Vandiver & Varndell

DONNA M. VANDIVER, President and CEO of The Vandiver Group, Inc. is a business consultant with more than 25 years of experience in strategic planning, marketing, training and public relations work for corporate and non-profit clients.  In 2005, she was appointed to the UMSL Executive Leadership Institute’s Women’s Advisory Board and in 2004, she was named to the protégé class of the Committee of 200, an international association of women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.  Donna is also president of the American Heart Association (2004-2006). In 2002, she was named by the Governor to the Missouri Women’s Council.  She was a finalist for the 2001 and 2000 Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” and was named PR Person of the Year by CSPRC in 2001.  She was named a Corporate Achiever by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of America, St. Louis chapter, in recognition of her fund raising activities on their behalf.  In 2000 she attended the National Security Seminar at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.  The St. Louis Chapter of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) recognized her as Distinguished Woman Business Owner of the Year in 1999.  She received a 1999 Quest Award from the National Federation of Press Women for demonstrating the highest standards of professional excellence.  She was the 1998 recipient of the SBA’s “Special Recognition” award for Small Business Person of the Year.  She writes and speaks on the topics of ethics, trust and integrity. 

 LAURA VARNDELL, Team Leader, is a media relations and corporate communications specialist for both private and public sector clients.  She has particularly strong experience in stakeholder relations and issues management and her work to date has included management of a global campaign for the Diamond Trading Company and a Business-to-Business campaign for the British Venture Capital Association. Before joining TVG, Laura worked at Hill & Knowlton and Geronimo PR in London, a public sector specialist agency, where she lead regional media relations for the NatWest-sponsored Department for Education and Skills ‘Aimhigher’ campaign to inform young people about the benefits of higher education.  Her work involved regional print and broadcast media relations and direct stakeholder communications programs with employers, universities, football clubs and celebrity ambassadors. Laura graduated from Sussex University with a bachelor's degree in English with African and Asian Studies.

 
Donna Vandiver & Laura Varndell

The Vandiver Group, Inc. is a business consultant for corporate and non-profit clients in a variety of industries with sales from $.5 million to $38 billion. In 2006, the firm was honored by KWMU radio with the Golden Microphone Award for its outstanding service to the organization. For the last three years, the company was named one of the Top 50 Diversity Owned Businesses in Missouri by Diversity Business.com and in 2004 one of the Top 500 Women-Owned businesses in the country.  TVG has named a "Great Place to Work" award by St. Louis Magazine, and in 2004, the firm was honored by the St. Louis Business Journal in the “Best Places to Work in St. Louis” awards contest with first place in the Family Friendly category; making this the third year in a row TVG received a “Best Places to Work” award.  The firm has been recognized as one of the largest independently owned PR firms in St. Louis, and the Council of PR Firms ranked the company as one of the fastest-growing PR firms in the world.