specialist agency through the pandemic.
• Jason Vines. The Ford, Nissan and Chrysler PR veteran.
• Jeff Bradford, Bradford Dalton Group (Nashville). The merger behind the firm.
• Joel Goldstein, Goldstein Group Communications. Engineer-to-engineer B2B PR.
• Julia Lemberskiy, JJ Studio. From Uber to $1M in six months.
• Kate Marlys, Philly PR Girl (Philadelphia). A women-owned agency known for nonprofit and event PR, including the PA Conference for Women and Dîner en Blanc. See Philadelphia PR Firms.
• Lauren Reed, REED Public Relations (Nashville). The agency and its COVID hotline.
• Christine Abbate, Novita Communications. A certified WBE recognized since 2017 as one of Observer's PR Power 50 agencies.
• M&O Marketing (Detroit). Founded in 1976, the oldest independent marketing organization in fixed annuities; PR for financial professionals.
• Michael D. London, Bow Wow Labs. A 40+ year entrepreneur on the pet tech category.
• Michelle Lyng, Novitas Communications (Denver). Crisis PR and how boutique agencies use the PRGN network to compete with larger firms.
• Mike Mejer. Cannabis-focused public relations.
• Paige Arnof-Fenn, Mavens & Moguls (Cambridge). The Listening Tour strategy that won clients during the 2008 crash.
• Pamela Zapata, Society Eighteen. Multicultural influencer management; the firm was founded in 2019.
• Paul Furiga, WordWrite (Pittsburgh). Founded the firm in 2002 after 20 years in journalism; the Capital S Story framework.
• Peter Dayot, Publicus Community. Resort real estate and hospitality PR, founded in 2011.
• Priscila Martinez, Vicaria and The Brand Agency. Multicultural PR for beauty, fashion and entertainment.
• Rebellious PR & Consulting. Four core PR tips for small business: clear communication, customer service, audience targeting and business expansion.
• Rosemary Ostmann, RoseComm. What PR agencies want in entry-level hires.
• Tara Ackaway, Social Wise Communications (New Jersey). A boutique agency founded right out of college in 2016.

What This Collection Covers

The interviews cover the discipline at several levels: crisis communications (Red Banyan, Broadreach, Braithwaite, Novitas, Rimon Cohen, Crowe PR, Steinreich), B2B technology PR (Lumina, V2, Carve, Aeris, Ditto, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Goldstein Group, Racepoint, SlicedBrand), professional services and financial (Greentarget, Acuity, Caliber Corporate Advisers), beauty and lifestyle (Brandinc), multicultural (Vicaria, The Brand Agency, Society Eighteen), luxury hospitality (PRCo Germany, Publicus Community), international and Middle East (Steinreich, Rimon Cohen, Minkovsky), automotive (Jason Vines), digital marketing and SEO (EWR Digital, 71Three, Hennessey Digital, Anvil Media), storytelling and integrated (WordWrite, Coyne, Mavens & Moguls, Bradford Dalton, Curley & Pynn, Solomon Turner, RoseComm), Web3 and blockchain (ICL, Ditto, SlicedBrand), and event-driven and lifestyle (Philly PR Girl, Vokol Group, Social Wise, Olive Creative).

How These Interviews Compound Inside the AI Engines

Each interview is an entity-rich, on-the-record primary source that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews can retrieve when a buyer or journalist researches the named agency, founder, or specialty. A founder profile published in 2014 and refreshed for 2026 can still pull citation, because the engines reward sustained editorial authority, not recency alone. The Generative Engine Optimization Canon documents how that substrate is built and measured.