Our Team
Meet the people creating Relevance
Seasoned professionals with deep experience delivering strategic, creative and effective communications across many sectors and industries.
BRYAN MCCLEARY
Principal
Following five years as Press Secretary to US Senator John Glenn, Bryan served for twenty years at P&G. His experience spanned PR, corporate communications, influencer marketing, crisis, and issue management. executive visibility and speechwriting, employee engagement and global communications management.
Named official “dean" of PR at P&G, Bryan also led training around the world for marketers and communicators. Bryan most recently served as a consultant to nonprofits, a fellow at the Carter Center, Vice President for Communications and Creative at News America Marketing and Chief Marketing and Engagement Officer for United Way of Greater Cincinnati.
PARTNERS
BETH BALSAM
CONSUMER COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER
FOUNDER & CEO, X2PR
Beth Balsam has spent her career helping brands and companies reach their business and communications objectives via strategic communications programs. Most recently, she served as Hill+Knowlton’s U.S. CEO and president. She is an award-winning strategic communications leader with vast experience in consumer branding, lifestyle marketing, issues management and corporate social responsibility, as well as a reputation for being an excellent counselor, team-builder and connector.
Prior to H+K, Beth spent 11 years at Citizen Relations, most recently as a managing director with the responsibility of managing the firm’s global relationship with Procter & Gamble. She previously served as general manager of the firm’s New York office. Prior to Citizen, Balsam was a senior vice president at FleishmanHillard, where she spent eight years working with P&G, Hasbro and other consumer brands. Previous to that, she served in-house at Revlon.
RICK MILLER
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER
FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL, RMC
Rick Miller, founder and principal at RMC, has deep experience creating and leading programs for blue-chip companies, B2B and consumer brands, not-for-profits and associations. He is best known for his work in corporate communications, product and social marketing (particularly health issues) and crisis management.
Prior to starting his own firm, Rick was SVP/General Manager and marketing group director for the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller in San Francisco and Chicago, and President/Agency Group and President/PR for Northlich an integrated PR and advertising agency. Rick works with a team that includes creative, digital, media and culture change specialists. He is also founder and chair of the Communications Accelerator, which shares best practices among leading, publicly traded companies.
JAMES FERGUSON
CREATIVE SERVICES PARTNER
FOUNDER, BIG IDEA GROUP
A proven leader with over 28 years of strategic marketing experience in both direct-to-consumer and business-to-business segments, James has developed and implemented many fully integrated strategic marketing initiatives that have included strategic brand planning, brand positioning, advertising, consumer and retail promotion, digital, social, word-of- mouth advocacy and direct marketing.
After holding various C-suite roles throughout most of his career, James founded Big Idea Group, an entrepreneurial strategic marketing organization that works directly with senior leaders and their brand teams to create and execute innovative strategic plans, brand propositions and programs that drive incremental business growth.
Over the years, he has worked with a variety of brands including several fortune 100 and 500 companies. A few notable organizations include Procter and Gamble, Bayer HealthCare, Johnson and Johnson, Nature’s Way, LensCrafters, Kikkoman International, Chiquita Brands, Nestle Waters, SuperValu, Kroger, and several regional convenience store chains.