The Linacre Media Team has an extensive background in public relations, marketing and digital/social media strategy and execution. A sought-after consultancy in this area, Linacre Media currently handles communications and media services for select ESPN and NCAA events, college coaches in all sports and NYC boxing clientele – including creating and executing written and multimedia digital and/or social content for corporations and high-profile individuals.
As the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications from 2005-14, Linacre Media principal Mark Fratto developed a reputation as an innovator – particularly in the areas of digital and social media – while working on a daily basis with coaches, athletes and reporters/broadcasters in directing the strategic management of the University’s athletics brand. His staff’s efforts in setting St. John’s and its digital branding and social media initiatives apart garnered numerous headlines in outlets such as the Sunday New York Times, the NY Daily News and Mashable, including when St. John’s became the first-ever college or professional sports organization to credential a Twitter-reporter. Creativity and the desire to embrace digital technology led to the development of a robust social media footprint for St. John’s Athletics. Fratto and the SJU Athletic Communications Team also executed on traditional media relations and publicity responsibilities while carving out a social niche for the Red Storm in NYC – “The Media Capital of the World” – and beyond.
Before returning to New York, Fratto was part of the University of Maryland Athletics Program, serving in the Media Relations office for six years. In his role as the communications director for Hall of Fame coach Gary Williams and the Terrapin men’s basketball team from 2002-03 to 2004-05, and as the secondary media contact for two seasons prior, Fratto gained extensive experience promoting the Terrapin brand in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., media market, which combines to rank as the fourth-largest in the country. During a run that included Final Four appearances in 2001 and 2002, Maryland’s 2002 national championship season and the Atlantic Coast Conference title campaign in 2004, Fratto worked to develop excellent relationships with athletes, coaches and members of the local and national media, and fans and benefactors, to compile a record of outstanding customer service.
A member of the NCAA Media Coordination Committee, Fratto returns to his eighth NCAA Final Four in Dallas in April 2016, where he again will serve as news conference moderator.