ABOUT US

We are Academics.

Sheil & Associates is a consortium of talented and experienced consultants and educators who help organizations understand themselves better. S&A was founded in 1998 to help organizations improve their core competencies in communication management. S&A creates memorable, easy-to-understand workshops that combine the latest academic research with applied organizational techniques, leading to maximum impact for individuals and teams. S&A continuously researches communication theory, development, psychology, sociology, management theory, marketing, branding, and media tactics to develop the most up-to-date strategies for organizational effectiveness. By combining the best academic knowledge with real-world applications, S&A provides strategic counsel and creates custom workshops that effectively transfer learning to participants through experiential exercises and individual coaching.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Anne Scott-Putney

Vice President, Client Services

Anne has more than 25 years’ experience leading nonprofit and educational organizations in top advancement and chief executive positions. Anne holds an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College. She has held the Certified Fundraising Executive and Certified Association Executive designations. Together with Dr. Astrid Sheil she has consulted with clients including Cal State San Bernardino’s College of Extended Learning, CSU-LA, and Lipscomb University. As an advancement professional she has built and directed board Development Committees in education, healthcare and social services; and has chaired community and nonprofit boards.

Astrid Sheil

President & CEO

Before becoming an academic, Dr. Sheil spent 15 years as a senior-level communication/PR director for two Fortune 500 companies and worked internationally in Finland and the Netherlands. As CEO of Sheil and Associates, she has worked with clients from all sectors of the economy—public and private companies, NGOs, hospitals, government agencies, United States senators, and university administrations. She is the author of Dynamic Public Relations: The 24/7 PR Cycle, published by Pearson—one of the top PR textbooks in the country, and was a 2015-2016 American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow.

Maddie Stansell

Executive Director, Marketing & Communications

Mrs. Stansell has worked in both the public and private sectors and is an ace at developing motivating content, social media strategy, branding, reputation management, “tradigital” marketing, and media relations. Furthermore, she understands and teaches others how to develop and design user-friendly websites, video presentations, and beautiful collateral materials to help organizations reach their target audience, make money, and brand themselves as trusted experts.

WHAT WE DO

Our Primary Objective is Your Organization’s Success

External Communications

We work to implement high-tech and high-touch techniques and strategies to deliver the organization’s views and engage in the online conversations. We provide clear and comprehensive public relations and management reputation strategies that are appropriate and cost-effective—and deliver results. S&A uses the Media Cloverleaf to help clients engage in meaningful conversations with its audience, create and curate compelling content, and achieve its media strategies with clear-cut purpose. We want to help you gain your audience’s trust and build your brand.

Internal Communication

Internal communication encompasses a lot: how do assumptions and behaviors affect the communication climate within your organization? How can you increase productivity through improved communication? And how can you establish authentic two-way communication channels with your employees? S&A provides advising and coaching to help teams and individuals work smarter and improve workplace communication.

Facilitation & Strategic Planning

Our philosophy on Strategic Planning is simple: We will show you how to develop and implement appropriate, measurable, and meaningful growth strategies. Specifically for nonprofits, S&A can also work with your Board of Directors to not only gain consensus, but renew the passion towards achieving your organization’s mission. We also provide a la carte facilitation services to help guide you forward on projects, campaigns, and general strategic counsel. We pride ourselves on our custom approach to ensure you achieve your goals.

Teambuilding & Brain Dominance

Teams are the driving force for many organizations and creating and maintaining a high-performing team can make all the difference for your bottom line. S&A approaches team building by focusing first on what drives the team’s behaviors and actions. There are 81 different combinations of thinking styles that affect human cognition and behaviors, including information processing, judgment, problem solving, communication and interaction with others. Once a person understands his or her own preferences for thinking and communicating, many doors open for growth, understanding, and acceptance of others.

“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage”

Jack Welch

PORTFOLIO SAMPLE

Below is a sample of the works we have produced for our various clients.

Sheil & Associates took on a small non-profit named Equine Partnership Program in Elizabeth, Colorado that provides mental-health services to at-risk youth through equine assisted therapy. S&A did a complete re-branding of the organization, providing a new logo, new website, social media strategy, all new marketing materials, and the strategy and training on how to continue their success. The results were astounding. In six months, the nonprofit:

Increased their donations by 198%
Captured 123% new donors
Engaged 500% more volunteers

The nonprofit also attracted two prominent members to its Board of Directors for 2016—a gift that will keep on giving to EPP. The impact the rebrand had on EPP was significant, and it not only grew immediate community interest in the nonprofit, but also caught the attention of national organizations, Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) and Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) further expanding its reach and solidifying its place as a top Equine Assisted Therapy Nonprofit.

S&A believes that all organizations can improve their branding by delivering a concise message that instantly conveys meaning. S&A has done re-branding and positioning work for the following organizations:

Sierra Madre Playhouse
Children’s Inn at the National Institute of Health
The College of Business and Public Administration, Cal State San Bernardino
Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation

S&A has depth and breadth in community outreach programs. Individually and collectively, we have worked for organizations such as American Diabetes Association, Habitat for Humanity, Equine Partnership Program, Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Sierra Madre Playhouse, The Children’s Inn at NIH, CSU LA Alumni Association, and our community Chambers of Commerce. Community relations is the conscious initiatives for creating deep connections to key audiences.

Dr. Sheil was the Director of Public Relations and Community Outreach for a Fortune 500 company in Tennessee. Dr. Sheil organized a clean-up day that netted more than 300 tons of trash out of a pristine forest area in the Appalachians. She organized it with 50 volunteers from the community. As Director of Communication at another Fortune 500 company, Dr. Sheil organized an annual Christmas in April where she brought volunteers from the plant to do renovations for an older person in the community. She solicited donations from Home Depot for flooring, appliances, and materials and led a team of volunteer to redo a house in 24 hours.

As an advancement professional, Anne has directed advancement staffs (combined communications, marketing, development and alumni/constituency relations) at three major organizations over the past 15 years. In that role she served as organization spokesperson and the face of the organization in the community. She has given scores of public presentations advancing the mission of educational institutions including for Yale University (where she was assistant director of admissions), and engagement in the missions of nonprofit organizations.

S&A has the expertise on staff to network with local, regional, and state-wide media. Our staff has been featured on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the Montel Williams Show, CNN, and the Discovery Channel. While building the brand for Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation, Anne Scott-Putney singlehandedly got the foundation featured on the Tyra Banks Show. Dr. Sheil was instrumental in getting a feature article published about the Andre Sobel foundation in Town and Country Magazine. Our strategy is not only to get LACCD featured in local and state-wide media, but also to develop its media strategy so that it can be successful for many years to come. Additional expertise includes:

Secured event and feature coverage in Town & Country Magazine, Angeleno, LA Confidential, Beverly Hills Design and Life, Beverly Hills Courier, and C Magazine.
Coordinated stories with Readers Digest, People Magazine, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Secured ASRL founder as: winner of Harlequin’s More Than Words Award, including a novel about ASRL under the Harlequin imprint; and a Purpose Prize Fellow.