We’re proud to come from a fast growing and innovative tech community here in Chicago. As we continue to grow in the Windy City – in both leadership and office space – I’m excited to share the promotion of four of our Chicago PR leaders to vice president and senior vice president roles.
These four PR leaders have played a big part in our success within the Chicago community – in 2018 alone Walker Sands was named a Chicago Inno 50 on Fire Blazer winner and Crain’s #13 Best Place to Work in Chicago. Following a year of 56% company growth, these team members will help take Walker Sands to the next level, both in Chicago and out, by continuing to enhance our PR offerings and processes, along with developing better management for our integrated accounts:
- Andrew Cross, Senior Vice President of PR – Andrew has been a critical leader at Walker Sands since joining the team eight years ago. For the last year, he’s been responsible for managing the entire PR group based in Chicago. Andrew has also led the PR department to positive revenue growth across all director groups.
- Erin Jordan, Vice President and Partner – Erin joined Walker Sands in 2012 and today oversees the PR department’s work in retail and marketing technology. She also leads Walker Sands’ annual Future of Retail report, now on its sixth year. Erin has been a keynote speaker at industry events, including IRCE, is one of 12 leaders on PR Council’s Next Shadow Board and has played a pivotal role in the success of some of Walker Sands’ largest accounts, including CloudCraze (since acquired by Salesforce) and Globant.
- Allison Ward, Vice President and Partner – Allison has managed clients across many industries, with a specialization in fintech. She has also proven to be an effective leader in large integrated content marketing, web and video projects for PR clients. Allison is an active member of the Chicago community and sits on the board of the ITA’s Women Influence Chicago initiative. Over the past year, Allison has been instrumental in developing Walker Sands’ new family leave policy to support working parents and build a better corporate culture.
- Robert Chilver, Vice President of PR – Since joining Walker Sands in 2010, Bobby has led programs for some of Walker Sands’ most technical clients in enterprise software and IT. Along with being a strong PR leader, Bobby has the distinction of leading Walker Sands’ longest-standing client, BizBuySell, now entering its twelfth year with the company.
Along with these recent elevations and company growth came a lot of employee growth – our headcount shot up by 48% last year – which drove the need for additional space in our Chicago headquarters. At the end of 2018, we started the process of taking over the entire 39th floor at 55 West Monroe, resulting in a space we’re truly proud to call home.
It has been a big start to 2019 at Walker Sands, and I’m humbled to be a part of what we’re building – for our industry, our employees, our clients and the communities we call home.