Awards
Best of the Web, comScore study of federal websites (2012)
DHS.gov tied with State.gov as the two “best performing websites” of the 75 websites in an independent comScore study of best practices
Center for Environmental Innovation & Leadership (2010)
Award for Excellence in Education and Outreach for RestoretheGulf.gov
PA State Library Association Exemplary Project (2010)
Recognition for the Cumberland County Library System website redesign where I led overall project management, testing and training
Best Feds on the Web (2000)
Energy.gov recognized by Government Executive Magazine as one of 10 Best Feds on the Web for 2000, the 4th annual Govexec.com competition
Leadership Award (2000)
Awarded by the Association for Federal Resource Information Management
Testimonials
I believe the organization will improve as a result of your work.
Thanks again for your stellar work on these efforts (with the World Bank Web audit). We certainly added a lot of value to our clients and I believe the organization will improve as a result of your work.
Robert O’Connell, CISA, CISSP
formerly, Senior IT Auditor
The World Bank Group
Internal Auditing Department
The vision to do what few people can.
Kathy has the qualifications and vision to do what few people can: completely overhaul the Web presence of over 200 Members of Congress. She did so in a manner that appeared to be simply effortless. This is a trait that clearly comes only from decades of experience.
She took a very challenging assignment and understood not only how to help us reach our goal, but also how to gain the support of every Member office that we aimed to assist. The end result was outstanding. She helped hundreds of Members improve their online constituent communication, and she opened the doors to Members’ online offices even wider to better serve the public. Simply put: any office would be truly fortunate to have Kathy leading its online strategic operations.
Beth Bellizzi
formerly Communications Director
House Administration Committee, USHR
You helped us keep a customer focus.
You have helped us keep a customer focus and made tremendous contributions to our strategy.
John Gilligan
formerly CIO
United States Air Force
A great contribution.
You made a great contribution with the Web and our efforts at public education.
Bill Richardson
formerly Secretary
U.S. Department of Energy
Definitely Recommend.
I would definitely recommend Emerald Strategies to others who are interested in usability advice and expertise.
First and foremost…contract with a specialist. …We hired an expert and I have to say the (money we spent) is probably the best I ever spent on a consultant in my life. And I’ve hired a lot of consultants. We really got our money’s worth. Bringing in expertise to us and teaching us to use it was really invaluable.
The other value of bringing in Kathy was that she was our third-party authority. So when the CMS people said “Oh, you can’t do that…What are you talking about?” or “We don’t understand, what are you saying” or they would speak in technospeak to us and it was just ridiculous. Kathy would be there and be our advocate for what we wanted and how we wanted it to be user-focused. And that was really valuable.
Jonelle Darr, Executive Director
Cumberland County Library System
Pennsylvania
Excellent information with practical applications.
Model for communication plan will help refine efforts…Developing message: makes other work likely to succeed. Excellent information and education with practical applications. Still reference your brief frequently.
Jon Spiers
formerly Public Affairs Officer
Chief of Naval Personnel
U.S. Navy
She expertly redesigned a dynamic Web site.
I highly recommend Kathy McShea and Emerald Strategies. She took the firm’s old Web site, expertly redesigned and rebuilt it, launching a dynamic Web site that truly reflects the international business of Kalbian Hagerty LLP.
James R. Hagerty
Managing Partner
Kalbian Hagerty LLP
She seems to know what’s coming next.
I’ve hired Kathy a few times to develop short and effective public relations campaigns for both my non-profit work and corporate work. She has rock solid relationships and develops custom strategies to get the most coverage. I’ve also worked with her on online projects and have been very impressed with her thinking. She seems to “know” what’s coming up next in the Internet and is very good at creating a strong online presence for clients.