Client List
NFTE (The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship)
Every year the world’s largest foundation for teaching entrepreneurship NFTE holds a fundraiser at the Marriot Marquee hotel in New York City. Over 2,000 successful entrepreneurs, corporate donors and student entrepreneurs from all over the world along with representatives from the major press outlets attended this dinner. For many years The Professional Writer profiled in print the personal success stories of the award winning students enrolled in the NFTE program, honoring their success in overcoming their economic and physical challenges. The biographies of these students have attracted National and International attention from news organizations such as CNN, BBC, and The New York Times. These story driven press releases written by The Professional Writer directly contributed to NFTE achieving their goal of raising over $1 million each year and generated many stories in the media.
Hudson Valley Savings Bank
America’s largest and most profitable savings bank retained The Professional Writer to interview its President/CEO Ron Hermance Jr, a native of upstate New York. Mr. Hermance volunteered his time and financial resources, helping low income children within the school system achieve scholarly success. Accompanying this interview was a press release created by us and sent to all the major media news outlets in North Eastern New York State. As a result Mr. Hermance received many requests for interviews profiling his philanthropic efforts.
SIU (Seafarer’s International Union)
The Seafarer’s International Union called a strike of all of its inter-coastal ship crews manning Canadian and United States vessels. The Professional Writer prepared a press kit containing a detailed list of the ship crew wages and hours, documenting the poor and dangerous conditions of the ships. The press kit highlighted the fact that their current wages were no longer adequate given the rise in the cost of living. Included were photographs of the physical conditions of the ships and press conferences held in Montreal and Toronto. National media attention was generated, including newspaper cover stories network television news reports. As a result the ship owners settled quickly meeting many of the demands of the unionized crews.
YMCA
When the YMCA announced a $15 million building campaign they hired The Professional Writer to write and design the layout of their brochure targeting their wealthiest donors, and discussing the growth of enrolment and their community out-reach programs. A detailed budget for the new construction and architectural renderings of the new complex were included in their fund raising efforts. Along with this brochure the YMCA included in their press kit a 2 page press release written by The Professional Writer addressing the news worthiness of this story. Included was a description of their expanding outreach programs and projected job creation. This 2 year campaign succeeded in reaching its financial objectives.
Excel Bank (Brazil)
Excel Bank of New York, with headquarters in Brazil engaged the Professional Writer to write a 32 page brochure marketed to potential clients with a net worth of over $125 Million. It detailed the history and financial performance of the bank within the US and international markets drawing new clients to their boutique services.
CIBC (The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce):
CIBC is ranked as one of the top 100 banks in the world with over $30 Billion U.S. in market capital. With over 11 million clients and 40,000 employees its global reach impacts financial markets in most countries around the world.
Its corporate communications department engaged The Professional Writer to write a speech on behalf of the President of “CIBC Worldwide” to be delivered to the Federal Reserve Board of Examiners. Periodically major banks are extended the honor of making presentations to this US government agency. It was our task to write a speech about global banking and the challenges that major banks face in the twenty first century. Working closely with Bob Cole, Director of Corporate Communications, The Professional Writer created several drafts of this speech before completing the final delivered address.
On many occasions we wrote press releases introducing new financial products aimed at both business and individual personal banking clients. These press releases were initially drafted for the corporate communications department, but were ultimately submitted to divisional directors and bank managers for their input and approval.
On several occasions we consulted with senior staff members regarding new product launches, and corporate identity branding. Typically this would entail us examining bank documents, and making recommendations to the corporate communications department and senior divisional managers. These public relations strategies were marketed directly to business news publications and financial news networks.
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
The Royal Bank of Canada is one of the largest banks in the world based on market capitalization. They provide personal and commercial banking services, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking services globally. They employ 74,000 employees serving close to 15 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the US and 55 other countries.
Mark Standish President and co-CEO of RBC Capital Markets requested a speech written by The Professional Writer to be delivered an annual meeting of board members and shareholders. We developed a series of drafts of this speech vetted and modified by their U.S Corporate offices and ultimately delivered at the Friars Club in New York City.
Articles Published
With over one hundred articles published in major national newspapers and magazines, The Professional Writer has received many journalistic accolades including a Pulitzer Prize Nomination from newspapers such as, USA Today, The New York Times, Newsday, The Daily News, AARP Bulletin, The Montreal Gazette, The Boston Globe, Scholastic Magazines, Parade and others.
The New York Times
The New York Times, Education Life Section published an article titled “Out of Trouble, Into Business” on April 13th 2003. This story documents the challenges of two enterprising young offenders, living in the Mission District of San Francisco. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, this story profiled the challenges of Marcus Oliver and Marcos Gallegos who spent much of their lives in juvenile detention, but now manage a furniture restoration service which they started after their release from prison at ages 18 and 19. With a recidivism rate of over 90% these boys stayed out of jail as their business flourished.
Click here to read the article.
Newsday
Newsday’s StudentBriefingPage published an article called Boozing Since Grade School, an article about youth alcoholism across the United States. Three high school students were profiled sharing their intimate stories as they struggled with depression, alcohol and drug addiction. Through parental intervention, and help from school counselors and friends they became sober. This article was syndicated in over fifty newspapers including Discovery Health Magazine, receiving an award of excellence from the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.
Click here to read the article.
AARP Bulletin
With a circulation of over 37 million, AARP Bulletin engaged The Professional Writer to profile Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and world renowned public servant. Volcker’s ground breaking work at the UN and his banking expertise has had profound influence on world economies for the last twenty years. Volcker continues to lend his services to top Accounting Firms, such as Arthur Anderson and consults on various Senate and Congressional banking committees.
