Peter J. Pitts
SVP – Global Health Affairs
Phone: 212-468-3418
Email: Peter.Pitts@mslpr.com
Mr. Pitts is the Senior Vice President of Global Health Affairs at Manning Selvage and Lee (MS&L), where he counsels clients in the healthcare and public affairs sectors on issues pertaining to pharmaceuticals,food and healthcare policy. Prior to joining MS&L, he was FDA’s Associate Commissioner for External Relations. As FDA’s “Chief Messaging Officer,” Pitts’ challenge was to clearly define FDA’s brand image and to communicate the agency’s main themes to its many constituencies. He sees FDA’s mission within the acronym of “SELF,” – Sound science, Ensuring safety, Lowering costs, and Fostering innovation.
Prior to the FDA, Pitts was Managing Partner of Wired World, a strategic public awareness company specializing in solving tough marketing problems, generating big ideas, and stimulating growth for clients aggressively committed to an ambitious rise in profitability, visibility, and influence.
Pitts is one of the country’s most respected writers and counselors in the arena of strategic leadership communication. His advice is sought by leading corporate and political leaders around the world. He is a frequent contributor to several business, healthcare and marketing publications including The Washington Times, Chicago Sun Times, Investor's Business Daily, Pharmaceutical Executive, Health Affairs, and Medical Progress Today.
In 1998 he was voted one of Indianapolis’ 40 Under 40 by the Indianapolis Business Journal. A graduate of McGill University, he is married to Jane Mogel, and has two sons.
MaryEllen O’Donohue
Senior Vice President
Healthcare Practice Director, North America
Phone: 212-468-3656
Fax: 212-468-3703
Email: MaryEllen.O'Donohue@mslpr.com
MaryEllen O’Donohue is Healthcare Practice Director for North America. She has over 20 years of experience in public relations and at MS&L. She has created and implemented numerous PR campaigns for clients in the healthcare industry.
As director, MaryEllen has worked on a wide scope of accounts in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and devices and diagnostics. She works in collaboration with various account teams to develop and has implemented media relations programs for a variety of clients including GlaxoSmithKline, Pharmacia, Philips Medical Systems, Pfizer, Roche and Serono. MaryEllen is known for being a healthcare media strategist, having established MS&L’s National Healthcare Media Relations Department, a department which has grown to include eight media relations experts. For many of these clients, MaryEllen has utilized media strategies to maximize coverage of medical meetings, FDA advisory hearings, new drug approvals and launches, data presentations and publications.
She has worked in an array of therapeutic areas including HIV, oncology, CNS and women’s health. In addition to her healthcare experience, she spent eight years servicing technology accounts and brings a unique combination of skills to expanding the market for medical technologies such as minimally-invasive coronary bypass surgical products, MRIs, CT, hand-held telemedicine devices and blood testing equipment.
MaryEllen earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism from the State University of New York, Oneonta.
Kelly G. Dencker
Senior Vice President
Director, New York Healthcare
Phone: 212-468-3968
Fax: 212-468-3717
Email: kelly.dencker@mslpr.com
Kelly Dencker is the Practice Director, Senior Vice President, New York Healthcare at Manning Selvage & Lee, where he drives practice operation and is responsible for all aspects of strategic planning, development and administration for his clients. His expertise is in consumer health education programs, where he currently oversees post-launch activities for Cialis (erectile dysfunction) on behalf of Lilly ICOS, and respiratory health products where he manages a portfolio of asthma/COPD products for Schering-Plough Corporation.
Dencker has been with MS&L since 1991. His past client work has included Lighthouse International (low vision education), Pfizer (Xalatan/glaucoma, Zyrtec/allergic rhinitis), Allergan (Tazarotene/psoriasis), Genentech (Xolair/allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis), Novartis (Xolair/allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis, Sandimmune/psoriasis), Pharmacia (Azulfadine/rheumatoid arthritis, Cap System/allergy diagnostics, Caverject/erectile dysfunction, Detrol/overactive bladder, Genotropin/growth hormone deficiency, Glynase-Micronase/diabetes), Procter & Gamble (Helidac/ulcer eradication, ThermaCare/pain management), Philips (SensorTouch/temple thermometer), Sanofi Winthrop (Plaquenil/ rheumatoid arthritis), and Sterling Health (Bayer Select/pain management).
During his tenure at MS&L, he has forged strategic partnerships with leading organizations including the American Foundation for Urologic Disease, the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, National Psoriasis Foundation, and the American Diabetes Association.
Dencker is a currently a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
Renee Wilson
Senior Vice President
Director, Consumer Practice
Phone: 212-468-3408
Fax: 212-468-3031
Email: renee.wilson@mslpr.com
As director of the NY consumer practice, Renee has over 15 years experience in brand building, launching new products, issues management and marketing to women.
In her current role, Renee leads the strategic development for the groups’ clients and directs several of the Procter & Gamble Homecare accounts including the Swiffer, Mr. Clean and Febreze franchises.
Before joining MS&L, Renee spent several years working in London on pan-European campaigns for Kellogg’s and J&J. It was here that she was a part of the team that helped to create the Kellogg’s Special K Two Week Challenge that reached women through a holistic marketing initiative.
Other experience includes developing educational and brand-building programs for AHA’s Go Red For Women Cause, American Express, Newman’s Own, Mary Kay Cosmetics, US Tea Council and Remy Amerique’s Cointreau.
Renee has won a number of industry awards for notable campaigns including two Silver Anvils, three Big Apples and a PRWeek Award in Europe for her work with Kellogg’s.
She sits on the NY Public Relations Society Board of Directors and is a member of the Women In Communications NY Chapter and the James Beard Foundation. She has also spoken at several industry conferences focusing on international communications and marketing to women.
Kelly McKenna
Co-Practice Director & Vice President
West Coast Global Health
Phone: 415.364.3840
Fax: 415.676.3901
Email: kelly.mckenna@mslpr.com
Kelly McKenna brings a decade of dedicated healthcare public relations experience to Manning Selvage & Lee’s West Coast Global Health team. Her background includes providing strategic counsel, media and advocacy relations, executive and physician training, and financial communications support for a range of healthcare clients, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostic, Internet health and emerging technology companies. Current clients include Biogen Idec, sanofi-aventis, Philips Medical Systems, Vital Therapies, XDx and Xenogen.
Prior to joining MS&L, Kelly was the PR director for Orion Systems, a health software company in New Zealand, where she helped launch the company’s technologies into several international markets, including the United States. She has also worked in healthcare groups for public relations agencies Middleberg Euro RSCG, where she built a biotech group, providing media relations support for clients such as Medarex and Genmab, and Cohn & Wolfe, where she supported pharmaceutical giants such as SmithKline Beecham and Eli Lilly through branded and unbranded educational campaigns.
Kelly received a bachelor of arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications, specializing in public relations.
Michael Martell
Managing Director
MS&L Frankfurt / Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 69 / 6612456-8311
Fax: +49 (0) 69 / 6612456-8399
Email: mmartell@mslpr.de
Michael Martell joined MS&L in 1994 and is Managing Director at the German MS&L office in Frankfurt since 1996. Primarily, he is responsible for the health care business and financials.
With nearly 20 years of experience in PR consulting for companies, associations and organisations, Michael Martell has expertise in issue and crisis management. His portfolio comprises consulting on products, issues and problems in health care and nutrition as well as questions of public interest and activities sensitive to public opinion. He advises and supports leading national and international companies and organisations in the health care and consumer industries as well as local, regional and private utility providers in developing strategic communication and, the often long-term, implementation of integrated communication campaigns. Michael´s an the health care team´s clients in Germany are Aventis, Bayer, Chiron Behring, Fujisawa, Fraport, German Pharma Health Fund, Procter & Gamble and Wyeth Pharma.
After an academic education in German language and literature at the University of Frankfurt Michael Martell started his career with the privately owned PR agency Leipziger & Partner in 1984, and became a Member of the Executive Board. Michael was born in 1954, he lives in Frankfurt, is married and has two daughters of 11 and 16.
Holly Heline Jarrell
SVP, Insight Creation
Phone: 212-468-4047
Fax: 212-468-3654
Email: holly.jarrell@mslpr.com
Holly Heline Jarrell is the Senior Vice President, Insight Creation at Manning Selvage & Lee (MS&L) New York. In this capacity, she designs and implements research capabilities for MS&L, brings insight and research support to new business development, and manages the agency-wide training module in these disciplines.
Before joining MS&L, Jarrell was a Senior Vice President of the Daniel Yankelovich Group (DYG), the country’s premiere “boutique” consumer trends practice. At DYG, she provides consulting services to executives in leading US companies by helping them apply current and emerging research trends to their business objectives. Specializing in consumer trends, generational and social values research, she is expert at developing perspectives on the major social, economic, consumer, and demographic forces shaping the country.
Jarrell spent fifteen years with the Roper Polling firm (currently GFK-NOP) in various management roles. Most recently, she served as Group Senior Vice President and Director of Roper Public Affairs where she was responsible for all public policy, public affairs, corporate reputation and publicly-released custom research. She has been principle investigator on numerous public studies, including “Baby Boomers Envision Retirement” and “The Aging American Voter,” on behalf of AARP and “The Influential Americans in the 1990s,” a profile of the nation's most politically and socially active segment, sponsored by The Atlantic Monthly. She also co-directed the firm’s corporate reputation management tool, the FORTUNE®/Roper Corporate Reputation Index.
Jarrell was Director of Client Services and Research for the ROPER REPORTS syndicated tracking study of public opinion, consumer insights, social, and economic trends. She also served as Editor of The Public Pulse, the firm’s newsletter on what Americans are thinking, doing and buying. In this capacity, she has written and spoken extensively on such topics as the American family, international trade, the mature market, the workplace, and trends in brand loyalty. Her writing has been featured in such publications as Brandweek and The CASRO Journal.
Prior to joining Roper, she was part of the research teams at MetLife, The Life insurance Marketing and Research Association, and the American Council of Life Insurance. At these organizations, her survey research focused on issues affecting the life and health insurance industries.
Jarrell served on the editorial boards of the ASA Networker, a publication of the American Society for the Aging, and the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Review. She is an active member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)
She received her Master's degree in public affairs from the University of Connecticut, where she concentrated in survey research. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Connecticut College.
Stephanie Koze
Senior Vice President
Deputy Healthcare Practice Director
Phone: 212-468-3710
Fax: 212-468-3707
Email: stephanie.koze@mslpr.com
Stephanie Koze is a senior vice president and deputy director in the healthcare practice of Manning Selvage & Lee’s New York office. She has more than 15 years experience in the US and global pharmaceutical public relations arena with an emphasis in women’s health and advocacy programming.
In addition to managing staff development initiatives at MS&L, Stephanie serves as the global account director for Eli Lilly and Company’s osteoporosis and diabetes portfolios.
She has a broad array of program development and account management experience with products in the pre-clinical through post-launch phase. Prior to joining MS&L in 2003, Stephanie held senior level posts at Chamberlain Communications Group and Edelman.
Stephanie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the Annenberg School. She also completed the New York University School of Management’s Public Relations Certificate Program.
