Edward McNally

As a writer, workshop leader and public relations consultant, Edward McNally specializes in building brand equity and targeting effective messages for socially responsible and technologically innovative businesses and organizations. McNally has earned a reputation for his creative marketing and comprehensive promotion of products, programs, conferences and events. His areas of expertise include interactive media, sustainable agriculture and organic foods, alternative energy and transportation, high performance buildings and community-oriented real estate developments.

Edward McNally has succeeded in arranging important coverage for his clients with every type of media outlet, including Associated Press, ABC News, ABC radio, CNN Headline News, NBC News, Entertainment Tonight!, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, NPR Morning Edition, the PBS series “The Visionaries”, Rolling Stone, TIME, USA Today, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Wired magazine. His articles, columns and opinion editorials have appeared in The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta Magazine, Competitive Edge, Creative Loafing, The TDM Review and Urban Land, to name a few.

For nearly twenty years, McNally has managed successful PR teams and projects, achieving measurable results in positioning and raising public awareness. McNally's instincts for strategic thinking and bold messaging enable him to design and manage effective communications plans while building and maintaining trusted client relationships. In the public relations field, McNally is known for balancing his seasoned managerial and communication skills with genuine creativity, a cutting edge flair for graphic design and an out-of-the box approach to problem solving.

A sample list of Above The Fold clients includes The Association for Commuter Transportation, The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign, The Atlanta Homebuilders Association, Bioneers Southeast, Commuter Club, The Denver Regional Council of Governments, EARTH University Foundation, The Epstein Group LLC, FIRST Robotics, Flexcar, The International Coach Federation, Lanier Parking, The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Perimeter Transportation Coalition, Universalculture and Village Habitat Design LLC. In 2005, Above The Fold introduced the global Bioneers conference to the Southeast as corporate producer of the 1st annual Bioneers Southeast Leadership Forum.

In his extensive career here and in Los Angeles, McNally supervised strategic planning and messaging for companies and organizations including the City of Atlanta, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Atlanta Regional Commission. At ARC, McNally supervised market research, communications and marketing for Commute Connections, the first organization devoted to transportation demand management throughout the 10-county metropolitan area. This included supervising a $1,000,000 consumer ad campaign to launch the region's rideshare hotline, 1-87 RIDEFIND. As Communications Manager for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, McNally directed the communications and marketing for the Chamber's economic and community development programs. McNally was instrumental in crafting messages and media campaigns for several major public-private initiatives, including the Metro Atlanta Transportation Initiative, The Breakthrough Alliance for Public Education Reform and The Regional Clean Water Initiative.
After graduating from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Edward McNally began his career in public relations and special events as a film publicist with the firm of Hanson & Schwam in Los Angeles, working with major entertainment industry producers and celebrity clients. Since returning to Atlanta in 1988, he developed his own communications consulting business, launched the country's most extensive arts telephone information service for the City of Atlanta, coordinated audience leaders for the Opening Ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympics, and managed the international brand identity for Net Channel, a leading edge Internet-TV product.

After living briefly overseas in Paris, France, Edward now resides in the historic Oakhurst neighborhood of Decatur, Georgia with his wife Siobhan and their two dogs, Malcolm and Sonia. As a couple, Edward and Siobhan are avid hikers, filmgoers and “foodies”. Between the two of them, they have, so far, visited over thirty countries and every continent except Antarctica.