People: Barbara Gothard
RENAISSANCE WOMAN
She heads a marketing company named as one of the top five women-owned businesses by the National Association of Women Business Owners. Active in business and community affairs, she sits on numerous boards for corporations as wells as charity and nonprofit groups. In 1989, she was recruited by the U. S. Information Agency to speak in Israel and the United Kingdom. She helps the U.S. Air Force train NCOs at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL. The Greater Miami YWCA named her--and Janet Reno--as one of '20 Women Who Make A Difference.' She's a surrealist painter. Call Barbara Gothard, Ph.D. '82, a Renaissance Woman of the 1990s.
After founding The Gothard Group (now Gothard/Greenstone Roberts), Miami, FL, in 1988, Gothard has taken Miami by storm. Besides representing such clients as Cable & Wireless, Federal Express, AudioVox, 14 Caribbean nations, the aviation industion, and Visit Florida (the privatized Florida Division of Tourism), Barbara has tackled many high profile assignments.
She began her career as a teacher (Milwaukee and Long Island) and principal (Utica, MI). 'When I was in Utica, I came into contact with many MSU professors,' she recalls. 'I was so impressed with their caliber that I decided to finish my Ph.D. at MSU.' She describes her MSU experience as 'absolutely fabulous--how do you describe something so meaningful in your life?' Barbara describes MSU professors as 'always willing and ready to help, who gave a lot of extra time to help me complete my degree.'
In 1984, she was recruited by Burger King to direct an educational outreach program. 'Most of the programs we started have remained intact,' says Barbara, who left in 1989 to found her own company. Her highlights cover the spectrum. 'When Hurricane Andrew descended in 1992,' recalls Barbara, 'we represented the city of Homestead and did all the crisis management work.' At the other end, Barbara was hired to handle all the media work during Queen Elizabeth's visit of Miami in 1990.
