Colleen Cotter Brannan

Founder and President

Colleen is a seasoned public relations and marketing communications professional with nearly 30 years of experience that includes top national firms, large corporations, niche consultancies and integrated shops. Prior to founding BRANSTORM PR & Marketing in 2006, she was SVP, Director of Public Relations at Luquire George Andrews (LGA), one of Charlotte’s top agencies.

Her background spans a wide range of categories and includes brand-building efforts for household names such as Hanes, Chick-fil-A, Bissell, MCI, Newell Rubbermaid and Wachovia (now Wells Fargo). Today, her clients range from professional service firms and academic institutions to commercial real estate, entertainment and consumer product companies.

Prior to joining LGA, Brannan was vice president of public relations at Mullen in Winston-Salem, N.C., Before that, she spent a decade in Atlanta at top national firms, Ketchum and Cohn & Wolfe, as well as client side on the PR and corporate communications teams of MCI and media giant, Cox Enterprises.

Colleen got her start on the consumer healthcare team at Ketchum PR in Washington touting the benefits of aspirin the wonder drug where her team won the prestigious PRSA Silver Anvil Award. Since then, her career has taken her on top of the Olympic stadium, back stage at the CMA Awards, on the field for the inaugural WUSA match, in stores as a secret shopper and on the local campaign trails.

Career highlights to date include managing Centennial Olympic PR for Hanes, becoming Media Director of Cohn and Wolfe, leading the Field PR team at MCI, launching the first-ever women’s pro soccer league (WUSA), heading up external communications for Cox Enterprises and starting her own firm.

Locally, she has been named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Charlotte by the Mecklenburg Times twice (2010 and 2014) and one of the Top 25 Women in Business by the Charlotte Business Journal (2011). In 2018, she received the ICON Award from The Mecklenburg Times. 

Colleen is an active member of the Charlotte Uptown Rotary Club, Women Executives (WE), Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. She is a graduate of Leadership Charlotte Class 30, past president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and a 30-year member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

In the community, Colleen is active with JDRF’s Charlotte Chapter, a cause she is passionate about as her son Nick is a Type 1 diabetic, diagnosed at age 5. She currently serves on the boards of Share Charlotte and the Uptown Rotary Club.

A native of Springfield, Virginia, she is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications.

She currently lives in South Charlotte with her husband, Scott and two favorite emerging brands, Nicholas (18) and Phoebe (16).

Contact her at [email protected].