Joel Curran is senior vice president and managing director of the Midwest Region for MS&L. Curran is responsible for managing the agency’s Chicago office, driving new business growth and maximizing client development. He is also responsible for building MS&L’s already substantial capabilities in the region, including Detroit and a rapidly growing digital communications and influencer marketing practice in Ann Arbor, as well as capitalizing on new opportunities in neighboring geographies.

He was formerly managing director of CKPR, the public relations arm of independent ad agency Cramer-Krasselt. Over nine years, he helped to build the agency’s PR operation into one of the nation’s top independent mid-size agencies and a preeminent thought-leader on integrated public relations.

Curran has invested most of his career in integrated branding positions with some of the top global brands. He spent 10 years with The Walt Disney Co. where he was director of marketing synergy for Walt Disney Sports and Walt Disney Television, manager of marketing synergy for Walt Disney World and a brand manager for Disney Studios theme park. He began his career as a Walt Disney World publicist. During those years, he worked on several of the companies highest profile projects, including the acquisition of the California Angels baseball club, the controversial Disney’s America Theme Park project in Northern Virginia and Disney’s successful attempt at resurrecting the Epcot theme park. He also worked for Fleishman-Hillard in Los Angeles and Price/McNabb in Charlotte.

A sampling of Curran’s brand experience includes work on the following clients: AirTran Airways, Briggs & Stratton, Cellular South, CTAM (cable television industry), ConAgra Foods, Disney, Duke Energy, Fleming’s Prime Steaks and Wine Bar, Florida Power & Light, Florida tourism, Fortune Brands, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, HBO Video, Hershey’s, H.J. Heinz, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Johnson Controls, Kohl’s, McDonald’s, Major League Baseball, Outer Banks of N.C., Pinehurst Resort, Pioneer Electronics, Porsche, Roche Diagnostics, Sealy, Starbucks, University of Phoenix, United Service Organization (USO), U.S. Open, and many others.

Curran is currently on the executive committee of PRSA’s Counselors Academy and was formerly on the boards of the Council of PR Firms and PRSA’s Chicago Chapter. He is a past adjutant instructor in public relations and marketing at the University of Chicago’s Graham School of Business. He is frequently invited to speak to organizations around the U.S. on topics related to public relations and branding, integrated communications and marketing trends.

The North Carolina native earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.