Mike Allen, who has served as director of production, and Melissa Kees, who has served as director of accounts and media strategy, have been promoted within the firm to the title of Vice President, elevating their responsibility within Relentless, effective immediately.

“Mike and Melissa have been instrumental in the growth of Relentless over the past few years,” said Joe Bonilla, managing partner. “In their respective role as vice president, they will take on more of a public-facing leadership role here at the firm for its future.”

Allen has been with Relentless since 2021, overseeing the firm’s creative portfolio. Under Allen’s leadership, the firm has earned plaudits for its innovative creative work in videography, photography, and design.

Kees, who came to Relentless after a career in public radio, has oversaw the expansion of account management and media strategy. Under Kees, clients have been placed in major media publications and to strengthen the firm’s portfolio, client retention and renewal figures have increased.

“We’re very pleased to bring both Melissa and Mike further into a leadership position here at Relentless,” said Rich Fazio, partner and controller.

Both Allen and Kees will retain their directorate titles, in addition to being named vice president.

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Read the list here.

The post Relentless named Top 75 Firm by City & State first appeared on Relentless Awareness - Albany NY Las Vegas Greenville SC New York NY public relations, crisis communications, public affairs, advertising, social media.

An excerpt:

There’d been a rumor around town over the past five to six years that Saint Rose could close, but it never seemed more than a parlor conversation. The college still had more than 2,200 students and hundreds of staff and faculty — surely, like any smaller liberal arts college, it has its challenges, but to the degree of closure?

The hammer came down on Thursday, Nov. 30. Rich and I cut the ribbon for our newest location, at Slip 12 in the Warehouse District. Shortly after, we heard the news: Saint Rose is closing.

My first thoughts were just the tragedy of it all. One of our customers who came in after the closure was official was a professor. She had gone to Saint Rose as a student, then was a graduate assistant, and eventually became a faculty member. She had known no other home than Saint Rose. One of our staff members, who is studying speech therapy, will need to relocate from the area, maybe to SUNY New Paltz, to complete his studies since that program doesn’t exist up here.

There is the human cost of the decision, but also, as with any bomb or disaster, there is the blast zone.

“Commentary: On Upper Madison, bracing for the Saint Rose shock wave,” Albany Times Union, Dec. 10, 2023

Read the full op-ed via the Albany Times Union.

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The Bonilla Fazio Relentless Scholarship was created to help non-traditional learners who are completing undergraduate or graduate degree work to achieve academic success with less of a financial burden. The scholarship honors the hard-earned legacy of both of our agency’s founders’ parents and grandparents who sought to finish their undergraduate and graduate degree work while still working.

Both Joe and Rich are alumni of the University at Albany, with Joe a graduate from Rockefeller’s renowned public policy program and Rich for sociology.

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