Longtime Business Journalist Jennette Smith Kotila Joins MCCI in New SVP Role

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MCCI, an integrated marketing agency, Feb. 6 announced the hiring of longtime business journalist Jennette Smith Kotila as senior vice president/client relations.

Bringing more than 20 years of experience, Smith has worked in news reporting and editing, marketing, communications, and project management. She comes to MCCI from her former position as vice president, director of marketing and communications at CORE Partners, a commercial real estate company based in Bingham Farms. Additionally, she served as a reporter and editor at Crain’s Detroit Business for 18 years.

In her new position, Smith will have various roles that include lead project manager on select major accounts. She will serve as an internal and external leader for MCCI, managing work teams and complex projects, and contributing to new business development. Smith will also be a member of the MCCI management team, which includes president/CEO Terry Oprea, COO/CFO Chris Heaton, and SVP, PR/Marcom Rich Donley.

“Jennette’s many years of award-winning leadership will greatly benefit our clients and our organization,” says Oprea. “Most significant, her reputation as a high-integrity communicator and team collaborator makes her an excellent fit for our operating culture. We’re very happy to have Jennette on board.”

Smith said marketers must serve clients with increasingly sophisticated content marketing delivered through various platforms. MCCI has excelled at delivering results for its clients through these channels, including public and media relations, social/digital media, video, web, marketing, and advertising.

“I am thrilled to join the MCCI team at an exciting time in the respected agency’s history,” says Smith. “The very best content marketing and public relations campaigns boil down to great storytelling, and that’s why I’m so excited about this new opportunity. I also am impressed with the diversity of talent on the MCCI team.”

Smith began as a reporter at The Times Herald in Port Huron and The Macomb Daily in Mount Clemens. She joined Crain’s in 1998 as the commercial real estate reporter, where she continued on for nearly nine years. Additionally, she covered the marketing, media, and advertising beat. She moved into newsroom management at Crain’s in 2007, where she gradually rose from managing special projects and sections to running the day-to-day newsroom operations as managing editor and then editor.

She graduated from Michigan State University’s College of Communications Arts and has completed various leadership training programs and specialty education through Dale Carnegie, Poynter Institute, and others. Smith is a member of the governing board of Warren-based mentoring nonprofit Winning Futures and is a past board member of Commercial Real Estate Women – Detroit chapter. Recently, she became a member of the Board of Trustees for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators.

MCCI has worked with local, state, national, and global clients for 25 years and creates results-driven client programs in public and media relations, crisis planning and management, video production, executive training, social media, web development and design, marketing, and digital advertising. Client categories include automotive, manufacturing, financial, insurance, supply chain, technology, health care, government, economic development, and nonprofits.