Cindy Akus
A career assessment test taken in the sixth grade correctly predicted Cindy would end up in PR (that, or she would work in a funeral home). Needless to say, we are glad she opted to pass on the later. Growing up in Boston’s ultra-competitive media market, Cindy was an avid “newsy” from an early age and was fascinated with how stories got placed, which news got the most coverage and which reporters got the scoop. 
Cindy has over 16 years experience in PR with a focus on social media, search engine optimization and traditional media relations. At Crossroads, she develops integrated PR strategies aimed at helping clients reach their business goals. She leads the agency’s software practice area with critical experience in the cloud computing, open source and virtualization spaces. She spends lots of time in analytics programs tracking metrics and is the agency’s “numbers cruncher.”
Her strong media background has resulted in client coverage in outlets such as Investor’s Business Daily, Fortune, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe as well as on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, CNBC and NPR.
Her knowledge of social media dates back to 2003 - when there were only 8,000 blogs in existence. During that time, she successfully leveraged a client’s blog to showcase thought leadership, increase web traffic and build bridges with influencers. A sampling of the leading industry blogs where she has secured clients coverage includes: GigaOM, TechCrunch, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, VentureBeat and Ars Technica.
In 2005, Cindy launched one of the industry’s first social media monitoring services while at Fortune Interactive. In addition, she created the offering’s sentiment metrics, which gauged brand perception in the marketplace and identified negative content with the potential to gain traction on the web.
Cindy has been a national finalist for three SABRE Awards (superior achievement in branding and reputation) and had a consumer campaign named one of the best campaigns in the country by PR commentator Paul Holmes (annual Holmes Reports 100 Best PR Programs publication). She was technical editor for the book "Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online" by Andy Beal and Dr. Judy Strauss.
Cindy has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Boston College. She holds an Advanced Search Engine Marketing Skills certification from Search Engine Academy.
An avid “old school” reader – Cindy prefers paperbacks to a Nook or Kindle. She is a strong proponent of Dunkin Donuts (over Starbucks) and spends 4 months out of the year embroiled in fantasy football.
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