Saralie Slonsky (Secretary)

Saralie Slonsky (Secretary)

Saralie Slonsky has spent close to 30 years as a public relations/communications executive, the majority of them at two of the leading global agencies, Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe. Recently, she was Director of Professional Development at Magnet Communications.

Now an independent consultant, she brings to her new role a highly diversified experience in varied markets and disciplines, including marketing and corporate communications counseling, creative development, strategic planning, public affairs, public policy support, issues management and internal communications.

A seasoned veteran in the healthcare communications field, she has developed strategies to launch—and sustain support for—a multitude of prescription and OTC pharmaceuticals. She has also created corporate positioning programs for major pharmaceutical companies, equipment manufacturers and healthcare providers and provided counsel to not-for-profit healthcare advocacy groups.

Along the way, Saralie developed a specialty in women's health—launching the first menopause education campaign in the early 80's, working with the team that partnered with Cancer Care to establish the first National Breast Cancer Awareness Week, helping Lilly to organize its coalition to advocate for older women's health, creating an information outreach that enabled women to understand and openly discuss their unfortunately special relationship with depression, and many other breakthrough initiatives.

She joined Burson-Marsteller in 1972 where she helped to found the organization's pioneering healthcare communications division. As Executive Vice President in charge of this division's strategic planning team, she led the development of breakthrough healthcare communications vehicles, which today remain industry standards of practice. Subsequently she served as senior healthcare counselor at Cohn & Wolfe and Dentsu/Burson-Marsteller.

Earlier she had managed food, wine and nutrition programs at Ted Sills & Co. She was a key member of the Sills team that created and managed the first agency public relations program to mass market wine, positioning it as a beverage with a broader consumer appeal at the early stages of the US wine boom and setting new industry standards for wine marketing programs. Today, she is often called upon to combine her food marketing background and healthcare experience to develop programs for companies with a stake in both diet and health.

Early in her career, she was a member of the corporate public relations team at Paine-Webber Jackson & Curtis that originated the concept of financial services education programs, developing and driving an innovative women's financial education program.

Over the years, Saralie has trained and mentored dozens of communications professionals, been active in the major industry associations and has been a member of two Silver Anvil and one Big Apple award winning teams. She is currently an adjunct professor in the New York University School of Continuing Education's Management Institute and also conducts on-site skills and management training seminars for public relations firms.

She served as an industry liaison for the American Medical Association, a consultant to the Lupus Foundation and American Kidney Foundation and a board member of Medic Alert. She has been a director of Women's Executives in Public Relations Foundation and a charter member and past president of Les Dames d'Escoffier, a professional association for the food, wine and hospitality industries. She currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for Communique, a healthcare industry trade publication.

Saralie received a BA degree from Emerson College and the University of Wisconsin and did graduate studies at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, University of Mexico, New York Institute of Finance, the Wine and Beverage Association professional program and the L'Academie Francaise in Paris.