The story thus far:

KRISTIAN DARIGAN Vice President, Cone, LLC As a Vice President at Cone, Kristian Darigan is a marketing strategy, corporate citizenship, business management and fundraising specialist. Since joining the agency in 2000, Darigan has led the creation of many of the nation’s most critically-acclaimed programs and campaigns for some of the world’s leading organizations, including: Alticor, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Dell, Gillette, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Microsoft, PNC Bank, Sprint PCS, Thrivent, Wal-Mart, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo and Western Union, among others. Darigan has also provided general strategic marketing counsel for accounts such as Timberland, RadioShack, ConAgra Foods and Whole Foods Markets. As an expert in cause, she serves as a spokesperson and futurist for Cone on social marketing trends, and she has been a featured keynote and panel speaker at many conferences and seminars for organizations including: American Marketing Association, Cause Marketing Forum, Harvard Business School, Duke’s Fuqua School of Management and MIT Sloan School of Management. She has been featured in Jocelyn Daw’s Marketing for Nonprofits, PR News’ Top 100 Case Studies in PR, and Philip Kotler’s Marketing: Improving the Quality of Life, Third Edition. Recently, her work with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation was included in Bill Clinton’s Giving and her most successful cause campaign, Go Red For Women, was turned into a Harvard Business School case study. She served as an advisor in the creation of the PR News Nonprofit Awards and for many years, has been a judge for awards programs administered by PR News, The Publicity Club of New England and Net Impact. Her client work has been honored with more than 45 industry awards for unprecedented shared business and social impacts. Highlights include top honors from: the US Chamber of Commerce, Points of Light Foundation, CRO Magazine, American Bankers Association, Cause Marketing Forum, The Directors Guild, Family and Work Institute and Woman’s Day Magazine, etc. “Campaigns of the Year” honors have be awarded from: PR News’ (Public Affairs, Nonprofit and Cause Related Marketing) PRWeek (Nonprofit), Women Executives in Public Relations (Social Responsibility), Paul Homes (Social Marketing), Public Relations Society of America (Financial Services Marketing) and the Publicity Club of New England (Organizational Identity). Darigan has also played a critical role in launching two Internet start-up companies; www.cardvio.com and www.changents.com. Darigan joined Cone from GTECH Corporation, the world’s leading supplier of lottery and gaming solutions, where she worked as a supervisor in the firm’s Public Affairs Group. Prior to working at GTECH, Darigan worked at Firebrand LLC, a marketing strategy-consulting firm servicing Fortune 1000 companies and the YMCA. Darigan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing,with a specialty in computer science, from Providence College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and was named to the honorary Tau Pi Phi Business Society. Darigan is currently completing her MBA at Boston University. She blogs at www.doyoustandforsomething.com, is working on a new book on cause marketing for nonprofits and resides in Malden, MA with her husband, Justin.