MARK MINER COMMUNICATIONS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Public Relations and Marketing Advisor

Mark A. Miner is a pioneering public relations and marketing advisor who since 1983 has helped craft the image of professional service firms as they increasingly grow their business and become key decision-makers at the table of corporate and civic leadership. Media Relationship Building - Trained as a journalist, Miner is a proponent of two-way relationships with journalists to build trust and credibility, and has been named in Fortune and People magazines for his work. He has authored a column in the National Law Journal -- the bible of the legal field -- on "Lawyers and the Press: Bitter Enemies or Friends?" He also has been featured in Law Office Administrator on "Free and Good Marketing: It's a Matter of Knowing How to Get Quoted." He's been quoted in industry publications as well as regularly interviewed in Pittsburgh's major newspaper, radio and TV media. Buchanan Ingersoll's groundbreaking Annual Report, which Miner helped create and write for nine years, has been widely followed by competitors and called "unusually instructive" by The Insider's Guide to Law Firms. He was a co-editor of the Buchanan Ingersoll's public reports on behalf of the Mayor of Pittsburgh, spelling out the urban planning justification for keeping the Pirates in Pittsburgh and building a baseball-only ballpark. He also ghost-wrote two annual reports for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Accomplishments in the Engineering Field - From 1985 to 1991, Miner was a PR executive with Michael Baker Corporation, a nationally known, publicly traded engineering and energy firm that, under employee control, rebounded from near bankruptcy to re-emerge as one of the country's top firms. He was directly involved with a Wall Street Journal feature on Baker's ESOP and Engineering News Record cover articles about Baker's "fall and rise," the Pittsburgh International Airport and Philadelphia's Vine Street Expressway. He was editor of the Baker Magazine, a client focused publication with a circulation of 13,000. In 2017-2018, he served part-time as director of corporate communications for a superregional architectural/engineering firm. Museum Administration - With a deep love for history and preservation, Miner served for five years as chairman of the Beaver Area Heritage Museum, six-plus years on the operating committee of the Beaver Station Cultural & Event Center and two years as president of their parent organization, the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation. As museum chair, he helped resolve three of the organization's most pressing issues -- ineffective recruitment and retention of volunteers, underwhelming fundraising and a moribund education program for elementary school students. An annual corporate sponsorship program he created for the museum in 2012 has raised more than $140,000 since that time. A Passion for Professional Leadership and Community Service - At age 25, he was tapped to be vice president on the board of directors of the United Way of Beaver County, a role he held for three years. Today he serves on the operating committee of the Beaver Station Cultural and Event Center and in recent years on boards of the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation and Mental Health Association in Beaver County. He has been a guest lecturer at Robert Morris University, West Virginia University's College of Business and Economics and Community College of Beaver County. Earlier, he was an executive committee member of the American Cancer Society in Pittsburgh and president of a client-founded charity focused on the fight against cancer as an outlet for employee grief after three key executives died of cancer within 18 months. In 2008, Miner led two organizations' involvement with Pittsburgh 250 to celebrate the city's 250th birthday. He has been a Judge for Pittsburgh Magazine's "40 Under 40" awards and the PR Society of America Renaissance Awards; chair for two years of Rotary District 7300's PR Committee serving 1,500 members in 51 clubs; and a trustee of the Beaver Area Education Foundation. In 2005, he was honored as "Rotarian of the Year" for District 7300 in southwestern Pennsylvania. His pioneering genealogy and social history site, Minerd.com, twice has been named one of the "Top 10 Family Websites" in the nation by Family Tree Magazine and marked its 20th year online in 2020.