Melissa Gieringer

With a PR background in entertainment publicity Melissa has spent the majority of her career in Los Angeles, at top television networks and studios, developing national publicity campaigns for the launch of high-profile TV series on multiple networks including ABC, CBS, Bravo, E! Entertainment Television and The Style Network.  Though working red carpet events, organizing press junkets and wrangling talent are a major part of her repertoire; Melissa’s real strength has been to establish solid working relationships with national media contacts including writers, producers and talent bookers.  She has landed coverage in a variety of publications including USA Today, TV Guide, US Weekly, People Magazine, Details Magazine, New York Times and Los Angeles Times and booked talent on shows including Regis & Kelly, Today, Good Morning America, The View, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. In early 2010 Melissa returned to her hometown of Phoenix to put her skill set to work in the Valley of the Sun—her goal to bring national coverage to the local market.  Melissa graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Journalism and got her start at KNXV-TV in Phoenix.

Charlotte Risch Schaff

Many successful PR professionals come from a background in the media. Charlotte owes much of her success to a background in Television as a promotion producer and Emmy-nominated writer. She understands what the media want in a story. Her TV career began at WUPW, then WZZM and ultimately, KNXV ABC 15. At KNXV, she was integral in the branding of the “We Won’t Waste Your Time” campaigns and news format branding of “more news, more information” and the scrolling of news at the bottom of the screen, (which is now seen on almost all news stations).

Linda Obele

Linda is a Scottsdale, Ariz., native who has spent the past 25 years working on both sides of the Valley’s media desk. Her lengthy experience as a beat reporter, editor and freelance journalist, coupled with her years in the PR profession, are considered invaluable assets by the news people she works with and the PR clients she represents. Linda’s value to the client is clear: she knows what’s newsworthy (and what’s not) and she knows strategically where to tell her clients’ stories, whether it’s in print, on the air or over the Internet. Her results – for clients in the legal, real estate, financial and healthcare industries — include image-building lifestyle and business stories that have appeared everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to online blogs and local community newspapers and news programs. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Mark Dillon

For the past 16 years, Mark has been a commercial litigator and employment law attorney. He has worked for O’Connor Cavanagh and Sacks Tierney and in-house counsel for Grub & Ellis.  Mark is also the successful owner of 4 celebrated restaurants in Phoenix including Ibiza Café, Fez, Ticoz and Switch.  Mark works behind the scenes, serving as controller, bookkeeper, legal eagle and general problem solver.  (He stays out of the kitchen.)  Mark graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center.  He is a member of the local and state bar associations.  He served many years as an officer in the local chapter of the American Inns of Court and on the board of directors of the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS.

Andrea Esquer

Andrea’s experience has ranged from the White House to the executive branch of the State of Arizona. She is currently a student at the Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law at Arizona State University. Until December of 2008 she was the Press Secretary under Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard where she worked with Goddard and members of his executive management team on media relations involving complex legal issues.  She served on the board of National Association of Attorneys General from 2004 to 2005. Previously, she was a City Council Assistant with the City of Mesa for Council Members Mike Whalen and Claudia Walters. Some of the major issues she worked on included the opening of segments of the Red Mountain Freeway and the proposal for a sports facility with the Arizona Tourism and Sports Authority.  Andrea was also the Assistant Director for Publications & Operations, Center for Public Policy & Service with Mesa Community College and Special Assistant to the Administrator at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Washington D.C. as well as Associate Deputy Director for Presidential Personnel, the White House. Andrea holds a Master of Public Administration from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Arizona.

Jane Gordon

Jane Gordon has more than 20 years of experience in international public relations as well as video television production.  She has consistently delivered international exposure for clients. Her experience spans serving as executive producer for one of the world’s largest satellite networks to directing the international multi-million dollar campaigns for golf, luxury travel, public affairs and political campaigns.  Her previous positions include Vice President of Production/Public Relations for Miller-Meester Advertising, Executive Producer for Quorum International, Advertising/PR Director for V.P. International, Creative Director for Leffel Communications, Group and Marketing Manager for Markland Properties.  Jane has extensive experience as a scriptwriter and producer of full-length television programs from script to screen.   An avid sports producer, Jane has worked with many renowned sports celebrities including baseball greats Johnny Bench, Randy Johnson, Bob Brenly and Matt Williams; pro basketball stars Tom Van Arsdale, Dan Majerle, and Kevin Johnson; football legends Emmitt Smith, Hershel Walker, Danny White, Bill Bates, Gary Plummer and Ken Stabler; and Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Gary Hall Jr.  Over the past twenty years, Jane has been involved in numerous TV projects, including: Emitt Zone on KNXV ABC-15, Golf in Paradise, ESPN/SportsChannel WorldWide, 24/7 Fox Television, Adventures of Alex, Porchlight Entertainment and At Home With Christopher,  Robin Leach TV Pilot project. She holds a B.A. in Journalism from Arizona State University.

Ben Gordon

For the past twenty-five years, Ben has forged an innovative and diverse career in the advertising, communications and entertainment industries. Well-grounded in the tactical as well as the creative aspects of the process, Ben has the ability to strategize and quickly visualize an entire campaign–from the ground up.  Ben’s creative and strategic philosophy is to “fly above and below the radar” when it comes to developing and producing unique branding, marketing and advertising campaigns.  His ability to identify and articulate key concepts to clients is also integral to his approach.   He has served as senior management leader in the development of multi-level marketing campaigns and produced national radio, television, and print advertising for such clients as McDonald’s, ABC Television, Nike, Cox Communications, PBS, and Miller Beer among many others. He also has written and produced several short films for the MTV Networks, Home Box Office, and Showtime.

Crista Cloutier

Actively involved in the contemporary art world throughout her career, Crista Cloutier is internationally recognized as a writer, publisher, lecturer, curator, historian, appraiser, and documentary filmmaker.  Until 2007, Cloutier was the Director of Segura Publishing Company, a collaborative art studio located in Phoenix, Arizona. In her ten years of leading the company, she collaborated in the creation of original artwork with some of the most significant artists working today. This work is included in collections such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Chicago Art Institute.  In 2004, the renowned French art press Gallimard published Cloutier’s research on 19th century spiritual photographs in their hardcover book to accompany the exhibition Le Troisieme Oeil for Paris’ Maison Européenne de la Photographie.Yale Press published the work again the following year for The Perfect Medium, an exhibition of the same name that showed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2005.  Today, Crista Cloutier divides her time between London and Provence. She continues to work in art, publishing, and public relations.

Lara Taubman

Lara Taubman has an impressive history as an independent art critic and curator. Based in Phoenix, Taubman travels widely to invigorate and sustain her curatorial vision. She has curated  exhibits both in Museum institutions as well as in commercial galleries including the Florence Lynch Gallery in New York, Kontainer Gallery in Los Angeles, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Heard Museum for Native American Art in Phoenix, Arizona, the American Embassy Residence in Bucharest, Romania through the Art in Embassies program as well as numerous smaller venues in Phoenix, Arizona. Currently she is working on an overview exhibition of contemporary Romanian art of the last forty years to open at Bennington College in Vermont and with plans to travel to Romanian and other European venues in 2009.  Her critical writing has appeared in international publications such as the Art Newspaper, Artforum.com, Art Papers, Artnet.com, Sculpture Magazine and Artcritical.com and Idea Magazine to name a few. She is also an arts correspondent for Artnews Magazine as well as Contemporary Magazine writing for these publications on a regular basis.  Her reviews and essays have included artists such as Kiki Smith, Andrea Zittel, Rirkit Tiravanija, Liz Cohen, Isaac Julien,  Dan Perjovschi, Sandow Birk and many others. She has covered art exhibits such as the Prague Biennial, the Bucharest Biennial, Site Santa Fe (2008) as well as major group shows all over the world. Her interviews have included notable curators Dan Cameron and Okwui Enwezor as well as artists Elizabeth Murray and Jill Moser.  Stellar reviews and mentions about her exhibitions may be found in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Art Papers, Elle Magazine: Bucharest, Time Out Magazine: Bucharest as well as smaller regional publications such as the New Times and Java Magazine.  She has been included in special projects as the Juror for the Arizona State University MFA Student Exhibit as well as an invited critic in the graduate seminars there.  She has been a Panel Judge for the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Contemporary Catalyst Award, has been an invited speaker in Bucharest, Romania for the Pavilion Magazine Lecture series. She has been a consultant for numerous community arts events in the Downtown Phoenix Visual Arts scene as well as hosting her own impromptu project space, Housing Projects, based in her downtown Phoenix home.  Taubman is a graduate from New York University where she received her Master of Arts from the American Studies Program in 2003. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Bennington College in Vermont in 1990. She has been mentored by intellectuals and art world workers such as Manthia Diawara, Andrew Ross, Sydney Tillim, Robert Farris Thompson and Walter Moseley among others.