Austin AMA Board of Directors 2012-2013
President: Michelle Vrudhula
Michelle Vrudhula is the Vice President of Marketing for Customer Research International (CRI). CRI provides market research strategies for a variety of clients in the marketing world. As one of the founders and principals of the company, Michelle uses her 15+ years of experience to suggest the best strategies and solutions for CRI’s clients. This is her fourth term on the board, after being Treasurer, VP of Membership and Secretary. CRI is proud to be the Market Research sponsor for the Austin chapter of the AMA.
President-Elect: Melanie Brennemman
Over the past 12 years, Melanie Brenneman has developed a strategic focus on results in marketing, social media, public relations and employee and crisis communications. Her experience draws from B2B communications roles in organizations varying from entrepreneurial ventures to Fortune 500 corporations. Her roots in the industry stem from editing and sales duties for an international wire distribution service, where on average she advised on 1,000 press releases each year for public and private corporations. Currently, she serves as senior account manager and social media strategist for Edge Legal Marketing.
Melanie is an avid volunteer and a former board member of the Houston chapters of the American Marketing Association and the Public Relations Society of America. You can reach her via Twitter or LinkedIn.
Secretary: Connie Johns
Connie Johns is the owner of Sir Speedy Printing and Marketing Services on Far West Boulevard in Austin, Texas. She started the company in 1993. Prior to starting Sir Speedy, Connie was employed in health care administration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center, St. Luke’s Hospital (Kansas City, Missouri) and Trinity Lutheran Hospital (Kansas City, Missouri). Previous to her health care career she worked in advertising agency and client side advertising positions.
Connie holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Missouri Southern State University.
Treasurer: Barry Raskin
Barry Raskin brings more than 25 years of experience in high-tech marketing, internet, and product development. Today Barry is the founder of Precision Marketect LLC, an interactive marketing boutique that enables organizations to prioritize and deploy new digital marketing best processes with an emphasis on performance tracking metrics and transference of knowledge to client teams.
Vice President of Member Recruitment: Abby Mellott
Abby is a native of Columbus, Ohio and is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. She has been with American City Business Journals for six years, starting with the Washington Business Journal in Washington, D.C. before joining the Austin Business Journal as the Director of Audience Development in 2010. Abby enjoys exploring the Austin area and spending time with her husband, Josh, and two labs Killian and Stella.
Vice President of Member Retention: Chris Schorre
Chris has worn many hats during his 22 years in the marketing world. He has worked for small agencies and large corporations, marketing to B2B professionals and consumers alike. He has been with Emergo Group since 2004 and in his current role as VP of Global Marketing he oversees all online strategy, branding, content development and B2B lead generation, supporting Emergo Group offices in 25 countries worldwide. When he is not marketing services in far flung countries, he enjoys traveling to them, having visited more than 26 countries to date. Chris holds a degree in Advertising from Michigan State University.
Vice President of Events: Lauren Evans
Lauren has been an AMA member since early 2011, where she assumed the volunteer role of the Luncheon Logistics Chair. This year, she will represent the Austin chapter as the Vice President of Events. Lauren graduated with a BS in Advertising, with a minor in Business and Spanish, from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. After working for a few Austin agencies, Lauren took her culinary passion to the Le Cordon Bleu associate’s program and graduated to pursue work with Whole Foods Market in 2004. Since then, Lauren has occupied various roles, both on the food side and in marketing, working at the local, regional and global levels. Lauren currently works for the non-profit arm of Whole Foods Market – Whole Planet Foundation, as their Marketing and Outreach Specialist.
Vice President of Communications: Stacy Glover
Stacy Glover moved to the Austin area in 2007 and is currently the Director of Communications for Texas PTA. Before Texas PTA, Stacy was the Marketing Director for a large credit union in Northeast Texas and an adjunct college professor. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University in business administration, has a CEP designation as a Certified Marketing Specialist, and has won several state-wide marketing and design awards. In addition to her volunteer work for the Austin AMA, she has volunteered for her neighborhood HOA, served on a business and marketing advisory board for a community college, and as a board member (including President) for the Wright Patman Chapter of Credit Unions. She has been married to husband Allen for seven years and has a five-year old daughter, Shelby Grace.
Vice President of Sponsorships: Nehemiah Pitts III
Nehemiah Pitts III combines 20+ years of sales, marketing and development experience across assorted industries with a genuine passion for community, education and entrepreneurship. As an avid community advocate and managing consultant at Shining Light Consulting, Nehemiah assists variety of client types with partner engagements and direct business services, while focusing on professional development, technology and non-profits in local client and volunteer work choices, such as ProductCamp Austin and American YouthWorks. Having played a pivotal role in the evolution of the digital media age from 2000-2004 in education technology with Apple Inc., Nehemiah now also serves on the E4 Youth Advisory Board, working with Austin’s leading advertising agencies, community business partners and Austin-area school systems to maximize the impact of digital media on capacity building and enrichment programming for youth.
Vice President of SIGS: Sally Parks
As the Director of Marketing for 5Point Enterprises, Sally is responsible for the strategic and tactical implementation of all marketing activities for 17 New Horizons Computer Learning Centers in the central U.S. Prior to her current role, she held various marketing positions in telecom and high-tech companies, where she helped jump-start growth through all areas of the marketing discipline including brand development, product and service launch, and new market development.
In addition to her involvement with the AMA, Sally has served on the New Horizons’ Marketing Advisory Council for the past 7 years, where she has helped direct marketing activities for 300 franchises world-wide. She has also served in various roles in the Microsoft IAMCP and is active in her Neighborhood Association. As a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, she is an avid support of the Texas Longhorns.
Vice President of Community Relations: Priscilla Brave
Priscilla Brave is a regional events manager for Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc. – a company that connects communities with knowledge through two distinct, yet complementary offerings: GLG Research and HighTable. Her specialties include project management, strategic marketing communications, event planning, consumer market research focused on women, and fostering relationships, among others. This native Texan is also a proud community advocate and volunteers with organizations that include Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Texas. She is an active volunteer with the American Marketing Association, serving on the board of directors since 2009 in various capacities including vice president of communications and vice president of special interest groups for the Austin chapter. During the 2012-2013 board year, she will drive efforts to support and partner with other local non profit organizations as vice president of community relations.
Vice President of Technology: Susan Andrus
Susan Andrus is Marketing Manager of McElroy Translation. She directs customer relationship strategies, online marketing initiatives, and brand management for the company. With 14 years in the translation and localization industry, Susan’s experience includes holding a senior level position on the production side of the company, enabling her to bridge the gap between clients and internal workflow solutions. In addition to working for McElroy Translation, Susan is pursuing a degree in marketing from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and serves on the board of the American Marketing Association (AMA) – Austin Chapter.
Immediate Past President: Angela Brutsché
As the director of marketing and communications for the Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR), Angela Brutsché works to promote REALTORS® and homeownership throughout Central Texas using vehicles such as AustinHomeSearch.com. Prior to her employment at ABoR, Angela held various sales and marketing positions in the healthcare and technology fields. In addition to her commitment to AMA, Angela volunteers for Communities in Schools and Junior Achievement. Angela holds an MBA from Texas State University and a BA from St. Edward’s University.
