FYI Blog

  Dear friends, This will be a letter full of good news. Starting close to home, Avalon senior account director Rebecca Shapalis was recently re-elected to the DMAW Board of Directors. Rebecca is an expert fundraiser and a strong leader. I am thrilled both for her and for DMAW. Congrats! In a happy moment for me […]

Dear friends, I am delighted to be writing the celebratory version of this letter, after a tense week and cathartic weekend – complete with (masked!) dancing in the streets for the Biden/Harris victory. Though I had hoped for a stronger rebuke of Trump’s chaos and bigotry, a tremendous wave of relief washed over me when the networks […]

  In this unprecedented time, Avalon is here.   Here for our staff.   Our first priority is the safety of Avalon staff and clients. On March 2nd Avalon ceased company travel, and on March 12th we shifted fully to remote work. We have been telecommuter-friendly for 20+ years, which helped make this a seamless […]

  Dear friends, Last week, Walter Wallace, Jr. was killed by police during a mental health episode, and Philadelphia rightly erupted into grief and anger. Today, we collectively exercise the most important nonviolent tool we have for resisting and dismantling white supremacy: the vote.  Thank you all for voting, for encouraging others, and for volunteering […]

Dear friends, T-minus one week until Election Day. I know I don’t need to remind you to vote or make a plan to vote yourself, so here’s the level up: please encourage your staff in their plans to vote. The Society for Human Resource Management has a great round-up of ways employers can support turnout. Let’s do this! […]

Dear friends, I hope you are having a good week. We had several happy occasions at Avalon recently, including birthdays, an Avalon anniversary, a wedding, and even a new baby! Special congratulations to Avalon Office Manager Cherea Stoney on her marriage, and to Director of Client Reporting and Data Management Kate Cecchini Beaver on the […]