Corporate Communications, Investor Relations & Public Relations Awards Judging Committee
Margy Sweeney
Founder & CEO Akrete Communications, Inc., Evanston, Illinois, United States
A global public relations leader, communications strategist, board of directors chairman, and entrepreneur. Margy’s 30-year career spans public relations, corporate marketing/communications, journalism, and economic development. Margy and her team embrace the AI journey while advocating fiercely for sustaining uncompromised content quality and the value of original ideas to differentiate thought leaders and brands. Margy led Akrete to a 2025 Gold Stevie Award in the PR Agency of the Year – U.S. and Canada category. Akrete has recently been recognized in the PRNews Agency Elite Top 120 and in the 2025 PRWeek Best Places to Work awards. The firm is consistently listed in multiple O’Dwyer’s rankings including sustaining a #3 national ranking for nearly a decade in the real estate finance and development category. Margy has been recognized as a Woman of Influence (GlobeSt.com/2023) and is a 2026 Top Women in PR and Communications honoree in the business entrepreneurs category. Margy founded Akrete in 2011, with a vision to rally a team of top B2B writers, media professionals, and marketers under the firm’s “work where and when it makes sense” business model. Offering media relations, PR advisory, corporate communications, and content marketing services. Team Akrete is known for its ability to articulate and amplify complex ideas and content, connecting with target audiences on a human level. Akrete has served a client roster of well-respected global companies such as JLL, KeyBank, BGO/SunLife, Unispace, Hines, Fortune Brands, and many more regional B2B enterprises. Margy and her team are proud to measure multiple client relationships in decades through continuous evolution and innovation. A trusted advisor to CEOs and senior executives at critical business junctures, Margy is also a widely published ghostwriter. She has led PR initiatives that range from globally coordinated corporate and transaction announcements, to sustained visibility programs promoting brands and investment locations. Before founding Akrete, Margy led the Great Lakes office for a New York City-based PR firm and served in multiple PR agencies and in-house corporate marketing roles. She also served as a freelance journalist published in outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Travel Channel, and multiple trade publications. Margy spends much of her time outside Akrete serving on Boards of Directors advocating for entrepreneurs from all backgrounds and walks of life. Most recently she has served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SomerCor, a leading Small Business Administration (SBA) lender, and as a Board Director for the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC), serving on the Governance and Executive Committees of both boards. Margy also holds a leadership position on the Urban Land Institute’s global Marketing Communications Forum and is a regular guest speaker. Margy’s professional affiliations have also included the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Vistage, the Forbes Agency Council, Commercial Real Estate Executive Women (CREW), The Goldie Initiative, CoreNet Global, and a variety of other community and industry organizations. Margy lives near Chicago, Illinois (USA) and enjoys global travel and genealogy research.
