Steve Bryant
Founding Partner
Steve Bryant is a founding partner of RunSwitch PR and a seasoned corporate communications professional with more than two decades of experience managing public relations, public affairs and crisis communications for a wide variety of clients.
He specializes in strategic communications counsel for heavily regulated industries including healthcare, energy, gaming, spirits and tourism. He excels at guiding businesses and organizations through the complicated intersection of public policy, advocacy and communications.
Background
Steve is a polished storyteller and communications strategist who provides vast experience working with media, state government and the business and healthcare communities in Kentucky and beyond. He has led numerous, high-profile, state and federal public relations and public affairs campaigns, including efforts to protect patient access to care, drive meaningful legal liability reform, advance telecommunications infrastructure, expand Kentucky’s signature equine industry, and promote life science innovation.
Throughout his career, Steve has put his skills to work for numerous Fortune 500 companies and national organizations that have trusted him to deliver results that matter. His list of current and past clients includes such well-known brands as Allstate Insurance, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, Boeing, Churchill Downs, Genentech, Honeywell, Pfizer, PhRMA, the US Chamber of Commerce and Waste Management, among others.
In 2010, Steve built his own public relations firm which he successfully grew and operated for several years before merging with his current partners to form RunSwitch PR. Prior to that, he helped grow another Kentucky PR firm from a single office to a regional presence in multiple states in just three short years.
Before moving to Kentucky, Steve worked with PR-giant Hill & Knowlton in Florida where he consulted on many major issues including property insurance, nuclear power, affordable housing and real estate development. He advised one of the nation’s largest insurers after hurricanes ravaged the southeast from 2003 to 2005, coordinated a statewide advocacy campaign in support of nuclear power and provided crisis communications counsel to a major New Orleans-based university after Hurricane Katrina.
Steve is an avid boater and backyard grill master. He was born and raised in Ocala, Florida; lived and worked in Tallahassee for several years after graduating Florida State University; and moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 2007. His wife, Beth, is a native of New Albany, Indiana and they have a beautiful daughter named Daisy.
Education
BA in Communications & Political Science, Florida State University
Experience
- Founding Partner, RunSwitch PR (2012-Present)
- Founding Partner, BK Public Affairs (2010-2012)
- Senior Director, Peritus Public Relations (2007-2010)
- Account Executive, Hill & Knowlton, Inc. (2004-2007)
- Account Coordinator, Geiger & Associates Public Relations (2000-2004)
Civic Involvement
- Bingham Fellows Class of 2017
- Leadership Louisville Class of 2015
- Business First of Louisville 40 Under 40 Class of 2015
- Board Member, American Diabetes Association (Kentucky)
