Angela Jeffrey ended up in the research and measurement world by accident, but has become one of its most passionate advocates.

Angie spent two decades in PR, advertising and marketing with JCPenney, and major national agencies, before starting her own firm in 1990, Houston-based Jeffrey Communications. Along the way, she snagged several PRSA Silver Anvils and IABC Gold Quills, so learned first-hand the importance of connecting PR outputs to hard business outcomes long before measurement became popular.

Then, in the mid-nineties, after countless nights and weekends creating measurement impact reports for her clients by hand, she decided there had to be a better way!

She appealed to her brother, a Silicon Valley hotshot, to build a little system to automate media analysis reports, and PRtrak was born. She then talked data giants, Nielsen, Arbitron, SQAD, SRDS, BurrellesLuce, ANR and comScore MediaMetrix, into letting her resell their gold-standard data "a la carte" for the first time in the PR world, at extremely low prices, through PRtrak. Then, realizing she was ahead of market demand for measurement, she went on the road to teach her colleagues nationwide the high value of accountability, and managed to create enough excitement for 150 clients to sign on.

In 2002, she sold the burgeoning firm to Surveillance Data, Inc. (SDI), an international analytics firm that enhanced the platform through the creation of "Share of Discussion" analysis. Joining SDI as head of the PRtrak division, Angie worked with industry leaders toward the goal of standardizin g PR measurement metrics, and with SDI researchers on correlating PR outputs with business outcomes. The PRtrak metrics made the correlations clearer, and after 180 studies on 10 million clips, the value of PR seemed no longer in question.

Then, in September 2005, Angie played a large part in the acquisition of SDI's PRtrak Division by New York-based VMS (Video Monitoring Services). Angie now serves as vice president of editorial research for VMS, and continues her work in product development, research between outputs and outcomes, and speaking on measurement to PR groups nationwide including IABC, PRSA, Bulldog Reporter, PR News, Ragan and many vertical industry groups. She also serves as a member of the Institute for Public Relations Commission on PR Measurement & Evaluation.

Angie's career in measurement is now yielding awards, as did her PR career. In the fall of 2006, she was named a finalist for PR News "PR Measurement Person of the Year." In addition, her firm shares in Porter Novelli's victorious winning of the 2006 IPR Jack Felton Golden Ruler Award for excellence in public relations measurement and evaluation.

Angie graduated summa cum laude from Southern Methodist University with a BFA in Journalism and BBA in Marketing, and also has a fashion merchandising degree from the Art Institute of Dallas. She relocated to Manhattan from Houston, Texas, in the summer of 2006. Her daughter, Christina, attends Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

angie@prtrak.com