Marla Viorst
Strategic Communications Consultant
Partners
I am a very capable sole proprietor -- but I can't do it all. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to form relationships with exceptional communications professionals, allowing me to serve my clients' needs more thoroughly. Listed below are a few of the individuals I have worked with on my latest projects. When there is an aspect of a project for which I am not well suited, I am happy to refer to or partner with experts in my network, and am open to forging relationships and alliances with other consultants on projects that require multiple perspectives and expertise.
Ranit Schmelzer
Ranit Schmelzer honed her skills on Capitol Hill as communications director for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. She understands the legislative and regulatory hurdles your work faces at every turn. After her tenure there, she moved on to the advocacy world, managing communications strategies for numerous issue campaigns, such as Title IX and pay discrimination. Later, she gained first-hand experience in the executive branch, managing public affairs at an agency in the Obama administration. She currently specializes in communications strategy, issue advocacy and media relations for non-profits and foundations, including the Bloomberg Foundation, the Brookings Institution, USAgainstAlzheimer’s and the White House Council for Community Solutions.
Jeannette O'Connor
Jeannette O’Connor specializes in creating and implementing integrated advocacy and communications campaigns and messages that make complex policy issues understandable to the public. Jeannette has applied her skills in message development, media relations and coalition building to a diverse set of issues for Alliance for Justice, AARP Foundation, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Over the past two decades, Jeannette has worked with non-profits, political campaigns, Members of Congress, foundations and labor unions. Prior to joining Woodside Park Strategies, Jeannette served as vice president at Greer, Margolis, Mitchell, Burns (GMMB), where she lead several strategic communications campaigns working with state advocates and officials, as well as national coalition partners as a critical part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Covering Kids Campaign and Cover the Uninsured Week.
Jack Dougherty
Jack has provided reputation management and litigation-support counsel to Fortune 500 F&B companies for 20 years. As both an employee and consultant, he oversaw alcohol-issues management and legal-communications work at Anheuser-Busch. His F&B clients have included The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald's, PepsiCo's Naked Juice and Darden Restaurants.