VoxPeeps
Merritt Hamilton Allen
Owner & Executive Director
Merritt founded Vox Optima in 2005, with Gary and JC. Three years later, she is comfortable characterizing the launch of her first business as “a bigger deal than coming in third on a game show” – her previous claim to fame. With contracts in hand worth more than $13 million, she is not only out-... Read more »
Gary Potterfield
Managing Director, Operations
Overseeing company operations, Gary is our Process Guy. Last year, he put in place our first-ever Vox Access Digital Signage system for NAVSEA, migrated the company from PC to Mac and transitioned us from a server-based environment to cloud computing on Google Apps, using that platform to assign,... Read more »
JC Kreidel
Managing Director, Business Development
JC Kreidel has spent her entire career, in one way or another, telling stories. From her days as a Navy broadcaster, she learned quickly the key to a good story is to really listen, fostering a relationship with the subject. As a founding member of Vox Optima, she’s applied that same basic philos... Read more »
Suzanne Powell
General Manager
We all know Suzanne is the rightful owner of the adult supervision crown. As Merritt’s power behind the throne (the office one), Suzanne is responsible for HR tasks, accounting, employee benefits, expense claims and security clearances. Suzanne has a bachelor’s in English from Cal State-North... Read more »
Mark McDonald
Director, Western Region/Client Relations
Mark is a University of Nebraska graduate who has not shed “Big Red Fever.” He spent 20 years in the Navy and earned a reputation for hard work, innovation and strategic vision, including as the lead public affairs officer for the largest U.S. military humanitarian assistance effort in history af... Read more »
Rachel O'Sullivan
Director of West Coast Operations/High Priestess of Event Planning
A retired Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist in the Navy Reserve, Rach is our top-notch event planner and all-around expert in everything. Although she has more than 20 years of extensive experience in Navy journalism and public affairs, as well as corporate communications and marketi... Read more »
Vince Dickens
Senior Communications Analyst
Originally from Northeast Texas, Vince guides planning and product delivery for our largest Navy client. With 23 years of communication and project management experience performed almost exclusively overseas in places like Japan, the Philippines, Bahrain, Iceland, and Italy, Vince brings a h... Read more »
John-Henry Doucette
Senior Communications Analyst
In his time as a Navy print and broadcast journalist aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt, John encountered a Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force. This SPMAGTF, as it was called, sparked in him a lifelong dislike of acronyms. In his ensuing career as a civilian journalist, he worked to uncl... Read more »
Jim Washington
Senior Communications Analyst
In 20 years working at daily newspapers Jim has written about everything from crime to city hall to music to the military. That’s to say nothing of such demanding journalistic assignments as following a 24-hour adventure race along the perimeter of an Army base, cycling 300 miles through 10 c... Read more »
John Barnett
Senior Communications Analyst
One of our two official social media freaks, John is a retired master chief who brings 25 years of DoD and Navy public affairs, journalism, newspaper management and training experience to the Vox team. A “seasoned” veteran of the communication biz, John started with print journalism and photo... Read more »
Margaret Lacson-Ecarma
Senior Communications Analyst
Margaret is Vox Optima's executive speechwriter at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). We had her on our radar for some years, and we were finally able to capture her extraordinary talents and more than two decades of diverse media communications management. From stints as a print and Sa... Read more »
Mark Osburn
Senior Communications Analyst
A media and marketing jack-of-all-trades, Mark brings a wealth of diverse experience to our company. Over the past quarter century, Mark mastered military and civilian posts as a photojournalist, broadcaster, technical and proposal writer and new media marketing consultant. A father of tw... Read more »
Christian Gearhart
Senior Communications Analyst
Christian was separated from his family as a child and raised in the wild by feral journalists. Upon adulthood, he ditched his wild roots and headed off for service in the Navy — where he would again be surrounded by mostly wild animals for the next eight years. Leaving the Navy in 2005, he s... Read more »
Michael Perez
Senior Communications Analyst
Michael comes to our growing brood after spending seven years in the Navy as a Mass Communications Specialist, honing his broad creative crafts. His weapon of choice is a camera, about which, rumor has it, he knows the glass end is usually pointed away from the sun. From managing broadcasts t... Read more »
Scott Webb
Senior Communications Analyst
Scott is a 12-year Navy Veteran who spent his career writing with light, ink, photons, charged coupled devices, a keyboard or two and thin sheets of pulped wood aboard three Marine mini carriers on three American coasts. He spent the funnerer parts of his career at Navy TV and the Pentagon Ch... Read more »
Felicia Ewen
Communications Analyst
In Italian, “felice” means happy, and above all else, Felicia Ewen can be described as a perpetually happy soul! The youngest member to join the Vox Optima team, Felicia feels she has much to prove to her already professionally well-established co-workers. Her co-workers know otherwise. Flyin... Read more »
Troy Miller
Communications Analyst
Born and raised in the Poconos of Pennsylvania, Troy bleeds black and gold. He considers himself as one of the three Pittsburgh Pirates fans still left in existence. Troy spent 20 years in the US. Navy serving in many exciting places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti. Troy’s forte is videog... Read more »
Brittany Lowrey
Communications Analyst
After spending the past five years Goodwill hunting and sourcing treasures for a boutique clothing store, Brittany and her ever-expanding wardrobe decided to enter the world of public relations. Brittany is excited to use the knowledge gained from communications internships with Jockey Intern... Read more »
Amanda Jones
Social Media Analyst
As a 2009 graduate of Virginia Tech, Amanda has worked in marketing, public relations and television in recent years. After years of working in athletics, she is excited to take her skills to the next level in working with our largest client, NAVSEA. Having used social media daily for the pas... Read more »
Courtney English
Senior Communications Analyst
What’s a nice girl from Kansas doing inside the Beltway? Courtney grew up in the metropolis of Wichita, Kan. — truly the heartland of the United States. However, her friends and family found out that her blood truly did run crimson when she decided to attend the University of Oklahoma for her und... Read more »