Tony Loftis’ daughter, 13-year-old Allie Loftis, ran away from her Boston-area home and is believed to be in the New York City area. FIR listener John Cass – part of Tony’s communications network in Boston – reached out to FIR about conducting an interview to help get the word out.

Tony – a member of the PR community in Boston – is using social media to spread the word and speed Allie’s return. In this interview with FIR co-host Shel Holtz, Tony discusses the tools and strategies he’s been employing. If you live in the New York area, please keep your eyes peeled for Allie; details on reporting sightings appear below.

FIR listeners, please spread the word.

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About our Conversation Partner

Tony Loftis is currently a consultant with a high business transformation consultancy. He has 12 years experience in high tech public relations, marketing and community relations, Mr. Loftis has overseen and run a wide range of public relations and industry analyst programs. Previously, was a Team Lead at the Davies Murphy Group, where he works a full range of communications and marketing programs for both emerging companies and household brands. Mr. Loftis got his start in public relations at Lois Paul and Partners.

Prior to entering the high tech PR agency world, Mr. Loftis worked in the related field of community relations. In this capacity he developed community relations plans for a multi-million dollar wastewater treatment program that affected several hundred thousand residents and commuters. On that project he served as the first point of contact for the community’s questions and needs, and also designed and developed content for the project’s Web site.

Mr Loftis has a BA from Tufts University and a graduate certificate in public relations from Emerson College. He is a resident of the Wayland, Massachusetts.

• Connect with Tony and get updates on his search on Twitter: @anthonyloftis
• Huffington Post story on Allie Loftis
• Find Allie Loftis Facebook page

If you sight Allie, please call the New York City Missing Persons detectives at 212-694-7781.

Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, in the FIR FriendFeed Room. You can also email us at fircomments@gmail.com; call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments; comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

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This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music – On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)