About Us
"Us" is, for the most part, Roger Ruhl ... and a network of resources that does what he can't do, doesn't have time to do, or doesn't like to do.
Roger L. Ruhl is a marketing communications generalist and strategist, using the skills and experience acquired over the years to assist clients with marketing planning, research, public relations, advertising, public affairs and other special projects.
Ruhl has been “communicating” since his high school and college days … St. Xavier High’s prep correspondent to the Cincinnati Post, part-timer in the sports department at the Cincinnati Enquirer, student assistant in the sports information office and the news bureau at Xavier University, and editor of the Xavier News.
When West Virginia University offered an opportunity to finish school and begin grad work while working as full-time assistant sports publicity director, he left his native Cincinnati for Morgantown. Two years later he was the sports information director, overseeing communications for a 13-sport athletic program and managing a 33-station radio network for football and basketball broadcasts.
Military service beckoned in the Vietnam War era. His PR skills notwithstanding, the Army sent him to advanced infantry training and eventually combat leadership school. He served in Vietnam with the First Air Cavalry Division as an infantry and information sergeant.
His plans to return to West Virginia after the Army changed when a contact from his WVU days took over as general manager of the Cincinnati Royals basketball team and offered him the position of public relations director.
The offer of a similar position a year later took him to the Cincinnati Reds, where he spent 13 years from 1971 to 1983. After two years as publicity director, he moved to promotion and sales and learned about bigger-picture business lessons like generating revenue. He was eventually given greater responsibility as Vice President Marketing. His Reds years were during the team’s Big Red Machine glory days. Despite being located in one of baseball’s smallest markets, the Reds set attendance records and implemented innovative marketing strategies that set a standard for others.
In 1984, Ruhl joined an old friend at Hogan, Nolan & Stites, a Cincinnati marketing, advertising and public relations firm. His intent was to buy the firm over a period of time, but an opportunity to join the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce in 1987 proved too great an attraction. At the Chamber, he oversaw a staff of 22 persons in the Marketing Communications, Membership Development and Member Relations departments. Membership grew from 3,600 to 6,500 over 10 years. The organization, the fourth largest chamber in the United States, was twice named Chamber of the Year by the National Association of Membership Development (NAMD).
Ruhl left the Chamber in 2000 to do more hands-on marketing and public relations work (“I was beginning to feel more like a human resources director than a marketer,” he said). He planned a “transition period” to plot his future, but that didn’t last long. A couple business acquaintances and friends asked if he could help with a project or two. Then came a few more calls. Soon he had clients. And Roger Ruhl Marketing Communications was born.
Ruhl is an officer and member of a small working board of directors of the Charles H. Dater Foundation, which makes grants to nonprofit organizations that benefit young people. He has served on the boards of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Greater Cincinnati Film Commission, the Downtown Council (including two terms as president), Seven Hills Savings, Cornerstone Bank, NAMD and UpBuilding Ministries.