The evolution of PR measurement: The numbers and beyond

Ray manages all communications, government relations and policy for Bayer Corporation. He oversees the Bayer U.S. Foundation and is a member of the Bayer U.S. Country Council. Ray serves as Vice-Chair of Bayer’s political action committee. Previously, Ray was Vice President of external affairs and worldwide communications for Pfizer overseeing communications, internal & external, for the Company globally. He was the chief global spokesperson for Pfizer. Ray was part of a team that managed the $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth and $2.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to Pfizer, he was Executive Director of public affairs for Merck & Co. and served as the company’s chief global spokesperson following the Vioxx recall. Before Merck, Ray spent nine years at GCI Group where he was executive vice president/managing director overseeing both the corporate communications & media relations practices. Prior to GCI, he spent five years at Porter Novelli where he held various senior-level positions. Ray is the recipient of many company and industry awards, including being named “2017 Outstanding In-House Professional Award” by PRWeek; “2010 Public Relations Professional of the Year” by PRWeek; “2010 Media Relations Professional” by Bulldog Reporter; and was also named “Top 40 under 40” executives by PRWeek in 2009. He is the Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) and serves on the Center for Disease Control & Prevention’s Business Roundtable on Global Health Threats. Ray holds a Master of Science degree and Bachelor of Arts degree from Iona College.

Allyson Hugley is responsible for leading the development and adoption of analytics and market intelligence solutions across Global Communications to deepen communications impact and provide enhanced decision support specific to the promotion and protection of Prudential’s reputation across a diverse set of stakeholders. Hugley has over 20 years of experience and proven expertise driving the development of audience intelligence, media research and digital analytics solutions to inform business strategy, marketing and communications. Prior to joining Prudential, she managed the global analytics practice for Weber Shandwick, a leading communications agency. While at Weber Shandwick she directed global measurement and analytics client delivery, thought leadership, talent management and business development. She also served on the global leadership team and developed award-winning communications analytics solutions. Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Hugley was the senior vice president of Insight Creation at MSLGROUP, a member of the Strategic Marketing research team at Scholastic Inc., and a senior account director at GfK leading public affairs and media research. Hugley is a member of the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) Measurement Commission and the former co-chair for the North American chapter of the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC). She has also served on AMEC’s board of directors. In 2015, she was recognized by PR News as one of the Top Women in PR and inducted into their PR Measurement Hall of Fame. In 2017, she was honored by Black Enterprise for outstanding business achievement. In 2019, she was recognized by AMEC for outstanding service to the communications evaluation industry. Hugley received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Connecticut College. She also holds an MBA from CUNY Baruch Zicklin School of Business and an MS in analytics from Texas A&M University.

Ann Marie Gothard is Vice President, Global Corporate Media Relations for Henry Schein, Inc. In this role, she leads all strategic media relations for the company’s corporate brand, including its core business units – dental, medical, and technology and value-added services – and Henry Schein Cares, the company’s global corporate social responsibility program. A seasoned communications professional, Ann Marie’s experience in the health care industry spans nearly two decades, across sectors, and geographies. Prior to joining Henry Schein, she was Senior Director, Communications Strategy, for EmblemHealth. She has also led marketing and communications for The Mount Sinai Medical Center, global communications and branding for ORBIS International, an NGO that brings people together to fight avoidable blindness, internal and business communications for Aetna, and held leadership positions at several boutique PR firms, representing clients in the automotive, energy, and government sectors.

Mary Elizabeth leads Ketchum’s research, measurement and analytics group called Ketchum Global Research & Analytics (KGRA). Since joining the agency in 2001, she has been instrumental in growing the business from a handful of team members to well over 50 in 10 cities globally today. With close to 20 years of experience as a marketing and communications research, Mary Elizabeth counsels clients on how to make the best use of data and analytics and derived insights to develop, measure and optimize strategic communication programs. Her work spans all stages of the communications process – from planning to testing to evaluation. She is responsible for the development of a variety of Ketchum’s proprietary tools, including those used for measurement, audience profiling, strategy and creative testing, optimization, as well as the agency’s strategic planning process among others. Her remit is to infuse data and analytics across all aspects of the Agency’s work. Her background is in the area of corporate reputation research. When she first joined Ketchum she launched and managed Ketchum Reputation Lab which is a proprietary specialization of the group. In the Lab, the team uses analytics as the basis for the development of corporate reputation programs. Work in this space includes the following clients: Takeda, Janssen, Novartis, NBCUniversal, Kohler, Hilton Worldwide, Michelin, Dow, ConAgra, White Wave Foods, Best Buy, Newmont, Genentech, Sears, Nokia, and Cox Communications. Prior to joining Ketchum, she was a Senior Project Manager at Roper Starch Worldwide. While at Roper she worked in the Public Affairs division managing custom research clients for a variety of clients. She was also responsible for the design, analysis, and reporting of the Fortune/Roper Corporate Reputation Index. She has also worked as Senior Project Director at Capstone Research where she managed sales tracking studies for tobacco and food companies. These studies looked at how various promotions and point of sale/purchase materials affected overall sales. Her responsibilities also included quality control management of 1000 vendors nationwide. She received a B.A. in Psychology and History from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.