Vicki Southard
Steve Town
Shirly Turney
Kelly Fay
Cathy Vangieri
Kendra Wolf
Jeannine Dowdell
Terry Tinkelenberg
Maria Lokken

Vicki Southard

Co-founder, President, Publicist-at-large
Vicki began her career as a publicist in the Silicon Valley high-tech industry and later honed her business skills in New York City before co-founding The PR Group in 1993. With many years of publicity experience, Vicki believes communication is king.  Business begins with good communication and The PR Group uses good communication with the art of publicity to reach the media for clients.  Vicki enjoys the art of publicity, parallel parking in small spaces, and hot tea with cream and honey. With a husband, 2 teens, and a few animals, she’s a proven multi-tasker.  When she's not in the office, you can find her testing anti-wrinkle creams.

   
Steve Town

Co-founder, Creative Director, Writer
Steve also serves as the company's senior copywriter.His ability to conjure catchy headlines and his animated writing style helped earn him the first-ever "Best Feature-style News Release" award from PR Newswire. His press releases are used by wire service editors and classroom instructors for training publicists how to write copy that gets noticed and used by both print and electronic media. "I love to thoroughly interview each client and understand not only what he or she does, but what he or she does better or more effectively than anyone else in that industry or industry niche. When he's not writing, you can find him next to his son at the starting gate of a motocross race.

 

   
Shirly Turney

Publicist, New Business Developer
Shirly joined The PR Group in 1998 booking radio and television interviews and is now our New Business Manager and responsible for getting our new clients onboard.  Shirly is a graduate of The Vancouver School of Art, a professional artist and recorded songwriter.   Early in her career she worked for jazz icon, Chick Corea where she promoted Chick's music catalogue.  Shirly is a Cree Indian with a little French/Scottish Fur Trapper heritage and was born at the edge of a river in Northern Canada.  She is also Susie's mom.  If she is not in the office she may be kayaking or at an art show expounding the virtues of "Semi-Abstract Realism"!

   
Kelly Fay

Publicist, Media Booker
Kelly has learned publicity from the ground up at the "College of Publicity" at The PR Group and is one of the BEST publicists EVER.  You can trust your PR campaign if it’s in the hands of Kelly.  A natural promoter and a native Floridian, Kelly is a Civil War and WWII buff.  Trivia anyone?   Kelly is a big community service volunteer and is known for her quick wit, happy disposition and enthusiasm to help. If she isn’t at the office, she’s at a Dave Matthews concert or at a Dave Matthews concert!

   
Cathy Vangieri

Publicist, Media Booker
A New ‘Joisey’ girl who graduated from William Peterson University with a B.A. in Communications, Radio and Television, Cathy is a woman of many talents.  Remember when MTV was music videos all day, all night?  Well, Cathy worked for MTV in those days --doing PR!  She was also an elementary school teacher for 10 years.  Currently, Cathy moonlights as a professional photographer and is producer/director of children’s theater productions.  There's no PR campaign or publicity challenge too big for Cathy! If she’s not at work, you can find her taking photos of her husband or daughter while they perform with their bands - both are drummers.

   
Kendra Wolf

Publicist, Media Booker
Kendra moved to Tampa, Florida from Merrimack, New Hampshire in 2001 for college and never left.  A graduate from The University of Tampa with a B.S. in Biology and over 6 years of customer service oriented work experience, Kendra knows how to work with people and all forms of life!  Kendra has done quite a bit of fundraising for charities over the years and her favorite was making dog biscuits for an ASPCA bake sale where they raised over $2500.  If Kendra is not in the office, you can find her at the pool or the beach with her friends having fun in the sun.

   
Jeannine Dowdell

Publicist, Writer and Online Placement Manager
Jeannine has 25 years of Public Relations and marketing experience.  Her specialty is optimizing online press releases (SEO PR) that increase on-line visibility in search results. Online press releases help clients control what appears in search results to get a tailored message directly in front of the target audience, helping to drive qualified traffic to your website. If she’s not at the office, she is somewhere out doors with her laptop and wireless connection!

   
Terry Tinkelenberg

Accounting and Finance Director
Terry is our accounting and finance expert.  Born in South Africa, raised on a kibbutz in Israel and trained in finance with businesses worldwide, Terry's insight on business and profitability makes us lucky to have her here! If she's not tapping on a calculator or doing someone's taxes, you can find her studying philosophy or walking on the beach.

   
Maria Lokken

Writer and Social Media Coordinator
For the past fifteen years Maria has been writing and producing television series for PBS, The Discovery Channel and TV Land to name a few.  As an early internet adopter, she has been one of the key players in creating several broadband websites such as Romance Novel TV and working with companies to establish their social media and digital footprints.  When she’s not on line you can find her curled up in a cozy chair reading a book.