Ragan Training Communicators Roundtable – 4/13/2021

Diane Schwartz is the chief executive officer of Ragan Communications, a leading media company that serves communicators worldwide with education, networking and unparalleled event experiences. She joined Ragan in May 2019 after serving for 23 years at Access Intelligence, where she was senior vice president of the media communications division and oversaw the growth of brands including PR News, Social Shake-Up, Cynopsis, AdExchanger, Admonsters and many others. Schwartz launched more than 75 conferences, training programs, awards competitions and subscription products that put customer and premium content front and center. A former journalist, Schwartz also serves on the boards of the Institute for Public Relations and the Alliance for Women in Media, as well as volunteers in her local community in Connecticut and for Make a Wish, where she is a wish granter.

Brian Pittman is an event producer for Ragan Training and a regular contributor to PR Daily, where he interviews industry leaders to help readers improve their careers as communicators. A seasoned journalist and publisher, he's the former editorial director for Bulldog Reporter, CommPRO.biz and Utah Business Magazine, among others. He's also a digital marketer and content strategist with LA-area agencies, as well as an executive producer on multiple films and documentaries.

Jim Ylisela is Co-founder and Senior Partner of Ragan Consulting Group. He is an award-winning veteran Chicago journalist and a former publisher of Ragan.com. He brings more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, communications research and consulting. Ylisela has designed and organized newsrooms for many companies and organizations, including Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he served as a faculty member and co-director of Medill News Service from 1988 to 2001. He works with communicators to create brand journalism news sites, organize and train writers and editors and restore reporting (and creative storytelling) to internal and external communications.

As a former journalist, Kristin Graham looks at the latest on brain science, psychology, and marketing to figure out how to be heard in a noisy world. For the last several years, Kristin led culture and communications at Amazon and helped launch resources that illuminate Amazon's unique culture. She also taught the Amazon narrative writing process to tens of thousands of employees worldwide. Kristin is now a consultant, trainer, and speaker on the topic of communications, productivity, and information science to corporations, universities, and online courses. Find her online at kristingrahamcomms.com, LinkedIn, or trying out the new Clubhouse app under @kristingraham.