People

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”
– Steve Jobs

Gail (Rosenberg) McHugh, APR

Partner and Owner

With a wealth of corporate, healthcare, nonprofit and government experience, Gail blends her expertise in strategic communications, community building, reputation and issue management, and grassroots public affairs with Ray’s and Roger’s depth in reputation and brand management, market and community research, crisis communications, environmental, industrial and healthcare communications.

Prior to joining Forge Communications, Gail served as a leader in Corporate Communications, Marketing and Outreach with Atrium. She managed or was directly involved in a wide range of areas, including significant partnership programs, community healthcare projects, public health issues (including H1N1), healthcare services and facility expansions, board and executive leadership communications and conferences, media outreach and grassroots public affairs. Previously she held positions with Chem-Nuclear Systems and Highwoods Properties.

Gail began her career in Washington, D.C., working with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the U.S. Senate Press Gallery and the U.S. Department of State’s U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as a public information officer. She was involved with the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and served on two major international delegations. Gail then joined the D.C. office Doremus and Company, and her clients included the Government of Turkey, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts, and FIAT Motors of North America, among others. After joining Epley Associates, Gail helped form the N.C. Chemical Industry Council and served as account manager for Chem-Nuclear Systems, several GE divisions, Bahlsen Specialty Foods, GSK, and a number of North Carolina hospitals and hospital systems.

Gail has served as a volunteer with a number of organizations and is currently on the boards of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance’s Healthy Charlotte Council, the Alliance’s Metro Chapter and Big Brothers Big Sisters. She is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America and  served as executive director of the Joe S. Epley Scholarship Foundation for Public Relations. Gail also was as an adjunct instructor at Appalachian State University where she taught integrated marketing communications.

Ray J. Hornak, APR 

Founding Partner and Owner / Of Counsel

A graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University, Ray served as senior consultant, director of client services, senior vice president, managing director and president of the legacy firms before co-founding Forge Communications in 2009.

Having worked in the communications field for more than four decades, Ray is one of the most experienced consultants in the Carolinas. He’s served a myriad of local, state, national and international clients in virtually every sector, including manufacturing, transportation, technology, finance, insurance, healthcare, agribusiness and education. Through the years, Ray has coordinated research and communications programs for clients such as BB&T, Atrium, Corning, GE, GSK, John Deere, the N.C. Healthcare Association, the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance, the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, S. T. Wooten and Wayne UNC Health Care.

Ray has served on the public relations committee of the Wake Education Partnership and on the board of directors of the Wake County Business/Education Leadership Council. He was a co-founder of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, serving as its first board member and continuing today as a member of its board of advisors. Ray is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and a past president of the society’s North Carolina Chapter. He was honored with the Raleigh Public Relations Society’s Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Roger M. Friedensen, MA, APR (ret.)

Founding Partner and Owner

Roger began his career in 1985 and has managed a wide array of evidence-based strategic communication programs for a broad range of regional, national and international clients across dozens of sectors. His specialties include marketing public relations, reputation management, inbound content marketing, research, brand management, crisis communications, change management, messaging, media relations and spokesperson coaching.

Roger has managed a wide array of integrated programs for top-tier organizations such as the American Board of Pediatrics, Antibody Solutions, Atrium, Avient Biosciences, BB&T (Truist), Colonial Pipeline, Community Care of N.C., Cone Health, Emergent BioSolutions, GSK, McGuire, Wood & Bissette, IBM Watson Health, the N.C. Healthcare Association, the N.C. Institute of Medicine, the N.C. Turnpike Authority, the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and WGU North Carolina.

Roger is an adjunct professor in the Department of Communication Studies at North Carolina State University and teaches the capstone course in the public relations curriculum. He earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees in speech communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

An accredited member of PRSA, Roger served on the Executive Committee of the Counselors Academy of PRSA and as Ethics Co-Chair for the North Carolina chapter of PRSA. He is also past president of the Raleigh Public Relations Society, which honored him with the Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement. Roger is a steering committee member of and strategic counsel to the Regional Transportation Alliance and has served on numerous boards of directors.

Joseph T. Gaitens, APR, AIGA | Senior Consultant

Joseph Gaitens has worked side-by-side with Forge Communications’ principals for more than 20 years. He assists the Forge team and its clients with communication strategy, brand development, copy writing and creative direction.

He began his career in communication with TechKnowledge Communications, a Raleigh-based firm specializing in high-tech public relations. He cut his teeth at Epley Associates, one of the Southeast’s largest independent public relations firms, beginning as an account executive and eventually leading the company’s creative services group. He became part of The Catevo Group in 2006 when Epley Associates, one of Catevo’s founding partners, merged with Sideways Creative and Digiton Corporation. He also served as director of marketing and communications for VisionFactory, Inc., a Cary, N.C.-based company that used innovative multimedia and Web-based technologies to manage customer experiences in physical and virtual spaces.

While at Epley Associates and The Catevo Group, he managed a wide variety of assignments for Atrium, GSK, John Deere, Corning, Highwoods Properties, Genworth Financial, Community Care of N.C., Raytheon, NovaQuest and a number of other local, regional and national clients. He has served as the firms’ account manager for BB&T, WellPrime, Home Health & Hospice Care, Inc., Farr Associates and Smart Start (the North Carolina Partnership for Children), among others, and has spearheaded a broad range of brand development, marketing communications and public relations initiatives for those clients.

Joseph’s work has been honored by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Raleigh Public Relations Society and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA). Joseph has been recognized as an Outstanding Young Alumni by NCSU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and in March 2005 was honored with the Communication Alumni Circle’s inaugural Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in Public Relations. He is accredited in the practice of public relations by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and current serves as the ethics chair for the organization’s North Carolina Chapter. He is also a member of the Raleigh chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design.

Joseph graduated summa cum laude from North Carolina State University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in communication.

Aaron Mazze | Senior Brand & Digital Marketing Consultant