From Solo Shop to Industry Leader: Margy Sweeney’s Vision Rewrites PR Rules

CHICAGO, IL – April 22, 2026 – Margy Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Akrete, has been named to the prestigious PRNEWS’ 2026 list of Top Women in PR and Communications. The honor, awarded in the highly competitive Business Entrepreneurs category, recognizes Sweeney’s fifteen-year journey of transforming a one-woman consultancy into a 30-person national powerhouse in B2B public relations and marketing.

The PRNEWS Top Women awards are widely regarded as a benchmark for excellence, celebrating female leaders who demonstrate exceptional innovation, leadership, and measurable impact across the communications industry. For Sweeney, this recognition validates a career built on defying convention and championing a more human-centered approach to business.

“Launching a new PR business, especially as a woman leader, is always a risk. I celebrate all the women on this list, and particularly those other female founders, who I commend for taking the plunge,” said Sweeney. Her achievement places her among an elite group of female entrepreneurs who are not just building successful companies but are also actively reshaping the landscape of their industries.

The Architect of a New Agency Model

Sweeney’s path to founding Akrete in 2011 was anything but linear. With over 30 years of experience, she has occupied nearly every seat at the communications table. Her career began in corporate marketing for a national commercial real estate developer and later within the global marketing group at Cushman & Wakefield, where she was involved in high-profile projects. This was followed by a successful stint as a freelance journalist, with bylines in The Wall Street Journal and the Travel Channel, and a role as a TV writer. Before launching her own firm, she honed her agency skills in senior leadership positions at both a New York-based PR firm and a Chicago boutique agency.

This diverse background—part marketer, part journalist, part agency strategist—gave her a unique perspective on the industry's shortcomings. At 40, she established Akrete with a clear vision: to build a firm that could deliver sophisticated, “big-firm results” without the rigid structure and burnout culture often associated with traditional agencies. From its inception, Akrete was designed to be different, operating on a flexible model that was nearly a decade ahead of the pandemic-induced shift to remote work.

What started as a solo venture has since blossomed into a national team of strategists, writers, and media relations experts. The firm's growth is a testament to a leadership philosophy that prioritizes both client success and the well-being of its team.

Beyond the 9-to-5: A Blueprint for Modern Success

Akrete’s “unconventional business model” is central to its identity and competitive advantage. The company operates on a “work where and when it makes sense” philosophy, a principle that has been embedded in its DNA since day one. This human-centered approach values results over hours logged at a desk, fostering a high-performance culture that attracts and, more importantly, retains top-tier senior talent.

The firm’s structure accommodates a diverse mix of professionals, including both full-time W2 employees and part-time 1099 contractors, many of whom are working parents or creatives seeking a sustainable work-life balance. This flexibility allows Akrete to assemble expert teams from across the country, with staff working from home offices or hubs in Chicago, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. By rejecting the high-pressure, high-turnover environment common in the agency world, Akrete has built a stable, senior-driven team with deep industry expertise.

This model translates directly into client value. Businesses that partner with Akrete gain access to seasoned professionals who provide high-touch, strategic counsel. The result is an agile, responsive service that delivers the impactful outcomes of a large agency with the collaborative culture of a boutique firm. The success of this approach is reflected in the firm's accolades, including being named a PRWeek “Best Place to Work” in 2025, a clear external validation of its people-first culture.

Redefining Excellence in B2B Communications

The PRNEWS honor is the latest in a series of awards that underscore Akrete's market-leading position. The firm specializes in helping B2B companies “stand out in an AI world” by creating and amplifying original thought leadership, particularly in complex sectors like commercial real estate, financial services, and professional services. Its team is known for its ability to dive deep into nuanced topics and articulate a compelling, authentic voice for its clients.

This expertise has not gone unnoticed. In 2025, Akrete was awarded the Gold Stevie® for U.S. and Canada PR Agency of the Year, a testament to its excellence across North America. It has been named to the PRNEWS Agency Elite 120 list for two consecutive years and is ranked by O’Dwyer’s as the #3 independent PR firm in the nation for real estate finance and development. This industry recognition corroborates the firm's claim of combining a small-firm feel with consistently powerful results.

The leadership culture fostered by Sweeney extends throughout the organization, with other Akrete leaders like Nicole Stenclik and Michelle Pittman also being honored as GlobeSt.com Women of Influence. This depth of talent reinforces the firm's reputation as a hub for industry experts.

In her statement, Sweeney extended her appreciation beyond her personal achievement, emphasizing the collaborative nature of Akrete’s success. “I’m also incredibly grateful for all the team members that have made Akrete what it is today, and the clients who have believed in our unconventional business model and have taken that leap of faith with us.” This sentiment captures the essence of a firm built not just on strategy and results, but on mutual trust and a shared vision for a better way to work.