For media

Staff bios

Pamela D. Lepley, APR
Director

Public relations veteran Pamela D. Lepley was named director of CPR in June 2002. She is responsible for leading the news and public information efforts of VCU and the VCU Medical Center, one of the leading academic medical centers in the country.

She joined VCU after seven years as vice president and director of public relations at Siddall, Inc., of Richmond, Va., where she developed and directed several award-winning strategic marketing and communications programs for a variety of national business and government clients.

Previously, Lepley was a deputy press secretary for Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, serving as his chief environmental spokesperson. Before that, she spent more than a decade in broadcast journalism working as a general assignment and political reporter, and moving on to newsroom management as an executive producer and assistant news director.

Lepley has been a part-time faculty member in VCU’s School of Mass Communications and at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown’s School of Communications. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and has earned an Accreditation in Public Relations, or APR. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Pennsylvania State University.

Anne L. Buckley, APR
Associate director

Anne L. Buckley was named associate director in July 2004 and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of CPR, including assignments, editing and planning. She also handles public relations for VCU Life Sciences and the VCU School of Engineering.

She came to VCU after six years as founder and president of Prestige Media, Inc., a full-service public relations firm for corporate clients, law firms and small-to-medium-sized businesses throughout Virginia and the Southeast.

Buckley is a former New York-based national news editor for the Associated Press. In that role, she was responsible for selecting, directing and editing the day’s top stories for distribution to more than 1,500 newspapers throughout the U.S. She also worked as a reporter in the AP’s Albuquerque, N.M., bureau.

In addition, Buckley, a member of the Public Relations Society of America, was an adjunct professor at The University of Richmond where she taught courses in news writing and public relations. She is a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She earned an Accreditation in Public Relations, APR, in 2009.

Sathya Achia-Abraham
Public relations specialist/Science writer

Sathya Achia-Abraham joined the CPR team as science writer in July 2004 and is based at VCU Medical Center. She covers university research and science news in medicine, science, technology, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and environmental studies. Other areas of focus include psychiatry, psychology, human genetics, and drug and alcohol studies.

Achia-Abraham has experience in many aspects of scientific, medical and consumer-based publishing. She was a project editor at medical publisher SLACK, Inc., where she wrote and edited technical and medical articles and managed an award-winning physician-directed newsletter.

She also was assistant health editor for Health Watch magazine and assistant editor of Canadian Family Tree House magazine — both based in Toronto. She was a health-medical writer for Chatelaine Magazine, Canada’s largest women’s magazine and the Medical Post, a Canadian newspaper magazine for physicians.

Achia-Abraham studied in Ontario, Canada, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a post-graduate degree in print and broadcast journalism. She is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Melissa Gordon
Media specialist

Melissa Gordon joined CPR in 2007 and is based at the VCU Medical Center. She received a bachelor’s degree in 2003 from the VCU School of the Arts in photography and film. Prior to joining VCU, she worked in the production department at WTVR-TV6, the CBS affiliate in Richmond and at the Department of Business assistance.

As a media specialist, Gordon assists in the production of educational, recruiting and image materials for public relations distribution. She works with clients from university departments on both the MCV and VCU campuses to produce videos, create multimedia DVDs and to prepare videos for the Web.

Among other accomplishments, Gordon has helped to produce a comprehensive recruitment DVD for the Office of International Education that is distributed worldwide, the VCU employee orientation video and the VCU student orientation video.

Melissa is also the still photographer for CPR, covering various university news-related events. Her photographs appear on the VCU Web site as well as in various newspapers and magazines.

Tom Gresham
Public relations specialist

Tom Gresham joined the CPR staff in 2005 as a public relations specialist and is based on the Monroe Park Campus where he handles the schools of the Arts, Business, Mass Communications, the Graduate School, the Department of English, student affairs, the VCU Libraries, athletics, student health, and sports medicine and orthopaedics.

Gresham previously served as a reporter for the Williston Observer, a weekly newspaper in Williston, Vt. His duties included covering the town’s municipal offices, public safety departments and schools. He won the Vermont Press Association awards for feature and news writing.

Gresham also has worked as a general assignment reporter for the Shelburne News in Shelburne, Vt., and as a sports reporter for the Daily Progress newspaper in Charlottesville, Va. Gresham, a Richmond native, received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia in 1998.

Malorie Janis
Public relations specialist

Malorie Janis is a public relations specialist based at VCU Medical Center, where she handles the areas of transplant, trauma, emergency medicine, women’s health, nursing, allied health, dentistry, pharmacy, pediatrics, public health and radiology.

Prior to joining the medical campus in 2005, Janis, who started at VCU Communications and Public Relations as an intern, launched the VCU News internship program, which provides VCU students with first-hand experience in university and hospital public and media relations prior to graduation.

Janis received a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications in 1999 from VCU. She was employed by the Internal Revenue Service as an accounts representative before joining the CPR team in 2001.

Joe Kuttenkuler
CPR bureau chief
VCU Medical Center/Videographer

Joe Kuttenkuler joined VCU Communications and Public Relations in May 1998 and is based at VCU Medical Center on the university’s medical campus. He coordinates the media relations’ efforts for the doctors, nurses and researchers in VCU’s School of Medicine, primarily in the areas of cardiology, cardiac surgery, neuroscience, neurosurgery, gastroenterology and obesity.

Kuttenkuler is an award-winning photojournalist with more than 20 years’ experience shooting television news and producing corporate video presentations. Kuttenkuler also is in charge of the video production unit for CPR. The unit produces video news releases, commercials and recruitment and educational presentations that occur across the university.

From 1991 to 1998, Kuttenkuler worked in the VCU Medical Center’s marketing department where he co-produced two weekly medical television shows that aired for six years on two stations in Richmond. He also contributed to the marketing plan for a large satellite clinic facility and co-produced, shot and edited commercials that promoted its opening.

His awards include two Associated Press Awards and a PRSA Medallion Award.

Kuttenkuler received his bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications from the University of Richmond.

Michael R. Porter
Public relations specialist

Michael R. Porter joined CPR in December 2005 and is based at the Monroe Park Campus. He coordinates the media relations efforts of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. He also serves as a liaison between the VCU Police Department and the media.

Porter promotes the School of Social Work, the Department of Sociology, geriatrics, the Office of Community Programs, the School of World Studies, the Office of International Education and the Department of Psychology.

Porter has more than two decades of media experience, most recently reporting on state government for WWBT in Richmond, Va. In that role, he was responsible for coordinating and carrying out daily coverage of the Virginia General Assembly. He previously worked in a variety of broadcast reporting and management positions in Washington, D.C., Charleston, S.C., and Johnstown, Pa.

Porter graduated with a bachelor’s degree in speech and communication arts from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. He is a native of Cumberland, Md.

Leila Ugincius
Online editor

Leila Ugincius, a 1995 alumna of VCU’s School of Mass Communications, joined CPR in September 2005. As online editor, she is responsible for compiling, writing and managing VCU TelegRAM — a daily e-mail forum for students, faculty and staff about university events and business. She also is responsible for the development, editorship and primary writing duties for VCU’s online faculty newsletter, VCU View, and for collecting and e-mailing all media stories, mentions of VCU and items of interest to VCU administration and faculty.

Ugincius spent 10 years at Virginia Business magazine in Richmond, Va., where she worked first as an intern and eventually became associate editor. Most recently, she served as the magazine’s production coordinator, responsible for the planning, layout and design of the magazine as well as organizing all of its components — from editorial copy and graphics to advertising sections.

Linda Ladd Williams
Office manager

Linda Ladd Williams joined CPR in October 1997 and is responsible for managing an extensive media database (local and international), overseeing the department’s Web site and supervising the department’s student workers.

In addition, Williams provides logistical support for all CPR-related media activities and supervises the monitoring of all media.

Williams is a veteran Commonwealth of Virginia employee with experience at the Department of Management Analysis and Systems Development (now DIT) and at the House of Delegates. She also worked for a health care trade association.

Williams has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Averett University and an associate’s degree in applied science in administrative management from J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.