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Philadelphia Business Journal recently recognized Mary Stengel Austen '86 with its 40 Under 40 Award, given to “40 rising stars based on their professional accomplishments and their commitment to the community.”
Austen is president of Tierney Communications, the mid-Atlantic region's largest communications agency with billings in excess of $273 million. She is a member of the company's three-person office of the chief executive officer and is responsible for the daily management of Tierney, whose marquee clients include McDonald's, Sunoco, White Rain, The Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association, Exelon, The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Verizon Wireless, American Water Works Company, and Aventis Environmental Science.
Austen founded The Tierney Group with Brian P. Tierney in 1989, developing expertise in the areas of consumer, crisis, and issues management communications. She has counseled and developed strategic communications plans for several national companies, including Viacom International, Disney Regional Entertainment Center, GlaxoSmithKline, and Marriott Hotels, Resorts and Suites. In her more than 15 years of experience, Austen has provided communication strategies for numerous national and international organizations facing a variety of issues and crisis situations, including mergers and acquisitions, abrupt management changes, labor strikes, discrimination charges, environmental challenges, and one of the largest commercial office tower fires in the country.
Prior to founding The Tierney Group, Austen worked at the two largest public relations agencies in Philadelphia in the 1980s, Lewis Gilman Golin/Harris Public Relations (now known as Golin Harris) and Earle Palmer Brown.
Austen serves on the Board of Directors of Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum. She is a member of the March of Dimes Communications Advisory Council and the Philadelphia Orchestra Corporate Advisory Committee. She received a bachelor's degree in English and government and law from Lafayette in 1986.
“Lafayette prepared me well for my work in the communications field,” she says. “Not only did it provide me with academic challenges, as one would expect, but it also allowed me to get a taste of the real world. The three most valuable lessons I have learned from Lafayette include the art of juggling a number of commitments, that common sense can be an invaluable tool, and that it is important to maintain a sense of curiosity throughout life in an effort both to learn and to grow. These skills have served me well throughout my professional career.”
Mary Stengel Austen '86