Meet the News Team

Katie Neal is a senior communications professional whose progressive career in broadcast journalism, marketing and public relations has taken her from San Francisco to Singapore and back to her alma mater.

As Executive Director of News and Communications, Katie oversees all aspects of public relations at Wake Forest, leading a talented team of media relations, social media and multimedia specialists.

A former TV news reporter, Katie has worked at global and national PR agencies on award-winning campaigns for major brands such as HP, Men’s Wearhouse and the American Cancer Society. Katie recently received two “Under 40” awards after overseeing the high-profile media presences at Jill Abramson’s 2014 commencement address and Dr. Maya Angelou’s memorial service that occurred within a three-week span.

Katie graduated from Wake Forest with B.A. in Communication in 2003.

Cheryl Walker has been a media relations professional in higher education for more than two decades.On topics ranging from parent-teen relationships to voting behavior, she handles media relations for a range of academic and administrative departments, including the social sciences and admissions.

When Wake Forest was the first top-30 national university to drop the SAT/ACT requirement for undergraduate admissions, she coordinated the university’s media outreach regarding the test-optional decision. She has been a CASE and PRSA presenter and has collaborated with colleagues to win CASE awards, including a 2014 Award of Excellence. In 2000, she gained experience handling the public relations challenges of hosting a Presidential Debate.

Cheryl graduated from Wake Forest with a B.A. in English.

With nearly 25 years experience in public relations, targeted marketing, editing, writing, project management and content creation, Kim has spent her career cultivating and maintaining close and productive relationships as a communications professional. She has 18 years of higher education experience with Wake Forest.

Kim connects Wake Forest’s leadership and experts to trends in personal and career development, employment, mentoring, internships, economics, global issues, and arts and culture. She enjoys showcasing the role higher education plays in developing communities, workplaces and the world.

In addition, Kim manages social media @WakeForestNews and @InsideWFU.

Kim earned her B.A. in English from Loyola University in Maryland.

Mike Shaw is a communications professional whose career in public relations, marketing and journalism has been a perfect fit for his creative, visual approach and passion for storytelling.

As the Multimedia Producer at Wake Forest, he produces video content for the news team, manages news.wfu.edu, maintains the University’s directory of experts and operates the national broadcast television studio.

His contributions to Wake Forest have included more than 950,000 video views since 2015 on University stories like commencement, move-in day, Hit the Bricks, Project Pumpkin and the Belk Bowl. In 2016, he helped lead the news team through an award-winning redesign of news.wfu.edu in collaboration with the University’s digital team. Overseeing the broadcast television studio, Mike has filmed University experts for appearances on Bloomberg Television, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC and more.

His previous experience includes work as a newspaper reporter at The Roanoke Times in Virginia, a marketer at Guilford College and a Minor League Baseball public address announcer.

Mike graduated from Wingate University with a B.S. in Communication in 2011.