Colette Ballou, President of Europe
Colette has over 16 years of public relations experience in both agency and corporate environments in a number of different sectors, specializing in corporate image campaigns, company and product launches, re-positioning and reputation building, and issues and crisis management.
Colette's technology experience spans companies across a range of industries, including digital entertainment and media, telecommunications, managed service providers, price optimization and demand management, business process management, product lifecycle management and robotics, as well as mobile entertainment and services. In addition, Colette has counseled venture capital firms, global media companies, and biotechnology companies.
Before establishing Ballou Public Relations, Colette was a vice president at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide’s Enterprise Software and Service group in both the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices, where she developed public relations strategies and led teams in the execution of domestic and international public relations programs.
Prior to this, Colette served as the director of public relations for AudioBase, Inc., where she advised the management team on domestic and international communications issues, created and implemented the company’s public relations program, and selected and supervised all activities of their PR agency.
Colette was also previously based in Edelman Worldwide's New York City office, where she worked in both the Consumer Technology and Consumer Products divisions, managing the day-to-day public relations responsibilities of Apple, Inc., and Georgia-Pacific.
Colette has also been a consultant for The Body Shop Digital, and began her consulting career at James E. Arnold and Associates, a consulting firm, where she helped the management of several top U.S. PR firms acquire and assimilate European offices.
An active part of the European start-up community, Colette is a judge and mentor for Seedcamp, an incubator-style event for European start-ups held each September in London and for Sun's Startup Academy. She is also a speaker and moderator at industry events including the Microsoft/General Electric Software Academy, TechCrunch and the Plugg.
Colette has a master’s degree in Ethics/Philosophy from Union Theological Seminary, where she wrote her thesis, Ethics in Public Relations. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
