Jane Shapiro
Senior Vice President, Corporate & Crisis Communications
Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Jane has 30 years experience in corporate, consulting and government environments. She is National Practice Leader for corporate and crisis communications and is responsible for ensuring a consistent, best in class, team approach to all assignments. Jane is especially skilled at leading integrated teams on complex and sensitive client assignments, executing multifaceted programs to manage critical situations, enhance reputation, raise corporate and program visibility and establish thought leadership.

Prior History
Prior to joining Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Jane led the crisis and corporate communications practices at another agency. Her work history also includes stints in both government and political offices.

Jane has helped manage crisis situations for clients in the education, energy, food, agribusiness, biotechnology and financial services sectors, including product recalls, plant closures and legal actions. She has developed crisis manuals for a diverse range of clients and led crisis simulation exercises to test the performance of crisis teams. She is a frequent speaker on issues and crisis management and an experienced media and presentation trainer.

She is a frequent speaker on issues and crisis management and an experienced media and presentation trainer.

Other Information
Jane has a Master's Degree in Political Economy from the University of Toronto.
She serves as a Mentor in the Rotman Business School's Mentorship Program. She has a Certificat, from the Institut de Francais, Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France.

Laura Sturaitis
Executive Vice President, Media Services & Product Strategy
Business Wire

Laura Sturaitis is Executive Vice President of Media Services & Product Strategy, and heads up Business Wire's Global Media Relations, Content Licensing, Product Strategy, Public Policy, HQ Online Newsroom and Information Services teams.

Laura is responsible for the comprehensive and timely delivery of Business Wire feed of more than 1200 releases a day sent globally to print, broadcast, online and social media organizations using Business Wire's multi-platform delivery methods. She is a recognized industry expert in the development of new media tools and services for the distribution, search engine optimization (SEO), social sharing and measurement ROI of press releases. For more than 20 years, she has been instrumental in the evolution of press release on the wire serving clients in public relations, corporate communications, investor relations and traditional and online media.

Her team has lead the industry on the integration and delivery of multimedia content with the press release as well as the display, performance, ranking and measurement of releases and their availability on all traditional as well as new platforms and devices such as mobile phones and tablets. She leads the HQ team which provides leading companies with state-of-the-art online newsrooms and investor centers for their website.

Laura and her team explore and evaluate business development opportunities and help set the direction for the products and services that provide professional communicators with the tools and technologies that get their news and information to audiences worldwide.

Laura has been a featured speaker at national conferences on topics such as Search Engine Optimization & Social Media, Multimedia & the Press Release, New Media Technologies, Measurement & Analytics, Media Relations and Online Communication Strategies.

Laura is a member of Business Wire's Executive Board and also serves on the Board of PYMNTS.com, Business Wire's 2009 joint venture, PYMNTS.com. She is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and started her career with Business Wire in 1992 as Florida Regional Manager. Laura holds an MBA from Florida Atlantic University and a BA in English and Communication from St. Thomas University in Miami, FL.

Laura has the distinction of being a former Jeopardy! Champion. She enjoys travel, music, films, crafts, reading and taking courses on diverse topics online and at local universities and community colleges.

Areas of Expertise: Media Relations, SEO, Social Media, Content Licensing, PR & IR Services, Measurement & Analytics, Integrated Online Marketing and Business Communications.

You can follow her on Twitter @lsturaitis or LinkedIn at Laura Sturaitis