During many of our training courses, we have multiple instructors lead the class. This provides a wider variety of styles and knowledge and keeps the class more interesting. We also regularly invite guest speakers who are often your peers within the government who share their personal experiences related to marketing public programs. Listed below are some of our regular instructors as well as several recent guest speakers including video highlights of several. A short montage video of recent speakers is located at the bottom of the page.
Scott Stafford
Scott is an experienced marketing professional who has a true passion for the power of branding, social marketing, and the use of focused segmentation models to pinpoint your marketing efforts on the right target market. Scott has provided many government agencies with marketing insight including helping the USPS apply geo-demographic models to their marketing efforts and serving as an integral part of the team that launched Thermy and "Is it Done Yet Campaign?" promoting food safety for USDA.
Video of Scott sharing his experience working on the USDA's "Is It Done Yet?". The campaign's goal is to reduce illness from food that is not cooked to the correct temperature. The combination of research and a targeted effort to reach "Boomburb" households as viewed through the TRACK framework provide great insight into this successsful national campaign. (17 min)
Christine Brittle, PhD.
Christine specializes in improving the ability of government agencies to effectively communicate environmental, health, risk, and safety messages. Christine plans, designs, and implements research projects to enhance communications, including literature reviews, surveys, focus groups, and Web usability studies, and also writes communication materials for non-technical audiences. Her emphasis is on clear communication and scientific accuracy.
Christine has led Federal communication projects both as a government employee and as an expert consultant. She has worked for a variety of agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency, the Department of Labor, and the Food and Drug Administration.
Christine holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis.
Video of Christine speaking on how the human brain filters information and how we can leverage that knowledge in our marketing efforts (14 min)
Alan Minton
Alan Minton is an experienced marketing professional applying the discipline of marketing to the Federal and public sectors. His expertise is understanding the new battleground of communications and how government can leverage their strengths and minimize their weaknesses to begin the process of changing the public's attitudes and behaviors. Alan is currently the Vice President and Co-founder of The Track Group.
David Ehrlich
David Ehrlich is a sought-after speaker and author of the books, Smokey, Rosie, and You! and TRACK Marketing, available on at . With over 20 years of work experience, David's expertise is in the area of developing segmented marketing campaigns where action is inspired by messaging that resonates with the target market.
David is currently the President and Co-founder of The Track Group.
Sol is a key founder and former director of the EPA's EnergyStar program. His lessons are critical knowledge for anyone who is trying to serve as a change agent within the government. Sol broke down barriers and thought outside the box to create what is one of the first and most successful public-private partnerships of the federal goverment, EnergyStar. Sol shares many of the mis-conceptions commonly held by people within and outside of the government when thinking about marketing and what can and can't be done.
Video of Sol discussing how small things can make a huge difference and how the ability to create tipping points can explode into successful programs ( 33 min)
Mary Miller Levy directs the Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) Publications and Media Division, which includes programs to develop helpful consumer publications and electronic information, and to obtain media coverage that builds public awareness and use of federal information. Ms. Levy oversees the production of FCIC’s award-winning, annual television public service advertising campaign, as well as print and radio public service efforts.
Video of Mary sharing her experience in marketing the hugely successful programs that serve as the front door of the Federal government to the American public. These include Pueblo CO as well as the Firstgov.gov web portal. Mary also discusses some of the challenges related to launching one of the first blogs from a Federal agency.
Bob Zachariasiewicz, federal employee involved in media relations has extensive experience in getting his message out via the media.
Video of Bob sharing some of his thoughts related to getting your message out via the media. (19 min 42 sec) 3 minute condensed version.
Tom Bullock, DOD (ESGR)
Tom has a background in corporate marketing and is now a full time federal employee involved in leveraging marketing for the greater good of society. Tom's shares his excitement about the opportunities that exist when you apply the key lessons of proactive corporate marketing and develop key strategic partnerships that serve as a force multiplier in your marketing efforts.
Video of Tom sharing his insights and excitements into the challenges he faces daily to market the Employer support of the guard and reserve (ESGR) program (18 min)
Jennifer Marks, U.S. Census Bureau
Jennifer Marks of the U.S. Census Bureau, Office of the Associate Director for Communications, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau.
Video of Jennifer sharing her experiences in marketing challenges related to maximizing the public's taking of the Census, including challenges related to outreach aimed at the Hispanic community and various populations. (13 min 40 sec)
Andrew Bittner, Office of Technology Advancement and Outreach, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Video of Drew sharing his experiences in moving his office toward podcasting as a way of leveraging one of the latest and more popular forms of digital communications. View the slides Drew shared with the class.
David Orcutt, GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Communications
Video of David speaking about leveraging new media options including blogs and video services such as YouTube to reach various audiences. David shares his experiences connecting with the blogger community and pushing the envelope forward on using the newest technologies as part of the overall outreach effort.
Joe Starinchak, Department of Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Video of Joe speaking about the incredible ability to leverage partnerships to communicate your message. Joe creates win-win partnerships with corporations that help solve issues such as invasive species and prescription drug waste contaminating the environment. View the slides Joe shared with the class.
Wayne Shelly, Economist, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Video of sharing his experiences using trade shows targeting human resource professionals where his office shares information related to the National Compensation Survey and other BLS data. View the slides Wayne shared with the class.
Jim Onder, DOT (retired)
Jim has been a communications specialist for professional or trade associations, government agencies, and company or nonprofit organizations on a variety of internal and external communication issues. He has worked as a full-time Federal employee and has consulted with a variety of Federal and state governmental organizations on safety and crisis prevention issues.
During the past 20 years, Jim has traveled to fifty states conducting presentations and providing technical assistance on internal and external outreach public information and crises issues to key state health care professionals and law enforcement personnel. He has published over two-hundred articles on communication topics. Jim has been a college professor of communications at the American University and at the University of Maryland in College Park.
He has taught media relations for the U.S. Graduate School in Washington, DC for the past nine years. Jim has a Ph.D. in communications, advertising and public health communication topics from the University of Michigan. To learn more about the topics Dr. Onder teaches, click here.
