Kathie Thomas started the Innovation practice at Fleishman-Hillard in 2005. Over the course of a 29-year-career that has spanned graphic design, branding, public relations, and management, Kathie Thomas has had one abiding passion – creativity. As the Director of Innovation, she has been charged with instilling that passion in her colleagues, and with helping the firm’s clients unlock their creativity at a time when CEOs and other business leaders increasingly view innovation as a critical success factor.

The Innovation Practice Group Ms. Thomas leads offers proven tools and approaches for helping organizations and teams inject a new level of innovation and productivity into their strategic planning and program development. The goal is not creativity for its own sake, but the systematic fostering of new ideas that deliver value.

Ms. Thomas has been trained and certified in creativity, innovation, and productive thinking skills. Her résumé includes one-on-one mentoring from Innovation Networks’ Joyce Wycoff, certification in Dr. Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking and Six Thinking Hats programs, immersion training in Asset Based Leadership from The Cramer Institute, and instruction from the Creative Education Foundation and Creative Problem Solving Institute. Based on this expertise, she developed the proprietary process models that stimulate innovation, idea creation, and idea selection. Fleishman-Hillard’s own professional development programs and its brainstorming and planning sessions with clients and colleagues have benefited from her training, commitment, and passion to take creativity to a higher level. She has trained and certified 60 Innovation Practice Group members from 11 countries around the Fleishman-Hillard global network to facilitate Innovation sessions for their teams and their clients.

Together, the group has lead more than 500 sessions for more than 220 clients and 7,300 participants.

As a creative strategist at Fleishman-Hillard, Ms. Thomas has guided teams through the development of strategies designed to modify behaviors. And, as a project manager, she has planned and managed complex programs across multiple disciplines, effectively blending public relations with design and marketing. Her most recent clients include American Red Cross, AT&T, Centers For Disease Control, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Firewise, Ford Foundation, Gatorade, General Mills, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Turner Construction, and Wolwo.

She has spoken about innovation at Innovation Convergence: 2004, 2005, and 2006; IABC Johannesburg 2006; PRSA International Conference 2006, Wichita, Kan., PRSA meeting 2007; Mind Camp 2005 and 2006; Texas Public Relations Association 2007; the Center For Disease Control National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media 2007; and the Epilepsy Foundation Skill Building Institute.

Among other achievements, Ms. Thomas’ career at Fleishman-Hillard has been highlighted by her development of the P.O.I.N.T.S.^SM Model – a six-step innovative thinking process designed to help teams develop the best possible solutions more consistently, quickly, thoroughly, and effectively.

Stephanie Susman joined Fleishman-Hillard Innovation in September 2007 after completing two consecutive internships with the group.

A certified innovation facilitator, Ms. Susman works directly with Fleishman-Hillard’s global director of innovation and its chief marketing officer to support the Innovation practice’s marketing efforts through various media. She writes the group’s weekly blog, develops copy for fliers, maintains content on the group’s Web site, and supports Innovation activities including client sessions, Creativity Week, and Train the Trainer. She also compiles quarterly measurement reports detailing the progress of all practice group members across the globe.

Before joining Fleishman-Hillard, Ms. Susman interned in the communication department at the Alpha Gamma Delta Women’s Fraternity International Headquarters in Indianapolis. There she worked with the communications team to prepare materials for the fraternity’s convention, write articles for the Alpha Gamma Delta Quarterly magazine, and redesign its New Members Brochure using Adobe InDesign.

Additionally, Ms. Susman completed two summer internships in media relations at Image Works Public Relations in St. Louis. At Image Works, she worked closely with the team to develop events, set up fundraisers including a photo opportunity with St. Louis Cardinals Care, and arranged interviews with the media for clients including Circus Flora and the Crack Team.

Ms. Susman graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, with a public relations concentration and a minor in history. While in school, Ms. Susman served as staff writer, copy chief, general assignments editor, and student government beat reporter at top college newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student.