By: Account Executive Matthew Paden
Meeting at the summit of the hill is a prime opportunity for GreenHill and Hill Communications. Extending our contract with GreenHill proved to be a tremendous opportunity for the firm, and capitalizing upon our relationship under the guidance of Account Supervisor Will Coen remained our priority throughout the semester. Driven, confident and personable, President Bill McFadden and EVP Sales Jack Curran and EVP Customer Experience Harry Cubit compose the dynamic leadership team that connected us, the Syracuse students, to their company effortlessly. Hill Comm alum and daughter of Harry, Melissa Cubit, continued to serve as an assistive liaison to her father’s company and her alma mater’s public relations firm. We also got the fabulous chance to meet some of the company’s most critical employees, Shelly Smalls and Dale Kim, to integrate our communications strategies into the work of their full-time positions. Speaking of dynamics, our four returning members from the fall 2020 account, junior Adrienne Becker, sophomores Daniella French and Matt Paden & freshman Haley Ipsaro continued their excellent work. They meshed easily with our newcomers to the account: junior Will Coen, sophomores Ryan Conner and Jake Skolnick & freshman intern Lilly Koller. GreenHill’s personability factor starts with their outstanding leadership team’s comprehensive communication skills. Not only do they share a direct vision for the company’s growth, but they allow us to collaborate with them based on our work to aid them in reshaping the company. Our regular meetings over Zoom connected each of the account members with Bill, Jack, and Harry in a professional setting with a casual tone due to the trust we instill in each other as working partners. A visible form of this was the rebranding work spearheaded by Ryan, our graphic designer. Producing new company logos, creating powerful graphics, and updating its brand style guide that Hill Comm initiated last semester provided tangible imagery that this company can associate as it moves into this new chapter under its executive leadership team. Historically since 1991, the previous owners, Jim and Lisa Warren, founded this wealth investment firm with vision, and the new leadership took that and actively reinvigorates it in a new day and age. Restoring key elements of the established brand and pushing to make further headway within the field, GreenHill’s recent approach of pioneering an industry path for the future couples perfectly with the young students at Syracuse and our different perspective. Implementing the content calendar designed in the fall at a reasonable pace initiated our work to personalize GreenHill’s online presence with pertinent information. Then, emphasizing the potential of continuity through our research in the fall, we expanded into new market opportunities for the company and produced deliverable content such as a one-pager on and a two-pager on and a press release that the company could output professionally. Analyzing competitors’ websites provided us with insight into how GreenHill’s product can stand out and be of service to its 80+ clients. Along with the fresh paint job of the design work completed by our account’s graphic designer Ryan, this overhaul of the infrastructure will position GreenHill to utilize technology in crafty ways in a digitally defined era. Working alongside GreenHill has undoubtedly been one of the most rewarding and valuable experiences for all of us on the team. Admittedly, the top three men at the company feel like professional role models to us and quasi-father figures in that same sense of professional mentorship, so on behalf of the team, I thank GreenHill and look forward to hopefully continuing to work with them in the future.