Communications Strategy and Implementation

Melissa Hopkins – Co-Founder, President & CEO

Melissa Hopkins

Melissa Hopkins

The Hopkins Group, Inc., is a communications consulting firm based in Northern Virginia working with nationally recognized corporate, political and non-profit clients. Melissa Hopkins, President and CEO of The Hopkins Group, Inc., and her highly experienced team of professionals creates vital, client-specific media relations and message outreach solutions — from targeted, one-on-one contact with reporters to broader sophisticated social media strategies.

A few bullet points on her background:

  • In-depth work with national, Web-based campaigns including a one-of-a-kind video email platform in conjunction with traditional media outreach
  • Media relations advisor and spokesperson for the Washington Times for eight years
  • On-air talent over the course of five years for a weekly radio spot called ‘Inside the Ring,’ a news column about the Pentagon, international affairs and intelligence published in The Washington Times newspaper
  • Extensive research for proactive message outreach in crisis situations
  • Media relations consulting for high-stakes interviews on national news and cable shows such as CBS’ 60 Minutes, C-SPAN and The O’Reilly Factor, among others
  • Provides strategic communications consultation during lengthy, high-profile litigation proceedings for clients at the highest echelons of government and private industry
  • Speaks on media and public relations
  • Provides media coaching for clients

Prior to starting her own business in 2001, Melissa joined political and public policy consultant veteran, Jo Anne Barnhart, (who later served for six years as the Commissioner of Social Security) to manage her company’s media relations division. She developed and implemented communications strategies, interacted with local and national media and provided media coaching. She brought in The Washington Times newspaper as a client.

Melissa also managed the media relations office for The Washington Times. She coordinated daily interaction with national and local media outlets including AP and other newswire services, television networks and their affiliates, numerous radio stations and networks, national and local print media, and various new-media vehicles. She initiated and arranged interviews with Times’ reporters and editors and monitored other news coverage to ensure that the newspaper gained exposure and was properly attributed. Attributions of Times’ stories in other media more than tripled during her tenure there. Experienced in crisis management and proactive communications, Melissa also served as the newspaper’s spokesperson.

In the 1996 election cycle Melissa served as the broadcast services manager for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She created, developed and managed an interactive radio actuality and satellite teleconferencing program for 25 Republican U.S. Senate candidates in the 1996 election cycle. She conducted daily interviews with candidates, elected officials, and campaign surrogates to package to radio and television stations across the country for earned media coverage.

As a professional Actress in Los Angeles in the early 1990’s, Melissa worked in television, commercials, and the stage in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and the Pacific Northwest. As a member of the Screen Actors Guild, her credits have included roles for NBC television in the series “Sisters” and “Days of Our Lives.” As a member of L.A. Theatre Works, she appeared in Exchange for National Public Radio and BBC radio. Melissa also served as a casting assistant to LA-based casting director Mali Finn on the feature films, “Batman Forever” and “True Lies.” She helped recruit actors, coached improvisational and scripted scenes and videotaped auditions for director Joel Shoemacher’s review.

In 2003 Melissa received the Award of Distinction from The Communicator for co-writing the documentary, “Two Decades of Dedication and Distinction.”

Gary Hopkins – Co-Founder, COO & EVP of Editorial and Multimedia

Gary’s entire career has been based on generating, editing, packaging and marketing great content. In his career he’s worked as a website founder, content producer, photographer, writer, editor (of both photos and writing), multimedia producer and editor, design and layout guy, and most recently as an entrepreneur.

He founded HopkinsPhotos.com, which takes a photojournalistic approach to child and family photography as well as landscape and monument photography. He runs, writes or edits a number of websites and blogs including InspiredON.com, WoodbridgeLiving.com, MangoManBlog.com and, of course, HopkinsPhotos.com.

Over the past 10 years of his career he founded and was the director of the AOL owned and operated website, Pixcetera.com, a photography-based content vertical. He sold executive management on the concept of Pixcetera, and it launched in June 2008. In Pixcetera’s top months under his leadership, the website pulled in more than 90 million page views and 4.5 million uniques per month.

Prior to AOL, he spent 13 years at The Washington Times in diverse functions, including that of Assistant Managing Editor and Sports Editor, where he developed solid news judgment in a fiercely independent newsroom environment while managing teams of up to 30 people and a $1.5 million annual budget. He led the launch of an innovative sports section, the Sunday Sports Times, which was the front section — the “A” section — of the Sunday paper. It was a unique product in the newspaper arena and highly successful, generating advertising growth within the section to levels previously unseen at the Washington daily.

In addition to having a number of presences in the social networking arena, managing multiple accounts and pages on Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress, he also hosts a weekly BlogTalkRadio.com show on health and wellness. BlogTalkRadio is becoming a growing force in the communications arena and is both a great informational tool as well as an effective marketing tool.

Let The Hopkins Group, Inc., show you efficient, innovative ways to craft and distribute your message on multiple platforms, while being mindful of the realities of today’s economy.

For more information on how The Hopkins Group, Inc. can develop media and message outreach solutions for your organization, please call, 571-432-7554 or email us at hopkinsgroup@earthlink.net.