Todd Cooley has more than three decades of branding, public relations and marketing communications experience, much of it on behalf of financial businesses and professional service firms.
His work in the financial industry began in the 1980s when he served as a consultant to Riordan, Freeman & Spogli (now Freeman, Spogli & CO.), an early private equity firm. He was public relations counsel to Coldwell Banker Commercial (now CBRE) during its acquisition by The Carlyle Group in a management buyout, and led the company’s subsequent rebranding campaign. Other financial clients have included PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fidelity Investments, Laventhol & Horwath and Bank of America.
Prior to establishing his independent consulting practice in 2011, Cooley spent eight years in marketing and corporate communications for RSM US, the nation’s fifth largest CPA and business advisory firm. He was initially responsible for overseeing public relations, advertising, internal communication and online communications for McGladrey Capital Markets, the firm’s investment banking subsidiary, and later moved to the parent company to help develop its thought leadership and content marketing programs.
Before that, he led his own boutique public relations firm in Newport Beach, Calif. and previously spent several years with major public relations firms Golin and Fleishman-Hillard. He also served as an adjunct professor at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
Cooley was long active in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), serving on the organization’s national board of directors, as well as the boards of both the Los Angeles and Orange County chapters. He was president of the Orange County Chapter and chairman of the Western District (comprising chapters in Colorado, Arizona, California and Hawaii). In addition, he served on the board of the Los Angeles Central City Association and was a member of the Orange County Business Council and the National Association of Real Estate Editors.
Cooley has also been an active volunteer in the local community. He spent four years on the 2-1-1 Orange County board of directors and as chair of its community relations committee, as well as president of the American Cancer Society’s Newport Mesa unit. He has also provided pro bono consulting to organizations ranging from Chapman University to the Pacific Symphony.
He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism/public relations from the University of Southern California.