Sarah (Phelan) Avila, MSJ, CDMP, has more than 15 years of experience working as a strategic marketing, business development, communications, public relations and social media professional. She enjoys developing strategic initiatives to grow business and discovering new and effective ways of conveying messages to targeted audiences.

At GHJ, Sarah manages the Marketing and Business Development team and oversees the branding, designing, writing and editing of marketing collateral. She also works closely with the Marketing and Business Development Director on the pursuit process strategy and creations of proposals for prospective clients. Sarah also leads the organization and execution of GHJ events aimed at growing business and increasing GHJ’s market prominence.

Her expertise also includes managing GHJ’s digital strategy and developing, editing and overseeing blogs and social media strategy. She is also a member of GHJ’s Food and Beverage Practice and manages the production of GHJ’s whitepapers, as well as having been a content contributor. Sarah also write blogs for GHJ focused on marketing in the food and beverage industry and women empowerment. She is also a member of GHJ’s Women’s Empowerment Committee.

Prior to joining GHJ in 2015, Sarah worked for Saint John’s Health Center (SJHC) in its Marketing Department. At SJHC, Sarah acted as Public Information Officer for SJHC and its affiliated John Wayne Cancer Institute. She also managed the public relations, internal communications and social media strategies for both institutions, as well as provided support in those areas for the Saint John's Health Center Foundation.

Sarah graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia where she received a Bachelor of Journalism before going to Northwestern University for her Master of Science in Journalism.