GCAi Promotes Mary Shea to Vice President of Digital Strategy

SPRINGFIELD — John Garvey, president of Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi), recently announced that Mary (Fallon) Shea has been promoted to vice president of digital strategy.

“Her promotion and title change is really a reflection of her changing role at the agency and the type of projects we are now engaged in,” noted Garvey. “Her considerable certifications and skills have literally lifted a lot of our work out of the daily tactical considerations into much more comprehensive digital marketing planning.”

Shea started her career at GCAi in 2004 as an intern. She later was instrumental in changing the direction of the agency in 2007 toward digital marketing and away from more traditional marketing tactics. According to Garvey, Shea was also responsible for GCAi achieving Google Partner status, a designation that reflects the qualification level of agency associates and the volume and quality of the pay-per-click work done by the agency.

“Facilitating ideation sessions, developing comprehensive digital-marketing road maps, and planning social-media marketing campaigns are what comprise most of her day, and, in general, our work these days,” Garvey said.

Shea is a Google AdWords qualified planner, which requires her to pass tests in the areas of AdWords fundamentals, search advertising, display advertising, and video advertising on an annual basis. GCAi has two Google AdWords qualified planners on staff and is the only agency in the market to hold the Google Partner status.

Shea is a cum laude graduate of the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing. She is vice president of the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts and a member of the Valley Press Club, the New England Financial Marketing Assoc., and the Public Relations Society of America. She was honored among BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty class of 2010.