Biography Kevin Burkum Kevin Burkum has accumulated 20+ years of communications and promotions experience in the food industry. He is currently the senior vice president of the American Egg Board, an organization that promotes relationships between American egg farmers and consumers. In his most recent work with the AEB, Burkum oversaw the “Wake Up To Eggs With Bacon” campaign. The campaign, featuring Kevin Bacon, won a Cannes Lion award. He also redesigned the organization’s marketing process to include more consumer research, which resulted in a 40 percent reduction of costs. During his time as senior vice president of the American Dairy Association, Burkum’s experience with integrated marketing expanded. He championed partnerships with 15 NFL teams and the joint sponsorship of a NASCAR team with Kellogg’s. He led a three-year project with Nabisco Oreo that resulted in sales of 20 million gallons of milk, one of the most successful promotions in industry history. Burkum success started early while he was the director of marketing communications for IGA, a collection of independent grocery retailers. He headed a sponsorship with Coca-Cola for the Women’s USA Softball Team. This campaign was the largest Olympic promotion Coca-Cola had done with a single retailer and resulted in a 6.5 percent volume increase of Coke in IGA stores. Thus far, Burkum has led strategic partnerships with big-name clients such as Kraft Foods, General Mills, Nestlé, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Costco, Sesame Street and Food Network star Rachael Ray. Burkum is more than a businessman. He is also a philanthropist and avid runner and has participated in over 20 marathons. He ran the Chicago Marathon to raise money for Project Canaan, a partnership between the AEB and the Heart of Africa to build self-sustaining egg farms that will feed local communities in Swaziland. Burkum graduated from Marquette University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Journalism and Marketing. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife, Karen, and their three sons.
News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Chris Hausman, Marketing & Events Manager 573-443-7666 x307 chris@rmhcmidmo.org Ronald McDonald House Charities to Open New Family Room in Children’s Hospital Ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil first of its kind service in mid-Missouri COLUMBIA, Mo. (Sept. 17, 2016) – The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Mid-Missouri is opening a new Family Room at the University of Missouri Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Columbia. To celebrate, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24 in the Family Room. Both Mayor of Columbia Bob McDavid and Chancellor of the University of Missouri Hank Foley will be in attendance. The Family Room will officially open on Sept. 28 and is the first of its kind in midMissouri. It was made possible by a $1 million dollar gift. According to Terri Gray, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Mid-Missouri, a Ronald McDonald House is a “home-away-from-home” for families with children who are hospitalized or receiving outpatient treatment. Family Rooms are pieces of that home within a hospital, giving parents an escape that is only steps from their children. The 2,000-square-foot room in Columbia is located on the second floor near the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It has five sleeping rooms to accommodate 14 people. The room also features a wide variety of amenities including a full kitchen, laundry services and community bathrooms with private showers. Mid-Missouri families like Michael and Tracy Roberts, whose daughter Kate was born three months prematurely, have found comfort in the Columbia Ronald McDonald House and are excited about the new Family Room. Having a place to relax in the hospital will give parents like the Robertses, who don’t want to be far from their daughter for even 10 minutes, a chance to get away from the NICU environment. “This new Family Room allows parents to be near their children in the hospital but still experience a normal moment – like doing a load of laundry or cooking a meal – when nothing else in their life is feeling very normal,” said Keri Simon, executive director of the University of Missouri’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
The Women’s and Children’s Hospital, a part of the MU Health Care Network, is the largest children’s hospital in mid-Missouri. The Family Room will greatly benefit those traveling across the state to get medical care for their children and do not live close enough to commute daily. ### About Ronald McDonald’s House Charities Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®), a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) corporation, creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children. Through its global network of 300 Chapters in more than 62 countries and regions, its three core programs, the Ronald McDonald House®, the Ronald McDonald Family Room® and the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile®, and millions of dollars in grants to support children's programs worldwide, RMHC provides stability and vital resources to families so they can get and keep their children healthy and happy. All RMHC-operated and supported programs, enable family-centered care, provide a bridge to quality health care, are a vital part of the healthcare continuum and give children and families the time they need to heal and cope better together. RMHC is the 2014 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Social Services Non-Profit Brand of the Year. Supplementals Email subject line: Piece of home, Peace of mind; First Ronald McDonald Family Room in mid-Missouri to open in MU Children’s Hospital Photo ideas: photo of Roberts family with Kate in her NICU room, RMHC Board of DIrectors posing in new Family Room Tweet: Join us on Sept. 24 for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the @RHMCMidMo Family Room! #KeepingFamiliesClose *link to news release*
Internal Memo TO: CEO Brian Davidson FROM: Public Relations Manager Kristin Galloway DATE: March 11, 2016 SUBJECT: Proposed employee Facebook page I am writing this memo to recommend a more engaging communication platform for the workplace. Employees have expressed an interest in a new communication medium to supplement the current website, which is currently the primary channel used for communication and restricts employees from engaging with each other. They have suggested starting a closed Facebook page to provide two-way communication between one another and management. A closed Facebook page would allow employees to express their questions or concerns, share ideas and strengthen relationships, which would increase the efficiency of the workplace. Closed Facebook pages are visible to the public, but only people who have been admitted to the group can view the content on the page. Before anyone can post, they must be members of the page, which requires approval from designated administrators. Admins not only determine who is accepted to the page, but they also can add or remove a member at any time. I recommend the admins be you, a representative from human resources and members of my team. I also recommend creating a list of guidelines for employees about keeping content appropriate and professional. Facebook is the best choice because it is the mostused social media platform and is available on a variety of devices from desktop to mobile. The page would improve efficiency in the workplace and intrinsically motivate employees by creating an online community. Studies show that providing a forum for employees to interact with one another builds camaraderie, which encourages collaboration. Information can be shared instantly, and employees can post any of their questions directly to the page. They also could write posts, interact with one another, brainstorm solutions and share ideas across departments. Supervisors could use the space to recognize employees who are excelling or showing great progress, further improving morale. The main functions of this page would be to facilitate communication between two channels. Examples include: â—? Firm-to-employee communication
○ Share industry and company news ○ Ask for employee feedback on certain issues ○ Reinforce company mission and values ○ Share policies ● Employee-to-employee communication ○ Share ideas ○ Build stronger relationships ○ Get feedback from coworkers ○ Ask questions I understand that you may be concerned about the tendency people have to overshare on social media, but this page would be a balanced mix of professional and personal. Employees could post reminders about department meetings or make plans to meet up after work for dinner. In either case, it is a cheap and effective way to promote better communication within the company. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email or call me. This page will not be set up without your complete approval. Thank you for your time.
Story Pitch and Follow Up Journalism Students Rub Shoulders With Pulitzer Prize-Winning Alumni Holly, Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me today. I wanted to follow up with you to give you a bit more detail, contact information and explain why a story highlighting journalism students at the CAR Conference would be mutually beneficial to the university and Mizzou Magazine. As I mentioned in our phone call, about a dozen journalism students will be traveling to Denver from March 10 to 13 for a conference on computer assisted reporting hosted by the National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting. The registration fee, hotel and other expenses excluding airfare are being covered by donations made to the Reynolds Journalism Institute and Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., which is headquartered in RJI. The CAR Conference is an internationally recognized forum for innovative journalism techniques and technologies. It features panelists from the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Associated Press, NBC, NPR, ProPublica and more. The attending students will be live tweeting panels, blogging about sessions and interviewing keynote speakers. One of the panelists is actually an MU alum and faculty member – another promotional bonus point. Chris Canipe is an MU graduate and adjunct professor for courses in digital app development and interactive graphics. He is also a Wall Street Journal graphics editor and 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner. Canipe is just one example of the accomplished professionals with whom MU students will be rubbing shoulders. Additionally, there is another MU alum that will be on a panel; Jaimi Dowdell. Dowdell finished her Master’s degree at MU and is now IRE’s senior training director. Because these are primarily convergence and digital students, there will be plenty of photographs to use. The easiest way to get these would be to contact anyone below for copies. Not all invited students have accepted, but I have a list of confirmed students: • Micheala Sosby, mmsxv3@mail.missouri.edu • Daniela Vidal, devf4d@mail.missouri.edu • Madison Feller, madisonpfeller@mail.missouri.edu • Madi Alexander , MLAlexander@mail.missouri.edu • Daniela Sirtori, danielasirtori@mail.missouri.edu • Margaret Angst, mraync@mail.missouri.edu
Additional contacts may include: • Chris Canipe, CAR panelist, MU alum, MU adjunct professor ccanipe@gmail.com • Jaimi Dowdell, CAR panelist, MU Alum, IRE senior training director • Stephanie Sinn, IRE Conference and Events Coordinator stephanie@ire.org, (901) 286-7549 • Mark Horvit, MU Associate Professor, IRE Executive Director, mhorvit@ire.org Again, I really believe this is a great example of not only the incredible work alumni are doing after they graduate but also the opportunities MU provides its students while they are here. Thank you for your time yesterday. Please feel free to send me any other questions you have. If I haven’t heard back from you by Wednesday, March 9, I’ll give you a call. Best, Rachel Moore rachelmmoore17@gmail.com (817) 253-7240