We know what it takes to thrive through change because it’s driven our success as one of the nation’s Top PR firms for more than a decade. Our industry, like yours, is ever-evolving. In order to adapt to that, we’ve been intentional with our evolution, adding new contemporary capabilities, new types of talent and new investments in technology to enhance our offering and make our clients more successful – whether we're promoting or protecting your brand. Our approach combines earned, influencer and social media to motivate action against business goals and drive influence across targets.
Beth is a highly motivated and dynamic veteran of Gatesman with experience overseeing the execution of a variety of award-winning public relations and social media programs across multiple industries, including retail, technology, energy, non-profit, health care, financial services, restaurant, and food service. Her account work has been recognized with more than 50 national and regional awards in media relations, social media, events, and community relations.
She is accredited in crisis communications and reputation risk management by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is recognized and recommended by national syndicated journalists and producers for media relations. Her keen understanding of the media has earned dynamic headlines in top-tier media, including ABC News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and Huffington Post, among others. With an eye on new-age PR, Beth is a driven problem solver and creative thinker who successfully manages complex client business challenges with high-level strategic thinking.
Beth is also an accomplished writer who has penned regular columns for Forbes, AdvertisingWeek, and Ragan's PR and most recently has been accepted in the IPREX Global Leadership Academy. Beth has a sincere desire to win on behalf of her clients and operates with a fierce passion to deliver excellence.
Susan English is a strategist, researcher and messaging architect who has a passion for rooting out angles and insights that fuel audience engagement, influence opinions, and motivate action. She has 25+ years of agency experience helping clients shape messaging and communications to consistently exceed marketing and business goals. Susan’s track record of success is why several clients have relied on her for 15 years or more, and why so many of her programs are recognized as best in class at the national level.
With her expertise in strategic planning and foundational message development, Susan now leads Gatesman’s strategic communications function, and works with teams to research insights, craft positionings, build plans, and optimize efforts. She has helped her clients establish and evolve their core messaging, such as vision, mission, and values. She has also helped them identify positioning and thought leadership platforms, and to initiate programs in new areas, such as corporate giving, multicultural marketing, managed care, loyalty programs, research and education, and social media. Susan has led several research initiatives to develop frameworks for thought leadership and planning in areas such as business leadership, crisis response, and Gen Z opportunities.
Just a few of the national brands and category leaders that Susan has supported are National Vision, Transitions Optical, PPG Industries, TruHearing, Array Technologies, Chaberton Energy, Beard Equipment, Michigan Ross School of Business, University of Arkansas, Pace Suburban Bus, Avantax, CFA Institute, Centers for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE), Northwell Health, LivaNova, Merck Life Sciences, Heinz U.S.A., Carrier Corporation, Bayer Corporation (now Covestro), and American Eagle Outfitters. Susan is a respected leader in the local community and has been honored as a personal and professional role model for young women. She was a founding member of the One Young World Pittsburgh Partnership, is a board member for St. Lucy’s Auxiliary to the Blind, and is the lead organizer of Gatesman’s Parents for a Pause initiative addressing youth mental health. Susan enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids, and their pets — a timid but loveable wheaten terrier and timid but speedy Russian tortoise.
As president, Shannon is our passionate and purposeful leader. She challenges where it matters and supports where it counts, fuelling strategic and creative excellence across our business. She is remarkable at championing innovation to fulfill clients’ unspoken needs and desires, and has greatly expanded our capabilities, specializations, and roster growth.
Shannon has a broad view and is globally minded, with 20 years’ experience at agencies, in journalism, and on the client side. She leads clients across the country by developing strong relationships, building and mentoring talent, and assembling high-performance and diverse agency teams to deliver the absolute best solutions for clients' toughest challenges — faster, more effectively, and more efficiently. She has a talent for developing strong, collaborative partnerships and leading successful cross-regional teams.
She is determined to create equality in the industry, and has pushed gender and diversity boundaries, recruiting and building a senior leadership team that is more than 70% female and in line with the driving force that is the female consumer. Her focus on building an inclusive and equitable culture drives the agency’s high marks in both DE&I and Gallup survey results.
Shannon’s work has been recognized with awards nationally, and she is a frequent speaker, thought leader, and published writer for national and trade media. In addition, she is a wife, mother, Ride or Die Peloton athlete, and volunteer basketball coach, and lends her inexhaustible energy to two executive boards and mentorship programs. Her most recent awards include "Top Women in Business" by the American Business Journals, Pittsburgh’s “Most Influential Women in Business,” and one of the Mid-Atlantic’s top executives as Smart Business Magazine’s 2019 and 2020 Smart 50. In 2021 she was recognized as an ATHENA Award Nominee and also as one of the region’s leading executives in both the public and private sectors at the Fox Rothschild Outstanding CEOs and Top Executives awards, and in 2022, she was selected to join the highly esteemed global Chief network for top female executives.
Prior to her current role as President of Gatesman, Shannon held the position of EVP, Director of Public Relations and Social Media. She built the agency’s public relations practice from the ground up and in under five years it was recognized as one of the nation’s Top 100 Independent PR firms according to O’Dwyer’s PR rankings - a distinction the practice still maintains today. In addition, she earned the agency exclusive membership into the IPREX global network of top communications firms, and became PRSA’s Agency of the Year - twice. Her work in public relations has been widely recognized with awards from PRSA, IABC, AdFed and the AMA.
Today she continues to provide executive counsel on integrated communications campaigns, reputation management and crisis communications as well as national media campaigns. She frequently speaks at industry and university events and has shared her expertise and insights with The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, PR Week, Adweek, Campaign US and numerous others.
