About Spire
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Meet the Team
Ivy Eckerman
President and CEO
Ivy has a decade of public relations and marketing experience working with publicly-traded companies and marketing agencies. She has created and implemented marketing programs for well known public- and private-sector organizations such as Ford, Peterson’s, FileNet, the Industry Advisory Council, MicroStrategy, Oracle, Telos, webMethods, the Department of Homeland Security National Cyber Security Division, Army Logistics Information Systems, Army Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care, State Department Model for Overseas Management Support and Xacta.
Eckerman provides strategic marketing counsel to organizations to help build awareness among targeted constituencies. She has extensive experience in numerous marketing disciplines, including media and analyst relations, collateral development, script writing, media training, conference planning and crisis communications.
She received a Bachelor of Arts from The Johns Hopkins University.
Steven Pena
Executive Vice President
As co-founder of Spire Communications, Steven brings 17 years of marketing and advertising experience that runs across the public and private sectors. He has held positions in large and small public relations and advertising agencies, worked for the federal government and had high-level positions in the corporate world.
Steve has created and managed creative communications, advertising and marketing campaigns for a diverse set of private and public center clients, including: The Centers for Disease Control, Merck Pharmaceuticals, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, U.S. Army MWR, The American Cancer Society, MicroStrategy, webMethods, and PHB Hagler Bailly, to name a few.
He has held creative director and marketing positions with: MicroStrategy, Ogilvy Public Relations, Potomac Incorporated and the U.S Army’s Morale Welfare and Recreation Marketing in Heidelberg, Germany.
His strong leadership and creative talents have been applied to advertising, special events, direct marketing and Web site development, enabling clients to reach their business objectives with potent creativity. Steven earned a Bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communications science from the University of New York at Albany. He also received the 1997 Ogilvy Professional Achievement Award.
Jane Bryant
Account Director
Jane Bryant serves as account director, leveraging her 20 years of experience in public relations, marketing and journalism to develop high-level communications strategy and marketing campaigns to help organizations meet their business goals.
Prior to joining Spire Communications, Jane directed public relations for business-to-government and business-to-business technology clients where she secured high-profile executive speaker placements, awards and feature articles. Formerly a director of marketing with a NASDAQ financial 100 firm, Jane led the marketing and public relations initiatives for the firm’s expansion into 20 additional geographic markets.
In addition to her marketing and public relations experience, Bryant served as a technology journalist with leading trade publications. Her extensive role with trade dailies, weeklies and monthly publications gives her an insider’s view on media requirements and effective public relations strategies.
Jane received a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Zhan Caplan
Account Director
Zhan possesses a diverse background in healthcare marketing that includes 12 years of experience accrued with in-house teams and agency positions.
Zhan’s extensive product development, brand management and promotional expertise was obtained in the non-profits and for profit sectors. He has been a successful manager of marketing and promotional projects, product launches, market research, strategic planning, and third party partnerships and has obtained proven leadership experience managing cross-functional and cross-geographical teams.
Prior to joining Spire Communications, Zhan was a senior marketing manager for Wolters Kluwer Health, a Fortune 500 healthcare publishing company where he developed marketing strategies for a $23.8 million portfolio of health textbooks and reference sources.
At the American Red Cross Biomedical Services National Headquarters Zhan held the position of product manager for clinical services. While there Zhan created and executed marketing strategies and tactics to promote Red Cross Clinical Services that generate revenue in excess of $78 million annually. Zhan provided communications expertise to the entire hospital marketing department, including creation and editing of marketing collateral, presentations, and press releases. He interfaced with all levels of regional staff as well as hospital customers to support, promote, and grow Red Cross Clinical Services programs.
Zhan’s prior agency experience includes membership and development marketing for clients such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the American Health Care Association, and the American Health Lawyers Association. Zhan has extensive experience in collateral development, writing and editing, direct marketing and marketing planning.
Zhan earned a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in marketing from The Johns Hopkins University.
Jim Lubinskas
Account Director
Jim has 11 years of communications experience in agency, association and corporate environments. He has managed public relations campaigns for some of the biggest names in business, including Microsoft, Cisco, USA TODAY, BMC Software and Monster Government Solutions. In addition, he has helped small companies and start-ups create buzz where none previously existed.
Prior to joining Spire, Jim was an account supervisor with Arnold Worldwide where he generated national media placements in television, radio and print. He has also managed the marketing and communications efforts for the Go RVing national advertising campaign.
Jim has edited two e-newsletters and possesses experience in analyst relations, collateral development, script writing and trade show management.
Jim earned his Master of Arts degree from Catholic University.
Dawn S. Onley
Account Director
Dawn brings more than 15 years of journalism experience to the Spire team. Dawn has been on the staff of several major circulation newspapers, including The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.; The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky.; and The Philadelphia Daily News of Philadelphia. She has also been a freelance writer contributing features and articles to numerous other daily newspapers and magazines.
Most recently, Dawn was editor of Defense Systems Magazine, a bi-monthly publication covering how the Defense services, agencies and intelligence community are transforming the way they do business through the use of technology. Prior to Defense Systems, she was a senior writer covering the Department of Defense for Government Computer News, a bi-weekly trade magazine that focuses on information technology and government agencies.
As account director at Spire, Dawn manages major client accounts, which includes drafting press releases and award nominations, helping companies develop marketing strategies and pitching stories to media outlets.
Dawn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Norfolk State University.
Shannon Leigh
Senior Graphic Designer
Shannon is an experienced designer with a wide-breadth of capabilities. She has designed collateral, Word templates, PowerPoint templates, advertising, HTML emails and Web sites for clients across a wide range of markets. Shannon's current and past clients include: Approva, Babcock Advertising Agency, Blueprint Technologies, Brabeion Software, CadenceQuest, DefyWire, e-Security, Fauquier SPCA, MicroStrategy, Pharma Services Network, Premier Inc., SiloSmashers, USA Today and Vacation.com.
Shannon works in PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign, Image Ready, Acrobat, Quark and Microsoft Office. She is also highly versed in offset, digital, laser and screen printing; color and varnishes; folds, dicuts and binding options.
Shannon won first place in a brochure design contest for the National Recreation Services Association. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design from James Madison University.
