In the early 1980s, Joe Curley APR, CPRC, and Roger Pynn APR, CPRC, became fast friends through their affiliation with the Florida Public Relations Association Orlando Area Chapter. Their collaboration as chapter leaders led to an ongoing joke, “Hey, we’re pretty good at this, maybe we should start an agency.”
As they continued to build careers as public relations executives at Orlando-area corp
orations, they could no longer ignore the call to launch their own venture. Leveraging knowledge from years of corporate experience and research conducted to learn what Florida CEOs needed in a public relations team, Joe and Roger successfully landed their first client, Cypress Gardens, and Curley & Pynn was born. Since opening its doors in 1984 as Orlando’s first PR-focused firm, Curley & Pynn has been privileged to employ some of the industry’s brightest public relations practitioners to serve as essential partners for its clients. Early growth was driven by successes, such as award-winning blood drives for the Central Florida Blood Bank (now OneBlood), strategic communications programs for AT&T, grand opening events for Universal Orlando Resort and Hard Rock Café International, and establishment of the Florida High Tech Corridor. Paying homage to its roots as an agency founded by two friends, Curley & Pynn maintains a commitment to building relationships, both with a family-first mindset among internal teams and in its mission to be essential client partners. As well, this commitment manifests in the firm’s focus on professional development. Not only does Curley & Pynn encourage team members to join associations and community organizations, but it has also maintained an internship program for decades from which multiple employees have been hired. While today operating under the ownership of longtime Curley & Pynn team member, Dan Ward, APR, CPRC, the agency remains a staple of the greater Orlando business community serving partners such as Beacon College, LifeLink Foundation, Sarasota Orchestra and more. Founded on a culture of “Five Steps to Professional Success,” Curley & Pynn proudly employs an experienced team of critical thinkers who focus not only on communications strategies, but also on the business operations from which they are rooted. We help nonprofits navigate pivotal moments — from fundraising campaign milestones to leadership transitions to program launches — with smart, strategic communications that builds stakeholder trust, strengthens reputations and propels missions forward.
