Sachs Media Promotes Two Senior Leaders to Vice President

Opinion | TC Sentinel Editorial Board

There is a particular kind of professional ascent worth noting — not the overnight variety, but the steady, earned kind that begins with an internship and ends, seven years later, with a vice presidency. That is the story Sachs Media is telling this week, and it is one the Treasure Coast's own public affairs and communications community should pay attention to.

The Tallahassee-based firm announced the promotions of Amy Climenhage and Kelly Corder to vice president, elevating two leaders who have become central to the firm's reputation for navigating high-stakes campaigns across Florida and beyond.

Climenhage joined Sachs Media in 2019 as a public affairs intern. She rose through a half-dozen titles — account coordinator, executive, senior account executive, account manager — before landing as deputy director of public affairs two years ago. Her work spans healthcare, education, energy, technology and public policy, sectors that matter acutely to communities like ours, where debates over hospital access, utility rates and school policy are never far from the front page. Ragan named her a Top Woman in Communications in 2024. INFLUENCE Magazine previously recognized her as a Rising Star in Florida Politics.

Corder's trajectory is equally deliberate. She arrived at Sachs the same year as Climenhage, as an account manager, and built a media relations practice that has placed client stories in The New York Times, Forbes, CNN and the BBC. That kind of national reach requires not just skill but discipline — the ability to make a Florida story feel universal. PRNEWS named her a 2024 Top Woman in Communications, and the Florida Public Relations Association recognized her as Communicator of the Year in 2025.

"They have helped fuel our growth by delivering the kind of smart strategy, steady judgment and trusted counsel our clients count on when the stakes are high," Drew Piers, Sachs Media's president and partner, said.

A fair counterpoint is that personnel announcements from a statewide firm are, at first glance, Tallahassee news, not Treasure Coast news. That would be true if Sachs Media's work did not routinely shape the very policy debates — water quality legislation, healthcare regulation, energy infrastructure — that land on the desks of Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River county commissioners and ultimately affect residents from Hobe Sound to Vero Beach. The firm's clients operate in our backyard even when its offices do not.

The deeper argument here is one about professional culture. Public affairs and communications work is often invisible until it fails. When a hospital system loses a legislative fight or a utility rate hike sails through without public scrutiny, the absence of skilled advocacy and clear communication is part of the story. Climenhage and Corder represent a standard of craft that local governments, nonprofits and businesses on the Treasure Coast would do well to demand from their own communications partners.

What You Can Do: If your organization, business or municipality relies on public communications or government relations support, now is a sound moment to audit that work. The Martin County Board of County Commissioners holds its next regular meeting on the first Tuesday of the month at the County Administrative Center, 2401 S.E. Monterey Road in Stuart — a standing opportunity to observe how public messaging shapes local policy decisions and to hold your own elected officials accountable for communicating clearly with residents.

This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.