2024 Winners

2024 SHARON LINHART PUBLIC RELATIONS PERSON OF THE YEAR

Merideth Hartung | VP, Social and Digital Media, B Public Relations

With nearly 15 years of experience in digital media and strategy development across a diverse portfolio of hospitality brands, Merideth’s passion for marketing has led to numerous successful social media campaigns, influencer collaborations, rebranding initiatives, property and restaurant openings, hotel acquisitions and more. A New England native, Merideth holds a B.S. in Marketing and a Masters in Business Administration, both from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Merideth joined B Public Relations in 2015 to launch the agency’s social media division and has since grown the team to eight full-time employees. Today, she oversees day-to-day initiatives, content development, community management, brand positioning across a variety of channels, influencer campaigns and paid social media strategy execution, while also supporting agency growth with new business opportunities, team integration and general strategy oversight.  

Prior to joining BPR, Merideth specialized in social media research at UMass Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research, analyzing how Fortune and Inc. 500 companies utilized digital channels to support their marketing goals. From there, she acted as marketing manager for Massachusetts-based Lafrance Hospitality, where she developed and managed all facets of strategic marketing campaigns for hotels, restaurants, event venues and catering departments. Most recently, Merideth managed social media and e-commerce for Stonebridge Companies, a leading hospitality management and development company based in Denver. She has extensive experience marketing a variety of limited and full-service brands under the Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Choice umbrellas, and has also executed marketing campaigns for multiple independent hotels and restaurants.

Despite her family owning a boutique distillery in Maysville, KY, Merideth is a wine lover at heart and a Certified Level I Sommelier by the International Wine Guild. Having grown up moving every three years (she’s a proud Navy Brat), she fulfills her need to be on the road with long weekends in the mountains or quick trips to various cities, and hopes to pass her love of travel on to her three children, with her oldest reaching nearly 30 flights before her second birthday.

2024 JANE DVORAK MENTOR OF THE YEAR

Shawna Seldon McGregor | Founder, Maverick Public Relations

With a career spanning more than 25 years, Shawna Seldon McGregor is a distinguished public relations executive whose innovative approach and strategic vision have propelled her to the forefront of her field. Shawna has deep experience representing a multitude of sectors, including biotech, agribusiness, sustainable technologies, renewable energy, associations and media companies. Accomplishments include founding an award-winning agency focused on serving highly regulated industries, including renewable energy and sustainable technologies; organizing and managing high-wattage celebrity-hosted press events; and developing and implementing hyperlocal public relations initiatives to effectively influence legislation. She excels at leading a seasoned team, fostering an environment of collaboration and innovation to deliver exceptional client service with big agency expertise. Maverick PR is certified by the City and County of Denver’s Division of Small Business Opportunity as a Minority/Woman-owned Business Enterprise.

Throughout her career, Shawna has remained dedicated to professional development and community engagement. Her leadership extends beyond her business roles to her active participation in industry organizations, where she contributes her expertise to organizations including PRSA, where she serves on the Colorado Chapter’s DEI committee and has earned a certificate in Reputation Management. She is on the board of the Colorado Judicial Institute, Publicity Club of New York, and she is a member of the Crisis Ready Institute. Shawna was named a Woman to Watch by MG Magazine (May 2024), a top PR pro by Cannadelic (January 2023), Green Market Report (April 2022), and MG magazine (June 2022). She also serves on the board of Colorado-based dog rescue Saving Dobermankind and the non-profit Climate Ride. Shawna lives in Mountain View–on the eastern border of Jefferson County–with her husband Patrick and her dogs Maverick and Leo. When she's not working, she likes to spend time outside somewhere warm with her husband and dogs, Maverick and Leo.

2024 CHAPTER SERVICE AWARD

Liz Viscardi | LV Events and PR 

Liz Viscardi, APR, is the owner of LV Events and PR, focusing on freelance public relations and corporate event planning. She has more than 15 years of experience in public relations and has been fortunate to work in the corporate, agency and freelance realms. Prior to starting LV Events and PR, she worked at CIG Public Relations for a decade where she had many roles and gained experience in a variety of industries including hospitality, construction, statewide public education and corporate event planning. Liz has a bachelor’s degree in Technical Journalism with a concentration in Public Relations and a minor in Business Administration from Colorado State University and became Accredited in 2012. When she’s not wearing her PR hat, she’s hanging out with her two small children, husband, and fur babies.  

2024 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD

Caroline Campbell | Public Relations and Communications Manager, VISIT DENVER

Caroline Campbell is a seasoned professional in destination marketing and public relations, currently serving as the PR & Communications Manager at VISIT DENVER, a private, nonprofit trade association that is responsible for marketing metro Denver as a convention and leisure destination. 

Caroline began her career with the U.S. Travel Association in Washington, D.C., supporting the association’s communication and marketing efforts. She then expanded her role to support the association’s membership base including destination marketing offices, state tourism offices, corporate travel members and attractions and experiences. In her current role at VISIT DENVER, Caroline executes the global public relations strategy for Denver's official destination marketing organization through strategic communications initiatives and media relations

Beyond her professional endeavors, Caroline is actively involved in the local community as a member of the Junior Leadership of Denver. She is a Colorado native and loves to spend her free time outside hiking, skiing, running and playing tennis. 

2024 MEDIA PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD

Greg Avery | Denver Business Journal

Greg Avery is the Denver Business Journal's managing editor, coordinating our daily newsroom coverage. He started at the Denver Business Journal in 2007, covering Denver’s technology, biotech and telecommunication and cable TV industries. He later covered energy, aerospace and much more. He previously wrote for daily newspapers in Boulder and Longmont. His coverage has won state and regional awards. He lives in Lafayette with his wife and two kids and enjoys hiking, biking and snowboarding in the mountains.

2024 BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD

 Doyle Albee | President and CEO, Comprise

Doyle Albee’s varied career includes public relations, marketing communications and digital marketing with experience in a number of industries, including a number of technology markets, cable and telecommunications, healthcare and regulated industries. He has worked with startups to members of the Fortune 500, both public and private organizations and led communications for an initial public offering.  

Albee’s background includes 10 years with Coors Brewing Company (now MillerCoors) in both public relations and marketing positions. While there, Albee worked on public relations teams for a number of public relations efforts including the Coors Banquet label change, a national product tampering case and PR efforts in assigned markets to support Coors’ expansion from 11 western states to a national brewer. He also served on a variety of crisis teams. 

After Coors, he directed global communications for hard disk drive manufacturer Maxtor, including directing communications for the company’s $332.5 million public offering, one of the largest of that year. While at Maxtor, Albee was responsible for all PR and marketing, event marketing and management, branding and advertising. He managed employees in two U.S. and three international cities and assembled and managed a global network of public relations firms spanning eight international cities.

A tenure at Boulder-based branding and advertising firm SRG piqued Albee’s interest in agency work. He founded and managed his own public relations firm for a number of years and merged with Boulder-based Metzger Associates in 2005. The firm then became Metzger Albee PR and is now Comprise. Comprise offers public relations, content development, website design, social media management and creative and video services from offices in Boulder and Denver, Colorado. 

In 2003, Albee was named to the Denver Business Journal’s prestigious “Forty Under 40” list. He has also won a Magellan Platinum Award from the League of American Communications Professionals and a Distinguished Communicator Award from the Colorado Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, among others. In 2018 Albee received the Community Impact Award from the Boulder Chamber and was named one of the 50 Most Influential Business Leaders by BizWest in 2023. Under his leadership, Comprise was named “Agency of the Year” in 2021, 2022 and 2023 by Business Intelligence Group and was named to the Best Places to Work list by the Denver Business Journal. Comprise was also one of fewer than 250 companies named to Inc. Magazine’s Inaugural Power Partner List in 2022 and was named for a second time in 2023. 

Albee served on the board of directors of the Boulder Chamber from 2017-2022 and currently serves on the boards of the Boulder Symphony and the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame. 

Away from the office, Albee is an avid cyclist, both mountain and road, an enthusiastic football and hockey fan and a musician, frequently performing with his wife, Carol. He has two adult children, Drew and Morgan.

Albee holds a degree in Mass Communications from the University of Denver, where he was awarded the Palmer Hoyt Scholarship for the Outstanding Senior Mass Communications Student. 

2024 PR TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD

Gomez Howard Group

The Gomez Howard Group (GHG) is a Black-, Latina-, woman-owned integrated marketing communication firm started in 2004 by Gerri Gomez Howard.

GHG uses its expertise in integrated marketing communication, media relations, project management, digital marketing and multicultural community engagement to help communities transform themselves. By connecting the dots – between nonprofit organizations, businesses, government, communities, and media – GHG creates opportunities for organizations to grow and thrive and cultivate partnerships that result in positive and powerful outcomes.

In the last 20 years, GHG has adapted to expand the services we provide our clients. Its team members’ decades of experience and expertise – coupled with their empathy, compassion, and authenticity – have helped GHG establish trust with its roster of more than a dozen clients, who have faith in GHG to share their stories with their communities.