Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Flock and Rally names new CEO

Christina Lee Knauss //September 21, 2022//

Flock and Rally names new CEO

Christina Lee Knauss //September 21, 2022//

Listen to this article

Flock and Rally, a woman-owned integrated communications and marketing agency based in Columbia, has named Merritt McNeely its new CEO.

McNeely (Photo/Provided)

McNeely, who has served in an executive leadership role at the agency since spring 2018, will lead strategic planning, financial management and business development as well as serve as the agency’s key spokesperson, according to a news release.

“It is a dream come true to empower a trusted colleague to assume the role of chief executive,” Tracie Broom, co-founding partner at Flock and Rally, said in the news release. “Merritt’s skill, experience and commitment to our unique company culture — as well as our shared vision for measured growth — make her a natural fit for the position of CEO.”

McNeely joined Flock and Rally in April 2018 as vice president of marketing and in 2020 was promoted to executive vice president, the release said. Since she joined the agency, it has more than doubled in size and revenue and has received dozens of awards.

“This is a full-circle moment for me, having worked with Flock and Rally as a client multiple times over the years,” McNeely said in the release. “It’s been an honor to be part of this agency’s remarkable growth in the last four years and now, it is a privilege to be entrusted to lead this amazing team as we continue forward.”

McNeely previously served as director of marketing and membership for the S.C. State Museum, where she led statewide marketing and communications for the 2014 grand opening of the museum’s new observatory and planetarium, and co-founded and co-chaired the 2017 Total Eclipse Weekend, which drew hundreds of thousands of travelers to the Midlands for that year’s total solar eclipse.

She also served as executive director of the Five Points Association from 2005-13, where her accomplishments included installing a new fountain at Saluda Avenue and Blossom Street and the creation of a public monument at Harden Street and Santee Avenue to honor the band Hootie and the Blowfish. She currently sits on the Five Points Association’s board of directors and has served on numerous local boards and committees, including Columbia Design League, the Animal Mission and the Babcock Center Foundation.

She has been named one of the area’s “Women of Influence” by the Columbia Regional Business Report.

McNeely holds a degree in public relations from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina.

-