Your Partners
Our depth of industry expertise combined with strategic and creative thinking sets our team apart from the rest. Leveraging our collective experience and challenging each other to think outside of the box, our team develops innovative solutions to help you achieve your goals.
We have solved communications challenges, raised public awareness of an organizations and issues, and shaped public policy. Cochran Group’s expertise includes public relations, marketing, journalism, state government, corporate communications, and print and electronic communications. As your partners, we bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the table to help you address your communications challenges.
One of Ohio’s most respected communications counselors, founder Chan Cochran demands honest, succinct and focused communications that tie directly to client strategic direction.
Most PR clients believe their firms are not strategic enough. Chan rejects “obvious” solutions to communications problems, instead probing deeper to capture the true uniqueness of each client’s business approach. He believes that communications that don’t directly advance specific corporate goals actually harm companies by diluting their brands.
Prior to forming Cochran Group, Chan served in Vietnam and managed shipboard media centers on both the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 recovery missions.
Katie realized her love for art and design as a little girl when she would sit for hours watching her grandpa sketch and paint. That passion for art paved the path to a career in graphic design.
Welcoming each challenge that pushes the limits of her creativity and strategic thinking, Katie has had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients including the American Dairy Association, Community Shelter Board, OhioHealth, The Ohio State University, Limited Brands, Philip Morris and Coca-Cola.
Katie received a degree in visual communication design from Kent State University.
Affectionately referred to as “our Web guy,” Phil Birnie handles all of our client’s Web communication needs. Phil is fresh from The Ohio State University, where he served as a Web developer while pursuing his Masters and PhD in geography. While Web development is Phil’s bread-and-butter, he is also an avid photographer and has been observed climbing trees on the Statehouse lawn or hanging over the edge of Cochran’s roof to capture the “perfect shot” for his current project.
Recent highlights include the development of the successful May 2010, “Yes on Ohio Issue 1” site, OhioCheesecakes.com and this one.
Realizing early in her career that she wasn’t destined for a life of lab coats and microscopes after all, this science major tapped her English minor and jumped headfirst into the world of public affairs. Fifteen years later, Jen has served as a spokesperson and communications strategist for several statewide officeholders, numerous political campaigns, and a wide variety of public affairs organizations and advocacy groups. Her background brings Cochran’s clients a robust network of media relations and first-hand experience with the workings of Ohio government. While she’s proud of her professional accomplishments, she’s still not sure how she feels about people using words like “seasoned” and “experienced” to describe her — sounds an awful lot like spin.
With an undying nose for news and a love for writing, Heidi May provides media relations expertise and communications counsel to Cochran’s clients. She has generated media placements throughout the state and beyond and has established relationships with reporters, editors and producers. She also has written columns and articles on a variety of topics, provided campaign support for legislative issues before the Ohio General Assembly and assisted with event planning for several clients.
Heidi graduated from Otterbein College with a Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and minors in public relations and speech communication. In addition to providing communications counsel, she also teaches gymnastics and performs with Vaud-Villities.
Alissa Trela has served as financial director for Cochran since 2002. Known as “the woman with all the answers,” she regularly makes recommendations to the company’s president regarding business policy and resource allocation to improve financial performance.
Alissa’s career in the financial and accounting industry spans 15 years and includes positions with nationally recognized organizations such as Cardinal Health, Inc. In this position Alissa received the Chairman’s Award — an honor reserved for Cardinal Health’s top performers.
Alissa enjoys accounting so much that she teaches a financial accounting course at Franklin University.