Mark O'Keefe 
High-Impact Communicator

As a newspaper reporter, I investigated violations of religious freedom and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. I traveled to China, Burma, Suday, Egypt and Pakistan, where I did in-depth, on-the-ground reporting about the persecution of Christians.

The what, why and ROI of dairy exports is complex -- which is why I created this handout and downloadable PDF dairy farmers used as a guidebook to understand how exports make them more successful.

A Pew Research Center website I created on religion and politics was honored by the Webby Awards. My in-depth article on Barack Obama became the go-to religious biography of the 44th president.

While I was helping to create a China crisis communications plan in Shanghai, this NFL coach illustrated how honesty, humility, transparency and speed can diffuse an escalating crisis. These are best practices of crisis comms.

USDEC needed a name for an ambitious goal to increase U.S. dairy export volume from 15% to 20% of all U.S. milk. I came up with "The Next 5%" and helped USDEC CEO and former U.S. Ag. Secretary Tom Vilsack communicate the vision to dairy farmers.

USDEC elected a new chair and vice chair. But who were these people? One of my specialties is finding and telling compelling human stories with authentic voices that enhance organizational credibility.

This campaign I led brought three national dairy organizations together for a major PR push that went to all 50 states, targeting media and policymakers

This news release I created for PRNewswire launched a campaign that told the data-based economic impact story of dairy nationally, regionally and in every state.

I brought together half a dozen staffers and several teams to redesign two U.S. Dairy Export Council websites simultaneously. I served as the lead project manager and primary communicator with our vendor. This announcement I wrote tells the story.

Many people don't think of Illinois as a big dairy state. That title tends to go to Wisconsin, just north of Illinois. But 111,648 Illinois jobs are hard to ignore, as the "Got Jobs" campaign showed in this video.

We created videos featuring smiling cows to show the economic impact of dairy in the top 10 dairy states, including Texas.

Dairy's coast-to-coast economic ripple effect generates nearly 3 million jobs and tax revenues for every state.

U.S. dairy exports to Mexico support an estimated 25,000 American jobs. That's just one of the facts I assembled for World Milk Day.

What California industry directly employs more than 104,000 people with a ripple effect that supports an additional 285,000 full-time jobs in retail, construction and other sectors? Sacramento Bee says "Dairy!"

The International Dairy Federation's World Dairy Summit promised to bring the global dairy industry to Chicago. My organization needed a fact-based handout that told our story for an intelligent dairy audience. I created this.

For National Dairy Month, the U.S. Dairy Export Council is answering questions our farmer-funders frequently ask. This is FAQ No. 10 in a 10-part series.

Swiss Valley Farms was insulted when it first explored exports eight years ago. Today, the small company with a global vision is the Exporter of the Year.

My newspaper series reported on the persecution of Burmese Christians forced to refugee camps, underground Christians defying atheism in China, evangelists living incognito in Egypt and Christians enslaved in Southern Sudan

Dairy exports had grown to 15% of the U.S. milk supply. So what came next? I proposed "The Next 5%" as the name for a campaign to increase export volume from 15% to 20% of all U.S. milk. Our CEO promoted it, galvanizing farmer support.

A light touch with some gloating humor was warranted when I wrote about the blow to France's national identity when a U.S. cheese was named "best in the world."