Fluent in French and German, Valerie brings a wealth of global marketing communications experience in increasing foreign companies' market share in the US and bi-directionally increasing US companies market share in Europe. Valerie successfully assisted such companies as Siemens, PC Soft International, and Intec Controls in their growth through strategic messaging, positioning, and focused campaign planning. Prior to joining Ripple Effect Communications, Valerie was Director of Public Relations for LifeFX where she increased overall visibility of the company through the analyst community, global connections, and securing placements in such high profile magazines and journals as Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine Europe, and USA Today. Some key TV segments she has secured have included ABC's Good Morning America, CBS Channel 4 News, Discovery, and Fox News.

Rachael Dalton-Taggart brings 12 years of marketing, writing and public communications experience in the CAD/CAM/CAE, high tech internet and software industries. Prior positions include tenure as Editor of MCAD magazine, MicroStation User Europe, and MicroStation World. She has held various high-level marketing and PR positions within CAD/CAM/CAE and supply chain technology providers, including Bentley Systems, Spatial, and PlanetCAD. Her expertise centers around strategic positioning, communications and promotions for both public and private companies, and for domestic and international operations. She is the founder of Strategic Reach PR, a PR consultancy specializing in the engineering software markets and a Strategy Advisor for several local and national corporations in the software, design and manufacturing industries. She has a post-graduate diploma in Business Management from Herriot Watt University in Scotland. MA."

Barrie Locke has expertise both as a public relations corporate counselor and marketing communications agency executive. Her corporate background includes experience in corporate branding, product launch support, trade shows, IT analyst relations and media outreach. Her agency experience includes providing branding initiatives, positioning strategies and media relations for such diverse technology clients as Worldwide Information Systems Bull, Xerox Engineering Systems and CyCare Systems, Inc. as well as for financial services firms such as Piper, Jaffray and Hopwood investment bankers and Puget Sound Bank and Seafirst Bank in Seattle. As a corporate counselor, she has implemented media and industry analyst relations programs for financial services clients in Seattle, Phoenix and Rochester, NY. Prior to joining the Ripple Effect Communications team, Barrie served as worldwide public communications manager for Eastman Kodak Company's Document Products and Services Group where she implemented programs in support of the company's document scanners, media and micrographics equipment and the Kodak Service and Support group. Her experience has been primarily focused on business-to business marketing communications, as well as on developing integrated campaigns to include clients' partners, such as integrated software vendors and channel associates to maximize coverage by both business and industry press.

Holding various Marcom positions in American and Israeli high-tech firms, Irit has a deep understanding of both the global and local markets’ needs and challenges. Prior to joining Ripple Effect, Irit was the Marcom Manager of Followap Inc. where she was responsible for the company’s branding and positioning in the market place, and for all the press-related activities in Israel and worldwide, including placement of speakers in the most important telecom events. Previous to Followap, Irit established the marketing division for the start-up PC Soft International, building the company image and exposing it to the target audiences through the press and other Marcom vehicles, including marketing collateral, the corporate web site, tradeshows and more. Throughout her career at PC Soft, Irit worked extensively on local and international PR, which resulted in extensive press coverage that exposed PC Soft to potential investors, clients and qualified employees. Prior to her position with PC Soft, Irit worked for Novell Inc in the USA where she wrote and edited press materials, including press releases and published articles. Irit holds a BA in English and French Literature from Tel Aviv University and a Masters in Technical and Professional Writing from Northeastern University in Boston, MA."

Heidi Congistre provides a deep background in corporate marketing communications. With strong experience working with emerging and established companies in the high tech, media and consumer industries, Heidi's skills include branding and positioning, trade show management, media and analyst relations, and writing. Heidi has directed both PR and marketing communications efforts for companies in customer relationship management, enterprise solutions and R.E. and recently has been supporting several international product companies launch their products and offices in the US such as SaasPoint with its Salesforce.com applications, Trelleborg with its medical and sealing solutions as well as Anoto Group with it's healthcare products to name a few. Over the past few years, Heidi has honed her PR skills for the healthcare and life science organizations from clinical trial management to hospital system management and health information management products and services, securing coverage in Applied Clinical Trials, Bio-IT World and Pharmaceutical Technology to such national coverage at the Economist, The New York Times as well as the Financial Times.

Dawn Fontaine offers over 10 years of experience in marketing communications. As a former Brand Manager, she has had success in developing a product line from concept through final development as well as branding and advertising. Dawn has a varied background including the manufacturing industry, leading a marketing team in its global presentation and public relations. She has orchestrated the visibility of Ripple Effect customers primarily in software, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. Leading the brand transformation of manufacturing clients has allowed their exponential growth. Her specialty is in developing brand-building strategies through multiple editorial channels.