Experience

BGR Group

• United States
• Government Relations Services
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Principal

  • 2014 - Present

  At BGR Group, a top-ranked Washington lobbying and public relations firm, we tell clients' stories across all traditional and digital media channels, for both external and internal communications campaigns. We win positive earned media in top-tier U.S. outlets and create high-quality print, graphic, video and social content for earned and paid media. We can help our clients repair and enhance their online image, from Wikipedia maintenance to winning Page 1 of Google search, using the latest SEO tactics. Our clients include Fortune 100 tech, service and manufacturing firms, high-ranking government officials from Asian, African, European and Middle Eastern nations, as well as foreign entities and individuals. RESULTS: A sovereign-nation client sought to raise media awareness and positive coverage of issues ahead of a key diplomatic event. Through my extensive contacts in the media, I was able to generate positive news and opinion coverage from outlets including Politico, the Financial Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among many others, including an editorial and front-page story in The Post. In a seven-day period around the event, I helped generate 1,223 media mentions of key terms, with overwhelming positive sentiment toward my client and significant pull-through of my client's messaging. RESULTS: A global food services provider sought to launch its first-ever internal communications campaign. We built a communications architecture, based on a mobile-first dual-language website, that included an email and text messaging signup function in order to voluntarily gain employees' contact information. We supported the signup campaign with workplace print creative and incentive giveaways, deployed at dozens of work sites across the U.S. We created databases of employee information, enabling the company to target messaging in specific languages to specific work sites. Show less



Author, Writer, Speaker

• Writing and Editing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• "Seoul Man"

  • Jun 2016 - Jul 2017

  Recounting his three years in Korea, the highest-ranking non-Korean executive at Hyundai sheds light on a business culture very few Western journalists ever experience, in this revealing, moving, and hilarious memoir. When Frank Ahrens, a middle-aged bachelor and eighteen-year veteran at the Washington Post, fell in love with a diplomat, his life changed dramatically. Following his new bride to her first appointment in Seoul, South Korea, Frank traded the newsroom for a corporate suite, becoming director of global communications at Hyundai Motors. In a land whose population is 97 percent Korean, he was one of fewer than ten non-Koreans at a company headquarters of thousands of employees. For the next three years, Frank traveled to auto shows and press conferences around the world, pitching Hyundai to former colleagues while trying to navigate cultural differences at home and at work. While his appreciation for absurdity enabled him to laugh his way through many awkward encounters, his job began to take a toll on his marriage and family. Eventually he became a vice president—the highest-ranking non-Korean at Hyundai HQ. Filled with unique insights and told in his engaging, humorous voice, Seoul Man sheds light on a culture few Westerners know, and is a delightfully funny and heartwarming adventure for anyone who has ever felt like a fish out of water—all of us. Show less



Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차)

• South Korea
• Motor Vehicle Manufacturing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Vice President, Global Corporate Communications

  • Oct 2010 - Dec 2013

  Oversaw and managed the daily and long-term strategy for corporate communications for Hyundai Motor at headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, for overseas divisions including the U.S., Europe, Brazil, India, Russia and the Middle East. Helped make Hyundai Motor fastest-growing brand in 2011, 2012, according to Interbrand, and supported efforts that resulted in Car Of the Year wins and shortlisting. Worked closely with company's government affairs offices in Washington D.C. and Brussels on regulatory, local-origin and trade issues. RESULTS: -- Designed and initiated a global media campaign that resulted in Hyundai Motor's fuel-cell vehicle moving from No. 5 among its competitors in media mentions and positive sentiment to No. 1 over the span of one year. -- Built company's first English-language media web site. -- Hired company's first English-language editor. Show less



The Washington Post

• United States
• Newspaper Publishing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Reporter/editor

  • Aug 1992 - Sep 2010

  Was a reporter, blogger and editor in the business, features and and sports sections. Covered global financial crisis from 2008-10, appearing frequently on CNBC, PBS NewsHour and other networks. I was part of The Post's Pulitzer Prize-nominated coverage of the financial crisis. Was a reporter, blogger and editor in the business, features and and sports sections. Covered global financial crisis from 2008-10, appearing frequently on CNBC, PBS NewsHour and other networks. I was part of The Post's Pulitzer Prize-nominated coverage of the financial crisis.