Consultants

Laura Swickard McGowan is a Chicago-based public relations consultant specializing in book publicity, public relations counsel and crisis communication management, international media relations (including on-site work at conferences and events), development of key messages and branding, creation of written collateral materials, and event implementation and management.

Current and recent clients of Laura McGowan Communications (LMC) include Harvest with Greg Laurie, MOPS International (Mothers of Preschoolers), the Willow Creek Association, The National Christian Foundation, and Lead Like Jesus (Ken Blanchard). In addition, LMC has directed book publicity campaigns for notable authors like Dr. Charles Stanley, Ken Blanchard, Dr. Gary Chapman, Pat Williams, Nancy Ortberg, and Lauren Winner.

Prior to founding LMC, Laura spent more than five years with The DeMoss Group in Atlanta, Ga., where she served as a Public Relations Director, managing accounts including Promise Keepers, Campus Crusade for Christ, Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan’s Purse/Franklin Graham), Harvest Crusades (Greg Laurie), Halftime (Bob Buford), Teen Challenge, Compassion International, Chick Fil A (Truett Cathy), and I Still Do (Family Life/Dennis Rainey).

Previously, Laura coordinated on-site media relations for international men’s group Promise Keepers, working with hundreds of media outlets at more than 40 conference venues across the U.S.

With more than 15 years’ experience as a public relations professional, Laura has developed and managed a wide range of projects, from establishing a media credentialing system that serviced more than 1,200 media outlets at Promise Keepers’ Stand In the Gap event on the Washington Mall, to overseeing the operation of a media center designed to service international media covering the Billy Graham Association’s Amsterdam 2000 event that drew some 8,000 clergy from around the world.

Laura has also developed successful media relations campaigns resulting in international media coverage. Most notably, collaborating on a campaign for Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan’s Purse) that brought Columbine High School students to Kosovo in 1999 to distribute shoe box gifts to war-ravaged communities, and traveling to Kosovo with The Today Show and the Associated Press to facilitate coverage.

Laura graduated with a B.A. in Speech Communication, with an emphasis in public relations, from California State University, Northridge. She resides with her family in the Chicago area.
 

Nicky Owski
Public Relations Consultant

Currently a public relations consultant, Nicky previously served as director of small groups at Orchard Grove Community Church in Walled Lake, Mich., and also as a public relations coordinator for Grayling Public Relations in London, England.

Nicky graduated from Port Elizabeth Technikon in South Africa with a national diploma in Public Relations Management.