Gary Goldhammer

Gary Goldhammer is a senior communications professional with extensive experience in traditional public relations and marketing, journalism and new media tools and trends. He currently serves as Vice President, Interactive Solutions, for Edelman Public Relations in Los Angeles, CA.

Gary previously served as President of MarCom:Interactive, a marketing communications company he co-founded in 1999. While at MarCom, Gary helped clients take full advantage of new technologies including blogs, RSS, social networks, mobile and 3D virtual environments. He also managed business development and client service functions.

Gary conducts public and private corporate seminars on social media and journalism trends. An award-winning writer and communicator, his primary expertise is in the changing role of the news media and how new journalism trends are affecting public relations, marketing and business.

Before MarCom, Gary served as Vice President for Nelson Communications Group (now Porter-Novelli) in Orange County, CA. There, Gary managed two of their major accounts, Unocal 76 and The Walt Disney Company, and garnered two Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil awards for the agency. He created the statewide agency’s first digital public relations practice in 1995 and was among the first in the industry to use the Internet for public affairs campaigns and corporate communications. Gary's work on behalf of clients has earned coverage from national and regional publications and programs, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Time Digital, BusinessWeek and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Gary worked as a journalist for the Associated Press, United Press International, the Ventura County Star and Thompson Newspapers, among others. He is the author of a non-fiction book on the death penalty, and his articles and commentary are published in the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, and in Internet trade publications.

Gary graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1989. His favorite American Idol of all time is 2006 winner Taylor Hicks.