About Us
Garland Harwood
Co-Founder / PR Strategist
Garland leads Confidant’s New York office and the agency’s PR team. With more than 15 years of experience, he has helped brands like Amazon, Sonos, Samsung, Microsoft, BarkBox, ZocDoc and Getty Images tell their stories through PR and integrated marketing campaigns. Previously, Garland was Senior Vice President at Weber Shandwick. He was named to PRWeek's “40 Under 40” list in 2013 and PR News' “15-to-Watch” list in 2010.
Ken Byers
Co-Founder / Brand Strategist
Ken leads the Confidant Nashville office and the agency’s brand strategy team. Prior to starting Confidant, Ken worked in house at Sony as a founding member of the brand experience team, where he led many award-winning campaigns, including multiple recognized at CANNES, the EFFIE’S and the ONE Show. Before that, he spearheaded dozens of integrated campaigns at Ogilvy & Mather, NY for brands like Motorola, Ford, Miller, Morgan Stanley and DuPont.
Jeanne Templeton
PR Strategist
Jeanne's work in PR has spanned massive companies like Amazon, Motorola, InterContinental Hotels Group and The Weather Company, as well as rapidly growing startups like BarkBox, Castle & Key, Musicbed, Zocdoc and OnePlus. Prior to joining Confidant, Jeanne was at Weber Shandwick where her work spanned media relations, consumer media events, and mega product launches. She began her career with internships in entertainment PR and cable news and has a master’s in PR from New York University.
Richard W Kluver
Creative Director
Richard is a creative director that has developed campaigns for brands like Sony, MasterCard, adidas, Red Bull, GE, Infiniti, and Oakley. He joined Confidant after stints at BBDO NY, CP+B, Deutsch LA, and acclaimed boutique, Archrival. Richard began his career working with Volkswagen at the German shop, Grabarz & Partner and later held roles at McCann New York, where he created award winning campaigns for Sony and MasterCard.
Kait Fund
PR Strategist
With an expertise in business storytelling through media relations and executive visibility, Kait has worked with top executives and behind the scenes players at Amazon, BarkBox, BMW’s ReachNow, Hyperloop One, Verizon, Siemens, Royal Caribbean, Nespresso, Fisher-Price and others to sharpen and promote their stories. Prior to Confidant, she spent six years developing and executing media relations and thought leadership campaigns at Weber Shandwick.
Alan Keane
PR & Integrated Media Strategist
Alan Keane is an integrated media strategist with more than 10 years of experience leading and building award-winning consumer and corporate PR campaigns for brands like Absolut Vodka, Chobani, Casper, Nespresso and Warner Bros. Prior to joining Confidant, Alan was Vice President in Weber Shandwick’s Integrated Media group, specializing in earned, owned, and paid media strategy and execution.
Renée McDonald
PR Strategist
Renée has a breadth of communications experience for clients across the tech, consumer, entertainment, travel and fintech industries. She has managed PR campaigns and launches for fast-growing startups and Fortune 500 companies, including Facebook's Messenger, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), L'Oréal, Canon, Avant and goPuff. Born in Jamaica, Renee holds a bachelor's degree from UNC Chapel Hill and master's degree from Boston University. She joins Confidant following previous roles at Golin and 5W PR.
Connor Carroll
Integrated Producer
Connor is an integrated producer with Confidant leading integrated productions on the Sony business, ranging from film, photography and social content. Previously, he has combined experience as a producer, director and editor working most notably on films for Gibson Guitars and also launched an original series called Small Batch, which was acquired by YouTube multi-channel network, Made In.
Merging Marketing & PR
Your brand is a publisher, which means you’re telling your story all the time. The nucleus of Confidant merges marketing and PR. We’re at our best when we build a long-term approach to inform day-in, day-out story-telling and content creation.
1. DISCOVER
We interview your team. We interview your customers. We conduct primary research. Secondary research. Whatever uncovers the truth.
2. PLAN
Marketing communications planning ranges from traditional brand positioning and messaging identification to touchpoint planning, stakeholder messaging and go-to-market planning.
3. BUILD
We provide the steady core that can drive creative and production and we engage our network of creators and technologists to customize the right team for your project.
4. MEASURE
We are adamant about setting goals. Our work is only as good as the outcomes we achieve.
5. ADAPT
We are a learning organization looking for clients who are also learning organizations. Plans are good, but we're prepared to adapt strategies real-time if success requires it.
Dedicated Core. Custom Contributors.
Our core team works with you throughout the five phases of development. Along the way, we tap our network of creatives and technologists, customizing a team to the work at hand.