New President Named at OutsidePR

November 16, 2020

New Titles & Staff Additions to Leading Outdoor Industry PR Firm

Sausalito, CA, November 2020– OutsidePR, which last month celebrated its 25th Anniversary, is proud to announce that Jess Smith has assumed the title of President of the agency. Founder and current President, Gordon Wright, will remain in a leadership role while assuming the title of Partner.

Associated with the leadership assignments, the agency also announces that it has added the talents of Heather Hawkins as Senior Account Director. Hawkins spent many years at Double Forte, a large consumer agency in San Francisco, running both the Clif and CamelBak accounts, and most recently ran her own PR consultancy, Elevation Strategy.

The agency has also promoted current Senior Account Executives Anna Avery and Kelsey McGrew to the role of Account Manager.

The new agency configuration comes on the heels of a period of accelerated growth for the agency, which has doubled its revenues over the last three years and expanded beyond its core client base of outdoor and endurance sports and into the travel and liquor industries.

Wright, the founder and partner of OutsidePR, said, “These changes reflect our growth, certainly, but are also an important part of our long-range succession planning. Jess is widely known as the outdoor industry’s best PR practitioner, but she’s equally talented as a leader. As OutsidePR continues to grow, she’s the obvious choice to have a larger leadership role on our tremendous team. Sustained growth doesn’t happen without talent, and our account teams have been absolutely critical to the agency we’ve become.”

Smith, who in February will celebrate her seventh anniversary at the agency, said, “I am completely honored to be assuming this role under the guidance and leadership of my mentor and friend, Gordon Wright. My time at OutsidePR has been absolutely life changing, in the most positive ways. I am thrilled to support the growth of our talented account managers Anna and Kelsey. Adding Heather to the team is a dream come true, and it does very much feel like OutsidePR is on an upwards trajectory that represents our tireless and dedicated hard work for our media, clients and brands, day in and day out.”

OutsidePR, founded in 1995, specializes in endurance and outdoor sport public relations with an emphasis on publicity, story-telling, crisis communications, and ambassador and influencer programs. The agency currently represents Buff USA, Brompton, CamelBak, Cotopaxi, Decathlon, DECKED, DownTek, HOKA, icebreaker, Injinji, King Oscar, Machines For Freedom, Mammut, Merrow PPE, Mountain Hardwear, New Holland, Red Bull, Snowbasin, Sun Valley, Tahoe Blue Vodka, Taiga, thousand, Title Nine and Tracksmith.

For more information on OutsidePR, visit outsidepr.com

About OutsidePR

OutsidePR is one of the leading endurance and outdoors PR agencies in the USA. While wholly dedicated to the sports category, OutsidePR is unusual in serving multi-national, multi-billion dollar brands as well as core endemic companies. Representing clients ranging from Red Bull and Epson to Injinji and Icebreaker, the agency is known for its dedication to journalism, its objectivity in pitching clients, and its credibility in endurance and outdoor sports. For more information, please visit www.outsidepr.com.