Where are they now? – Brad Boyer

By Dan Toland

Brad Boyer, Tyler Hall, and Sara McKinniss, were just three fresh baby-faced young professionals when they joined Melanie Wilt during the early days of Shift•ology (then known as Wilt Public Relations).  During a recent episode of our Shooting the Shift podcast, we had the opportunity to catch up with the trio to learn where their careers have taken them, what they have carried with them from their time with Melanie, and to reminisce about the good old days of agency life. 

Here we feature Brad Boyer. Check out our other posts in this series featuring Tyler Hall and Sara McKinniss.

Brad Boyer

A former White House intern and political campaign worker, Brad Boyer brought unique experiences and insights to Wilt PR that helped establish a successful winning platform for political campaigns (which Melanie Wilt has even written a book about). 

Brad worked with a variety of clients at Wilt that expanded his knowledge, network and sense of wanting to provide back to the community. This led Brad to the National Trail Parks and Recreation District in Clark County, Ohio, where he now serves as the deputy director. For fans of NBC’s Parks and Recreation television show, Brad swears he is more of a Leslie Knope, despite probably resembling Jerry Gergich. We’ll take his word for it. 

Brad helped Wilt through the process of expanding its reach and value to a broader set of clients, brainstorming with Melanie to connect dots showing that the biosciences go well beyond agriculture, including but not limited to fields such as health and wellness, energy and environment and education.

For some reason, Brad still has a fax machine in his office, but we cannot confirm if he actually knows what to do with it. He also still spills coffee on the floor, but there’s now darker carpet to compensate for it. 

What Brad learned from Wilt:

• Working with a variety of clients outside of his political sphere was eye-opening and helped him be more flexible to pivoting throughout his career. 
• Having an open atmosphere with co-workers to have fun, bounce ideas around and brainstorm without holding back produces a product that can be highly valuable and beneficial for clients. 

In Brad’s words:

• “I learned how to look outside the bubble I exist within, and focus on the priorities of others.”
• “I improved upon areas of weaknesses, discovered ways to be innovative and strengthen my personal capabilities. I learned some standards of what’s expected in the industry to carry on beyond my time at Wilt.”
• “It was a fun environment, and an enjoyable place to be. Even when we had our bad days, we had the ability to joke, give each other a hard time and tell each other how we felt. And we could all get along and work well with each other afterwards.” 

Special Note from Melanie Wilt:

“I am incredibly proud of the careers these three have created, the work they do in their communities and the positive impact they have on those around them. Although I shed tears the day each of them let me know they were moving on, I am better for having had the opportunity to get what I could from them and teach them what I could. I am honored to have been a part of each of their journeys and consider them a part of my network.”