We brought together the top talent in social and digital communication—experts you can’t find anywhere else. Need someone to run your “Super Bowl” strategy, your launch war room, or develop your top executives’ personal brands? The Collective gives you access to the leading experts—and the influence they bring—when it matters the most.
Members of the collective have
- Managed everything from election night social media war rooms to Oscar night red carpet coverage
- Written a book on how to respond to a crisis on social media
- Helped a multinational energy company respond to a crisis that led the national news headlines for weeks
- Advised senior federal government leaders and drove communications strategy at the highest levels including at The White House for two former presidents, cabinet agencies and Members of the U.S. House and Senate
- Led award-winning Super Bowl social media activation and live event war room for a national automobile brand
- Developed brand content that was the toast of Cannes Lions
MEET THE COLLECTIVE MEMBERS
DAVID ALMACY
A recognized leader in communications, David brings over 20 years of experience at the intersection of public relations, digital, media, government and public affairs including positions at Edelman, Waggener Edstrom, The White House, U.S. Department of Education, C-SPAN, Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, and the Republican National Committee.
As founder of CapitalGig Communications, David currently consults and helps clients better understand and integrate emerging tools to effectively leverage evolving communications and increase engagement in government, politics, issue advocacy, and corporate brand reputation. At Edelman, David was a senior vice president on the digital and media teams where he developed and managed comprehensive communications programs for clients such as Hilton Worldwide, Adobe, Wounded Warrior Project, ICANN, Microsoft, Starbucks, BAE Systems, Inc., and Walmart. Previously, David was the White House Internet director under President George W. Bush where he drove online strategy, served as an official spokesman, was the primary owner of WhiteHouse.gov, and spearheaded the site’s comprehensive redesign.
In 2007, David was named as one of PRWeek’s “Top 40 Under 40.” In May 2009, Washingtonian magazine listed David among the “Top 100 Tech Titans” in Washington, DC. He is also an adjunct faculty member in Georgetown University’s Public Relations and Corporate Communications Master’s Program where he has taught graduate level courses on social media and digital communications strategy. Originally from Bethesda, Maryland, David is a native of the Washington, DC area. He earned his undergraduate degree from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania and serves on the School of Communications Alumni Advisory Board. He and his wife, Julie, have two daughters and currently reside in Alexandria, Virginia.
RHIANNON APPLE
Rhiannon Apple is an innovative digital marketing veteran, with over fourteen years of experience in creating and executing innovative client campaigns for brands such as Pizza Hut, AT&T, Walmart, L’Oreal, Verizon Wireless, AARP, and Turner Networks. Rhiannon is a champion for finding new ways of advertising/marketing. She currently owns her own consultancy, R.Apple & Co., where she strategizes and operationalizes brand partnerships for early-stage content companies. Her client roster includes, Darling Media, an independent, quarterly print women’s magazine with a “no-retouching” policy and Trick 3D, an immersive content studio specializing in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D animation.
In her previous role as, VP, Brand Partnerships for Fullscreen, a premier global media network for creators and brands, she worked with brands to utilize the best practices of creators for their social media channels. She was also the account lead for AT&T, a Fullscreen investor through the joint venture Otter Media, with the Chernin Group. In that role, she was the liaison between the companies for a multi-million-dollar content creation partnership.
Prior to Fullscreen, she was VP, Innovation & Emerging Media at Moxie, where her team sought to equip clients with the latest knowledge on trends and technology, so that they could bring first-to-market ideas to life. To ensure that Moxie was creating and developing on the latest technologies, Rhiannon discovered and explained the marketing implications for trends both in the US and globally. The team also led an experimental media budget for L’Oreal, where they bridged the digital knowledge gap in the company by leading the creation and execution of new partnerships.
AMY BROWN
Amy Brown is a social and digital marketing strategist. She most recently spent four years as the in-house social media lead at Wendy’s. While at Wendy’s, Amy built the digital piece of the brand’s crisis strategy, advising both senior leadership and franchisees on how to respond in crisis. She also served as main strategist in numerous incidents, from customer fury over removing a much-loved menu item to a viral hoax about horse meat. In all brand crisis situations, she also served as lead community manager.
CARIE CARLSON
Carie is the founder of CLC Consulting, LLC which provides nonprofit organizations and small businesses with strategic business and digital marketing consulting services. Her passion and expertise lies in social media strategy and leadership coaching for progressive causes and the hospitality industry.
Prior to branching out on her own, Carie spent 11 years as as senior digital strategist at The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s most effective animal protection organization. In 2006, she launched the social media program and developed it into a $1MM per year fundraising channel. She spent 9 years growing the organization’s award-winning social media program. In her last 2 years at the organization as Senior Director, Digital Marketing, she served as department head and oversaw all aspects of digital marketing including social media, email marketing, mobile, web development and editorial, peer to peer fundraising, and online advertising/paid acquisition.
Under Carie’s leadership, the HSUS social media team was recognized as “Best Social Media Strategy” by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, “Best Social Media Effort by a Big Brand” by Fast Company, “Best Use of Facebook Tools” by Mashable, and “Top 20 Nonprofits on Twitter” by The Huffington Post. She also took home the inaugural “Trailblazer Award” at the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference for her groundbreaking work in nonprofit social media.
Carie is a frequent speaker and book contributor on the subjects of social media strategy and employee engagement. When not working, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her daughter and gaggle of rescued pit bulls. She is also an Airbnb Superhost, RVing enthusiast, and is obsessed with hip hop music and reality tv. Find her on Twitter at @cariegrls.
KEVIN DANDO
Kevin Dando was PBS’ senior director of social media strategy and digital communications, overseeing PBS’ social media initiatives and strategies for both its broadcast and online programming, and helping it to grow to more than 15 million engaged social followers. He also helped coordinate social strategies and tactics for local PBS stations and national broadcast programs, including MASTERPIECE, PBS NewsHour, Independent Lens, and NATURE. Kevin was selected by PR News to be in its first group of “Social Media MVPs” and has been a speaker at Digital East, the Internet Summit, OMMA Social, the Digital Strategy Innovation Summit and SXSW.
RAASHEE GUPTA ERRY
Raashee leads social media and digital media strategies and programs at Verified, where she brings a deep expertise in building social media practices, like the multi-disciplinary Superbowl programs for Volkswagen, where she led an award winning real-time social media war room. She has 15 years of experience in building brands, driving demand, and creating advocacy networks. Additionally, she brings B2C and B2B experience in senior-level roles, working with notable brands including Avis and Budget Rent a Car, American Express, Samsung Electronics, National Guard, Neustar and Digitas. Raashee serves as a mentor at 1766, advisor with Emissary, and council member with Gerson Lehrman Group. She holds a M.B.A from University of Maryland, B.S. in Marketing & Advertising from Fashion Institute of Technology, New York and B.A in Economics from Punjab University, India.
LUCIA EVANS
Lucia is a multiple-award-winning marketing leader with an expertise and passion for building brands that consumers love through evocative storytelling. She has applied her strategic, consumer-first mindset and visionary thinking to diverse brands and consumer segments, driving substantial brand and business results. Lucia recently served as the Senior Director of Social and Digital Marketing at Marriott International, where she led social, content, and digital marketing strategies for the hospitality company’s largest brands. Her innovative campaigns gave Marriott its first ever Webby award in 2015. Prior to Marriott, Lucia led social media at Ann Taylor and has also served as the social media account lead on brands including Beats by Dre, Thomson Reuters, A+E Networks, Mattel Global, M·A·C Cosmetics, Marc Jacobs, and Avon. A number of her innovative and successful initiatives have been featured in Mashable, Digiday, AdWeek, and Refinery29.
MIGUEL FERRER
Miguel is an accomplished media industry executive who has developed high-performance teams and breakthrough strategies across digital, social, television, print, and music in the U.S. and Latin America. He provides digital business strategy and consumer development guidance to a select group of media and non-profit advocacy organizations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, including Tufts University, NPR, Media Matters for America, Latin Media House, and AARP. Miguel has extensive experience in the media world, including his work as: Vice President of Digital at Fusion (the ABC News/Univision News joint venture); Managing Editor of HuffPost Latino Voices, HuffPost Voces (Spanish language), and HuffPost Black Voices; General Manager and Director of Programming of AOL Latino; and Business Development Manager at People en Español.
THEA HAIGH
Thea has over 15 years of communications and marketing experience and is one of the earliest adopters in the pivotal cross-section of earned, owned, and paid media. She works in multiple sectors—including corporate, health & wellness, and fashion brands—to deliver digital creative and strategy. Previously, Thea created and led the digital practice at leading agency Sunshine Sachs. While there, she grew the business to include paid media, influencer marketing, analytical services, and more. She managed work for clients that ranged from A-list celebrities to YouTube stars, from international NGOs to the hottest startups, and from wellness apps to consumer technologies. Before Sunshine Sachs, Thea was Vice President at MWW Group in New York, where she led teams that produced award-winning PR and social media campaigns for Fortune 500 tech and consumer companies.
SARA LANGHINRICHS
Sara Langhinrichs is a social and digital marketing strategist. She most recently spent three years as the social media director at the Center for American Progress (CAP.) While at CAP, Sara built out the social media program for the center, advising senior leadership as well as junior staff and interns on the ins and outs of using social media to advance progressive policy goals. Previously, she did social media for AARP and the Obama 2012 campaign.
Sara specializes in crisis communications, both on a strategic level and as community manager, and has helped build enterprise-wide social media programs from the ground up for political campaigns, nonprofits and advocacy organizations.
MEENA THIRUVENGADAM
Meena Thiruvengadam is a writer, editor and social media strategist with a specialty in business, banking and financial content.
Meena has led global social media and audience engagement teams at Bloomberg and Business Insider. She knows how to craft brand appropriate social strategies, connect with the right partners and achieve cross-functional goals.
As a reporter in Texas and Washington, D.C., Meena wrote about international trade, the demise of the American denim industry and the bailouts of several American banks and European countries.