We've worked in the White House and Congress. We've been in the middle of some of the biggest news stories in the nation. We've served as senior executives at top companies. We've worked for big PR firms, and we've hired big PR firms.
At Rational PR, we understand the unique challenges you face.
Learn More about our Senior Team:
Patrick Dorton
Don Marshall
Annette Larkin
Patrick Dorton has handled communications at the highest level of government, and been tested by one of the most challenging crisis in U.S. business history.
Patrick Dorton is a communications expert with extensive experience in corporate, financial, policy and political messaging. As veteran of the White House, Dorton has handled some of the most complex and high profile communications challenges.
Dorton has directed fully-integrated communications campaigns on behalf of companies and non-profits and provided strategic counsel at the highest levels of government, including serving several members of the U.S. Congress. His political and corporate communications work has involved him in a wide a variety of issues, from financial services, to health care, to medical research, to agriculture education.
Prior to launching Rational PR, Dorton served as the chief spokesman and Director of Media Relations at Arthur Andersen LLP, both before and after the firm's 2002 crisis. Before the onset of the crisis, Dorton planned and initiated a new $2.5 million proactive public relations effort as part of a multi-million dollar global marketing and branding campaign directed at 84 countries.
Before joining Anderson, Dorton was Special Assistant to President Clinton and Communications Director for the White House National Economic Council. He served on the White House communications team governing the President's communications, events, and speeches and was a senior advisor and spokesman for National Economic Advisor Gene Sperling. Dorton was responsible for writing and coordinating economic press statements and talking points for the President, and he served as the on-the-record economic spokesperson for the White House.
Dorton's public affairs experience extends to Capitol Hill, where he worked as the Communications Director for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and the Senate Agriculture Committee. Dorton also served U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby.
Patrick Dorton graduated from Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT and resides in Washington, DC with his wife, Erin Graefe and his daughter Lilly.
Don Marshall is a communications strategist who combines deep political experience with an expertise in business and new media communications.
Don Marshall has spent more than 13 years working as a communications professional, serving political leaders, companies, non-profits and public interest organizations.
Marshall served as Communications Director for the Washington Post Company's interactive subsidary, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI). He led the company's corporate communications and developed and executed public outreach strategies for washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.MSNBC.com. As a member of the company's senior management team, he assisted in corporate planning and strategic business decision-making.
Marshall is an experienced political and public affairs communicator who has worked for numerous candidates and elected officials. He has served three members of the U.S. Congress, including running the communications office for Senator John D. Rockefeller IV. Marshall directed communications for congressional and statewide political campaigns across the country, including in Ohio, Louisiana and Massachusetts.
His public affairs work also includes providing communications counsel to the nation's largest anti-tobacco advocacy group and working with the second democratically elected president of Nicaragua to improve his government's national outreach.
Marshall's corporate experience includes taking a lead role in planning and executing Coca-Cola's national communications strategy for the Olympic Torch Relay in 1996. In addition to serving as a top spokesperson for the company, he played a lead role in developing an unprecedented city-by-city national communications campaign. Marshall has also provided communications counsel for Sun Healthcare, Intelsat and other nationally-known corporations.
Don Marshall lives in Washington, D.C. and is active in the local community. He serves on the board of director for DC SCORES, an inner-city youth program that combines literacy and athletics.
Annette Larkin is simply one of the most experienced and successful media placement professionals in the public relations business.
Annette Larkin has 14 years of public relations and public affairs experience with an expertise in media relations. As a media relations manager at Burson-Marsteller and Fleishman-Hillard, her clients included the the Saudi royal family, Andersen Consulting, Eli Lilly, Citibank, and a variety of trade associations. Her media placements have appeared in many national and international publications, as well as all top broadcast outlets.
In addition to a deep working knowledge of media relations, Larkin has been involved with several public education campaigns to raise awareness of issues such as mental illness and early detection of breast cancer. She has led successful grassroots efforts to support, and in some cases, defeat federal and state legislation.
Larkin began her career as a production assistant at C-SPAN and went on to serve in legislative positions on Capitol Hill. She has also worked on a number of political campaigns, including Harris Wofford for Senate in 1991, and the Clinton-Gore presidential races in 1992 and 1996.