MP&F, the 37-year-old full-service agency based in Nashville, has named two new SVPs to its ranks. Kimberly Hood joins as SVP of Media Business Strategy and will oversee a team of 10 paid media experts and work across the agency’s client roster. And, Laura Braam joins as SVP – and a veteran leader, having worked for MP&F from 1998-2007 and rising to vice president during that time.
“With the additions of both Kimberly and Laura, we continue to strengthen our leadership and expertise to ensure we stay ahead in delivering unparalleled solutions to our clients in an ever-evolving industry,” said Knight Stivender, MP&F co-owner. “Both women bring deep experience and fresh ideas that will help us deliver results better, faster and more efficiently for our clients and our internal team.”
Kimberly Hood
Kimberly Hood joins in a new role for the agency, which includes leading a team of 10 media experts, managing operational infrastructure and guiding new business functions. She has 24 years of experience in media, marketing and sales – and spent the last nine years with Nexstar Media Group, Inc. There she served as director of digital sales for WKRN News 2. She helped grow revenue ninefold during her tenure and eventually grew WKRN’s digital efforts to the top five affiliates out of more than 200 TV stations nationwide. She won and managed advertising campaigns for businesses of all sizes across local, statewide and regional markets.
She spent 15 years at Gannett Co., Inc., in various sales executive and management roles. She was on the initial team that established Gannett’s digital marketing services division and sold the new product offerings to local businesses. She then was an integral part of the team that scaled that offering to 84 Gannett markets across the country.
Laura Braam
Laura Braam is a veteran communications and marketing leader who returns to MP&F as a senior vice president – having worked at the agency from 1998-2007. In this role, she will lead account teams, agency clients and influence agency operations.
While at MP&F previously, Braam rose to vice president and helped lead the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps team and the PR for the grand opening of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, among other major client projects.
Braam then went on to lead a diverse career in agency and client-side senior communications roles. From 2007-2017, she helped to create, launch and grow the brand of Currey Ingram Academy, a premier day and boarding school for students with learning differences. She left the school to join Sheridan PR as a principal before being recruited a year later to be Mayor David Briley’s chief communications officer.
Braam’s work since has included senior roles at HCA Healthcare and The Strategy Group, as well as Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc., where she handled communications through the pandemic and proudly created the “Goodwill, It Just Feels Good” multichannel campaign and the best-in-class True Blue Rewards loyalty program.