Colleen Harris

Former Press Secretary To Princes Charles, William And Harry

Former Adviser, World Health Organization, Elton John Aids Foundation

With more than 25 years’ experience ranging from the British Royal Household, via Downing Street, to international NGOs, Colleen Harris has a strong track record of working in high-profile media and communications roles. This professional experience is complemented by a broad portfolio of trusteeships and non-executive director roles in the arts, education and health. Colleen held a senior communications position in the Prime Minister’s Office before being appointed Press Secretary to HRH the Prince of Wales, and was the first Black member of the Royal Household. She handled the media for The Prince of Wales during some of the most turbulent years, and also media-managed the emergence of Princes William and Harry into the public eye. Her career has included senior posts in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, and the Cabinet Office as well as in non-departmental Public Bodies. She has worked in Britain and abroad as a consultant with private companies, non-profit organisations and UN agencies, including the World Health Organisation. Colleen’s work in a wide variety of contexts has taught her about managing individual reputations, as well as how to use brand-development techniques to help clients identify and take full advantage of their strengths and skills – equipping them to define their own public profiles, and achieve personal and business success. Colleen’s board-level and executive experience has given her a good appreciation of how to inspire and lead teams, as well as insight into the qualities that CEOs and boards look for in high-level executives.

Jon Meakin

Clarity PR

President, North America

Jon has 25 years’ public relations and communications experience, encompassing consumer, corporate, business-to-business and crisis and issues management.  He is currently President, North America at Clarity PR, responsible for the strategic direction and growth of Clarity's North American business.

Previously, Jon ran Grayling’s global Strategic Services team, which encompassed research, insights and evaluation; creative and content solutions through the agency’s GMint offer; and Grayling’s proprietary online reputation management tool, GCore. He also overseed the firm’s global marketing efforts and consults on key international clients.

Jon’s career has seen him develop and run successful international campaigns for clients including PayPal and Shell, and UK programs for clients in food and drink, travel and tourism, publishing, property and other sectors.

Jon is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK and has previously judged several PR industry awards, including the CIPR Excellence Awards, PRCA Awards, the PRWeek Awards and the Romanian PR Awards. British born, Jon is currently resident in San Francisco.

Vincent J. Dollard, APR

Emory University’s Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

Associate Vice President for Communications

Vincent J. Dollard, APR, is Associate Vice President for Communications for Emory University’s Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center. The Woodruff Health Sciences includes Emory Healthcare; Emory University School of Medicine; the Rollins School of Public Health; the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing; Yerkes National Primate Research Center; the Winship Cancer Institute, and Emory’s basic science research enterprise.

In this role, he is responsible for strategic planning and implementation for communications, media relations, issues management, crisis communications, research communications, publications, web development, social media, and internal communications.

Before joining Emory in 2001, Dollard served as Director of Communications for the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Nancy Bistritz-Balkan

Purchasing Power

Senior Director Corporate Communications

Sandra Fathi

Gregory FCA

Chief Strategy Officer

Sandra Fathi is Chief Strategy Officer for Gregory FCA, a B2B technology and financial services public relations and marketing firm. She has spent the last 25 years helping technology, healthcare and professional services companies achieve their goals. Sandra founded Affect in 2002, a public relations, marketing and social media agency, for nearly two decades prior to being acquired by Gregory FCA in the Spring of 2021. 

Sandra started her career as a reporter for a division of Ziff Davis and IDG Tech Network. She went on to work at a number of leading technology firms and one of the top global PR agencies. Her clients have included Apple, EDS, Ericsson, Nokia and Microsoft, as well as innovative start-ups.

Sandra is also active in the communications industry and professional community. She has served on the board of the PR Council, as Chair of PRSA’s Tri-State District, President of PRSA-NY and President of the PRSA Technology Section. She is a sought-after speaker for conferences and events and her expert commentary has appeared in business and industry outlets such as CNN, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., Huffington Post and U.S. News & World Report.  Adding to her accolades, Sandra has been recognized as one of PRNews’ Top Women in PR, a PRNews PR Professional of the Year finalist, and a Bulldog PR Agency Professional of the Year.

In addition to her professional pursuits, Sandra is a wife and mother of two children and one demanding dog. She is passionate about philanthropic work and serves on the board of directors of HavServe, a nonprofit organization focused on community-led development in Haiti.

nonprofit organization focused on community-led development in Haiti.

Robyn Jenkins-Blum

Cisco

Head of Business Critical Communications

Robyn Jenkins-Blum oversees Cisco’s Business Critical Communications (BCC) team responsible for crisis and issues management and communications for mergers and acquisitions and investments. BCC plays pivotal role in shaping Cisco’s corporate reputation by managing and providing strategic communications counsel on complex issues such as product and security vulnerabilities, data exposure incidents, customer escalations, employee and workplace matters, litigation and more.

A veteran of the technology industry spending more than 19 years at Cisco, Robyn has led all aspects of corporate public relations including financial communications, M&A, corporate social responsibility, people and culture, and corporate reputation management. She serves as a company spokesperson and has provided strategic PR counsel to Cisco executive leadership including the chairman and CEO, CFO, CSO and general counsel.

Prior to joining Cisco, Robyn held public relations positions with several leading technology corporations. She managed public relations for Intel Corporation’s multi-billion-dollar mobile processor and handheld products group, promoted the company’s women in technology initiative and implemented consumer press technology education programs. She also held roles at Acer America and Logitech.

Robyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations from San Jose State University. She has been recognized by Business Insider as one of the technology industry’s top 51 PR people in 2017, as well as PR News’ 2019 “Top Women in PR.”