Biographies

Al Golin
Chairman
agolin@golinharris.com

A veteran for almost 50 years in the public relations industry, Al Golin is chairman of Chicago-based GolinHarris.

In addition to handling the McDonald's account for over 45 years, GolinHarris represents such companies as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coors Brewing Co., Florida Department of Citrus, Levi Strauss & Co., Lowe's Companies, National Peanut Board, Nestlé, Nintendo of America, Owens Corning, Sprint, Texas Instruments, Toyota Motor Sales of America, and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.

As a consultant to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Al's work centered on a major public relations awareness program for U.S. companies on the benefits of exporting to help our economy, increase employment, and reduce the balance of trade deficit.

Al is a member of the board of trustees of The Goodman Theatre of Chicago and Roosevelt University, a founding board member of Ronald McDonald House Charities, and is public relations advisor to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

He is also a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, the Public Relations Seminar and the Public Relations Society of America.

He has lectured at Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Yale University, Northwestern University, New York University, and the Annenberg Communication School at USC.

Al received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Public Relations Society of America, Publicity Club of Chicago and Inside PR magazine.

Golin was named one of the 100 most influential public relations people of the twentieth century by the industry trade magazine PR Week.

His book, TRUST OR CONSEQUENCES, published by Amacom Books, is currently in distribution.

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Fred Cook
President and Chief Executive Officer
fcook@golinharris.com

Fred Cook is president and chief executive officer of GolinHarris and is responsible for key client relationships, strategic planning and managing the firm. Fred has been with the agency since 1986 and served as managing director of the western region and chief client officer.

Fred's mission at GH is to guarantee that the agency delivers bold thinking and superior service to its clients everyday. He is also committed to ensuring that GH provides a rewarding, challenging career for the best PR professionals in the business.

During his tenure at GH, Fred has managed strategic planning and brand marketing campaigns for companies such as Nintendo of America, Visa, Southwest Airlines and Amazon.com. He has orchestrated public affairs and handled crisis management programs for BAX Global, The Walt Disney Company and Toyota. He has also developed research-based brand positioning campaigns for Yahama, Walt Disney Imagineering and Weyerhaeuser.

In addition, Fred has developed numerous international public relations programs for clients such as the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board, Air New Zealand and Canon. He also created the country's premiere kids' marketing practice, responsible for youth-oriented campaigns ranging from the launch of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Pokemon.

Formerly with Daniel J. Edelman Inc., Fred supervised all major programs for the agency's largest client, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and handled public relations duties for Honda motorcycles, as well as numerous national consumer product companies.

For four years, Fred was president of his own public relations agency, which specialized in consumer marketing and entertainment promotion. In addition, he was marketing director for a national recording company.

A native Hoosier and graduate of Indiana University, Fred resides in Chicago with his wife, Cheryl, his daughter, Emily, and son, Noah.

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Ellen Ryan Mardiks
Chief Marketing Officer
emardiks@golinharris.com

Ellen Ryan Mardiks is chief marketing officer and worldwide director of the marketing and brand strategy practice at GolinHarris.

Experienced in many facets of the business, Ellen is recognized for her effectiveness in leveraging the power of public relations to position or reposition leading or growing brands in a variety of industries. She has led the development of communications programs for top consumer products companies such as McDonald's, Coors and Levi Strauss & Co. Ellen also is tapped to apply the principles of brand strategy to government departments, associations and not-for-profits--including the United States Postal Service, the Florida Orange Growers and Special Olympics International-- looking to build trust and a leadership platform for their business.

A frequent speaker at public relations and marketing conferences, Ellen was named a "Public Relations All-Star" by Inside PR magazine in 1999. She is the chief architect behind GH Branding^TM, GolinHarris' proprietary methodologies for building trusted brands and businesses. Work produced by Ellen's teams has been recognized for excellence by the leading public relations organizations, including the Public Relations Society of America, the Publicity Club of Chicago and The Holmes Report.

Prior to assuming her current role, she was general manager of GH Chicago, the firm's headquarters. Ellen rejoined the agency in 1997 from Edelman Worldwide, where she served as general manager of its Chicago consumer marketing office. Before that, she headed GH Chicago's largest business unit, which focused on consumer marketing and healthcare public relations.

She began her career in Washington, D.C., holding public relations positions with Georgetown University and on Capitol Hill for an Illinois congressman. Ellen joined GolinHarris in 1984 as an account executive.

Ellen graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American studies. She also studied at the University of London. She lives with her husband and two children in the western suburbs, where she is active in the school district and a great fan of AYSO soccer and Little League.

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Brian Beck
Chief Financial Officer
bbeck@golinharris.com

As Chief Financial Officer, Brian Beck is responsible for the management, analysis, forecasting and communication of the worldwide financial results for GolinHarris. He joined the company in 1999 and held the positions of vice president and senior vice president of Finance before becoming worldwide CFO. He is a member of the Executive Management Committee of GolinHarris.

Brian's expertise includes financial reporting and analysis, operational management, project management, auditing, treasury functions, real estate and financial training initiatives.

Before joining GolinHarris, Brian served as worldwide controller of Perkins & Will, an international architecture and design firm, and prior to that held the role of controller at leading national property management firm Trammell Crow Residential. He began his career with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Brian holds a BBA in Accounting from the University of Iowa and is a member of Financial Executives International and the Chicago Council of Foreign Relations.

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Keith Burton
President, Insidedge
kburton@golinharris.com

Keith Burton is president of Insidedge, GolinHarris' fast-growing, global employee communications group. He has counseled Fortune 500 corporations on employee communications, labor relations, strategic planning, issues management, crisis communication, marketing communications and environmental affairs.

Prior to his leadership role for Insidedge, Keith served as chief client officer and the regional managing director of the central region of GolinHarris. He also served as General Manager of the firm's headquarter office in Chicago.

During his 30-year professional career, Keith has served clients including Tyson Foods, The Boeing Co., American Airlines, Bell South, Visa International, Nationwide Insurance, FedEx, IBM Corp., GTE Corp., Georgia-Pacific Corp., Overnite Transportation, Miller Brewing Co., Sandoz Agro Inc. and Celanese Corp. He is nationally recognized as an expert in employee communications, crisis communications, re-engineering, change management, labor relations, corporate restructuring and litigation support.

In 1996, Keith was a recipient of Inside PR magazine's All-Star award in the Employee Communications (agency) category. This annual award is presented to a limited number of distinguished practitioners for outstanding achievements in public relations. Before joining GolinHarris, he helped found Boxenbaum Grates/GCI Consulting, a global employee communications consultancy, for GCI Group. He also served as Executive Managing Director and General Manager of Hill and Knowlton, Chicago, and as Executive Vice President and Director of Ketchum Public Relations, where he co-founded the Ketchum Matkov Berrier Network, an affiliation of firms providing labor relations counsel and support. During his tenure at Ketchum, he served in the Office of the President of Ketchum Corporate Relations.

Early in his career, he was an award-winning business journalist covering the activities of major corporations in the southwestern United States for Capital Cities Communications, Inc. He also served as a Dallas correspondent to Time and was associate editor of Texas Business magazine.

He was an Algur H. Meadows Fellow at Southern Methodist University, where he earned a master of fine arts degree in mass communication and a bachelor of fine arts in journalism. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at SMU, teaching courses in news reporting and public relations.

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Lane Bailey
Regional Managing Director
lbailey@golinharris.com

Lane Bailey is managing director of GolinHarris' Southeast Region, which includes offices in the Washington D.C., Atlanta and Miami markets. He also serves on the GolinHarris Executive Management Committee, and is the worldwide director of public affairs.

Lane came to GolinHarris after enjoying more than 22 years of service to U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D) W.V. He was one of Capitol Hill's most experienced and savvy staffers. For 12 years, Lane served as Rockefeller's Chief of Staff in Washington, where his principle focus was on job creation and international trade and investment. Lane's role as head of the Rockefeller staff has given him a wide-range of experience on public policy issues, including taxes, trade, health care, technology, communications, product liability, aviation, transportation and a range of competitiveness issues.

Lane has substantial experience in crisis management and communication, and has worked at GolinHarris in the areas of environmental litigation, health and safety and regulatory affairs. His ability to look at issues with a fresh perspective and find common ground has been a major part of his work at GH.

Today, he serves on the board of directors and as vice president of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, a not-for-profit international research institute devoted to finding new drugs and diagnostics in the area of human memory. Lane has a wife, Sharon, and two sons, Andrew and Matthew.

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Judy Johnson
Regional Managing Director
jjohnson@golinharris.com

Judy Johnson serves as the executive vice president and managing director of the Western Region of GolinHarris, overseeing offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County and Seattle. With more than 20 years experience in public relations, Judy provides day-to-day management of the 80-person Western Region and plays a senior advisory role to many of the firm's clients.

Judy joined GH Los Angeles in 1997 as a senior vice president to run the marketing & brand strategy practice for the Los Angeles Office. Judy was promoted to executive vice president in 1998. In 2000, she was promoted to deputy managing director and took on oversight of the firm's technology, broadcast services and media departments, in addition to her role with the marketing & brand strategy practice. She was named managing director of the office in December 2001 and regional director in 2003. Judy has put emphasis on creating a number of key client service and quality initiatives currently in practice today.

Some of the clients Judy brought on and has counseled or managed while at GH include: Toyota, Amazon.com, The Walt Disney Company, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Providian, Nestlé, Dole Food Company, Strategic Hotel Capital/The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Disneyland and The Venetian Hotel, among others.

Judy's areas of experience include: strategic communications planning, issues and crisis management and preparedness, corporate/product positioning and messaging, media relations and spokesperson training, product/service launches, brand marketing, consumer education, marketing and media events, community relations, internal communications, and all types of internal and external collateral development.

Prior to joining GolinHarris, Judy worked for Fleishman-Hillard Los Angeles as a vice president, where she served as the global account director for World Cup Japan 2002 and interim group head for the corporate communications practice. There, she managed 12 staff and a number of corporate, consumer and biotech clients, including Kinko's, KPMG, Met-Rx and Gen-Probe Diagnostics, among others. Prior to joining Fleishman-Hillard, Judy worked for Manning Selvage & Lee (MS & L) from 1987 to 1995 in the consumer, corporate and healthcare practices on clients such as Nestlé/Carnation, Nike, IBM, GTE, Carl's Jr., Blockbuster, Gen-Probe, Allergan and multiple regional hospitals. Prior to joining MS & L, Judy worked as the public relations manager at Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center, and as a news writer for WJLA-TV, the ABC network affiliate in Washington, D.C.

Judy is a graduate of the UCLA School of Communications magna cum laude and holds several dozen industry awards for her sound strategic programs and the results they have achieved for her clients. She also served as a vice president on the board of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for the last two years. Judy currently serves on GolinHarris' Executive Management Committee and lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and two children.

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Jennifer Cohan
Managing Director
jcohan@golinharris.com


Jennifer Cohan is managing director of the GolinHarris office in New York. She oversees the strategic direction and operations for the firm's office in the world's largest PR market. She also serves as an active senior counselor to several clients.

Passionate about research-driven big ideas and flawless client service, Jennifer has worked in nearly every facet of public relations. Prior to joining GolinHarris, she was president of GCI Group's New York office and deputy CEO of Cohn & Wolfe/London, where for five years she represented clients such as Orange (mobile telecommunications), BSkyB (digital broadcasting), McDonald's, the Royal Mail and Coca-Cola. Jennifer also led Cohn & Wolfe's New York-based consumer marketing practice, where she designed and implemented campaigns for Avon, Guinness, the United States Postal Service and Procter & Gamble.

Jennifer and her teams have been recognized with 'best of the best' awards by the Public Relations Society of America, PRWeek and Marketing Magazine (UK). She has also received industry awards for creativity, media relations and campaign effectiveness and is a frequent speaker on public relations topics.

A graduate of Kenyon College and New York University, Jennifer lives in New York City.

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Scott Farrell
Regional Managing Director
sfarrell@golinharris.com

Scott Farrell is the co-managing director of GolinHarris' global headquarters office in Chicago and the firm's central region (Chicago, Dallas and Houston offices). He also leads the GolinHarris' Worldwide Corporate Communications Practice which includes Change, the firm's branded approach to corporate social responsibility.

Scott offers his clients an expansive portfolio of strategic communications work for corporate, business-to-business, technology, consumer and healthcare companies. At GolinHarris, his work centers on helping companies build brand, reputation and trust leadership with their internal and external stakeholders. He also is a leading expert in the area of crisis communications and issues management and was recently named by PR Week magazine as a "crunch-time counselor" and one of the industry's top people who should be on speed dial when crisis strikes.

Among the clients for whom Scott has provided strategic and creative leadership are State Farm Insurance, S.C Johnson & Son, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Owens Corning, Sprint Nextel Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation, Coors Brewing Company, and the Florida Department of Citrus.

Scott joined GolinHarris in 1997 to direct the Chicago office's corporate communications unit. Prior to that Scott led corporate and consumer brand marketing communications engagements for Cohn & Wolfe's Chicago office. He also served as director of marketing services for Culligan International and spent 11 years with Burson-Marsteller in corporate and consumer communications work

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor's degree in journalism/public relations, Scott has contributed to several college textbooks on public relations and communications measurement, and is a frequent lecturer at Wisconsin. He's also a winner of the University's Nafziger Award for Professional Achievement and a second award for Distinguished Professional Service.

Scott enjoys keeping up with two active teenage sons (one of whom is now attending the University of Wisconsin, the other at the University of Iowa), following his beloved Badgers, reading about American history and tackling home improvement projects.

Scott enjoys reading about American history, tackling home improvement products, following both sons' college athletic teams and -- with his wife -- keeping up with two hyperactive dogs. He's also a genealogy buff and devotes some of his spare time to compiling a family history.

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Gary Rudnick
Regional Managing Director
grudnick@golinharris.com

Gary Rudnick is the co-managing director of GolinHarris' global headquarters office in Chicago and the firm's central region (Chicago, Dallas and Houston offices) and is a member of the agency's executive management committee. In addition, Gary leads the GH Web Relations Group, the agency's interactive/media practice. He has 16 years of experience with an emphasis on corporate communications, consumer/brand marketing and issues/crisis management.

Since joining the agency in 1996, Gary has led strategic relationships with companies such as McDonald's Corporation, Texas Instruments, Coors Brewing Company, Tyson Foods, Gerber Products Company and Campbell's Soup, and has provided counsel to many other GH clients including Sara Lee, amazon.com, Delta Airlines, Major League Baseball, Pillsbury, Sony Ericsson, Verizon Wireless and Target, among others.

Gary's areas of expertise include strategic planning and counsel, media and message training, corporate/product positioning, issues and crisis management, executive communications, strategic philanthropy and sports marketing.

Prior to joining GolinHarris, Gary spent five years at Fleishman-Hillard where he managed client relationships and projects with Anheuser-Busch, Baxter International, Caterpillar, The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Harris Bank/Bank of Montreal and The Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland.

The work of Gary's teams has been regularly recognized as award winning by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), PR Week, The Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) and The Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC), among other prominent industry organizations.

Gary graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science degree in English. He lives in the Chicago area with his wife Wende and their daughters Erin, Haley and Zoe.

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