Carla Stanmyre McDonald

Carla Stanmyre McDonald, the founder and CEO of Dynabrand, is one of the leading consumer PR strategists in the country. Named one of the nation's "40 Under-40 Stars in PR" by the industry's leading trade publication, Carla is the architect of Dynabranding, a brand positioning methodology, and a recognized expert on issues relating to PR, brand strategy and consumer marketing.

Prior to founding Dynabrand in 2002, Carla spent more than 15 years working in PR firms in Manhattan. Most recently, she was Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the North American Marketing Practice for GCI Group, the global PR firm owned by WPP. At GCI, Carla was the top brand strategist for the firm’s North American clients, which included British Airways, Intel, Norwegian Cruise Line, Pharmacia, Procter & Gamble, Seagram and Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and led a team of nearly 200 professionals in the firm’s New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Mexico City offices.  Referred to by PR Week as “a force to be reckoned with,” GCI’s North American Marketing Practice grew by more than 400% in 30 months under Carla’s leadership, helping GCI earn its first-ever honor as the nation’s “Public Relations Agency of the Year.”

Prior to joining GCI, Carla served as Senior Managing Director and Director of the Consumer Marketing Group at Hill & Knowlton, another top global PR firm. The youngest Senior Managing Director in the company's history, Carla developed and implemented PR programs for clients including Cointreau, Cunard Cruise Line, Nantucket Nectars, Newman’s Own, Samsonite and Warner-Lambert.

Carla joined H&K from a boutique PR firm in Manhattan that specialized in promoting luxury brands. Rising to the position of Executive Vice President in four years, Carla co-ran the agency and led the firm’s largest accounts including TAG Heuer, Champagne Krug and Montblanc, a brand she is credited with helping to revitalize. The New York Times referred to Montblanc as “one of the great marketing success stories in recent memory.”

Carla has experience on the client side as well, serving in 2000 as Chief Marketing Officer of Peranet, a web-based marketing services company. As CMO, Carla helped to rename and reposition the company and secure funding from venture capital firm, Sevin Rosen. Peranet was sold to Omnicom in 2001.

The recipient of numerous industry honors, Carla is a member of Faith Popcorn’s Brain Trust of national marketing experts, has been quoted and featured in numerous industry articles, is a member of the YWCA’s prestigious Academy of Women Achievers and lectures often on public relations, branding and media relations topics.

Carla lives in Austin with her husband, Jack, and their two young daughters. She and Jack are active in Austin’s non-profit sector, having raised more than $10 million over 10 years for area non-profit organizations and serving on such boards as KIPP Austin Public Schools, The Hill Country Conservancy, The Long Center for the Performing Arts, People's Community Clinic and PeopleFund. The recipient of the2008 American YouthWorks Community Service Award and a 2011 Austin Business Journal Profiles In Power nominee,Carla has been featured in articles in Texas Monthly, Austin Monthly, the Austin American-Statesman, Austin Woman (November 2010 cover profile), Brilliant magazine, Inside PR and PR Week.

In addition to her work with Dynabrand, Carla serves as the host of YNN Austin's "Arts Minute," a weekly television segment designed to make the arts more accessible, and is a columnist at Tribeza, a monthly lifestyle magazine serving central Texas.

<< Back to Leadership Team