Launch of New Public Relations Agency, VoxPop Public Relations, LLC; Shannon Troughton Named 40 Under 40 by PR Week

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Shannon Troughton (http://www.linkedin.com/in/shannontroughton), most recently the Vice President of Corporate Communications for WellPoint, the country's largest health insurer, announced today the launch of a new public relations agency, VoxPop Public Relations, LLC.

VoxPop Public Relations is a strategic public relations agency that helps companies and organizations accelerate their growth, profitability, reputation and market presence through media relations, product launches, new media, events and promotions, messaging and media training, trade show support, and issues management.

"My goal has always been to start my own agency because I enjoy all aspects of helping companies increase their profile while protecting and enhancing their reputation," said Troughton, president of VoxPop Public Relations. "My experience in government affairs, agency and corporate public relations will be put to good use for my clients, which I hope will span a variety of industries."

Current VoxPop Public Relations clients include:

-- dLife (www.dlife.com), the only multimedia network serving the diabetes community;

-- Tego Inc. (www.tegoinc.com), a designer and producer of high memory, passive RFID tags that support applications in aerospace, defense, transportation, and other markets;

-- MDdatacor (www.mddatacor.com), the only company able to extract clinical data from transcription notes and combine it with claims, pharmacy and clinical data, electronic medical records, practice management and labs systems to provide the most comprehensive patient data set in the industry;

-- and a specialty healthcare company in Atlanta that primarily focused in women's health, gastroenterology and anemia.

Today Troughton was also named one of PR Week's 40 Under 40 (http://www.prweekus.com/40-under-40--2008/article/122084/): "PR professionals under the age of 40 who have accomplished much in their relatively short careers, indicating there are even greater things to come."

According to PR Week, "Shannon Troughton recently left a position at the helm of a 30-person corporate communications team at WellPoint, one of the largest health insurers in the US, to start her own healthcare firm, VoxPop Public Relations. She started the firm because she saw a need for boutique agencies that can provide the same service at a lower cost during the recession. At WellPoint, she launched a number of key efforts, such as its Zagats partnership, which allows users to rate their doctors, and the establishment of personalized health records for WellPoint members."

Troughton has worked in public relations for nearly 20 years, specializing in media relations, product promotion, government affairs, and issues and crisis management.

At WellPoint, Troughton led a team of 40 public relations professionals responsible for implementing communications programs for the 14 states in which the company operates, as well as the company's business units.

Previously, Ms. Troughton served as director of Global Communications for GE Healthcare, a $15 billion medical diagnostics and device business within General Electric.

Troughton also served as director of Public and Corporate Affairs for Monsanto Company in St. Louis where she led external initiatives designed to generate positive, proactive media coverage of the company's agriculture biotechnology products.

In addition, Troughton was vice president of Corporate and Public Affairs at Fleishman-Hillard public relations agency in Kansas City, Missouri, where she developed strategic issues and crisis management programs to help protect and enhance the reputation of public and private organizations and corporations.

Troughton began her career as a communications staffer for the administration of the late Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan in Jefferson City and is a graduate of the University of Missouri.

SOURCE VoxPop Public Relations, LLC