About Us

Based in New York City, Donley Communications was formed in 1974 by James W. Donley, former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury where he served as press secretary for George Shultz and John Connally. The current Donley team includes:

Newton W. Lamson

President since 1980, Mr. Lamson joined the firm in 1976 after being a financial feature writer for The New York Times covering banking and the securities industries. He has authored op-ed pieces in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Lamson was formerly an associate editor of Forbes Magazine, an editor of the Washington Post, and news editor of The International Herald Tribune in Paris. He helped found and was editor of MBA Magazine. He has degrees from Princeton and the Sorbonne and attended Columbia Business School.

Laura L. Rzasa

A managing director and now consultant who joined the firm in 1990, Ms. Rzasa specializes in account management and media relations for financial, business-to-business, and professional services firms. Ms. Rzasa’s experience includes managing Donley’s relationships with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Johnson Matthey (an international specialty metals firm), Value Line, The World Fuel Cell Council, Fuel Cell Today, and Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells. Before joining Donley, she was vice president at both Creamer Dickson Basford and Thomas L. Richmond Public Relations Agencies, where she managed communications programs for Drake Beam Morin, the nation's largest outplacement firm, The Platinum Guild International (USA) and other precious metal firms, and the American Express Platinum Card. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Cincinnati.

Anna Ray-Jones

A vice president, Ms. Ray-Jones joined the firm in 1999. She has worked with such clients as Milliman USA, Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels, Rila Bulgaria Investment Project, the Office of the Anglican Observer at the United Nations, Hanover College, and Alliance Capital Management. Prior to her joining Donley, she was an independent writer/producer whose clients included Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, ADP, Bozell Public Relations, the Australian Meat & Livestock Board, WNET/Ch.13 Public TV/NY, and the British Trade Office of New York. Ms. Ray-Jones received her B.A. degree in Fine Arts from the University of Kent, UK and her M.A. in Art History from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is the author of “Sustainable Architecture in Japan,” published by John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

Thomas S. Pinto

A consultant who has been associated with the firm since 2005, Mr. Pinto’s specialty is media relations. He brings with him more than 20 years experience, including director of media relations for TIAA-CREF, the $300 billion national diversified financial services firm that encompasses the leading pension system for higher education. In this role, he launched the firm’s first family of mutual funds, retail annuity funds, and 10 college savings programs. He also has been a media relations consultant to several mutual fund families and other financial services companies. Additionally, he has experience with corporate governance issues, including board composition, executive compensation, and anti-takeover measures. Mr. Pinto has served as chief contact to The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Money, Pensions & Investments, Investment Advisor, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Radio, MarketWatch and other top-tier media. In 2003, he served as Chairman of the Public Relations Council Steering Committee of the Mutual Fund Education Alliance. From 2001–2003, he was a member of the Investment Company Institute’s Public Information Committee. He holds a NASD Series 6 license, and earned a B.S. degree from the State University of New York at Albany and an M.S. degree from Syracuse University, both in Communications.

John A. Higgins

A consultant who has been associated with the firm since 1996, he has extensive communications experience in both agency and corporate environments. Before becoming associated with Donley, Mr. Higgins operated his own consulting firm, while holding a senior position with a leading investor relations firm serving offshore companies and direct equity investors. From 1981 to 1992, he held national communications management positions with KPMG Peat Marwick, the global accounting and consulting firm, first as National Director of Public Relations and, subsequently, National Director of External Firmwide Communications. From 1972 to 1981, Mr. Higgins worked for the J. Walter Thompson Company and that agency’s Brouillard Communications Division, serving corporate and business-to-business clients. Mr. Higgins’ articles have appeared in The American Banker, Directors and Boards Magazine, and CFO Magazine, and he has addressed such national forums as The Conference Board and The American Society of Journalists and Authors. He was awarded a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University.

Peter F. Cullum

A consultant who has been associated with the firm since 1988, Mr. Cullum previously was director of corporate communications, Commodity Exchange Inc. (COMEX), director of public affairs, Citicorp Information Services, and account supervisor, Burson-Marsteller, where he worked on Dow Chemical, Merrill Lynch, Korn/Ferry International and Colt Industries. His experience also includes being a staff writer for the Passaic (N.J.) Herald News covering politics and serving as a congressional relations officer for the Second Marine Division. He has a B.A. degree in history from Upsala College and an M.A. in politics from Drew University. Mr. Cullum’s articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Institutional Investor, and Barron’s.

Paula Evangelista

A consultant, Paula Evangelista has significant healthcare experience in public policy, advocacy building, corporate communications, crisis management, strategic planning and counseling C-Suite executives. Most recently, she served as a senior vice president at one of the world’s leading healthcare PR agencies, where she managed several U.S. and global clients with products in the areas of oncology, cardiology, infectious diseases, mental illnesses, and molecular diagnostic testing. Prior to that position, Ms. Evangelista worked at Roche, both in their pharmaceuticals and diagnostics divisions, as well as doing product PR in the areas of virology, dermatology, cardiology, CNS, oncology, genomics, women’s health, and blood screening. She managed communications for the company’s marketed pharmaceutical products in the U.S., and then led their global communications efforts for its four diagnostic businesses, including their molecular diagnostics unit which develops and markets in vitro diagnostic products using the Nobel-prize winning PCR technology. Ms. Evangelista holds a B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.

H. Robert Elliott

A consultant to Donley Communications, Mr. Elliott is one of the country’s foremost executive coaches in the areas of media appearances, speeches, presentations, and crisis communications. He has worked with the CEOs, top management, and other senior executives in about one-third of the top FORTUNE 100 companies. His clients have included the CEOs and senior executives of General Electric, IBM, Pfizer, MasterCard International, Nomura Securities, WalMart, British Petroleum, and many other firms. His experience includes: acting as core communications advisor and evaluator for a major oil spill drill in Valdez, Alaska; planning and producing the communications outreach program for AT&T when it won the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award, given by the President of the United States to businesses in recognition of outstanding quality and performance; and coaching the speakers and presenters for the IBM Education Summit. He is a graduate of Lehigh University and sits on several industry and community boards.