About

Terry is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and has 30 years of communication, business and management experience.  She has spent time on both sides of the consulting desk, having hired and worked with consultants and done consulting herself.

From 2003 through 2009, Terry led the global employee communication and communities organization at Sun Microsystems, a 38,000 employee high tech firm. During her years with Sun, Terry forged a new organization structure that reinvented employee communication at this Fortune 500 company.  She used communication and change management principles to engage employees during a difficult time in the company’s history.  Executive visibility, new communication forums and linking communication to performance feedback were all vital parts of the new platform.  In addition to proven results in employee understanding and loyalty, Terry led the effort to move Sun from Web 1.0 to Web next.  A new intranet was designed and built to encourage participation, contribution and involvement by Sun’s worldwide population.  Terry hired, developed and managed a global team of 38 communication professionals.

Prior to joining Sun, Terry led Sheppard Associates, a communication consultancy, from 1998 to 2003.  As president of the firm, she was responsible for annual revenue of $14 million per year, a team of 80 consultants, and the overall management of over 50 clients.  A member of Sheppard Associates since 1985, Terry led a wide variety of projects for clients over the years, from communication of business strategy to reorganizations to human resource changes.  Some of her accounts included:

• 3M
• State of Florida
• Boeing
• Sun Microsystems
• AMD
• BP
• First Bank
• PG&E
• National Semiconductor
• Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate
• Southwestern Bell
• Hawaiian Electric

In addition to Terry’s client work, she is well known on the speaker’s circuits for presenting fresh ideas in a lively and entertaining manner.  She speaks frequently on social networking, change communication, employee engagement and creating a corporate communication structure.  In addition, she has contributed articles and video casts on a wide variety of employee communication topics.  You can learn more about her interests and perspectives on her blog at tmacwords [at] wordpress [dot] com.