Chair and CEO
Lynn is chair and CEO of Padilla Speer Beardsley, a 115-member public relations consulting firm with offices in Minneapolis and New York, and worldwide through Worldcom Public Relations Group. She oversees specialty practices in corporate and investor communications, consumer and business-to-business brand-building, and employee engagement. She is the third chief executive officer to lead our employee-owned firm since its founding in 1961.
Prior to joining Padilla in 1983, Lynn was marketing communications manager for Burlington Northern. While there, she coordinated a diverse program to expand awareness of company services following railroad deregulation. She also developed Minnesota’s first public relations campaign for foster care home recruitment.
Lynn is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Dakota. In addition, she holds a master’s degree in mass communications from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas.
An accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Lynn has served on the Minnesota chapter’s board of directors. At the national level, she chaired the PRSA Counselors Academy and served on the board of the Council of Public Relations Firms.
In Padilla’s headquarters community, Lynn serves on the boards and executive committees of the Greater Twin Cities United Way, The Minneapolis Foundation, and Meet Minneapolis. She is a board member of Capitol City Partnership, Breck School and the Minneapolis Downtown Council, and is a member of the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable and the Itasca Project. She retired in 2008 from the boards of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the University of Minnesota Alumni Association.