Career Panel and Networking Event

Jeanette Casselano is a senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard’s Washington, D.C., office. She brings broadcast news, media relations, crisis communications and event planning and management expertise to the firm. While at Fleishman-Hillard, she has provided public relations support to the implementation of media programs for military, food and beauty industries, concentrating heavily on raising awareness, launching new programs, corporate communications, as well as managing industry crisis communication issues.

Ms. Casselano currently leads the United States Marine Corps, Division of Public Affairs work for Fleishman-Hillard. Stationed at the Pentagon, she works side-by-side with the Marines lending support and counsel related to Marine Corps strategic communication, community relations and media relations tasks. In her duties, she manages the planning and execution of Marine Week, a large scale publicity and community relations events. The annual week long series of 60 events takes place in a different city each year with more than 700 Marines. Working with the Marines, she leads the strategic planning, vendor management (venue, materials, production, advertising, marketing, video production and crisis planning), on-site management, and post event analysis, in addition to overseeing the media relations campaigns and multi-million dollar advertising campaign. She has successfully overseen Marine Week Boston (2009), St. Louis (2010) and Cleveland (2011) – garnering more than 150,000 attendees and millions of media impressions yearly.

On behalf of the Marine Corps, Ms. Casselano was tasked to lead the media efforts for Medal of Honor recipient Sgt Dakota Meyer (September 2011), the first living Marine to receive the honor in 38 years. Working side-by-side with Sgt Meyer, she was responsible for his media training, schedule and media tour in Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego.

On behalf of Coty Inc., a global beauty leader, Ms. Casselano managed the company’s global day-to-day crisis communications efforts. Working with Coty’s corporate communications division, Ms. Casselano developed and oversaw the execution of crisis campaigns related to plant closures, layoffs, counterfeit goods and celebrity behavior, as well as issues management for acquisitions and divestures. As account lead, Ms. Casselano has spearheaded the coordination and implementation of Coty’s global crisis communication training program, conducting annual trainings for executives around the globe. Ms. Casselano works with Coty’s chief executive officer and executive committee to formulate an ongoing full-fledged corporate communications strategy to raise visibility of the company’s accomplishments, major announcements and executives’ news.

Additionally, Ms. Casselano has provided crisis communications support for a vast majority of clients regarding child labor, lead in chocolate, grilling and carcinogens, animal testing and product tampering.

Ms. Casselano has worked on numerous consumer campaigns for the National Confectioners Association, Hearth Patio & Barbecue Association, the Better Sleep Council and the Library of Congress. For these clients, she has planned, managed and overseen the execution of account news bureau activities, development of press materials and Web content, implementation of media campaigns and maintains ongoing reporter relationships to secure coverage in top-tier media. Additionally, she has developed and facilitated media trainings for campaign spokespersons across half a dozen campaigns. Through Ms. Casselano’s work on a range of association accounts, she has established a strong working relationship with members of both the Washington and national broadcast outlets, and has secured coverage for clients on “The Today Show,” “Fox & Friends,” “Good Morning America,” and in USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and many other print and broadcast markets across the country.

She has also contributed to the development and staffing for the National Confectioners Association’s ALL CANDY EXPO®, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue EXPO, Chocolate Manufacturer Association’s Chocolate Symposium, A CEO Celebration at Head of the Charles Regatta® and the National Book Festival.

Ms. Casselano was named 2010 Team Player of the Year for the firm’s DC office. She has also received company awards for excellence in client service and media relations. She serves as lead of the Fleishman Hillard Internship Program.

Prior to joining Fleishman-Hillard, Ms. Casselano was a news producer at WIS-TV, the NBC local affiliate in Columbia, SC (86 news market). Ms. Casselano graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor degree in broadcast journalism.

Claudia de Colstoun began her career at the Inter-American Development Bank in 1986. She has worked both in the Operational area of the Bank (Microfinance loan officer, Coordinator of Country Programming and as Advisor to the Regional Manager) and in the Corporate area as Advisor to the Vice President for Finance and Administration.

Since May 2008, Claudia has been the Chief of the Talent Management Division in the Human Resources Department at IADB. She holds an MA in International Relations from George Washington University and a BA in Political Science from Middlebury College. She is a dual citizen of the United States and France, was raised in Latin America and is fluent (native) in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Emily McIntire is a Senior Advisor of Talent & Culture with Atlantic Media Company. She manages recruitment for the company working specifically with The Atlantic and the newly launched digital publication, Quartz. Additionally, Emily works across the company to create and implement training and development programs. Since joining Atlantic Media in 2007, Emily has held many roles across the Human Resources team, including launching and running the Atlantic Media Company Fellowship Program. Emily holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.

Based in Washington, DC, Atlantic Media Company is a rapidly expanding and service-first media enterprise whose mission is to inform, elevate, and challenge the national discourse. Atlantic Media's flagship publications — The Atlantic, National Journal, and Government Executive — are among the most influential media outlets in America, engaging opinion leaders from Pennsylvania Avenue to the Pentagon, Wall Street to Harvard Square. Impacting over 1.5 million decision makers spanning the ranks of business, politics, government, and academia, Atlantic Media is a unique company in a dynamic industry.

David Ong is the Director of Corporate Recruiting at MAXIMUS Inc, a professional services firm delivering operations support and consulting services to government agencies focused on healthcare and human services administration. Prior to joining MAXIMUS in 2004, he led college recruiting functions at organizations such as Capital One, Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank and Booz Allen Hamilton. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Colleges and Employers. David holds a BA in English from the University of Richmond.

Vanessa A. Strauss is the Senior Advisor, Division of Administration (DOA), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Strauss also has the additional responsibility as the DOA chairperson, in the College of Corporate Operations, Corporate University, FDIC. In her position as senior adviser, she is responsible for performing a wide-range of managerial and technical assignments relating to the design, development, and implementation of acquisition, human resource and facility management policies and programs. As chairperson for DOA in Corporate University, Strauss is the technical expert in the corporation's administrative programs and operations and serves as a resource in the development of employee training programs in support of operational programs and goals of the corporation.

Strauss served on the Executive Board of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) for six years, where she advanced from the position of Regional Director to President of NACE from 2006-07 and continues to be an active member of the association. Vanessa presented ACRRFT as a Preconference Workshop at the 2010 Annual Conference and Expo. he served as a member of the Executive Board of the Eastern Association of Colleges and Employers (EACE) for four years.