About the Authors

Alison Davis

For the past 25 years, Alison Davis has been CEO of Davis & Company (www.davisandco.com). This firm has helped such companies as BNY Mellon, Georgia-Pacific, IKEA, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, and Merck reach, engage, and motivate their employees.

Davis is coauthor of Your Attention, Please (Adams Business, 2006) and a weekly web log, “Insights,” at www.davisandco.com/blog. She frequently writes articles for leading business, communication, and HR publications and is a former online columnist for The New York Times.

Davis is a sought-after speaker on a variety of communication topics and issues. She speaks at 10 to 15 conferences a year for such organizations as the Society of Human Resources Management, the International Association of Business Communicators, The Conference Board, and The Arthur Page Society.

A former president of the Council of Communication Management, she is a member of that organization as well as the International Association of Business Communicators and the Public Relations Society of America.

Davis has a bachelor’s degree in English from Rutgers University.

Jane Shannon

For much of her career, Jane Shannon served as vice president of human resources communication at Citibank, New York, NY. She then worked as a senior communication consultant at Davis & Company and as a principal in the communication practice of William M. Mercer, Inc. She is currently an independent consultant (www.janeshannon.com). Her clients have included companies as diverse as Texaco, Barnes & Noble, Bank of America, Toys “R” Us, and United Distillers & Vintners.

Shannon is author of 73 Ways to Improve Your Employee Communication Program (Davis & Company, 2002), which consistently ranks at the top of Amazon’s search term “employee communication.” She has spoken at many communication conferences hosted by the Council of Communication Management and the International Association of Business Communicators.

Shannon is a member and former board member of CCM and is a former member of the IABC, where she earned local, regional, and international awards. Her work has been recognized with awards from the American Institute for Graphic Arts, the New York Art Directors, and the Philadelphia Art Directors. Her work also has been featured in Graphis and Communication Arts.

Shannon earned a bachelor of journalism, majoring in advertising, at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she recently returned to teach as part of the journalism school’s Visiting Professor Program.