Operating in a highly competitive arena of over 40,000 other charities supporting veterans, my goal was to raise awareness of the Gary Sinise Foundation brand and its mission. The strategy centered around a highly topical and emotional situation–the widening care gap for returning war veterans.

To establish credibility for the problem, I led my team to produce a national summit in partnership with USC's School of Social Work Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families called "Closing the Gap: Meeting the Future Needs of America's Severely Wounded Heroes & Their Caregivers." I oversaw the planning and logistics the event from inviting speakers and liaising with them to develop rich and insightful presentations to creating the messaging for Gary Sinise's keynote address and managing the media relations campaign that made the Gary Sinise Foundation the leading voice in providing insights and tangible solutions to address this widening gap.

Out of the summit, we produced a formal report with concrete recommendations on how to solve the care gap and sent the findings to government, business and academic influencers around the country.

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• 411.5 million media impressions over 616 placements

• 50 attendees gathered in LA from government, business, and academia to address and find practical solutions to the widening problem

• Donations to the foundation significantly increased as a result of media coverage