Bio
Dara Quackenbush is a strategic communications advisor and founder of Montage Strategic Communications and public relations professor at Texas State University-San Marcos. She works with clients to develop branding, positioning, messaging and strategic communications plans. Dara has more than 15 years of experience in marketing communications, public relations, branding and product positioning and has worked with both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. She began teaching in 2005 and strives to bring real-world experience to the classroom.
Dara is very involved in the community and volunteers for several local theatre and art organizations. She is a member of the board of directors for the Austin chapter of the Association of Women in Communications and was the chair of the marketing committee for the Austin American Heart Association’s 2008 Go Red for Women and Heart Ball campaigns. In 2008 the Texas State University Student Foundation named her as one of its Foundation of Excellence honorees.
Dara earned a master’s degree in mass communication from Texas State University, where her research emphasis was blogging and opinion leadership, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas.