Members of the Charles Ryan Associates management team are, from left, Kyra Harris, Alisha Maddox, Matt Fidler, Susan Lavenski, Meredyth Jenkins, Kimm Boyd, Matt Isner and Tommy Dutton. (Photo Provided)
PARKERSBURG — In September 1974, Charlie Ryan left a successful career in television to open what seemed to be at that time a risky business, a public relations shop in Charleston with only one employee, himself.
Fifty years later Charles Ryan Associates is a women-owned, strategic communications firm and touts its works for some of the largest brands in the country and with clients in more than 30 states.
“Fifty years ago this week, Charles Ryan Associates first opened for business in the basement of a law firm. One man, one desk and one telephone in Charleston, W.Va., started half a century of smart brand communications — working with clients from coast to coast,” Susan Lavenski, CEO of Charles Ryan Associates, said. “We are grateful to our founder, Charles Ryan, who began this journey and for every member of CRA’s alumni who joined us over the past 50 years, helping us get to where we are today.”
Charles Ryan Associates, called CRA by staff and most clients, has grown into a successful communications and digital firm with a physical office in Charleston and Richmond, Va., with staff in Chicago, Columbus and Virginia Beach. The motto is “Smart Brand Communications.”
Lavenski has been with Charles Ryan Associates going on her 27th year at CRA this fall. She is joined by three other owners, all who have long careers at the firm: Alisha Maddox, chief communications officer, of Charleston; Matt Fidler, chief creative officer, and Matt Isner, chief strategy officer, both of Richmond.
Four vice presidents also are part of the management team, Meredyth Jenkins, Kyra Harris, Tommy Dutton and Kimm Boyd.
Owners are more than business partners, they are family, as all four have grown up together at Charles Ryan Associates, Lavenski said. Lavenski and Fidler are celebrating 27 years at the firm, Isner for 25 years and Maddox for 23 years.
The owners, with long careers at the firm, purchased the company in 2015.
It now has a major digital focus, while adhering to the principle that all brand communications must center around smart strategy, creative, digital and media. Notable accomplishments in the past several years include earning state and federal women-owned designations and becoming , GSA certified.
The firm also has its own in-house video production division, CRA Film led by Fidler; a digital and media insights team led by Isner and a strategic media and communications training division called CRA Forum led by Maddox.
Ryan, now retired and living in North Carolina, stays in touch with the owners and is astounded by what they have built.
“Congratulations to the men and women of Charles Ryan Associates, past and present, for 50 years of superlative service,” Ryan said. “I was there at the beginning, and I am elated that Susan Lavenski and the current owners of CRA have taken the firm I know and love to extraordinary heights.”
The owners are proud of Charles Ryan Associates’ legacy in West Virginia and the firm’s successes across the country, Lavenski said.
“We have worked with clients from California, Texas, Oklahoma to New York and Georgia and many places in between. We love our West Virginia roots, but we are fortunate to have a large footprint across the country,” she said.