Shannon Baker-Meyer ’03 has garnered awards and recognition in the public relations and marketing industries — leading to her current role as president of Gatesman, a prominent marketing and communications agency with offices in Pittsburgh and Chicago.
While at Susquehanna, Baker-Meyer double majored in public relations and German studies. Outside of the classroom, she was a member of the women’s basketball team and German club.
“My time at Susquehanna was more than classrooms and competitions — after a devastating knee injury it was where I began to understand who I was beyond the athlete,” she said. “It’s where I discovered other passions, redefined my goals and started shaping a future beyond the court.”
After graduating in the spring of 2003, Baker-Meyer moved to Montana to complete a summer job at Glacier National Park, with the plan to return in the fall for a full-time position in Washington, D.C. What was originally supposed to last just a few months became a three-year adventure in journalism and various communications roles that allowed her to put her public relations degree to practice.
“I fell in love with Montana — the land, the spirit of adventure and the community. And I met the man that would later become my husband there,” she says.
Ultimately, the Pennsylvania native returned east and eventually back to the commonwealth and joined Gatesman in 2008 — then a local ad agency — as its first-ever public relations professional. Since then, she has been instrumental in expanding the agency’s capabilities, its expertise and client roster, and its overall growth and profitability into a national, independent contender.
“Looking back over my career I see chapters of resilience, evolution and reinvention. When I started the business looked very different — the size and scale of what we could do, our client roster, our team. But what never changed was the power of bold thinking, the desire to build and the need to keep pushing forward,” she said. “I consider one of my greatest professional accomplishments to be that I didn’t just survive change, I shaped it. Success in anything doesn’t come from staying comfortable, it comes from facing challenges and doing hard things.”
Under her leadership, Gatesman earned a place among O’Dwyer’s Top 100 Independent PR Firms and was twice named PRSA Pittsburgh’s Agency of the Year. It’s been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in marketing and communications, and its list of global clients include FedEx Ground, British Airways, the Geena Davis Institute, Las Vegas Athletic Clubs and others.
‘A remarkable partner and leader’
Beyond the agency’s recognition, Baker-Meyer’s individual work and thought leadership have been celebrated nationally, including a feature in Forbes magazine’s Women in Business profile. She was included among the “Top Women in Business” by the American Business Journals and was recognized as one of Pittsburgh’s “Most Influential Women in Business.” Additionally, she was named one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s top executives on Smart Business Magazine’s “Smart 50” — an annual list celebrating the exceptional leadership and innovative spirit of executives from the “50 smartest companies.”
In January, Baker-Meyer’s 22-year career was honored with her induction into the PRSA Pittsburgh Hall of Fame for her outstanding contributions to the public relations industry, including her visionary leadership, innovative campaigns and commitment to mentorship. Shannon’s colleagues credit her efforts for not only elevating Gatesman’s public relations practice, but also for having set new standards in workplace excellence and an equitable agency culture.
“Every day, Shannon shows up to work with a fierce devotion to our agency, and a commitment to our clients and team,” said John Gatesman, the agency’s chief executive officer. “Anyone who is lucky enough to cross paths with her walks away energized by her hunger to succeed and overall passion. She is a remarkable partner and leader.”
More recently, Baker-Meyer was a recipient of the 2025 City & State Pennsylvania Above & Beyond award, which recognized women who exemplify ambition, creativity and impact across various sectors in the commonwealth.
She is keenly aware that her leadership position is, unfortunately, a rarity in most agencies. According to a 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, nearly 70 percent of all public relations practitioners are women, though less than ten percent of U.S. agencies place women in top leadership. When it comes to creative directors, less than three percent are women.
“I take the position I’m in now very seriously. I want those numbers to grow and to persist into the future, which means I need to do the best I can every day to clear a path and make plenty of room at the c-suite and board room tables.”
– Baker-Meyer
