Leadership - Cookerly PR | Public Relations, Communications & Marketing Services

Developing award-winning campaigns for OEM

Cookerly helps steer major corporate and executive initiatives for the nation’s #1 luxury automaker including recent award-winning programs such as “Greatness Lives Here” and “No Limits,” initiatives designed to empower the next generation through community activism and education. We recently helped launch the Mercedes-Benz A-Class vehicle line including MBUX artificial intelligence including tie-ins with the Super Bowl, Ludacris and the Ron Clark Academy. Leveraging paid, earned, shared and owned media, the Cookerly team supports MBUSA across both external and internal channels.

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Matt Cochran

Corporate Communications

As a senior vice president at Cookerly, Matt helps organizations protect and advance their reputations and bottom lines through strategic communications programs. Using creativity, planning and flawless execution, he works with a team to deliver compelling public relations campaigns that produce results and support clients’ business objectives.

Industry expertise includes banking/finance, energy and automotive across clients such as SunTrust Banks, Colonial Pipeline and Mercedes-Benz USA. Recently, Matt helped launch SunTrust’s first Super Bowl ad and generate earned media for the grand opening of SunTrust Park, the home of the Atlanta Braves.

Matt is also a member of Cookerly’s crisis response team and has experience managing major crises generating national headlines.

Other areas of expertise include designing/implementing communications campaigns, media relations, executive speech writing, media training, survey design and execution, and more.

A Georgia State University graduate with a degree in economics, Matt served as managing editor of the student newspaper. He attended graduate school at George Washington University, receiving a master’s degree in strategic management, public policy and economics (MPA).

Interested in talking about corporate communications?

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Mike Rieman

Consumer, Corporate & Media

As senior vice president at Cookerly, Mike Rieman specializes in building and maintaining relationships with the media and has an excellent track record of landing significant placements in print and broadcast media including USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Money Magazine.

Mike comes to the firm with more than a decade of public relations and journalism experience. As a former news editor, Mike understands how to work with his clients to craft stories that garner recognition on traditional and social media channels. He has led numerous award winning campaigns for a number of clients, including Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Construction Market Data Group and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency’s Ready Georgia campaign. Favorite recent assignments include a campaign to announce McDelivery, McDonald’s new delivery service.

Mike is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma and a graduate of the University of Georgia where he earned a degree in speech communications. He serves on the PRSA Georgia Chapter Programming Committee and is an avid sports fan and trail runner. He resides in Marietta with his wife and two children.

Interested in talking about consumer, corporate or media?

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Sheryl Sellaway

Corporate Communications

As vice president of Cookerly, Sheryl Sellaway uses her extensive corporate communications background to lead consumer PR efforts, deliver strategy for marketing programs and share expertise about community initiatives.

An award-winning speechwriter, Sheryl comes to the firm with over 20 years’ expertise in media relations, employee communications and community affairs. Some of her best work has occurred while leading product launches, handling crisis situations, managing senior leadership meetings and overseeing employee events.

Sheryl is a Georgia native with an MBA from Amber University and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University. Active in the community, she is a Leadership Atlanta graduate currently serving on several boards including Bethany Christian Services. Sheryl is an author, pen collector, avid runner, mentor and philanthropist.

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Connecting to grassroots communities

For McDonald’s, engaging with the community is central to winning the hearts of new customers. McDonald’s USA has engaged Cookerly on a variety of initiatives to bring creative programs to market and to help reach new audiences. Whether helping bring mom bloggers to the Ronald McDonald House, showcasing crew members who have unlocked new opportunities through the Under the Arches career opportunities program or celebrating the grassroots community athletes selected for the McDonald’s All-American Basketball team, we’ve kept the brand consistently in the news. We’ve also sparked social media sensations through outreach for pop-up Mac Junior Taste Kitchens, DJ Flavor Battles promoting 24-hour breakfast, stoked the search for the Special Sauce and conducted Twitter giveaways of MIT-designed milkshake straws. Representing an icon means bringing great paid, earned, shared and owned media to the table!

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Building on a splendid corporate legacy

Carter, one of the country’s leading real estate investment, development and advisory firms partners with Cookerly to strengthen its credibility, increase corporate brand recognition and build visibility through the firm’s numerous projects. Cookerly’s comprehensive media relations program consistently emphasizes brand messaging and competitive points of difference and consistently positions Carter as an expert in the commercial real estate industry. The announcement of Carter partnering with Georgia State University to redevelop Turner Field continues to provide national media exposure which helps solidify the five decade old firm’s reputation as one of the nation’s most respected real estate industry brands.

Fueling preparedness for optimal response to crisis

Cookerly works with Colonial Pipeline Company to develop, refine and implement crisis communications emergency response plans that can be activated in the event of a pipeline incident. The plan enhances Colonial’s readiness to respond to crises and helps elevate the public information officer (PIO) functions. Cookerly conducts ongoing training events for the PIO team and partner agencies on the crisis plans, including tabletop exercises and planned drills to ensure members of the communications team understand response roles and processes. In addition to crisis communications, Cookerly supports Colonial’s internal communications and community outreach efforts.

International automated pharmacy enhances medical services

Thousands of people are injured or die in the U.S. from medication preparation errors in hospital and compounding pharmacies each year. Winnipeg, Manitoba and Buffalo Grove, Illinois-based ARxIUM partners with Cookerly to raise awareness of its fully-automated, robotic technology that prevents errors in medication compounding. Cookerly executes a targeted media relations campaign to increase knowledge of ARxIUM within the pharmacy and hospital communities, focusing on the benefits of automated compounding – safety, cost savings and efficiency – while positioning ARxIUM’s technology as the product category’s gold standard. Consistent and knowledgeable messaging has helped increase understanding of the advantages of automation and drive the client’s sales channel.

Promoting and motivating life-saving preparedness

Cookerly is a trusted partner of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency in a relationship dating to 2008. The agency provides communications counsel and life-saving messaging strategies that promote the critical need for preparedness, before disasters strike. Utilizing the full media spectrum and building partnerships with major corporate enterprises, Ready Georgia inspires change in the state. Thousands of Georgia households continue to implement their own comprehensive emergency management plans. As the program’s messaging permeates all regions of the state, the number of citizens prepared to confront and emerge safely from disasters grows by the day.

Chip Stewart

Content Services

In his role as senior vice president of Cookerly, Chip Stewart is the head strategist for content services across all media. He shepherds the Cookerly Content Hub and can help clients get started on a blog or a vlog, a video or an editorial series, a mobile app or a meme, an infographic campaign or an annual report.

Chip also handles crisis and issues management programs and integrated marketing work on accounts such as Colonial Pipeline Company and Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Previously he worked at the University of Georgia, his alma mater, in communications for the UGA Foundation and for the university in the management of the institutions trademarks. He has bowled competitively from childhood, was captain of the University of Georgia bowling team and is a U.S. Bowling Congress certified Level Two coach. He spent 22 years working with youth bowlers in Gwinnett County.

Interested in talking about creative content or ways to get an aspect of an integrated marketing or PR campaign started?

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Stephen Brown

Integrated Marketing

Stephen Michael Brown, APR, Fellow PRSA is president of Cookerly Public Relations. He helps ideate for consumer and corporate campaigns, develop social media programs and strategize for all facets of integrated marketing and lead generation. Favorite recent assignments have included brand activations for nationwide clients at the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the Academy Awards.

Stephen is in his element facilitating brainstorms and branding workshops, leading media training sessions and coaching executives for public speaking. He recently spoke at Social Media Week about the intersection of mixed reality on communications disciplines.

Some of Stephen’s notable campaigns include the introduction of Coca-Cola Freestyle technology and the McCafé line of coffees to U.S. restaurants; celebrations of The Home Depot’s pioneering work in the DIY industry and InterfaceFLOR milestones in sustainability; and social media activations for Mercedes-Benz, General Mills, LexisNexis and Procter & Gamble.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina and of Leadership Atlanta, Stephen is past president and a board member of PRSA Georgia, chairman of the board for Actor’s Express and involved in advisory boards for Alliance Theatre and Center for Puppetry Arts. He is a fan of theatre and movies and reviews films weekly on his blog SilverScreenCapture.com. He resides in the creative enclave of Pinewood Forest in south Atlanta.

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Keith Bowermaster

Health Care & Integrated Marketing

As senior vice president and chief talent officer of Cookerly, Keith Bowermaster leads the firm’s health care practice, shepherds clients through all facets of integrated marketing, manages reputation issues including complex issues and crises and helps cultivate a bright and engaged agency staff at all levels.

Keith’s superior strategy is a catalyst to results-oriented campaigns, and he works on accounts ranging from The Arthritis Foundation to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia to Cancer Treatment Centers of America. A favorite recent assignment was securing media coverage for Gwinnett Medical Center as it was the first in the state to implement new technology to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms – the tenth leading cause of men over 55.

Keith comes to Cookerly by way of WellStar Health System in Georgia and Jackson Health System in Florida. In his roles, he has led large press conferences with worldwide media, escorted reporters into operating rooms and helped with activations at the FedEx Orange Bowl.

He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a master’s degree from the University of Miami. He is on the executive board of the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Public Relations Advisory Council for the University of Florida. He has also taught multiple classes at the university level and is a sharpshooter and football fanatic in his spare time.

Interested in talking about integrated marketing, creative content or reputation management for health care?

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Beth McKenna

B2B, Technology & Hospitality

As senior vice president of Cookerly, Beth McKenna oversees integrated marketing campaigns for business-to-business, technology and hospitality clients. From creative brand-building to reputation management, she and her team leverage traditional and social communications channels to engage with key publics.

Beth comes to the firm with years of in-house corporate marketing experience at companies such as Prentice Hall. This perspective has helped her lead award-winning work for SunTrust, Westin Hotels, Sony/Waste Management, and Anisa International. She leads the LexisNexis Risk Solutions enterprise account, Guardian Pharmacy LLC, LightStream and The Westin Peachtree Plaza. Favorite recent assignments include a campaign for the Super Bowl and developing and launching “Climb the Peach.”

A native of New Jersey and a graduate of the University of Georgia, Beth loves international and domestic travel (22 countries and counting), anything outdoors, football, reading, dancing and time with family and friends.

Interested in talking about integrated marketing, creative content or reputation management for the industries Beth serves?

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Cory Stewart

Reputation Management & Crisis Communications

In his role as senior vice president and chief operations officer of Cookerly, Cory Stewart manages issues and crisis response for a wide range of clients.

Cory digs deep on a variety of complex areas, from energy and environmental regulatory matters to technology security. He leads the DuPont team and manages key initiatives for LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Carter, Cancer Treatment Centers of America and Colonial Pipeline. He also manages several operational aspects for the agency, such as best practices, billing, staffing and more. A favorite recent assignment was touring the DuPont State Recreational Forest to better understand its ecology and history.

A native of Florida and a graduate of the University of South Alabama, Cory serves on the board of Worldcom Public Relations Group, the world’s leading network of independently owned public relations firms. He is an avid outdoorsman and can be found in Florida fishing the Intracoastal Waterway and Gulf of Mexico during his spare time.

Interested in talking about any facet of reputation management?

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Tracy Paden

B2B, Government, Integrated Marketing

In her role as senior vice president of Cookerly, Tracy Paden heads business-to-business accounts and high-profile integrated marketing campaigns for government, transportation, nonprofits and the public good. She leads massive cause marketing programs, devising strategies to drive behavioral change on issues from clean air to littering. She is also highly experienced in managing government contracts and budgets.

A favorite recent assignment has been an integrated campaign to get citizens prepared for disasters. This initiative has included mobile app development and marketing, social media management, paid media strategy and execution, website and digital communications, as well as a comprehensive, ongoing media relations program.

A graduate of Harding University, she is the champion of game night with her family, a dancer and a world traveler.

Interested in talking about integrated marketing, creative content or reputation management for B2B, government or other complex clients?

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Jane Stout

Financial Services & Integrated Marketing

In her role as executive vice president of Cookerly, Jane Stout, APR, oversees financial and professional services accounts and sets integrated marketing strategy for the company’s top clients. From creative brand-building to reputation management, she and the Cookerly team leverage traditional and social communications channels to engage with key publics, consistently exceeding client expectations.

She has led the SunTrust Bank account team through major milestones from launching retail and wholesale service lines to kicking off onUp.com, the purpose-driven company’s initiative to help Americans move from financial stress to confidence. Other key accounts have included Merrill Lynch, Allstate, Raymond James Financial, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Ga., Hunton & Williams and many more. A favorite recent assignment is adding financial value for NAPA Auto Parts’ transformed consumer model.

Jane is a native of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. She is involved in Business Executives for National Security, where she chairs the SE Communications Committee, participates in Georgia College’s Mentor Program and serves on the board of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. She enjoys traveling internationally is an avid hiker, sailor, pianist and a chef wanna-be.

Interested in talking about integrated marketing, creative content or reputation management for the financial services industry?

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Impacting healthcare across America

Guardian Pharmacy Services, a world leader in long-term care pharmacy services, undertook a new approach to serving its core institutional audiences. Cookerly offered fresh perspectives in message development and delivery that assured customer acceptance and increased the company’s profile among prospects. Outreach across vertical communications channels and external media created national exposure that promoted the company, its brand and management team, built credibility, and engendered trust with target audiences. Concurrent with Cookerly’s campaign, Guardian Pharmacy Services’ operational footprint continues to expand, from eight states when the agency was first engaged to 19 today, the number of patients served is up more than 100-percent, and annual revenues continue to trend upward, increasing by 150 percent in five years.

Iconic hotel brand stands tall

As the tallest hotel in the Southeastern U.S., at 73 stories, the Westin Peachtree Plaza has long been the most recognizable icon in Atlanta’s skyline. These attributes are great, but management must always work to maintain the hotel’s edge in an extremely competitive market for tourism, business travel and meeting/conference trade. Westin calls on Cookerly to create and implement multi-phase communications that include strategically themed content development to drive a schedule of special events and media outreach across internal and external channels. These efforts enhance the Westin Peachtree Plaza’s image as Atlanta’s premier hotel of choice.

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Advancing media conversation about transformative cancer treatment

Informing a region about new, transformative medical technology and cancer treatment options available to its populace demands an innovative communications approach. That’s exactly what Cookerly provides to Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) to support marketing of their newest hospital near Atlanta. The agency’s team conceives and implements comprehensive marketing-communications programs via internal and external channels targeted to cancer patients across the Southeast. Five years into the program, CTCA’s image is that of a health care institution whose people care deeply about their patients and who serve them in a facility that is a technologically advanced, world leader in successful cancer treatment outcomes.

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High profile political commentary drives election media conversation

Rare.us is a social-centric news site owned by corporate giant Cox Media that attracts 40 million monthly visits. It is one of the fastest growing sites in the U.S covering national news focused on politics and culture. The company engages Cookerly to help establish its editorial credibility in mainstream media and build its overall brand. In addition to delivering trending stories in a quick, easy-to-read format, Rare.us is the editorial home of Jack Hunter, a respected political analyst, editor and writer. Cookerly’s strategy cultivates Hunter’s reputation with destination content that people actively seek to stay informed. Building on his experience, Cookerly positions him as an expert source and regularly secures opportunities with top national and international news outlets.

Harvesting data to make global news

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a leader in providing essential information that helps customers across industries and government predict, assess and manage risk. Cookerly is helping the company shape the industry narrative in mass media and vertical channels, sharing how the power of data analysis can be harnessed for societal benefits such as serving the formerly underbanked, tracking down missing or exploited children and ensuring government services get administered to those in need. The program is effectively positioning LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ c-suite executives as industry thought leaders.

Carol Cookerly

Reputation Management & Crisis Communications

In her role as CEO and founder of the firm, Carol Cookerly is a chief strategist for building and sustaining brands. However, it is her deft management of complex crises and issues over three decades that has made Cookerly a top choice for clients when adversity strikes. Under her direction, the agency has been the lead strategist in scores of permitting efforts, contamination issues, natural and manmade disaster responses, instances of legislative and judicial activism, and challenging personnel matters including C-suite succession, whistleblowers, discrimination and harassment in just about every major industry.

She has provided counsel to Walmart, DuPont, NAPA Auto Parts, Allied/Republic Waste Services, Delta Air Lines, AstroTurf, and many more.

A former broadcast journalist, Carol worked in public relations in New York City before founding Cookerly Public Relations 25 years ago. She leads media training and table top exercises for senior executives in companies ranging from startups to members of the Fortune 500.

She is a graduate of Duke University and volunteers her time and talents in support of The Metro Atlanta YMCA, Murphy-Harpst Children’s Center and Road Safe America among others. She is an avid equestrian, fly fisher, sporting clay enthusiast and Americana antique collector.

Interested in talking about any facet of reputation management?

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Content Development

Great communications starts with having something meaningful to say. Something engaging. Something that others will want to share. We have a team of writers, designers and innovators to help lock down your strategy and calendar and help develop snackable content in all its forms – from memes to mobile, from bylines to blogs. Our applications, videos, quizzes, memes and more are built for quick reads, rapid recall, awesome engagement and social shareability.

Are you reaching your audiences at every touch point? We are ready to help.

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Crisis & Issues Management

What if a natural disaster impacts your operations? How do you respond if an issue threatens the financial viability of your company? What would you do if regulators launch an investigation into your business? If your company’s reputation is under attack, how will you defend it?

High-stakes scenarios like these impact businesses every day. Are you prepared?

Whether it’s a problem below the radar, an emerging crisis – or a full-blown eruption – Cookerly’s team stands ready to put out the proverbial fire or prevent a relatively quiet issue from becoming incendiary. All the kinds of crisis/issues that make the news; data breaches, environmental contamination, permitting, NIMBY, litigation, labor disputes, corporate malfeasance, franchise issues – we’ve handled them all.

Are you prepared in the event of an issue or crisis?

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Integrated Marketing

We translate your business strategy into a marketing program that drives results, regardless of communications discipline. Leveraging paid, earned, owned and shared platforms, we build and bolster reputations in the eyes of your key publics. We blend tried-and-true traditions with the latest digital innovations to amplify content. Our end-to-end integrated marketing ecosystem is called Cookerly IM IQ. It begins with social listening and ends with measuring ROI and KPIs.

Are you maximizing all four quadrants? We are ready to help.

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Putting our “know how” into practice

NAPA AUTO PARTS, the nation’s top brand in the automotive aftermarket, is ramping up its retail operation across the country with grand reopening celebrations to show off its transformed “top stores,” expanded inventory and “NAPA Know How.” Cookerly designed a creative program that has successfully sparked conversations across media and social media channels in the target markets, enhanced community relationships, built awareness/visibility, increased customer traffic at store events and helped boost NAPA sales and follow-on business.

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Fresh perspectives for venerated national healthcare advocacy organization

The Arthritis Foundation has undergone significant changes and seeks to build upon a renewed direction with fresh perspectives. The foundation relies on Cookerly to infuse new ideas, raise national awareness and engage internal stakeholders to support the organization’s new and powerful “Champion of Yes” branding. The comprehensive communications strategies and tactics conceived and implemented for the foundation put a national focus on the critical nature of arthritis and are helping reinvigorate the organization’s image of one committed to conquering the insidious and debilitating disease.

Raising the profile of a bank with a new purpose

For more than seven years, SunTrust has relied on Cookerly to help conceive and implement comprehensive marketing-communications programs via internal and external channels. The strategies and tactics developed and deployed for SunTrust helped transform the company’s image from that of a “traditional bank” to a purpose-driven financial services institution committed to helping clients achieve their most ambitious financial goals. The launch of the onUp movement at the Super Bowl – and the surrounding media and social media attention – helped the bank enter a new playing field of impacting Americans’ fiscal fitness.

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Carol Cookerly

Stephen Brown

Cory Stewart

Jane Stout

Tracy Paden

Beth McKenna

Chip Stewart

Mike Rieman

Sheryl Sellaway

Tim Pengelly

Jeremy Juhasz