Declan Waters

FOUNDER AND CEO

Based: Boston, MA, USA (HQ)

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Declan is the founder and CEO of Waters Agency and has been running media campaigns for US and European companies for over 20 years. His experience in media relations comes from representing companies such VMware and Nutanix and working with the likes of Condoleezza "Condi" Rice, former Secretary of State and John Thompson, Chairman of the Board at Microsoft.

Ryan Waters

SVP, EMEA

Based: London, England, UK

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Ryan has 11+ years experience in technology PR and leads the Waters Agency EMEA team. Over his career Ryan has worked for fast paced, high growth tech companies such as Forcepoint, Rackspace and QuickPlay Media, as well as executing big campaigns for leading technology brands such as Google Cloud, Toshiba and EE. He specialises in enterprise, marketing, cloud, telecoms, and broadcast technology.

Tracey-Ann Mee

VP, CLIENT EXPERIENCE

Based: San Antonio, TX, USA

 

Tracey has 28 years’ experience in agency-side PR, having worked at, run, and founded her own agency. She has managed small teams and very large teams, and worked with dozens of clients on B2B, B2C, G2C and non-profit campaigns. Her clients at Waters span container, cloud and cyber security markets.

Lauren Curley

COO AND SVP, NA

Based: Boston, MA, USA (HQ)

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Lauren has over 25 years of experience in strategic communications across a range of industries. Before Waters, Lauren helped establish the Horn Group’s Boston office and presence on the East Coast. Specializing in translating highly technical value propositions into clear compelling messaging, she has proven success working with the C-Suite and VC community.

Hollie Kenney

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND LOGISTICS

Based: Austin, TX, USA

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Following 20 years experience as a publisher, Hollie works closely with Lauren Curley on the important work that helps run the agency. This includes working closely with the leadership team in areas including recruitment, client contracts, invoicing, back-end infrastructure and much more.

Tara Lefave Stred

SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Based: Boston, MA, USA (HQ)

 

Tara is a PR, corporate communications and marketing executive with 20+ years of experience working in the high-tech industry on both the agency and client side. She has proven success developing and implementing B2B and B2C communications plans that support global business objectives. Her work spans a variety of industries, including storage and security, and clients including Veeam, LogMeIn and Digital River.

Jessica Luhrman

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER

Based: Austin, TX, USA

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Jessica is a seasoned PR and content marketing professional. Through her in-house and agency experience, she built a strong history of bringing a brand’s voice to life through strategic storytelling and promotion. She is skilled in strategic counsel, program management and media relations specializing in data storage, cybersecurity, cloud computing and enterprise software.

Elise Ouellette

VICE PRESIDENT

Based: Portsmouth, NH, USA

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Elise has 20+ years experience in PR, marketing, influencer and analyst relations. She has worked in both B2B tech and B2C industries working with startups to large public companies such as CVS Health and HARMAN. Prior to Waters, Elise held a VP role at Matter Communications where she helped to spearhead its in-house creative department.

Jenna Dobkin

VP, INFLUENCER MARKETING AND SENIOR ACCOUNT LEAD

Based: Bay Area, USA

 

Jenna has more than two decades of experience in strategic communications, public relations, and influencer marketing. Jenna has worked with many category-leading and aspiring technology companies, including Microsoft, Oracle and KPMG. At Waters, she leads teams for accounts in the Cloud space.

Debbie Huggett

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Based: Austin, TX, USA

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Debbie brings over 20 years of B2B and B2C PR, marketing, government affairs and crisis communications experience with an exceptional track record of needs analysis, strategy development, aligned plan execution, and business development. Spanning numerous industries and verticals, her practice offers a greater perspective that yields innovative and personalized client solutions.

Sara Karlen Lacombe

 

PERFORMANCE AND CULTURE CONSULTANT

Based: New York, USA

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Sara Karlen Lacombe is our leadership/ career coach, and organizational consultant. In her journey to Waters, she has lived in faraway lands from Berlin to Siberia, cultivated talent and culture at organizations from Wall Street through startups, and worked with people and organizations across four continents. 

Jill Burkes

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Toronto, Canada

 

Born and bred in Toronto, Jill is a graduate of Centennial College with a degree in PR & Communications. Jill worked for Israel’s largest public relations firm for the past 6 years, Headline Media, where she led brand marketing, communications and media relation strategies. Now back in Toronto, Jill is driving media engagement across a range of themes including digital transformation and Cloud.

Michael Draznin

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: New York, USA

 

Michael is a senior PR/marketing communications strategist with over 20 years of experience working with C-Suite executives around the world. His focus on start-ups and fast-growing companies through to IPOs, as well as Fortune 100 organizations, is helping Waters clients such take comms to the next level.

Liem Nguyen

SENIOR PR STRATEGIST

Based: Austin, TX, USA

 

Liem brings a CMO’s mindset and more than 22 years of industry experience in data management, cybersecurity, storage and cloud computing. A technologist at heart, he has created product evangelist programs for fast-growth and F500 companies. Previously, he founded Touchdown PR’s U.S. office and led award-winning B2B communications programs for Commvault, Compellent, Dell and Forcepoint.

Bill Hankes

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Seattle, WA, USA

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Bill joins Waters Agency with more than 25 years’ experience leading Corp Comms for the likes of Microsoft Bing and RealNetworks. He has run hundreds of product introductions, M&A and public equity transactions, crisis comms and reputation management efforts, as well as category-definition campaigns for disruptive startups. He is particularly strong at messaging complex concepts for intended audiences.

Andrew Oliver

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Savannah, GA, USA

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Andrew C. Oliver is a technical product marketing expert with over 20 years of industry experience from startups like JBoss to Couchbase. He is a prolific writer published in everything from Computer Weekly to his regular column in InfoWorld. Andrew's main talent is taking highly technical stories and making them approachable across the enterprise.

Gina Hough

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: London, England, UK

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Gina brings over 20 years of strategic communications experience to the Waters team in the UK. Throughout her career, she has focused on thought leadership  campaigns with the likes of Cisco, Adobe and Sony.  Gina is very hands-on with media and analysts and has second-to-none relationships in the region.

Pim Van Houten

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

Pim is a seasoned PR leader with 20 years experience in the Netherlands.  He previously ran PR for RAI in Amsterdam as is frequently recommended as the go to person to talk with my dutch media.

Mikael Westmark

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Stockholm, Sweden

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Mikael has 25 years experience of working as a consultant, corporate spokesperson and journalist.  In his previous role he worked at Ericsson handling strategic communication, crisis management and the media. I was also Ericsson’s global spokesperson on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for several years.

Matt Humphries

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: London, England, UK

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Matt has over 15 years’ experience working in B2B technology communications and PR, spanning the enterprise, cloud, and telecoms. Previously the MD of a Tech-PR agency, Matt has led PR and content marketing programmes for start-ups, disruptors, and global brands, including BT, Epson, Amdocs and Ciena. Matt draws on his knowledge of technology and business trends to craft storylines, drive campaigns and achieve results. 

Matt Ablott

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: London, England, UK

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Matt has over 15 years’ experience spanning journalism, corporate communications and media relations. Beginning as an editor on a number of banking and telecoms titles in the 2000s, Matt switched to PR in 2006, specialising in the tech and telecoms sectors. For the last decade he ran PR for the GSMA, the global mobile association, working on campaigns with some of the world’s largest mobile brands.

Glenn Rossman

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: NY Metro Area, USA

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Glenn has 30+ years helping to build client company profiles that are differentiated from competitors and support sales/business objectives. Experience with IBM and HP as well as startup companies, Glenn's knowledge extends across a broad array of technology including hardware, software (open source, security, cloud, SaaS), as well as channel relations.

Bryant Hilton

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Austin, TX, USA

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Bryant has experience working for and with global organizations ranging from Fortune 50 companies to startups. He leverages B2B, B2C, and corporate and issues management to help organizations design strategic communications programs to achieve business objectives and engage stakeholders. He’s passionate about helping organizations find their unique story, and creating compelling efforts to tell it as they build brands.

Drennan du Plooy

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: London, England, UK

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A B2B technology PR specialist within Enterprise Tech, Ad-Tech, Fin-tech, Telecoms and Energy Tech sectors. 19 years of strategic PR campaign delivery experience within the UK's most highly rated PR agencies. With strong expertise in the development of written PR content and media relations, he has most recently delivered at Associate Director & Lead PR Writer level for brands including Oracle, Adobe, KCOM, EE, Keytree, Mediasmart, GSMA and Citrix.

Maria Loupa

SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Based: London, England, UK

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Maria is a Senior Director with the UK team, bringing with her 9 years of experience in B2B tech and corporate comms. Maria has a passion for launching disruptive technologies to new markets, and directing successful teams and leading award-winning client campaigns. She has worked with blue-chip companies and start-ups, from Red Hat to HP and Nokia to Starship Technologies, Stack Overflow, Ogury and Open-Xchange, Knotel and ClassPass, among others.

Andrew Robertson

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: London, England, UK

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Andrew is a highly experienced technology and corporate communications professional with over 20 years’ experience in both consultancy and in-house roles. During his career, Andrew has focused on B2B, enterprise and consumer technology sectors. His previous clients include HP, Microsoft, Samsung, SAP, Ericsson, ICANN, Avanade, Worldpay, Siemens, Texas Instruments, Red Hat, Fortinet, .CO Internet as well as start-ups and fast growth technology companies.

Samantha Leggat

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Bay Area, USA

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Samantha has over 25 years of public relations experience in networking, cybersecurity, big data/analytics, and application performance management. She thinks strategically and executes precisely, and has written hundreds of customer case studies and thought  leadership bylines. Samantha lives in the Bay Area with her family and volunteers regularly with animal rescue organizations.

Kari Walker

SENIOR PR CONSULTANT

Based: Virginia, USA

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Kari Walker is a long-time, recognized practitioner in the enterprise technology communications space with a focus on cyber security. She provides early-stage Waters Agency clients as well as established companies with proven strategy, execution and results. With nearly 30 years of global and boutique public relations agency experience, Kari brings a strong combination of leadership, knowledge and hands-on experience.

Charlene Carroll

SENIOR CONTENT CONSULTANT

Based: Johannesburg, South Africa

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Charlene has been educating the market on complex technology areas through content for over 20 years. A former editor, Charlene works closely with Waters account teams to develop a wide range of assets including press releases, case studies, bylines and white papers.

Lori Maupas

SENIOR CONTENT CONSULTANT

Based: Bay Area, USA

 

Lori is a senior marketing communications writer and content strategist with more than 20 years of experience writing for technology companies in the software, networking and consumer industries. Lori runs the Waters blog and wide ranging content needs for our client that engages target audiences throughout the buying journey.

Chris Lovejoy

SENIOR SOCIAL LEAD

Based: Chicago, USA

 

With more than a decade's experience building social campaigns, Chris is constantly navigating the ever-changing digital landscape. His account and program management skills are a solid complement to the Waters team, as he runs the social accounts and plays a senior advisory role to clients.

Kayleigh Capuzzimati

DIGITAL MARKETING CONSULTANT

Based: Johannesburg, South Africa

 

Kayleigh has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Marketing and is an experienced account director, digital Media Manager and through-the-line strategist, with special interest and passion in the digital media and marketing space. With 9+ years in the digital marketing space across several blue-chip brands, Kayleigh brings a wealth of valuable digital knowledge to the Waters team.