Sara leads several of the agency’s largest accounts in the areas of positioning, brand and reputation management, crisis communications, grassroots and advocacy building, media relations, and social media.
Sara is the executive leader for public relations for the U.S. Army recruiting communications agency, McCann Worldgroup. Public relations programming includes grassroots community campaigns, social media, strategic media relations and Army education initiatives.
In addition, Sara is a member of the 2010 Census Senior Advisory Council for the Integrated Communications Campaign. In her 25 years with the company, Sara has represented Northwest Airlines, CIGNA, CIBA Vision, Novartis, Medtronic, The Coca-Cola Company, Boston Scientific, Hazelden Foundation, The Minnesota Department of Health and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She supervised the media relations team for the grand opening of Mall of America including all logistics and planning for the more than 300 journalists who participated in the opening. She led the global launch of two major products for CIBA Vision, a Novartis Company, for both the medical community and consumer launches.
Before joining Weber Shandwick, Sara spent three years with the Minneapolis-Saint Paul office of the international public relations firm Hill and Knowlton, where she was vice president. She also held public relations positions with Doremus & Company. Sara is one of the founders of Mona Meyer McGrath & Gavin, a Minneapolis public relations firm, which became part of Weber Shandwick in 1988.
Sara is on the board of directors of Securian Corporation where she serves on the Governance and Human Resources committees. She also is a trustee of Minnesota Public Radio. She is a member of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management Brand Enterprise Advisory Board. Sara previously served on a variety of community boards, including the College of Saint Catherine, the Minnesota Private College Council and the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable. In 1995, Minnesota Business Journal named Sara one of Minnesota’s “40 under 40,” an award given to outstanding young business people under the age of 40. The same publication recognized Sara as one of Minnesota’s 25 most innovative women in 2001. Sara is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of Saint Catherine with a bachelor of arts degree in history and political science. She has completed graduate courses in the University of Minnesota’s master’s degree in business.