HUNTER LAVIGNE COMMUNICATIONS - Key Persons

Mark Hunter LaVigne, MA, APR, FCPRS, has more than 30 years' experience as a media relations specialist. For the past 24 years, he operated his own media relations and media training firm, Hunter LaVigne Communications Inc. For seven years prior to that, he worked for PR agencies in downtown Toronto including Ogilvy and Mather and Hill and Knowlton. Prior to his career in public relations, he worked as a radio journalist for five years in Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto with CKO, CJEZ, BN, and CBC Radio. He has done client work for a number of companies including Aon, Kodak Canada, Maple Leaf Foods, McCormick Canada, Netflix, SANYO Canada, Schneider Foods, Sega, and volunteer board work with the Canadian Public Relations Society, Aurora Sports Hall of Fame, and Yellow Brick House women's shelter. He is an award winning, accredited member (APR) of the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS), and a member of the CPRS College of Fellows (FCPRS). He wrote the media relations chapter in "Fundamentals of Public Relations and Marketing Communications", University of Alberta Press (2015) and is co-author of the new edition of "In the News (third edition)", University of Alberta Press (2019), Author of "Proactive Media Relations in Canada" (third edition), Centennial College Press (2019) and co-author of Internal Communications in Canada (2022). He has also published a children's book, "The Adventures of Matilda the Tooth Fairy", and a number of songs with his former band, The Coyotes, "Out of the Woods". He continues as a songwriter and performer on guitar, ukulele, vocals and harmonica. He maintains his certification with the Canadian Ski Instructor's Alliance, and is an avid canoe tripper and backpacker, mainly in the vast Algonquin Park, north of Toronto.