about us

Biographies

Patrick GalvinPatrick Galvin, Chief Galvanizer

Patrick is a longtime believer in the power of buzz marketing and public relations. As a college sophomore, he broke the Guinness World Record for hammock swinging to promote his parents’ hammock stores. He created buzz for the event by telling journalists that he was trying to make hammock swinging an Olympic sport. The record resulted in widespread press coverage that increased hammock sales and convinced Patrick that publicity is an excellent way to build a business.

After graduating from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a Bachelor of Science, Patrick worked for various politicians and political campaigns and used his marketing skills to raise over one million dollars for a non-profit organization in less than a year.

Fascinated to learn why people buy, Patrick enrolled at Thunderbird in Arizona where he graduated with an MBA in international marketing. His fluency in Spanish and Portuguese led to a regional sales manager position for an industrial and agricultural equipment manufacturer. In three years, he built a sales network in Canada and Latin America and created marketing programs for both regions. Seeking a bigger challenge, he became president of his family’s furniture stores and quadrupled sales in five years through word of mouth marketing and public relations.

In 2002, Patrick co-founded Galvin Communications to help companies grow through buzz rather than expensive advertising. Galvin Communications has helped increase sales through word of mouth marketing and public relations for over 75 businesses, from sole proprietorships just starting out to a publicly traded company with more than $5 billion in annual revenue.

Patrick, who is president of the Oregon Chapter of the National Speakers Association, is an accomplished speaker who has addressed groups of entrepreneurs, managers and CEOs on buzz marketing and public relations. He writes regularly about a variety of marketing topics on his Buzz Builder Blog and monthly Buzz Bulletin e-newsletter as well as for numerous trade and general interest publications.

Ellen GalvinEllen Galvin, Account Director

Ellen believes in the power of word of mouth marketing to educate, inform and persuade. An accomplished writer with a talent for spotting a good news story, she has placed clients in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, Newsday, Business Week, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur Magazine, Outside, InStyle, Elegant Bride, HGTV, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and more.

With a background in business and marketing strategy, Ellen works with clients to develop marketing campaigns that deliver results and benefit the bottom line. She identifies target audiences, formulates messaging strategies, and uncovers new, unusual and creative story angles that are of interest to the media. She is a clear communicator who ensures that clients receive frequent updates and detailed status reports that demonstrate the value of word of mouth in terms of increased credibility, visibility and sales.

Prior to co-founding Galvin Communications in 2002, Ellen was an Engagement Manager for Prophet, a San Francisco-based brand consulting firm. She managed projects for clients such as Allstate, British Petroleum, Wells Fargo, Jamba Juice, Levi Strauss & Co. and Discovery Channel. Before that Ellen spent seven years in financial services with Callan Associates Inc. in San Francisco and Morgan Stanley in New York City.

Ellen received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and French (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Hofstra University in New York and an MBA from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris and speaks French and fluent German. She is currently studying Spanish and Mandarin.

BellaBella the Boxer, Director of Goodwill

As Director of Goodwill (D.O.G), Bella the Boxer is responsible for fostering a sense of energy, enthusiasm and creativity within the office. She maintains an influential pet blog and uses her online marketing savvy to help clients design word of mouth marketing campaigns in the blogosphere.

Bella has a degree from puppy kindergarten and hopes someday to be certified for Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT). In the meantime, she lobbies for the allowance of more squeak toys in the professional workplace.

BellaCreative Partners

To get the best possible return on your marketing investment, you need a team which delivers quality work on time and at prices you can afford. When you hire Galvin Communications, you gain access to a team of firms that we’ve carefully chosen based on their consistent excellence and outstanding customer service. Some clients choose to work directly with them while others prefer that we coordinate activities. Our partners can assist you in finding the perfect name for your company or product; providing insight into what your customers want; designing effective marketing collateral; creating insightful search engine optimization campaigns; and producing dynamic online videos. If you have other needs, please ask since we take pride in cultivating our extensive network in the marketing community.