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Julia Hutton
Founder/CEO
Julia Hutton has been a public relations professional most of her career which is now in its 40th year. Ms Hutton is results oriented an d offers a proven track record of solid accomplishments. She has represented clients from a variety of industries including consumer high – tech including wireless, entertainment, animals and pets, sports, real estate, hospitality, agriculture, non-profit organizations of many kinds, and more.
While working at a leading high-tech PR firm in San Diego, Hutton was promoted to a position that was created with Julia’s special skills in mind. Her title? "O.T.B. Project Manager" - O.T.B. standing for out-of-the-box. When an account needed a "different" approach to get the results, Hutton was assigned the project responsibility. She has an uncanny ability to create unusual and interesting stories that generate media interest and coverage.
Julia is described as having an, “insane work ethic” and amazing attention to detail with impeccable follow through. She enjoys and uses a unique sense of humor and charisma to an advantage. "After all," she says, "editors get hundreds of boring emails and phone calls from PR types daily. We have to make them want to put their red pencils behind their ears, take a breath, and have an informative chat (laced with a tad of humor), about this wonderful solution we are calling about.
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Alice Giannola
Executive Vice President
Alice Giannola relocated to Arizona from Michigan where she began her career in the financial services industry. As a financial analyst, Alice spent the past eight years with an accounting firm in Phoenix where she provided consulting and accounting services to over thirty clients. Alice has also held key management positions in the healthcare and service industry and has developed a diverse background that includes expense management, financial reporting, process improvement, personnel management and training. Alice brings extensive experience and leadership to all areas of the day-to-day management of operations and personnel at Orca |
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Wendy Roberts
Director of PR
Wendy Roberts is a skilled marketing and public relations professional and comes to Orca with a career background primarily in magazine publishing. As the marketing and promotions director at Razor, a national men’s lifestyle magazine, Wendy was in charge of managing a team responsible for the publication’s national marketing agenda. Wendy has orchestrated major cross-marketing campaigns with brands such as Universal Pictures, NBC Sports, Major League Baseball, and Sony Music. She has produced and executed many high-profile events, including a private release party for HBO’s The Sopranos in honor of the entire cast; the U.S. premier and after-party of the Academy Award-winning film Crash; and the U.S. launch of Ford Motor Company’s concept car, Ford GT, at The Kentucky Derby. While at Razor, she also held the position of public relations manager and was in charge of publicizing the magazine’s feature articles, celebrity interviews, and editorial executives on a monthly basis. She has secured press coverage on some of the most respected television and print media in the country. Wendy has also served as a marketing director for Scottsdale Food magazine and, most recently, as marketing manager for Dermacare Laser & Skin Care Clinics. Wendy holds a B.A. in media communication from The College of Charleston in South Carolina.
Wendy is inspired by the ingenuity and ambition of Orca’s diverse clients and is thrilled to be a part of the team that promotes these products to the media.
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Lacy Gambee
Publicist
Lacy Gambee joined Orca Communications after years of working in the television news industry. Most recently, she worked as an Investigative Producer for the NBC Affiliate in Tucson, Arizona. There she also served as the Special Projects Producer where she coordinated media coverage for various companies and organizations around the country. Lacy graduated from the University of Arizona Honor’s College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. She also received a Certified Public Manager’s Degree from Arizona State University. Lacy’s contacts and inside understanding of the media provides her with many valuable assets as a publicist. These skills allow her to understand how and when the media wants to receive information. Being the recipient of thousands of press releases and pitches has provided the distinct advantage of figuring out angles the media will be interested in covering.
Lacy understands that a client’s success is Orca’s success and delivering results has always been a top priority for her. With specific expertise in media relations and communications, Lacy has helped clients garner strategic media coverage from the nation's top broadcast, online and print outlets, including: The Today Show, Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, Frommers, AOL, The Washington Post, USA Today, National Public Radio, Disney Family Fun, Scholastic Parent & Child, Pregnancy & Newborn, Glamour, Fitness, Woman’s Day, Woman’s World, Cooking Light, TIME, Businessweek and Forbes. Clients, colleagues and media contacts commend her research abilities and whatever-it-takes commitment to achieving success.
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Tana Siebold
Publicist
Tana Siebold takes the plunge into Orca Communications with a varied and extensive background that includes elementary education, sales, personal training, massage therapy and most recently, admissions coordination. Having grown up overseas in Saudi Arabia and traveled all over the world, she brings a unique multi-cultural perspective to the Orca team. She is thrilled to be a part of such an exciting company, delving deeper into her love of Public Relations, and finally putting her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado to good use.
Tana currently resides in Sarasota, FL, where she continues to stay active and pursue her passion for health and fitness by running the pristine beaches as often as possible.
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Krista Loew
Publicist
Krista Loew is a former television news anchor and award-winning reporter who brings 15 years of broadcast experience to Orca Communications. She’s worked in television markets including in Knoxville, Tennessee, Phoenix, and Tucson, Arizona where she received countless awards for her weekly crime-stopper reports.
The years she spent reporting the news, hosting programs, and building contacts make Krista a true insider in the news business. She considers herself an expert when it comes to sparking media interest in people and products.
Krista was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She’s a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and two young daughters. |
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Staci Torgeson
Publicist
Staci Torgeson has 15 years of experience in media relations, marketing, promotions and event coordination. She thoroughly enjoys becoming a member of her clients’ team and finding the timely angles that will help their business shine with the media. Her qualifications include work in the hospitality, entertainment, non-profit, and business industries. Through the years, she has worked on a variety of high profile events including several ComiCon and ShoWest conventions, the 1998 Republican National Convention and Super Bowl XXXII. She served as a regional representative for the film divisions of Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Miramax, and Dimension Films and as the regional Director of Marketing for a start-up entertainment venue. She also helped conceive, coordinate and publicize two Moms on a Mission Fundraisers following the Southeast Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
From working in her familiy’s own business, Staci understands the investment her clients are making in their company when they commit to a public relations campaign and will always work diligently and think outside the box to help them obtain the coverage they are seeking. |
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Allyson McCormley
Publicist
Allyson is a public relations specialist who is passionate about the way businesses and entrepreneurs benefit from exposure to the media through public relations outreach. Allyson has almost a decade of experience working in both television news and public relations and has garnered numerous relationships with various media contacts during this time.
Allyson has been successful at Orca Communications getting her clients the coverage they deserve! From national television outlets to local newspapers, Allyson works with each client to get their products in front of the media outlets each client wants.
A graduate of the University of Arizona with a Bachelor Degree in Journalism and English, Allyson has worked around the world including time at Travel Intelligence, a travel magazine in London, England, KTVK-TV, the number one independent news station in the country and The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.
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Sue Breding
Publicist
Sue Breding is a public relations specialist and Emmy Award winning journalist who enjoys working with the media on behalf of the people she represents. She has a highly successful track record of gaining exposure for experts, new products and special events. Sue has experience helping clients with a wide variety of public relations needs. She has served as a media liaison at national sporting events, has done extensive media training and coaching, and is skilled at preparing clients prior to a TV broadcast or print interview and assisting them as they hone message. Sue has also written, produced and hosted top-quality marketing videos for a large variety of corporate clients and has been called in to guide CEO’s and other decision makers through crisis communications situations.
Prior to working in public relations, Sue was an on-camera TV news reporter in Phoenix and Los Angeles. She was live-on-the-scene at every type of news story imaginable ranging from major crimes to visits by world leaders. For a large part of her television news career she specialized in writing and reporting award-winning feature news stories as well as reporting at red carpet events and interviewing A-list celebrities. She is also a published magazine features writer and her articles have appeared in both national and local publications.
Sue has earned numerous awards during her career, including three Emmy awards for excellence in TV journalism. She was the recipient of the Arizona Governor’s Award for outstanding service to the community.
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Melissa Ireland
Executive Client Coordinator
With an extensive careerbackground in Retail Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Client Coordinationand Public Relations, Melissa is well-equipped for her role as Orca's ExecutiveClient Coordinator in which she prepares our new clients for their upcoming PRcampaigns. Melissa serves as a liaison between new clients and our publicistsproviding both with pertinent information prior to the campaign launch.
While attending Columbia Collegein Chicago,Melissa worked to promote the city’s championship Major League Soccerteam, The Chicago Fire. She went on to work with corporations and smallbusiness owners, promoting both to local and national television, radio, printand online media. These experiences gave her a vast understanding of the mediaand the importance of a solid public relations campaign. Melissa lives in thesuburbs of Chicagowith her husband and daughter, Lily.
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Laura McGeary
HR/IT/Financial Assistant
Laura McGeary is self driven individual with a variety of talents in the business and finance arena. She has spent the last 8 years of her career managing 25 valley locations for a local mortgage company. Her primary job functions included overseeing day to day operations along with the corporate Human Resource, Accounting, and Branch Coordinator staff. She also planned quarterly corporate events and company mixers. She is a dynamic public speaker and has led several training seminars. Laura has also set up many small businesses creating turn key operations for the owners, handling licensing, bonding, and accounting set up.
Laura lives in Phoenix with her 8 year old son and enjoys watching him play baseball. She also hopes to run her first marathon this fall. |
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Sean Corgan
IT Specialist
Sean Corgan has a diverse background in Information Technology. He has worked for over seven years in the industry, and has been involved with Information Technology his entire life. His past experience involved being a master technician for a major computer retailer. He has a CompTIA A+ certification and is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. He is currently working on a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at Arizona State University. |
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Julie Simon
Senior Account Executive
Julie Simon brings to Orca Communications 10 plus years of experience in television news. For more than a decade she was on the front lines covering dangerous wildfires on the Nevada/California border, Hurricane Rita on the Texas coast, and rebuilding efforts for a new generation in Communist Vietnam On a lighter side, she's covered tryouts for American Idol and MTV's Real World. She's interviewed such notables as former President Clinton, Lance Armstrong, and Jay Leno.
Julie started her career in 1998 as a field producer at the KVBC the NBC affiliate in her hometown of Las Vegas (people often ask if growing up in Las Vegas she lived in a house or a hotel- the answer is a house)! She then moved from behind the camera to in front of it as a reporter at KRNV, the NBC affiliate in Reno. She moved to KEYE in 2002, the CBS affiliate in her adopted hometown of Austin, Texas. In 2004, she won the Associated Press Texas Reporter of the Year award. While in college at American University in Washington D.C., Julie worked for CNN at The White House and for the FOX program, America's Most Wanted.
She's excited about working in Public Relations, has a good sense of what kind of people and products have media appeal, and how to pitch to editors and producers for optimal client results.
Julie and her husband Ben live in Austin and welcomed their first child, a son, Elias Kurt in late October 2008 |
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Valery Lodato
Senior Account Executive
Valery Lodato brings 12 years of local and national news media experience to the Orca Team.
An Emmy award-winning television producer, Valery joined Orca after working as the Senior Executive Producer at KPHO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Phoenix. There she supervised the daily news product and dozens of producers and reporters.
Before her move to Phoenix, Valery spent several exciting years in Washington DC: first, producing the late news at WUSA-TV, the CBS Affiliate then to USA TODAY, as the Deputy Managing Editor for the newspaper’s television unit. One of Valery’s key tasks: develop and coordinate coverage each day with print counterparts in the News, Money, Sports and Life sections.
Valery is a graduate of Boston University's College of Communications and a native Chicagoan.
A mother of two young children: Tyler and Sydney, she and her husband live in Phoenix.
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Michelle Lawless
Account Executive/Publicist
Michelle Lawless is a news junkie who spent nearly 7 years as a producer at the number one independent news station in the country, KTVK-3TV. After growing up in Minnesota, Michelle decided to head for the sun, attending Arizona State University, where she majored in broadcast journalism with a minor in communications. After college, Michelle was lucky enough to be hired in the Phoenix market at 3TV. Thanks to her work in TV news, Michelle was able to see first hand how effective and valuable public relations really is. She is excited about now being able to share her knowledge with entrepreneurs and business owners through Orca Communications.
When Michelle's not channel surfing for the latest news, she enjoys reading, doing pilates and playing with her babies, her dogs Joey and Oscar.
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Joanne Sgro
Business Development
Joanne Sgro is a regularly featured television, fitness/lifestyle expert and motivational speaker. In addition to being a Certified Personal Trainer and Pilates Instructor, she is an Emmy Nominated Health and Fitness Reporter and Emmy Award Winning Consumer Producer. A Philadelphia native, she has worked for and been featured on the Philadelphia affiliates of NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC and Comcast. She has also done some work as a Product Host for QVC and has been featured on Fine Living Network. Joanne has been on the national covers of Woman’s World Magazine and First For Women Magazine. She has also been featured in Good Housekeeping Magazine, Family Circle Magazine, Oxygen Magazine as well as the front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
She is a graduate of Villanova University and holds 17 national fitness certifications. She currently resides in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Her hobbies include teaching group exercise classes such as ZUMBA, singing, dancing and cooking her original, healthy alternative recipes. |
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