With decades of experience serving high-profile clients, Mari’s work has helped shape Dallas and our region. She’s provided communications and strategic guidance to Dallas Mayors Mike Rawlings, Tom Leppert, Ron Kirk and Laura Miller, several members of the Dallas City Council, and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. She’s led winning campaigns for GOP leaders across the region including the only GOP elected official in Dallas, Chairman Morgan Meyer, and former State Rep. Jason Villalba, who was the first Hispanic elected in a non-Hispanic Texas House district. She’s provided high-level consulting for business leaders like T. Boone Pickens, Brint Ryan and John Carona, and led successful strategies for industry leaders like Uber, Airbnb, Microsoft, the Dallas Cowboys and Walmart. She’s also provided communications strategies for critical projects like American Airlines Center, AT&T Stadium, Dallas ISD, Parkland Hospital and the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts.
Under Mari’s leadership, Allyn Media has grown into one of the most influential public relations/public affairs firms in the region. She began her career as the receptionist and worked her way up to President, then acquired and rebranded the firm in 2009. Over the past decade, Allyn Media has added new expertise and areas of practice, including video storytelling, non-profit development and social justice. Over the past decade, the firm has won countless awards for direct mail and TV advertising, video storytelling, digital strategies and podcast production, and in 2021 the firm was recognized by D CEO for its work in equity leadership.
Mari has been recognized as one of the “Top 25 Most Influential Women in Business” by the Dallas Business Journal. She’s served on the Advisory Board of Dream Dallas, an initiative of Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity that invested $100 million in Southern Dallas, and she’s currently a Member of the SMU Dedman College Executive Board and The Dallas Assembly. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Service and Anthropology from Baylor University.
