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Communication Coaches
David Meeker | Davis Young | Don Eagon | Nora Jacobs | Jennifer Keirn | Julie Conrad | Don Philabaum
David Meeker, Senior Facilitator
David served for many years as Executive Vice President of the multi-office Edward Howard public relations firm and previously owned Akron-based David A. Meeker & Associates.
He is former Executive Director of the Ohio Democratic Party, Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Executive Secretary to the Mayor of St. Louis. David worked as a journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Akron Beacon Journal.
He has been a national leader in the public relations field.
- Chairman of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows
- Chairman of the PRSA Environment Section
- Recipient of five Silver Anvils, PRSA’s top national award
David is an adjunct faculty member in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University where he has taught at both the senior undergraduate and master's degree levels. He has an undergraduate degree from Kent State University and a master's degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
Clients represented by David Meeker have included:
- National Trade Association: The Vinyl Institute for issues counsel and communication training for leaders of the global vinyl industry.
- Manufacturers: 3M, Hoover Co., Mead Corporation, PPG Industries, Brush Engineered Materials, BFGoodrich, Borden, Cooper Tire and The Brenlin Group for a variety of work including environmental issues management, community and government relations.
- Health Care: Public relations and issues management for Cleveland Clinic, Akron General Medical Center, Summa, Edwin Shaw Hospital, Canton Mercy Hospital, Aultman Hospital and others.
- Non-profits: Catholic Diocese, Association of Retarded Citizens, Summit County Board of Mental Health, State of Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Davis Young, Senior Facilitator
“…a nationally recognized marketing and media expert.” Cleveland Plain Dealer. October 10, 2009.
Davis was President of Edward Howard for a number of years and led the public relations business before that with Liggett-Stashower.
He is author of the book Building Your Company’s Good Name published by the American Management Association’s AMACOM Publishing Division.
He has been a national leader in the public relations field.
- Chairman of the PRSA Counselors Academy that represents hundreds of public relations firms
- Recipient of the Best of Silver Anvil Award for the single finest public relations program of the year nationally.
- Named Public Relations All-Star by the industry publication inside pr as the country’s best crisis communicator for public relations firms.
Davis is a widely experienced speaker and trainer and serves as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University. He has taught ethics-based courses at the senior undergraduate and master's degree levels. He is a journalism graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Clients represented by Davis Young have included:
- Professional Sports Teams: Ownership of Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians and San Francisco 49ers.
- Health Care: Cleveland Clinic including communications training for 135 physicians and staff. Communication counsel for leadership of Aultman Hospital, St. Vincent Charity Hospital and multiple hospitals within the Cleveland Clinic system.
- Progressive Auto Insurance including communication training throughout the country for 200-plus managers.
- Numerous additional training programs and counsel for Nokia, Revco Drug Stores, Rubbermaid, Target, Parker Hannifin, Sherwin-Williams and Invacare.
- Professional Service Firms: Baker Hostetler and Thompson Hine.
- Non-Profits: Hospice of Western Reserve, Judson, Cleveland Sight Center, Hattie Larlham, Ohio Department of Development, Laurel School, Gilmour Academy.
Don brings more than 30 years of corporate communication experience to focus on your opportunity or problem. For Meeker-Young, he will be leading several coaching modules in the areas of both internal and financial communication.
Don had a “seat at the table” as a senior communicator with three Fortune 500 companies where he advised the boards of directors and executive committees on corporate communication – investor relations, public relations, internal communication, financial reporting, government relations, advertising, marketing and marketing communication.
- Vice President Global Communication and Investor Relations, Diebold Incorporated.
- Vice President Investor Relations and Global Communication, Figgie International, Inc.
- Manager, Public Relations, The Timken Company.
Don has been a national leader in the field of communication.
- Chairman and Board of Directors, National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI).
- Recipient of PRSA Silver Anvil Award for Investor Relations.
- Involved over many years with NASDAQ, The American Management Association, The American Advertising Association and PRSA.
He is an experienced teacher and speaker – associations conventions, professional development conferences, colleges and universities. He has taught a variety of communication/marketing-related courses as an adjunct faculty member at Walsh University from which he graduated with a degree in education.
Among the interesting perspectives and experiences he brings to Meeker-Young is that of a long-time client of a major firm, Dix & Eaton. In addition to his work with Meeker-Young, Don also operates The Eagon Group.
Nora Jacobs, Senior Facilitator
"A terrific strategist, writer and thinker...a rare, but indispensable combination of talents suited to some of the toughest hurdles of our profession." Director, Corporate Communications
Nora Jacobs has many years of counseling and training experience with both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
She retired from Edward Howard in 2009. She has a long history of developing other professionals and headed the staff training function and managed the largest office for that firm. Nora received the award for Exceptional Mentors presented annually by Greater Cleveland PRSA.
Nora has a strong portfolio of client work in consumer and industrial products, health care, biotechnology, education and economic development. She has broad experience in crisis management, crisis planning, strategic planning, issues management, marketing, corporate communications, thought leader communications and branding.
Clients Represented by Nora Jacobs have included:
- Manufacturers: The BF Goodrich Company, BP, Brush Engineered Materials, Geon Company, Kidde Consumer and Residential Fire Safety, PolyOne Corporation, Sherwin Williams Industrial and Marine Products Division.
- Associations: The Chlorine Chemistry Council, The National Collegiate Honors Council, The Vinyl Institute.
- Health Care: Cleveland Clinic, EMH Regional Medical Center, The Greater Cleveland Hospital Association, Judson Retirement Communities, Laurel Lake Retirement Community.
- Education: Cuhahoga Community College, John Carroll University, Western Reserve Academy.
- Economic Development: BioEnterprise, Greater Cleveland Partnership.
- Non-Profits: The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Hattie Larlham Foundation, Hospice of the Western Reserve.
Nora is a College of Arts and Sciences graduate of Kent State and holds a master's degree from John Carroll University. She has been particularly active with Kent State.
- Past-President of the Kent State National Alumni Association
- Board Member of the KSU Foundation.
- President of the KSU Honors College Advisory Board.
In addition to numerous professional awards, she has also received the Distinguished Honors Alumni Award from the KSU Honors College and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the KSU College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to her work with Meeker-Young, Nora operates Nora Jacobs APR Communications Consulting LLC.
Jennifer Keirn, Senior Facilitator
Jennifer Keirn's career has spanned both sides of the media divide, from her years as a PR and marketing executive to her current position as a freelance journalist. She's put her communication skills to work for organizations both large and small, from start-ups to industry leaders, and in a wide variety of markets. Jennifer is a graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.
- Freelance Journalist/Marketing Communications Consultant
- Director of Marketing Communications, Roscoe Medical, Inc.
- Account Executive, Edward Howard & Co.
Publications and clients for whom Jennifer Keirn has written or consulted include:
- Great Lakes Publishing Co., including Cleveland Magazine, Lake Erie Living, Inside Business and College 101
- Crain's Cleveland Business
- The Sherwin-Williams Company
- Roscoe Medical, Inc.
- Camcode, a division of Horizons Incorporated
- Southwest General Hospital
- United Publications, including HME News, Fitness Business News and Security Director News
- Resilience Capital Partners
- The Vinyl Institute
In addition to her work with Meeker-Young, Jennifer Keirn operates as JK Freelance Writer.
Julie Conrad, Senior Facilitator
"We had a short window to create and roll out several new programs. Julie quickly grasped the nature of our organization and helped us prioritize what needed to be accomplished...responsive, efficient and always keeping our organization's goals and key constituents in mind." Lee Friedman, CEO, Cleveland Leadership Center
For more than a decade, Julie has specialized in spearheading, managing and implementing communication programs for business-to-business, healthcare, technology, consumer and non-profit organizations. She partners with them to define their story, believe their story and to provide cost- and time-effective activities to get that story out to key targets.
Julie has a special interest in creating communication roadmaps for small businesses and start-ups to help influence their growth and profitability.
She has worked with a big p.r. firm as well as mid-size firms. Included in this experience was a stint with Cohn & Wolfe in New York, time spent with technology public relations firm Airfoil Public Relations in Detroit, and work for Dan Pinger Public Relations in Cincinnati.
Clients Julie has counseled include:
- Automatic Data Processing (ADP)
- PGA of America
- Sanofi-Aventis (Aventis)
- Ford
- MSN
- Johnson Controls Telematics Division
She has also worked on the client side where she established the communication department at JustTalk, a speech recognition enterprise software company.
Julie, who operates Julie Conrad Communications, LLC, is a speech communications graduate of Miami University and an Accredited Member of PRSA.
Self-employed since he graduated from Kent State University, Don has founded three firms and sold two of them. Today, he is CEO of Internet Strategies Group.
The firm he founded in 1995, IAC, created password protected online communities for organizations like:
- London School of Economics
- University of Toronto
- Exxon Mobil Company
- The Former FBI Alumni Association
- Associates First Capital Corporation
- Over 300 others.
Drawing on experience gained from analyzing best practices in Internet customer engagement, Don has written five books and a dozen white papers, the most recent publication, being Internet Dough where he shows how a business as small as a pizza shop can use the Internet to acquire, retain and engage customers.
His piece on 97 Strategies to Engage Customers Online is a step-by-step guide that shows organizations how to use blogs, video, email, mobile marketing, social media and online community to increase revenue and profits.
And Don’s The Little Blue Book of Facebook provides organizations a step-by-step methodology to build and execute a Facebook strategy that generates leads, listens to and communicates with customers. His Webinars on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other social media tools have been attended by many professionals.
Don’s current projects involve helping brands and organizations design customized Facebook applications to engage customers and helping large organizations develop a more holistic Internet/Social Media strategy across all departments. This is a process called becoming NET-Centered.
He likes to remind business owners and managers that their customers’ shopping and buying behaviors have been forever altered by the Internet and to remain relevant to them they must adopt an Internet strategy to survive and thrive!
What Others Say About Meeker-Young Senior Facilitators 
