Lisa Wilson

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I really enjoy my career and gain satisfaction from it on many fronts. Being a PR strategist, entrepreneur and business person, consultant to senior executives and contributor to the careers of my team gives me opportunity to grow every day both personally and professionally. I don’t know how many people can truly say they derive real satisfaction from their “jobs”. But I am not one-track-minded. I enjoy hiking the Colorado mountains, wine, reading great works of fiction, exercise and spending time with friends.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

Founding VisiTech PR 10 years ago, and evolving it to the strong company it is today is my biggest accomplishment. During the tech-bust, I am glad I did not diversify away from tech, and I lived to tell about it.
 
What is your favorite campaign to date?

That is a tricky question. I have been doing high-tech PR for 18 years now and there have been quite a few.

What is your professional mission statement?

As the founder of VisiTech PR, I think my personal mission is reflected in our company mission that is based on the abundance principle. I deeply believe that by focusing on creating abundance and success for others, the success of my clients and employees, I will gain success – and I have.

How would others describe you?

I am regularly called weird and eccentric – and people will point out they mean that in a good way. I think differently and people see that right away. People who know me a little more may add direct, honest and high energy to their list of descriptors.

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

I have pretty much touched every area of technology. I lead the strategy for all of VisiTech PR’s clients including Polycom, Namco and Irdeto. I started my career at AST Research when it was one of the top computer hardware companies. I have worked in enterprise software players including Informatica, Sun Microsystems and Onyx. I’ve spent time working with semiconductors companies like Microchip. I have also spent time working with telecom companies such as Time Warner Telecom.
 

Gabe Boeckman

What is the most interesting thing about you?

My wife. She is truly the better half.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

The biggest accomplishment is noticing Web (1.0) communication emerging before the mainstream. At the time, blogs were a fad among the tech elite. The Internet was still a presentation forum with little interactive communication. Online communications hadn’t yet come into play within the PR arena.

Noticing a potential opportunity for clients, I worked to develop an online communications practice for The Hoffman Agency. The practice provided custom Web development, interactive press kits, registration sites, blog sites, message board and forum monitoring and much more.

It didn’t take long for the online communications practice to become involved in every Hoffman account and new business effort. After a year, our campaigns gained notice for effectively blending traditional and emerging online practices. This innovation earned numerous honors, including multiple Technology Marketing Gold Icon Awards, PRSA Northern California Compass Awards, IABC Inkwell Awards and Business Marketing Association Gold and Silver Beacon Awards. The online practice also received a PR News Platinum PR Award for a Hewlett-Packard interactive press kit that garnered 28,412 unique visitors and 34,520 visits in 48 hours.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

PowerHouse Technologies Group was a startup that consisted of six people in a small office. The company embarked on launching Migo, synchronization software that allows consumers to carry their desktop on a USB flash drive.

The program started with developing marketing and PR collateral materials. We targeted TechXNY for the product launch with the hopes of cornering Walt Mossberg at the show. Our efforts paid off when a one-on-one briefing was coordinated with Mossberg and a subsequent standalone product review was placed within the Wall Street Journal. The campaign quickly exploded.

Multiple top-tier press quickly picked up on the Migo product line, including the Financial Times, BusinessWeek, CNBC, ABC World News Now and countless international technology trade and consumer publications. The pinnacle included Walt Mossberg showcases Migo at a Churchill Club event on the future of consumer technologies.

The campaign also secured top industry recognition and award honors for Migo, including the International CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award. The combined outreach results helped PowerHouse Technologies sign more than 75 additional channel partners within its first year of operation.

What is your professional mission statement?

Excellence and client satisfaction: My mission is to go above and beyond in delivering quality PR campaigns that keep clients happy and their lives/jobs easy.

How would others describe you?

Hmm…it’s probably best to ask the others.

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

The biggest “shaping” came from the biggest clients – but not as expected. Working with behemoths like Sony, HP and Philips taught me that big isn’t always the best. I much prefer to work with emerging companies that are hungry to grow and establish market and mind share. These companies hold the biggest PR opportunity.
 

Nicole Hegg

What is the most interesting thing about you?

 I go target shooting in my spare time and one of my life goals is to go cage diving with great white sharks.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

When I was on MessageGate, I single-handedly secured media for the practical e-mail governance tour for SenderConfirm. We were able to meet and get pretty substantial coverage in ALL IT, content and security publications and successfully kick off MessageGate’s new position in the industry, which began a yearlong campaign that followed suit.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

Digital Fountain’s ToughStream launch for IPTV OR Dynamic Card Solutions FCP 20/20 product launch

What is your professional mission statement?

To deliver my best work through collaboration, creative brainstorming and thinking and diligence, to my internal team and clients on a daily basis.

How would others describe you?

Detail-oriented, a planner, chipper

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

As one of my first true technology accounts, I truly found my love of technology working on Net Insight. When we began the account it wasn’t truly clear how the company was establishing themselves in North America. Digging deep into optical networking, sifting through the terminology and market impact of Net Insight’s offering to broadcast, digital video and telecom companies allowed me to speak intelligently on it and see how technology has a profound impact on the world and the future of our entertainment structure. Namco Networks has shaped my career because it has been my longest account in technology and one that I have truly found the most growth. I have handled all roles with Namco and it has allowed me to work on a more mainstream technology, driving awareness and impact through industry and consumer media.  

 

Christina Lau

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I was a Rhetoric major during university, which has never ceased to inspire wonder and questions from interviewers. Although my friends may know me for my BS, that’s really not what the degree is about.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

This is really trite, but every day is a big accomplishment for me. I went from working indirectly with start-ups as a funds-of-funds investor while I was a research analyst at the HP Pension Fund to working directly with entrepreneurial start-ups and strategizing with CEOs. Seeing how our clients realize results from our efforts is a true pleasure. No day is ever the same.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

NTP Software came to us as a relatively unheard of company that was somewhat skeptical of PR. At the time, I had not worked with a client in the storage space and so I took a deep breath and delved into what I call “storage land” - the tight knit community of analysts, media, consultants and lingo that traverse this unique industry. It took some time to ramp up but by closely aligning ourselves with the relatively inexperienced marketing team, we were able to elevate a small, private, entirely founder-backed company to the fore of the storage discussion. We did this by successfully cultivating relationships with tier one storage analysts, receiving coverage in top tier IT and storage publications and garnering speaking slots for the CEO at well-attended trade shows such as ComputerWorld’s Storage Networking World. In less than one year, we were able to lead a relatively unheard of company to becoming a resource for storage media and analysts.

What is your professional mission statement?

I strive to meet a double bottom line – for me this means effectively and measurably delivering results that positively impact the client’s bottom line as well as my own professional ambition to become a better consultant and advisor to my clients.

How would others describe you?

Fun, loud, hard-working, clumsy, caffeinated and constantly on the run!

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

Working in-house at HP as well as with large and boutique PR firms has helped me with understanding what drives me and allows me to achieve. Working with large accounts such as with Microsoft’s HRD and with smaller companies such as NTP Software and Xceive has provided a solid foundation for counsel with large and entrepreneurial start ups. Although I enjoy both, I do enjoy challenges and all-hands-on-deck feeling of working with smaller companies - it’s my preferred method of eating, living and breathing technology.

 

Netra Ghosh

What is the most interesting thing about you?

The call to PR made me cross the kaala paani (“the dark waters” symbolizing the seas that should not be crossed, as per Indian myths) and find my own space in a country thousands of miles away from my homeland in India.

And, oh – I am also a secret snake charmer, elephant rider, palm reader, sword swallower, etc., etc.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

I think both of the following are equally big for me:

Working with a pro-bono client is at times a challenge because the PR budget is absent. But seeing them featured in color, splashed all over the section cover on a leading local business journal is the fruit of successfully dueling with that challenge – one very happy and proud memory for me.

Working with a top Computerworld journalist on a client technology usage story. Initially I thought the story would be a run-of-the mill piece on tech usage and benefits till I discovered that the user on whom the story would be featured happened to be the State of Oklahoma, which was using our client’s technology almost everywhere throughout the state. I passed on the information to the journalist and obviously he was thrilled. The story was published as a huge piece; the client was very happy and the journalist and I are now Facebook friends.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

I really do not have one favorite campaign – every day has been a learning experience for me and all campaigns that I have been part of have been equally thrilling to me.

What is your professional mission statement?

The Horatian phrase Carpe diem – seize the day.

How would others describe you?

Calm, patient and thoughtful.

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

Polycom: Working on the account was a whole lot of fun and the regular media outreach helped me form some very valuable and memorable relationships with media contacts. Before putting me on the account Lisa Wilson had commented, “Let’s throw her to the wolves.” I am glad she did or else I could never have learnt so much.
TiE-Rockies – A pro-bono account, but VisiTech PR is a true partner in their business planning process. From my own career perspective, the account is a massive influencer because this is the account where I am the one in charge for strategic planning, researching and executing decisions as I see is fit. It is fun, liberating and thrilling to be in direct contact with the client.

Aurora Arlet

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I am a first degree black belt in 2 different martial arts.

I got to ride Shamu in San Diego when I was 6.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

Having a very well known and respected PR industry thought leader ask me for my notes on a presentation I gave on PR/Web 2.0. Back in College I was tested on theory from a PR text book he had written.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

Launching the First Annual Big Wheel Rally Memorial Ride, a campaign to raise money for Saint Joe’s Hospital Foundation in Denver. The campaign received local, national and international attention.

What is your professional mission statement?

“Make sure you’ve finished talking before your audience has finished listening.” - D. Sarnoff

How would others describe you?

Outgoing. Creative thinker. Willing to step up to any challenge.

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

Working in Finland with some of the top high-tech companies in the Baltic’s/Scandinavia region (Nokia, Skype, Telesonera) really helped turn me on to high tech PR.
 
Working for Apple and getting to experience the brand from the inside out was a truly remarkable experience. They really know how to build a brand - it’s in all the details.
 

Christine Smith

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I have attended a total of 13 dog shows, including two trips to the Westminster (i.e. the Pedigree Superbowl).

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

Drafting the submission that secured the Best Enterprise Software eWEEK Excellence Award for a client in 2007. The client was viewed as suited for SMB but was looking to grow into the enterprise. They viewed winning this award as a validation that was necessary to allow this to happen.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

I really enjoyed launching one of the first virtual appliances for storage servers at VMworld last year. Not only was it a pivotal move for the company, but due to a successful media tour with more than 30 meetings, we received feature coverage on the first day of the show in many major IT publications.

What is your professional mission statement?

Work hard, drive results and everything else will fall into place.

How would others describe you?

Loyal and hard working, with a wry sense of humor

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

When I began my first job at a PR agency, I was placed on the technology team, and the first plan that was put on my desk was one for LeftHand Networks, an iSCSI SAN vendor. I spent the next 45 minutes alternately pouring over the document and referencing jargon on Wikipedia, and I only made it through the first two paragraphs. I couldn’t help but question why I wasn’t doing consumer PR, something easy like cleaning products or vitamin supplements.

As the months passed, the terminology got easier, and I became engrossed in the storage industry, of all things. When I became truly excited about the test results of a 100 TB LeftHand iSCSI SAN that had the same performance capabilities as the legacy Fibre Channel technology, I knew I had been bit by the tech bug. Working on LeftHand Networks has shaped the direction of my career.
 

Kendra Westerkamp

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I started my career working for “The Mouse” at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I spent my days on the “dusty trails of FrontierLand” in the Magic Kingdom. And no… I was not one of the characters.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

My most memorable career accomplishment would be my very first high profile business media hit – a feature article in Fast Company.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

“The Demise of the CAN Tuner” - Xceive’s XC5000 making the CAN tuner obsolete.

What is your professional mission statement?

To provide strategic consultation and industry insights that drive results that generate significant impact on a client’s specific business objectives. At the end of the day, seeing the impact that my efforts have on the influencers a client wants to reach is what makes my job exciting and rewarding.

How would others describe you?

Outgoing, diligent, reliable, enthusiastic, energetic, consistent, collaborative and fun.

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

There are a number of companies that have shaped my career. They include, Xceive, MIKOH, Net Insight, Dynamic Card Solutions, Polycom, Digital Fountain, Techfi, The Cable Center, Silver Creek Systems, The Colorado Multi-Use Network (MNT), Thomson MICROMEDEX, CIBER, XOR, and Gold Systems.
 

Melissa Hourigan

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I began my career in the fashion industry and soon after moved to the music industry and served as a publicist for musicians. I found myself on a hunt for a fast-pace career that was constantly evolving. A little over 10 years ago, I found myself smitten by the technology industry and have been hooked ever since. I cannot imagine another industry that is more exciting than this.

What is your biggest career accomplishment?

Being a part of the team that launched Ask Jeeves and took the company public. The experiences provided the ultimate PR opportunities in that we stayed until the wee hours of the night working on launch activities and were in the office before 6:00 a.m. to kick things off. The media and industry response was overwhelming and gave me a huge sense of pride and accomplishment to be a part of something so important.

What is your favorite campaign to date?

My favorite campaign to date was establishing the inventor of DNS, Dr. Paul Mockapetris, as an Internet pioneer. Given that a large percentage of all consumers touch the internet in some way, it was an honor to bring attention to one of the visionaries who made it happen.

What is your professional mission statement?

Never go with the flow, feed your passion daily, and glean inspiration from those that surround you.

How would others describe you?

Passionate, idealistic and collaborative

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

Several companies have played an important role in my career, one of which was LeftHand Networks. This company rolled out a storage appliance several years before the market knew what to do with it. I was fortunate enough to be involved in the early days of the company and spent about six years working with the company in different roles. I will always cherish the opportunity that I was given to be involved in several important launches for the company.
 

Marie Bahl

What is the most interesting thing about you?

Interesting. Hmmm. I am a singer. I sang in bands for many years and still love to sing in the car – much to my children’s dismay.

What is your biggest career accomplishment? 

I think my choice of career and focus on high-tech in general would be my greatest accomplishment. It worked out pretty well.  

What is your favorite campaign to date?

The campaign I led for Zen Research stands out. The result significantly impacted the company’s business and led to the sale of their revolutionary DVD drive to Dell. It is the campaign I am most proud of.

What is your professional mission statement?

Do your best and never stop learning.

How would others describe you?

Passionate, driven, strategic and tenacious.

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

I have been very lucky.  I started my career with one of the premier high-tech agencies in Silicon Valley, Neihaus Ryan Haller. I was then fortunate enough to represent Sun Microsystem’s Solaris to the world and work with a team of extremely talented people.  Zen Research, as I mentioned before, gave me my greatest sense of success and proved what I always knew – PR can have the greatest impact when deployed strategically. Finally, Rainmaker, which I founded with three women I respect a lot, showed me I could do anything if I put my mind to it.
 

Krista Nash

What is the most interesting thing about you?

I bring an unusually strong communications background to my clients, having started my career as a newspaper reporter, writing and editing for newspapers from coast to coast and working as a university-level writing and communications instructor. I then worked in-house for a Kleiner-Perkins backed high-tech startup for several years, handling all marcom and PR, interfacing directly with every facet of marketing and with every C-level exec at the company, gaining invaluable experience now that I provide outside counsel to such teams. Beyond that, I worked for many years within several of the country's most respected and esteemed high-tech PR agencies, building teams and programs to help companies soar. I've been working with VisiTech PR for three years now, helping teams with strategy and communications materials. Personally, I'm married with four little kids (ages 8, 6 and twin 3-year-old boys) plus two giant Newfoundland dogs--a busy household, which is a greater challenge than any other!

What is your biggest career accomplishment? 

Overall, I'd say my personal biggest accomplishment is reaching the point in my career where I have the experience to really impact companies' effectiveness.   

What is your favorite campaign to date?

The launch of PeoplePC and a major VeriSign campaign top my list. Both are very different companies and the campaigns were completely different--one entirely consumer-focused, the other a high-tech push into B2B. Both had far-reaching effect in terms of PR success and both were great challenges for me and my teams as we strove for the best for our clients across a wide array of media and constituencies. Another client of mine won all sorts of awards at Comdex after having received tons of ink from my team, including the cover of PC Mag -- quite the accomplishment for a little unknown start-up. Several startups were acquired by major public companies in part due to the PR success of my teams' efforts. Others had amazing launches of their company, or effectively executed in the media as-strategized repositioning of the entire company.

What is your professional mission statement?

To provide effective strategy and accompanying elements to define, establish and accelerate a company's position with its constituencies.

How would others describe you?

Diligent, focused, quick, articulate, consistent--and I hope easy to work with as well!

Describe specific companies/clients that has shaped your career

So many....Apple, Sony, VeriSign, Philips Semiconductors, PeoplePC, Postini (recently acquired by Google), eCollege, Arzoon (acquired by SSA Global), Lightspan/Academic Systems, among many others.