American businesswoman Andrea "Andy" Cunningham is a strategic marketer and external communications expert who helped launch the Apple Macintosh in 1984 as part of Regis McKenna's project. She also founded Cunningham Communication, Inc., which has become widely known as one of the best public relations firms for Silicon Valley's high-tech companies in the 1980s and 1990s. Soon she became so famous that on her business card it was simply “Andy”. He is currently President of Cunningham Collective, an innovation firm focused on marketing strategy and brand promotion.
| Andrea Cunningham | |
|---|---|
| Andrea Cunningham | |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | Palo Alto California |
| Occupation | Founder and President, Cunningham Collective |
| Spouse | Rand Siegfried |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | Andy Cunningham |
| Miscellaneous | Participated in the launch of the Apple Macintosh ; founder of Cunningham Communication |
Content
- 1 Career
- 1.1 Early career
- 1.2 Regis McKenna and Apple Macintosh
- 1.3 Cunningham Communication
- 1.4 CXO Communication
- 1.5 Byte Communications
- 1.6 Cunningham Collective (formerly SeriesC)
- 2 Nonprofit Activities
- 3 References
Career
Early career
After graduating from Northwestern University in 1979, Cunningham began her career as an observer for the Irving-Cloud Publishing Co., a logistics company, but pretty soon realized that she was not suitable for this position. She then worked at Burson-Marsteller in Chicago, where she participated in the creation of Asteroids projects for Atari, as well as Equal and Nutrasweet for GD Searle
Regis McKenna and Apple Macintosh
In 1983, Cunningham moved to Silicon Valley, where she joined Regis McKenna and was immediately appointed project manager, after which she began work on launching the Apple Macintosh with Steve Jobs. Together with Jane Anderson, they worked on a Macintosh launch plan. After starting the computer, she continued to work with Apple customers, helping them start using the new desktop operating system with Aldus and Adobe. She described these events in an interview with author of the Steve Jobs biography Walter Isaacson and screenwriter of the film "Steve Jobs" Aaron Sorkin, where her role is played by Sarah Snook.
Cunningham Communication
After breaking up with Regis McKenna in 1985, Cunningham founded Cunningham Communication, Inc., where she continued to work with Jobs as the founder of NeXT and Pixar . Her firm's work included launching RISC microprocessors for consumer personal computers with IBM and Motorola, supersonic aircraft with Eclipse Aviation, digital imaging with Codac, and software maintenance with Hewlett Packard. The company was bought in 2000 and renamed Citigate Cunningham.
CXO Communication
In 2003, Cunningham created CXO Communication, whose mission is to advise brands, in particular, Cunningham Citigate, and becomes the company's CEO. Instead of focusing on traditional public relations and corporate communications, CXO focuses on the strategy and positioning of firms. Customers included AMD, Beautiful !, Cisco, Eclipse Aviation, FutureMark, Liveops, MarketTools, PivotPoint Capital, PRTM, RSA, UCSF, VantagePoint Venture Partners, and XOJet. She left the company in 2010 to become ReardenCommerce's marketing director, where she changed the company’s style to Deem brand.
Byte Communications
After leaving ReardenCommerce in the fall of 2011, Cunningham advised Byte's senior executives on operations in North America. Soon after, she was asked to become President of Byte Communication in North America. On January 1, 2013, she was nominated as CEO of Byte's international operations. She resigned in June 2013 to focus on SeriesC.
Cunningham Collective (formerly SeriesC)
Along with Byte's consultation, Cunningham began to assemble a group that eventually became SeriesC. SeriesC officially began operations in spring 2012 with Cunningham, a leader in both SeriesC and Byte. The company changed its name to the Cunningham Collective in August 2015.
From April 2014 to August 2015, Cunningham was Avaya's interim marketing director. She led this firm while working at the Cunningham Collective. She led the team that initiated the change in the direction of cooperation in Silicon Valley.
Nonprofit Actions
Cunningham is a member of many nonprofit boards, including the Aspen Institute and Menlo College. In 2000, she co-founded ZERO1: Art and Technology, a financial sponsor for The Bay Lights. She is a member of the teaching staff of the Aspen Institute and supports memberships in the WPO, Arthur W. Page Society, and TED. She is a former trustee and board member of Computer History Museum and Peninsula Open Space Trust (MAIL).