PORTAVOCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- President
- Marketing and Communications Strategist
Carla Vallone is a marketing and communications strategist for business-to-business organizations and leaders who are commercializing highly technical, mission-critical products and services.
She builds marketing communications strategies that are approachable for companies that don't yet have mature marketing practices and leads her team of specialists to create and deliver content that generates leads in the AI, technology, robotics, manufacturing, and industrial sectors.
During her 20-plus years in public relations and marketing, Carla has worked for and represented Fortune 100 companies as well as dynamic start-up companies. In 2011, she founded Portavoce Public Relations, an award-winning marketing communications agency located in Greater San Diego. Marrying business-to-business insights and buying habits with an organization's inherent expertise, Portavoce PR mobilizes marketing strategies the remove barriers to activation, generate leads, and accelerate the sales process.
A graduate of New York University, Carla began her career in New York City at Burson Cohn & Wolfe (formerly Burson-Marsteller), a top 10 global public relations firm. There she worked on some of America's most well-known brands including Sunbeam, McCormick Spices, Kellogg Cereal, and Sony Electronics. In 2002 Carla moved to in-house communications, leading all public relations and communications for Segway Inc., the creator of the Segway Personal Transporter. Subsequently, she served as senior communications manager for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT), the world's leading provider of wireless chipsets.
Carla is devoted to the advancement of women and girls in STEM. She served on the Board of Directors of Girls Inc. of San Diego County from 2014 to 2020. In 2017, she was voted one of the top three "Leading Ladies in Non-profit" by Locale Magazine. She is the Co-Chair of the Technology Committee for Athena, a women's advocacy organization that fast tracks women in STEM through leadership development.
Laura Pires is a strategic communicator, detailed implementor, and creative problem solver. With her business savvy and analytical mind she collaborates with clients to develop well-thought marketing communication plans focused on meaningful goals that align with their business needs.
As a Director, Laura establishes trusted partnerships with clients and ensures quality work is delivered on scope and within budget. She leads the agriculture, animal health, and dairy sectors with nearly twenty years of experience and networking. Through media relations, Laura earns Portavoce clients opportunities to contribute compelling content that raises awareness and esteem in high-value business-to-business trade media.
Prior to joining Portavoce in Fall 2022, Laura held escalating marketing communications roles with companies including Pfizer Animal Health and Cargill, where she was responsible for leading content strategy and development, execution and measurement of marketing programs.
As a marketing communications manager at Pfizer Animal Health, Laura learned the value of strategic planning, building strong team alignment, and meticulous project management when she led the launch and brand development of a new vaccine that exceeded first year sales targets.
During her time with Cargill, a company providing animal nutrition and feed to livestock producers for more than 120 years, Laura helped rebuild brand value for her business unit. She positioned Cargill nutritionists as relatable experts through thought leadership articles that made the complex science of ruminant nutrition easily digestible for dairy farmers. Through omni-channel campaigns, she shared customer success stories that generated quality leads. Her outstanding contributions were recognized by her peers with a Cargill Wingman Award.
Laura is a graduate of California State University, Fresno where she earned a degree in mass communication and journalism. She is also a graduate of Class 49 of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, an advanced leadership development experience considered to be one of the premier programs in the U.S. for emerging leaders in agriculture.
A dedicated servant leader, Laura enjoys coaching soccer and helping youth develop self-confidence and collaboration skills through healthy competition. She chairs numerous fundraisers within her local community and has set new records for fundraising results.