Barbara O'Brien Brown & Margaret Pigott Flynn



WE Inc. Community Advisors

Barbara O'Brien Brown, Principal & Co-Owner

Barbara Brown is principal and co-owner of BrownFlynn Communications, a strategic marketing communications firm specializing in community relationship management. Winner of numerous industry awards, BrownFlynn is also a two-time Weatherhead 100 "upstarts" winner, a finalist of SBN's "Innovators in Business" award, and earned certifications as a women-owned firm by the City of Cleveland and the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC). Both Barbara and her business partner, Margie Flynn, were named 2002's "Top Ten Women Business Owners of Northeast Ohio" and "2002 Business Woman of the Year" by Inside Business. Most recently, Barb was selected and featured in John Carroll University's alumni magazine as an alumnae "making a difference" in the community. As the chief client officer for the firm, Barb counsels and assists clients in tailoring their community involvement to their core competencies, ethical values and business objectives through internal and external communications services. These services include strategic consultation, marketing communications planning, research, media relations, employee communications, event planning, collateral development, interactive solutions and results evaluation. Barb also chairs the BrownFlynn Book Club, an ongoing pro bono initiative conceptualized by the firm to place curriculum-based books in the neediest Cleveland Municipal School District's elementary schools.

Before co-founding the firm with Margie Flynn in January 1996, Barb was vice president and manager of National City Corporation's corporate communications department. While there, Barb oversaw and directed all internal and external corporate communications. Previously, she was a marketing manager for a multi-million dollar real estate developer and an account executive for an advertising firm outside Chicago. Barb holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from John Carroll University and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators, Business for Social Responsibility, and the Entrepreneurs Association. In addition, Barb serves on the advisory boards of Parkworks' Executive Committee and Parkworks' Chairman of the Committee on Trustees. She also serves on marketing committee at St. Gregory the Great in South Euclid.



Margaret Pigott Flynn, Principal & Co-Owner

Margie P. Flynn is principal and co-owner of BrownFlynn Communications, a strategic marketing communications firm specializing in community relationship management. Winner of numerous industry awards, BrownFlynn is also a two-time Weatherhead 100 "upstarts" winner, a finalist of SBN's "Innovators in Business" award and has earned SBE/FBE certifications by the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC). Margie was named among 2002's "Top Ten Women Business Owners of Northeast Ohio" by the National Association of Women Business Owners and "2002 Business Woman of the Year" by Inside Business magazine. She also was recognized by Beaumont School as a 2002 Distinguished Alumnae. Before 1996, Margie spent more than a decade managing corporate communications and public relations for National City Corporation. Prior to that, Margie managed marketing and advertising for an insurance brokerage firm. A seasoned marketing, public relations and corporate communications practitioner, Margie serves as BrownFlynn Communications' chief marketing officer, responsible for the firm's business development, marketing, operations and business management activities.

A graduate of Miami University with a Bachelor of Science degree in communications, Margie is a graduate and president of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2004; serves on the Board of Trustees for the Cleveland Initiative for Education and chair of its marketing committee; is an advisory board member and co-chair of the marketing committee for the St. Ann Endowment Fund; serves on the steering committees for Sustainable Cleveland as well as the Beaumont School Alum Networking Group; and is a member of University Circle, Inc. Joseph D. Pigott Leadership Award Selection Committee. She also is on the Public Relations and Community Relations Committee at St. Paschal Baylon School, is a Eucharistic Minister at St. Paschal Baylon Church and is a member of the Northeast Ohio Fast Company of Friends (sponsored by Fast Company magazine). Margie is a member of the Public Relations Society of America's Counselor's Academy, the Sales and Marketing Executives of Cleveland, and the National Association of Women Business Owners.

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