Donna Anselmo, a former journalist who transitioned to public relations and corporate management in 1994, offers senior leadership and management expertise, with emphasis on sales communication from strategic, editorial and graphic perspectives.

In 2000, Ms. Anselmo founded Comvergence, an integrated marketing firm based in St. James, NY. In 2004, she expanded her business offering by co-founding a second company, Proposaldocs LLC, which specializes in all facets of business-to-business proposal development. That same year, Proposaldocs LLC formed a joint venture with Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) to offer the Proposaldocs LLC Strategic Business Development Series© on the Hofstra University campus. Today, Ms. Anselmo's clients range from multi-billion-dollar global leaders to nationwide corporations, small businesses and independent entrepreneurs. Clients represent the healthcare, staffing, finance, technology, security, fundraising and not-for-profit sectors, among others.

Before launching her companies, Ms. Anselmo served as vice president of Elite Technical Services, Inc., a national provider of technical consulting services; after leaving Elite Technical in 2001 to pursue full-time implementation of Comvergence Marketing Group initiatives, Ms. Anselmo agreed to serve on the Elite Technical Board of Directors and continues to meet their marketing needs as a consultant.

Earlier, Ms. Anselmo was director of publications and internal communications for Olsten Staffing Services and Adecco, where she oversaw communication strategy and served on the transition team that facilitated an $11.8 billion-dollar corporate merger. Earlier, she had served as director of publications after receiving rapid promotion from the position of assistant director of media relations for Stony Brook University Hospital and Health Sciences Center, an entity of the State University of New York. At Stony Brook, Ms. Anselmo produced upwards of 60 marketing, academic and patient education publications per year and also was elected Chair of the Suffolk County SAFE KIDS Coalition, a not-for-profit organization under administrative auspices of Stony Brook University Hospital. Prior to her five-year tenure at Stony Brook, Ms. Anselmo spent six years with the Times-Beacon-Record newspapers, where she served as managing editor, overseeing news selection, writing editorials and managing a team of reporters and photographers who produced three award-winning weekly newspapers. She also had been a freelance journalist and writer. Her work has been published in The New York Times. Two academic research articles she co-authored have been published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Women's Health, Obstetrical and Neonatal Nurses. Very early in her career, Ms. Anselmo was trained in hypnotherapy, a special kind of influence communication, and served as director of the New York Hypnosis Center, which had been based in Great Neck, Melville, Bethpage and Smithtown, NY.

Ms. Anselmo earned a Master of Science degree in healthcare policy and management (1998) as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree (1978) at Stony Brook University. Ms. Anselmo is a board member of the Long Island Center for Business and Professional Women and was recently nominated to serve as executive vice president of that not-for-profit organization. Her two-year term will begin in June 2006. Ms. Anselmo also serves on the Smithtown Industry Advisory Board. Over the years, she has been the recipient of a number of journalism, communication, and community-service awards. Among them are a first-place award for non-deadline news reporting and a third place award for editorial writing by the Long Island Press Club; second place, third place and honorable mention awards from the New York Press Association; the National Innovative Project Award from the National Association of Women's Health, Obstetrical and Neonatal Nurses for research articles; a community service award from the American Society of Industrial Engineers, Long Island Chapter, and the 2000 leadership award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Long Island Chapter.

Ms. Anselmo resides in St. James, NY, and Melbourne, FL, with her husband, Peter, a landscape designer. Together, they have raised three children: a student of architecture at University of Miami; a sales executive for a printing firm; and a corporate trainer/manager employed by a rapidly growing restaurant chain.

Stephanie Leibowitz has more than 20 years of experience providing clients with a unique perspective and approach to business communication and the organization of work activities. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in Anthropology from Stony Brook University, Ms. Leibowitz brings an understanding of cultural influences on communication and group dynamics to business strategy and the facilitation of company initiatives. She has helped companies and nonprofit organizations grow, manage change, and improve operations through targeted communications, strategic planning and training. Her extensive experience includes management positions in marketing, communications, business development, contracting, and health care administration, including the development of marketing communications plans for start-up operations. In 2004, Ms. Leibowitz co-founded Proposaldocs LLC™, a business-to-business sales and marketing consultancy that provides organizational training, strategic consulting, and sales organization development services. She teaches classes on proposal management at Adelphi University and is co-authoring a book on business-to-business proposals.

During her career, Ms. Leibowitz has worked for organizations as diverse as Swiss International Air Lines, Gentiva Health Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, a large Long Island community hospital, and a Long Island regional health care trade organization. 

Accomplishments in communications and marketing include the development and implementation of programs to support business development, business expansion, changes related to corporate reorganizations, process improvement, and regulatory and corporate compliance.  Ms. Leibowitz has successfully written and managed thousands of proposal projects, and planned and managed hundreds of large, integrated management initiatives that required coordination and cooperation across entire organizations.  Internal and external consulting clients have tapped her organizational and analytical skills to evaluate and streamline operational processes. 

Ms. Leibowitz has taught anthropology at Stony Brook University and St. Joseph’s College. She has continued to use her teaching experience for the benefit of the corporate sector for which she has developed and conducted new employee orientations and full-scale training on a wide variety of topics.  Ms. Leibowitz has trained executives and operations staff on numerous subjects, including marketing proposals, effective presentation skills, consultative selling, contracting, project management best practices, Request-for-Proposal (RFP) development, enterprise-wide customer service, and corporate compliance.

Ms. Leibowitz’s community outreach activities also focus on the connection between business and education.  Ms. Leibowitz shares her experience and knowledge with local nonprofit organizations and the business community through volunteerism and memberships in professional organizations. Her contribution of talent and time to various nonprofit organizations includes the provision of strategic marketing, communications, and planning guidance and hands-on effort to help those organizations improve their community outreach outcomes, plan and conduct successful events, and execute fundraising activities. For example, she is on the Long Island Works Coalition’s Speaker’s Bureau and Internship Fair Planning Committee, and conducts workshops for the Internship Fair attendees. For the Long Island Center for Business and Professional Women, she has served as Co-Chair of Programming, Co-Chair for its annual fundraising gala, and as a member of the membership committee. Ms. Leibowitz also has contributed her expertise to the Foundation for Sight & Sound as a member of its Advisory Board, marketing committee, and charitable giving committee, for which she helped develop the policies, procedures, and tools for its grant awards process..