RESERVOIR COMMUNICATIONS GROUP - Key Persons
Aimée Thorne-Thomsen is an experienced reproductive justice advocate who focuses on empowering women, communities of color, immigrants, LGBTQ people and young people. She leads Guerrera Strategies, LLC, a woman-of-color lead strategic consulting firm. Prior to that, she served as the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships of Advocates for Youth, where she oversaw and coordinated the development, implementation and evaluation of Advocates' strategic partnerships with youth activists and organizations in allied social justice movements.
Alka Bhatt brings a wide set of experiences at the intersection of science and business across healthcare systems and the pharmaceutical industry. Alka spent several years within the biopharmaceutical industry serving in roles across commercialization strategy, brand marketing, business operations, business integration, market access, and policy communications. Prior to this, she had clinical experiences as a graduate intern in pharmacy across oncology centers, anticoagulant clinics, transition of care discharge units, and clinical & health system support at Indian Health Services. Additionally, she has taken her patient experience, clinician work, and business perspective to address policy and regulatory initiatives for both trade associations and unique industry issues through policy initiatives, strategic communication, and advocacy.
Alka graduated from Rutgers University, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy with a Doctorate of Pharmacy and Rutgers Business School with a Masters in Business Administration.
Allison comes to Reservoir with a background in advocacy, policy, and health communications. With years of experience working with federal and state governments, advocacy organizations, and community fixtures, she is a talented coalition builder and excels at forging connections between a wide range of partners. Her specialties include collective impact work and communicating complex policy and health concepts to a diverse audience.
Prior to joining the Reservoir team, Allison worked at The Reilly Group, a public affairs firm specializing in improving mental health and wellbeing. There, she managed an advocacy initiative to ensure perinatal mental health is a national and state priority, carried out through a broad national coalition and state-level policy work. She also helped teams across the country build diverse stakeholder networks and achieve their policy goals by providing coaching, facilitation support, and technical expertise. Prior, she worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting cutting-edge biomedical research and advising senior scientific staff on lab administration.
Allison graduated with a Master of Public Health from George Washington University and earned her B.A. in English and Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeology from St. Mary's College of Maryland.
Amanda comes to Reservoir with a background in global health and child welfare and a passion for promoting health equity. She leverages diverse knowledge from her studies and experiences to support clients in advancing innovative policy solutions and communicating complex health and health policy issues.
During her undergraduate studies, Amanda interned at SafeShores, DC's child advocacy center, and began her career working at the intersection of education, child welfare, and public health at The Office of the State Superintendent of Education. Before joining Reservoir, Amanda worked at PATH, a global health nonprofit dedicated to achieving health equity. In her role, she supported the introduction and scale-up of new health technologies and people-centered service delivery models to enhance the accessibility, uptake, and continuity of HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis services across the continuums of care while contributing to strengthened integrated health delivery platforms.
Amanda graduated with a Master of Public Health from George Washington University and earned her B.S. in Public Health with a minor in Education from American University.
Ankitha comes to Reservoir Communications Group with a background in community health and policy research and a focus on promoting health equity. As graduate student, they interned with the Houston-based organization Doctors for Change to advocate for access to healthcare for LGBTQ+ youth in Texas. While working with stakeholders across professions to create issue briefs and draft testimonials, Ankitha developed a passion for understanding and communicating the narratives affected by changing health policy.
Ankitha holds a Master's in Public Health with a specialization in community health from the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health, and previously earned their B.A. in Letters with an emphasis in Medical Humanities from the University of Oklahoma.
Bryan Dumont is a leader in the field of reputation management and corporate branding. Bryan has helped the world's leading companies apply research and measurement tools to develop and execute multi-stakeholder campaigns, initiatives and programs. He has pioneered methodologies to enhance the insights & analytics used by corporate affairs executives. He is a frequent speaker on the latest trends in corporate communications, strategic analytics and how reputation and corporate brands provide measurable impact on tangible business outcomes.
Bryan previously directed enterprise-wide reputation strategy and insights for Exelon Corporation, the largest publicly-traded utility and power generator. Bryan came to Exelon in a newly-created research and analytics function to inform enterprise-wide decisions with insights, marketplace intelligence and data-driven evidence. In this position, he developed one of the most robust insights & analytics functions of any Fortune 100 company. Before joining Exelon in 2017, he was a partner at the Brunswick Group in its London office where he helped clients convert research insights and strategy into corporate campaigns and programs. He led the corporate campaigns offer in London, serving as a "bridge" across multiple disciplines and specialisms across the firm to develop methodologies and approaches on how to create multi-stakeholder campaigns for companies.
Before moving to London, Bryan spent 16 years with APCO Worldwide where he was President for APCO Insight, based in Washington, DC and later Brussels. Bryan was the driving force in building the firm's research division into a global opinion research and strategy consultancy. He is the main architect of APCO Insight's industry-leading reputation and brand research methodologies. He previously served as a Congressional staff person, management consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and research director at the Roper Center.
Cali Platt brings a background in public health policy and research. Having completed her internship at Reservoir before joining the team full-time, she has helped clients advance public affairs, advocacy and policy objectives in support of a broad range of issues.
During her undergraduate career, Cali conducted research and supported policy decisions as an intern at the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office in the Department of Defense. Cali also interned at Nonprofit Prince George's County, where she led outreach to increase participation in health equity programming. She gained critical advocacy and communication skills as a teaching assistant for the School of Public Policy and a member of the university COVID-19 Vaccine Information Distribution Student Task Force.
Cali graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in Community Health and B.A. in Public Policy.
Carla brings more than a decade of high-level executive support, human resources, employee engagement and office management experience.
Carla came to Reservoir from a woman-owned construction company, where she served as Director of Executive Planning for the two co-CEOs. Prior, she built her career primarily on Capitol Hill. A recent highlight was directly supporting the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) as the Special Assistant to the Administrator and Chief Scheduler. Carla was internally promoted during her time at GSA to White House Liaison, where she was responsible for recruiting, hiring and retaining political appointees for the agency. Her first Hill positions were working for three Members of Congress from Western and Upstate New York. In addition to her time on Capitol Hill, Carla was a member of the policy team at the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, DC, supporting numerous policy and government affairs staff.
Carla graduated from State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport with a degree in Political Science. She currently serves as President of SUNY Brockport's Alumni Board of Directors, where she is actively involved.
Chrystine is an advocate at heart who combines skills in opinion research, a calling as a nurse and experience as a strategist. She built a career on listening to others - through formal research and other stakeholder engagement - to raise their voices and offer evidence that makes an impact on health. Chrystine is trusted as counsel to some of the world's largest biopharmaceutical companies, health systems, provider and patient organizations and non-profits - and she is most proud of the work she does to recognize the integral role of nurses, the essential value of vaccines and the ability of patients to be active decision-makers in their care.
Chrystine was a founding member of APCO Insight where she built a health-focused research capability. Her expertise has helped clients significantly improve communication and thought leadership through the use of rigorous opinion research. Chrystine created custom studies used a variety of research methodologies , as well as the firm's proprietary research models, and was the lead researcher of numerous publicly available research reports on timely health topics.
Chrystine continues her nursing practice through volunteerism in Guatemala with Mayanza, an organization focused on transforming communities by improving the health of school-aged children and their mothers. Also, she supports vaccine clinics run by her local public health department.
Chrystine is a constant, active learner. She holds a BA in Political Science from Marist College, a BS in Nursing from George Mason University, a MA in Survey Research Methodology from the University of Connecticut and is a current student at Rutgers University School of Public Health.
Clare is an Executive Vice President at Reservoir Communications Group with significant experience leading corporate communications, rapid response and crisis media efforts, brand management, and advocacy campaigns.
Courtney has more than 15 years of experience in the field of health policy and public affairs, focused on stakeholder engagement, cost of care issues, and health care access communications. She has experience developing and leading programs focused on identifying strategies that support high-value, patient-centric care systems, and she works to translate that knowledge into policy-oriented activations and communications for a variety of audiences. Courtney has planned and executed a variety of value and policy-related projects, from corporate access and policy narratives, to product-specific messaging, to executive thought leadership and white papers and issues briefs, all with the goal of elucidating solutions-oriented policy strategies.
Courtney came to Reservoir from Real Chemistry, where she led the Pricing and Public Affairs team in DC. She previously worked with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), managing the development of its value of cancer care initiative.
She earned her MPH with a specialization in health care policy from the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health, and has co-authored publications with experts in the field of oncology and policy, including a seminal publication on assessing value in oncology. As part of her post-graduate work in public health policy, Courtney served as a graduate intern for the House of Representatives Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health researching issues related to healthcare provision, insurance, and federal policy.
Dan brings diverse experiences in advocacy and events communications to the team. He drives earned media and content development for a variety of Reservoir's health care clients.
Prior to joining Reservoir, Dan served as communications manager at the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), a trade association representing the nation's top-performing nonprofit health insurers. He led media engagement for numerous policy areas and highlighted member efforts for key press and stakeholders. Dan has also held communications roles with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the primary organization representing radio and television broadcasters.
He has a B.S. in Journalism and a Specialization in Public Relations from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Danielle comes to Reservoir with a strong background in legislative communications and experience with advocacy and stakeholder engagement. She supports clients across a number of projects with their communication and engagement needs.
Prior to Reservoir, Danielle worked at AARP on the Campaign Outreach team where she joined communication and advocacy work to focus on passing family caregiving legislation at both the state and federal levels. In this role, she supported efforts to increase visibility around key legislative issues, such as protecting access to care, reducing barriers to proper training, and ensuring seniors have the tools they need to remain in their communities.
Danielle holds a Master's degree in Legislative Affairs from the George Washington University where she also completed a B.A. in Political Science.
Deanna Darlington is an advocacy relations professional with more than 25 years of experience in government and external affairs, patient advocacy, policy, reimbursement consulting, and other related fields. She serves as president of Links2Equity consulting firm and specializes in engaging patient advocacy organizations on access and policy issues which includes a focus on health disparities for vulnerable patient populations. Darlington works closely with advocates on key policy issues that support dialogue and engagement to patient access to quality care and value.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Certified Family Nurse Practitioner
Dr. Cindy Cooke is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and advocate for leadership, legislative change and interprofessional collaboration with decades of primary care clinical practice experience focused on military families and rural communities. Dr. Cooke consults on health promotion and wellness and has spoken locally, nationally and internationally on a variety of clinical and health policy topics. Dr. Cooke is a past president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). She is a Fellow of AANP and adjunct faculty at the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND in the MSN-DNP program in Organizational Leadership, teaching Healthcare Finance and Economics, Healthcare Policy and Advocacy and Interprofessional Collaboration.
Dr. Cryer is an award-winning medical researcher and pharmaceutical company executive. His medical research expertise includes genetics, lipid metabolism, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome (cardiometabolic risk), diabetes, pediatrics, and women's health. Dr. Cryer spent 20 years at Bristol-Meyers Squibb, where he served as Vice President, External Medical Affairs. Since 2008, Dr. Cryer has served as Chief Medical Officer of CryerHealth, a patient-centric strategic consulting firm in Washington, DC. He is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Global Liver Institute and serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Black Cardiologists.
Dr. Richard Allen Williams, is considered an international expert on hypertension, healthcare disparities, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death. He is the Founder and President of the Minority Health Institute, 117th President of the National Medical Association, and Founder of the Association of Black Cardiologists. Dr. Williams was honored by the American Heart Association from which he received the prestigious LifeSaver Award. He has also received the Scroll of Merit and Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Medical Association, their highest honor.
Dr. Williams has authored nine books, including the ground-breaking Textbook of Black-Related Diseases (McGraw-Hill) in 1974, the critically acclaimed Healthcare Disparities at the Crossroads of Healthcare Reform (Springer, 2011), and his most recent book, Blacks in Medicine: Clinical, Demographic, and Socioeconomic Correlations (Springer). He is a cum laude honors graduate of Harvard University, attended the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center where he received the M.D. degree and performed a Cardiology fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Williams served as the Assistant Medical Director at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital where he secured a $3 million dollar grant to establish the King-Drew Sickle Cell Center, and served as Chief of the Heart Station and Head of the Cardiology Department at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center and is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine (full Professor).
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Professor of Social Science and Health
Dr. Ronny A. Bell is a professor of social science and health policy at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. He chairs the North Carolina American Indian Health Board (NCAIHB) and serves as Director of the Office of Cancer Health Equity at the Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Bell's research is focused on chronic disease disparities, with an emphasis on rural and underserved populations. He is also an enrolled member of the Lumbee tribe.
Elana comes to Reservoir with a background in health policy research and a passion for advancing health equity. She combines her experiences in mixed-method research, strategic communications, and advocacy to help clients communicate complex healthcare issues and develop innovative policy solutions.
Prior to joining Reservoir, Elana worked at Avalere, where she conducted health equity research on issues related to women's brain health, Medicaid expansion, and vaccine coverage and access. Across projects, she crafted analytical insights and messaging toolkits to help life sciences companies and advocacy groups understand the sociopolitical factors impacting patient access to and uptake of healthcare services. In her undergraduate experience, Elana worked as a research assistant in the Development of Identities in Cultural Environments (DICE) Lab at Northwestern University, where she conducted qualitative research examining how social determinants shape developmental outcomes for children and young adults with marginalized identities.
Elana graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Global Health Studies.
Elise brings a background in health policy, lobbying and work in both local and federal politics in support of clients' public affairs, policy and communications objectives. Prior to joining Reservoir, she worked as a Policy and Federal Affairs Specialist at Children's Hospital Association, working with allied coalitions, federal agencies, and legislators to ensure that children have access to affordable, high quality health care. Her portfolio included the 340B drug pricing program, Tricare, telehealth, and maternal health. Elise also spent time on Capitol Hill where she served as a Staff Assistant for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Elise has a B.A. in sociology from The Ohio State University and a Master of Health Science from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she worked as a published student researcher in the Harm Reduction Journal. She also acted as a student liaison for a local councilman, where she gained experience in grassroots advocacy.
Elizabeth brings a background in health policy, research, and communications with a focus on promoting access to care.
Prior to Reservoir, Elizabeth worked at Avalere supporting policy projects. Her work centered on federal drug pricing and healthcare reform, as well as vaccines. As an undergraduate student, Elizabeth worked as a research assistant at the Duke Margolis Institute for Health Policy where she investigated challenges with global access to hearing loss healthcare and opportunities for policymakers to address access barriers. While in college, Elizabeth also interned with Family Planning 2030 at the United Nations Foundation, where she primarily supported the Communications team and Advocacy and Partnerships team. Elizabeth has also gained advocacy experience through involvement with Partners in Health, an international nonprofit promoting healthcare in low-resourced settings. Through these experiences, Elizabeth has cultivated a passion for work at the intersection of health policy, advocacy, and communications.
Erin brings more than a decade of experience to Reservoir Communications Group in the field of communications. In her role, Erin works with Fortune 500 companies, innovative start-ups, coalitions, non-profits and trade associations to develop compelling, narrative-driven advocacy campaigns, manage breakthrough paid media campaigns and convene impactful policy forums.
Prior to joining Reservoir, Erin worked for the American Cancer Society, the American Chemistry Council, the Committee for Economic Development, Raycom Media (now Gray Television) and The Austin Group. Erin began her career in Alabama where she served as Deputy State Director for the 2008 Romney for President campaign and spearheaded the creation of a statewide political platform to cover the Alabama Legislature and produced two political TV shows.
Eva possesses deep knowledge of the health care industry, having advised biopharmaceutical and digital health companies, high-growth start-ups, non-profits, integrated health systems, university research programs, grassroots advocacy campaigns and government agencies on communications and advocacy efforts.
Before joining Reservoir, Eva was a vice president at a strategic communications and public affairs firm where she developed programs to advance corporate goals, execute thought leadership strategies, and establish health care technology companies for growth with biopharma, enterprise, providers and payers. In addition to working as a government contractor for the National Institutes of Health and at a global public relations firm, she previously led communications strategy for a District of Columbia health system that combined a Medicaid health plan, pediatric specialty hospital, home health agency and parent foundation to support people with disabilities.
Gillian Parrish has been working in healthcare communications since 2004, with specialized experience in narrative development, brand content and third-party engagement. She brings a passion for writing and storytelling to all aspects of her work. Over the years, Gillian has served nonprofit foundations, HMOs, health systems, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, drug distributors, trade associations, and technology corporations. Her areas of focus include medical research, venture philanthropy, and alliance development.
She previously served as the Communications Director at medical research think tank FasterCures and as a Vice President on the healthcare team at Edelman. Gillian has a B.A. in Public Relations & Strategic Communication from American University and an M.A. in Global Marketing from Emerson College.
Gina is a senior communications professional with extensive experience leading internal and external communications for associations, corporations, and non-profit organizations.
Before joining Reservoir, Gina was the director of corporate communications at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). There she served as a strategic communications lead working closely with staff executives and board members on enterprise-wide priorities for the organization.
Previously, Gina was a director at APCO, a global public affairs and communications firm, where she managed corporate affairs activities for health care and biopharmaceutical companies. Prior to APCO, she held corporate communications and public relations positions at VISIT FLORIDA, the state's official tourism marketing corporation, and The Moore Agency.
Grace has a deep background in health policy, research and public affairs with a specific expertise in the innovative biopharma and vaccines space. Grace started her career at Reservoir in 2016 and has rejoined the Reservoir team after a year working at RF|Binder where she led media and corporate communications work for clients across the education, energy, biotech and food and beverage sectors.
Before joining Reservoir, Grace worked at Keybridge Communications, where she worked on issue advocacy campaigns for healthcare and education interest groups. While completing her undergraduate degree Grace held a public affairs internship at USAID and completed a research fellowship with the Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). Working in both clinical research and healthcare policy settings has given Grace deep experience interpreting and distilling technical research and writing for wide-ranging audiences across multiple media platforms.
Grace graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.S. in International Health.
Greg comes to Reservoir Communications Group with a strong background in researching and writing about the many stakeholders in the health care system.
While completing his undergraduate studies, Greg worked at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital as a Quality Improvement Intern, where he crafted solutions to improve patient throughput and reduce wait times. Prior to MedStar Georgetown, Greg work at Marwood Group, where he helped investment and private equity firms gain clarity into the impacts of value-based reimbursement and health system transformation. Greg also held positions at American Enterprise Institute and Strategic Health Care, where he performed research on a variety of health care legislative and regulatory affairs.
Gretta is a policy and advocacy expert with deep knowledge of the biopharmaceutical sector and the health system more broadly. Before coming to Reservoir she served as Deputy Vice President of Policy & Research at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where she led a range of issues related to the value of medicines, the R&D process, FDA regulation, and personalized medicine. In her more than fifteen years at PhRMA, she worked extensively on orphan drugs, cancer, the biopharmaceutical pipeline, the research ecosystem, the cost of medicines, and marketing and promotion. Gretta also serves on the board of the Society for Women's Health Research, an organization dedicated to advancing our understanding of the biological differences in disease and advocating to enhance women's health. Prior to joining PhRMA, Gretta worked in a lab researching language and the brain at Georgetown University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in biology.
Hanna brings a passion for media relations and health care communications to Reservoir, where she leverages experience in corporate communications, public affairs campaigns and vaccine education awareness efforts.
Hanna comes from an agency background where she previously supported medical associations, scientific meetings and health and wellbeing nonprofits. She has coordinated earned media efforts for a COVID-19 vaccine national public education campaign and continues to seek out any opportunity to put her media skills to work for her clients. Previously, Hanna managed development and communications for a national nonprofit dedicated to Native American youth.
Hanna attended the University of Kansas, where she earned her bachelors of economics and published research on the economics of drought in California.
John comes to Reservoir with a depth of knowledge and experience in communicating complex public policy arguments to diverse groups of stakeholders. He joined full time after beginning his career at the firm as an intern.
Through his undergraduate coursework, John married his passion for politics and policy with his love of writing and communication. He put that knowledge and skill set to work through internships with the Bipartisan Policy Center and American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he advocated for policy reforms to support working families and developed a knack for distilling nuanced, technical policy issues into digestible messaging in order to drive the public conversation.
John graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Political Economy with a minor in Spanish. During his time at Georgetown, he spent a semester abroad in Spain, where he studied Spanish politics, the European Union and comparative politics.
John comes to Reservoir Communications Group with a range of experiences in clinical health care, health policy, and strategic communications.
John discovered his passion for making a difference in the health care landscape one patient at a time while working as an emergency medical technician (EMT). Most recently, he worked as an intern at Reservoir, supporting clients' advocacy and communications efforts before joining the firm full-time. As an undergraduate, John represented his home state of Connecticut on Capitol Hill as part of a national delegation of emergency medical services professionals advocating for a stronger prehospital health care system. John also interned at a legislative affairs firm, where he gained valuable exposure to the policy environments surrounding rare disease therapies, prescription drug coverage, and the accessibility of mental health care. From these experiences, he has come to appreciate the power of distilling complex health policy issues into clear, compelling narratives.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Principal at Spangler Strategies
Katy Spangler is a principal at Spangler Strategies, a consulting firm focused on health policy, advocacy, and coalition building. She advises clients on how to achieve their goals by successfully navigating Capitol Hill and the Executive Branch. Spangler excels in building coalitions of very diverse stakeholders to demonstrate bi-partisan support for key policy goals. Katy is frequently quoted in both the national and benefits media on health care topics and is often a featured speaker on health care policy. She also serves on the Advisory Board to The University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design.
Keishi brings a background in health policy research, analysis, and translation, all with a focus on promoting health equity.
As a graduate student, Keishi interned with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Law Program, where she supported projects assessing the impact of national, state, and local laws and policies on health outcomes and disparities. She also served as a research assistant for the Center for Public Health Systems Science, where she contributed to the creation of tobacco control user guides for the CDC. In these roles, she developed a passion for effectively translating complex health policies and topics into accessible messages for policymakers and practitioners alike. She also has experience in global health, having promoted women's health and rights in Uganda, and in journalism, having completed a fellowship through the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Keishi holds a Master's in Public Health with a specialization in Health Policy Analysis from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Global Health and a minor in American Culture Studies.
Kelley brings a strong background in public relations and healthcare communications to Reservoir, where she supports clients with corporate and advocacy communications, earned media, and content development.
Prior to Reservoir, Kelley held roles with SHIFT Communications and AXON Communications, where she managed media relations, content development and corporate communications for a variety of healthcare clients including life science companies, large and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies and a nonprofit organization. She previously worked as a Senior Account Executive at GCI Health and began her career at Brian Communications in Philadelphia, executing media relations and events for hospitals and health insurers.
Kelley graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a B.S. in Public Relations - a top-rated, accredited program that combines academic and professional training in communications writing, research, strategic planning, ethics and law.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President
- Communications Executive
Kristen McCaughan is an Emmy-award winning communications executive with more than 20 years of experience. She has provided strategic counsel to Fortune 500 companies in nearly every industry as well as major trade associations and non-profit organizations. In addition, she has worked with a range of media on behalf of clients including NBC Nightly News, CNN, FOX, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, Bloomberg, Reuters, the AP, and numerous local newspapers and television newscasts.
Before coming to Reservoir, Kristen was a senior vice president at McGinn and Company, a leading strategic communications firm. There she advised clients on communications strategy, led high-profile communications campaigns, elevated the thought leadership of CEOs and executives, managed crisis communications, and served as a corporate spokesperson.
Kristen previously ran marketing and communications for the National Health Service Corps, a $300 million national health care program, at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In that role, she worked with top government leadership and oversaw strategy, budget, and resources for a 24-person communications team. Additionally, Kristen brings deep perspective from inside the media having worked as a producer at CNN covering stories that included presidential campaigns and the events of September 11. Her work at CNN garnered her national Emmy recognition, among other awards.
Lauren leverages her extensive communications experience across the health care delivery continuum to support clients' policy-focused communications and public affairs campaigns. She helps several of Reservoir's pharmaceutical and trade association clients advance day-to-day communications objectives, including developing and amplifying impactful, patient-centered messaging.
Prior to joining Reservoir, she led communications and marketing efforts at an early-stage health tech startup. Lauren previously worked on the value and access communications team at Real Chemistry, where she developed both corporate-level and product-specific value messaging for pharmaceutical clients.
Lauren received her MPH from Columbia University, specializing in population health and maternal and child health.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Public Affairs and Communications Leader
Laurie is a trusted public affairs and communications leader with 20 years of experience in policy and corporate communications. She is a senior advisor who applies an in-depth, holistic approach to assess the environment and evolving external and internal stakeholder expectations, devising predictive strategies to help guide informed decision making and a framework for the path forward.
Laurie provides communications advice and counsel to executives and teams on a broad range of issues, including reputation management, crisis and litigation, policy, diversity and inclusion, CSR and sustainability, advocacy, and governance. Laurie also works closely with clients on privacy and security related communications including cyber preparedness and breach simulation exercises, as well as post-incident communications on behalf of clients in industries including financial services, retail, technology, and health care.
Laurie previously served as Founder and President of Alton Place Group, a specialized D.C.-based communications firm, and as Deputy Managing Director of the Washington, D.C. office of APCO Worldwide, a global public affairs and strategic communications firm. Prior to joining APCO, she served as the principal administrator of the Committee on Consumer Policy at the OECD in Paris; as Special Advisor to the Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where she handled online privacy and consumer protection issues. She joined the FTC from the White House where she served as Staff Director for the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs.
Lee Lynch has spent the past two decades as an agency and in-house communications expert. Her many years of experience extend across advocacy, public relations, public affairs, issues management, marketing, and journalism. For more than a decade, Lee led the Edelman Alliances group-a dedicated team of experts she founded that engaged hundreds of influencers and third-party organizations to find unique ways to collaboratively link corporations, organizations and governments in the U.S. and globally to achieve mutual goals. Prior to joining Edelman, Lee worked with Hill & Knowlton as the Health Policy deputy practice leader; Ogilvy; the boutique public affairs firm Dowling, Langley & Associates; the Atlanta Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games; Union Switch & Signal and John Harland company; and as an anchor and reporter for WCHL radio in Chapel Hill, NC. Lee is a trained facilitator, has a master's degree from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Liz has a background in strategic communications and public health - bringing a depth of knowledge through her studies and previous professional experiences, including most recently as an intern at Reservoir.
Throughout her undergraduate studies, Liz also interned at a number of political action committees and non-profits focused on enhancing public policy. Additionally, she gained critical marketing and communications skills through her experiences with EMILY's List, The Partnership for Public Service, and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
Liz holds a Master's in Media & Strategic Communication from The George Washington University where she also received her B.A. in Political Communication with a minor in Public Health.
Loribeth Weinstein serves as the CEO Emerita of Jewish Women International. Under her leadership, JWI created dozens of innovative programs and philanthropic initiatives to end violence, ensure economic security and spotlight leadership and mentoring. Weinstein has dedicated her professional life to empowering women and families through her non-profit leadership, strategic consulting and political advocacy.
Lucie has demonstrated track record of researching and writing about key health policy issues and managing complex workstreams across multiple stakeholder groups to advance client objectives. Leveraging her educational training in Biology and having previously worked at McPherson Strategies, Lucie supports a number of Reservoir's trade association and biopharmaceutical company clients in navigating the ever-evolving health care policy landscape through evidence-based communications and public affairs campaigns. Lucie graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Biology of Global Health-a dynamic field of study that combines training in basic science and disease research with interdisciplinary work in policy, economics, ethics, law and sociology.
Madelyn comes to Reservoir Communications Group with a background in strategic communications and public health advocacy. She leverages her diverse knowledge and experiences in these fields to support clients, advancing innovative policy solutions and communicating complex health and health policy issues.
Prior to joining the team full-time, Madelyn interned with Reservoir and engaged with a wide variety of clients, helping to meet their business and policy objectives through technical research and content creation. While completing her undergraduate studies, Madelyn worked as a communications intern for the National Down Syndrome Society, where she supported their external advocacy efforts, social media, and programming.
Madelyn graduated Summa Cum Laude from The George Washington University with a B.S. in Public Health and a minor in French Language, Literature, and Culture.
Mallory is a strategic communications professional who brings over 15 years of experience leading successful public affairs campaigns. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, not-for-profit organizations and political candidates on messaging strategy, coalition management, crisis communications and thought leadership programs. Mallory counsels clients on how to effectively frame the debate, drive and leverage media coverage and influence policymakers.
Before joining Reservoir Communications Group, Mallory was a director at APCO Worldwide where she served as the deputy public affairs practice group leader. There she managed some of the agency's largest accounts, led crisis response teams and developed winning campaigns inside the beltway and across the country.
Previously, Mallory was chief of staff at the New York State Democratic Party and worked on numerous political campaigns in the state. She also worked at a boutique political consulting firm in New York City and with a leading civil rights organization.
Mallory graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College at Columbia University with a B.A. in Political Science.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Creative & Digital Director
Marilyn leads our creative and digital client business, helping deliver top-quality creative content and brand storytelling for our clients. Marilyn brings more than two decades of experience in strategic communications, brand advocacy, and reputation management, producing highly effective and innovative campaigns for corporate, nonprofit, association, and government clients.
Marilyn's expertise includes comprehensive campaign strategy and planning, message and story architecture, branding, digital analytics, copywriting, paid advertising, and executive media training, and international communications platforms. She directs integrated content development including website development, social media, branding, video production, animation, print collateral, paid advertising including television, digital/online, radio, transit, and print campaigns, sponsored/earned media, data visualization, and music composition.
Prior to working with Reservoir, Marilyn served as chief creative officer and executive director of APCO Worldwide, where she led the global digital and creative practice. Marilyn has extensive experience directing political candidate and issue advocacy campaigns, as well as live television and cable news production. Marilyn has a master's degree in communications from the University of Washington, and bachelor of arts degrees in political science, journalism and English from the University of Oregon.