WALKER SANDS - Key Persons

Aidan Poole

Job Titles:

Media Relations Specialist

As the Chief People Officer, Allison oversees our people and talent functions. She is charged with attracting and recruiting all of the awesome people who work here, building and maintaining the company culture, and making Walker Sands a better "Best Place to Work." She is focused on ensuring our employees have access to all the resources necessary to do the best work of their careers, continue to learn and grow, and feel supported as people and professionals. Allison's passion is in creating inclusive policies to support our team in and outside the workplace. She leads and oversees our DEI strategy, is responsible for supporting and coaching managers across the agency, and helps employees navigate challenging situations internally and with clients. She worked passionately on Walker Sands' fully-paid 12-week family leave policy and has made it a personal mission to help every parent at Walker Sands feel prepared and supported when welcoming a baby before, during, and after leave. She believes our team is our greatest competitive advantage and her philosophy is to create policies and a culture that allows everyone to flourish. Prior to her current role, Allison spent seven years at Walker Sands on the services side of the business. She has experience across a number of industries with a specialization in fintech, electronics, and HR tech. She also has more than 10 years of experience in both B2B and B2C public relations, leading large integrated content marketing, web and video projects for several clients and creating award-winning campaigns that span marketing channels. From 2018-2021, Allison served as the PR/Marketing partner for the Illinois Technology Association/1871 Women Influence Chicago Initiative which aims to develop the next generation of women leaders in tech in the Chicagoland area. Before joining Walker Sands in 2013, Allison served as the community and brand manager for a restaurant group in Austin, Texas. Prior to which, she started her career as a brand ambassador for Oscar Mayer, where she learned the ins and outs of eloquently speaking on behalf of a brand, many key learnings of which have been applied to the robust media training program enjoyed by Walker Sands' clients today. Allison earned her bachelor's degree in communication from Michigan State University, where she specialized in public relations and business. Immediately following graduation, she spent a year in the driver's seat of the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, which explains her affinity for hot dogs, traveling the world, and talking to strangers as if they're old friends. Allison now lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Chris, her two kids, Austin and Logan, and her naughty but lovable dog, Capone.

Allison Zullo

Job Titles:

Senior PR Director

Alyssa Weed

Job Titles:

Account Director

Amanda Blumeyer

Job Titles:

Senior Account Director

Amanda Gonzalez

Job Titles:

Account Manager

Anastasia Warren

Job Titles:

Vice President, Paid Media

As Vice President, Paid Media, Anastasia's main focus is ensuring client business objectives are being met. This is done through awareness, building pipeline, or converting leads to closed-won business through paid channels. In addition to client work, Anastasia spends her time ensuring the team is performing, well-supported, and successful each and every day. She is passionate about working with innovative clients and developing strong strategies and teams behind them. Originally from Missoula, Montana, Anastasia graduated from the University of Nevada with a bachelor's degree in Journalism, Strategic Communications. Outside of the office, she is dedicated to finding a good cup of coffee, fitness & health, spending time with friends and family, traveling, and being outside as much as possible.

Andrew Cross

Job Titles:

Co - CEO

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." In his role as Co-CEO, Andrew supports talented team members across the agency's core functions of public relations, creative services, branding, demand generation, and marketing strategy. His responsibilities include new business, strategic client support, and agency growth and development. Prior to his role as Co-CEO, Andrew led the agency's public relations department, working with clients including Grubhub, Sprout Social (NASDAQ: SPT), Worldpay, Hyperwallet, and Oak Street Health (NYSE: OSH). Andrew is an ambassador to PROI, the world's largest global network of independent PR agencies. He is a former mentor for Techstars, the world's premiere startup accelerator program. Andrew has been a speaker and panelist at American Marketing Association Connex, Illinois State University's COM Week, PRSA Chicago, and CNP Expo. Andrew holds a B.A. in public relations from Illinois State University, where he was a presidential scholar.

Ann Hagner

Job Titles:

Executive Vice President, Services

"How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but how well we are understood."

Annie Gudorf

Job Titles:

Executive Vice President, PR

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the change that we seek." Annie is the Managing Director of Walker Sands' Seattle office where she oversees operations and leads client work across the West Coast. She's passionate about building engaging teams and bringing out of the box thinking to every client engagement. Annie started in Walker Sands' Chicago office in 2013 before she moved out west in 2016 to help establish and grow the agency's West Coast presence. Annie has worked with some of the most successful B2B technology companies ranging from stealth start-ups to publicly traded companies. She has delivered outstanding results, building strong client relationships and generating some of the agency's most successful PR and marketing campaigns. Annie brings extensive industry experience in AI, cybersecurity, IT services and retail/marketing technology. Annie graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a dual degree in marketing and public relations. She lives in Seattle where she loves skiing, hiking and going on new adventures with her partner and dog.

Annie Versnel

Job Titles:

Account Manager

Avani Nadkarni

Job Titles:

PR Director

Bari Nowak

Job Titles:

Senior Account Director

Bobby Chilver

Job Titles:

Coach
Senior Vice President, PR
Senior Vice President, Public Relations

As Senior Vice President, Public Relations, Bobby is highly involved in the development of strategy for his clients, making sure campaigns exceed expectations while staying on schedule and within budget. He works with clients like Nerdery, Samanage, Ensono, West UC, SpringCM and BizBuySell, and his team's results have led to recognition and awards from the Public Relations Society of America, the Publicity Club of Chicago and the Chicago Business Marketing Association.