Much of the time, reporters and public relations folks have a contentious relationship: They drive us crazy, and we are ridiculously hard to work with.
But there are PR Pros out there who really help journalists tell important stories. Some of them are influential in their own right, not simply because of the companies they work for.
And that deserves a shout-out.
We came up with this list in a variety of ways. We put out a call for nominations and were pleasantly surprised at how many tech reporters from other publications submitted names. We also asked companies to nominate their PR pros. And we relied on our own experiences, too.
No. 50: Mallory Blair, Small Girls PR
Mallory Blair is an up-and-comer in the tech PR world, as co-founder of Small Girls PR.
She's best known for her clients Meetup and Gawker, and the Northside NeXT tech festival. Tech journalists also know her from startups like Sherpaa, Flavorpill, DrawQuest, and Uncubed
She was the PR Pro behind GE's promotional "barista bots"— robotic arms which drew your face in a latte via facial detection software.
In her free time, she runs an Instagram account of her cat parodying the trials of NSA hacker Edward Snowden.
No. 49: Patrick Ward, 104 West
Patrick Ward started his career in New York, moved to Silicon Valley and then to Denver along the way, doing PR for Canon, Panasonic, HP, Webroot, Digital Chocolate, and MapQuest.
His agency has since become one of the largest and most influential in the Rocky Mountain region, including Boulder's tight-knit startup scene.
Ward doesn't just know a gazillion journalists, he seems to have personal travel and partying stories with all of them. He just expanded with a Silicon Valley office, too.
No. 48: Kevin Cheng, Spark PR
Kevin Cheng represents companies like HubSpot, Acquia (the creator of Drupal), and Greylock Ventures.
Journalists get dozens, maybe even hundreds, of pitches from PR people a day and most of them fall flat. But Cheng is one of those rare PR people who can really hook a journalist with a pitch.
And once he's done that he delivers an interview with a person worth talking to as promised. Can't get any better than that.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider