Milestone: Hughes Agency celebrates 25 years of impact

Velda Hughes believes the best public relations focuses on creating lasting change rather than seeking attention.

This belief has turned into a passion for her full-service public relations and marketing company, Hughes Agency. Hughes and her team have spent the past 25 years building connections, sharing stories and helping to make a local and national impact alongside their clients.

“We’re trying to do things that will have a long-term, positive effect on many people’s lives,” Hughes said.

Creating the business

Before becoming an influential CEO, Hughes started her career at The Greenville News-Piedmont Co., which was owned by Multimedia Inc., in 1976. It was her first job after graduating from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism, following in the footsteps of her brother and father, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

She later became the public relations manager for the company in 1979. After working in the role for several years, Hughes decided to make a career change that would better balance her time as a mother of three young children.

Hughes started a public relations company in partnership with Sandy Linning in March 1989. While in operation, Linning Hughes Public Relations provided corporate marketing, employee relations and event management services. Their offices were located at 105 N. Spring St. in downtown Greenville.

The company’s first significant client was Carolina First Bank, now TD Bank. Linning Hughes Public Relations organized the ribbon-cutting for the bank’s first branch location on Haywood Road. TD Bank has continued to be a client with Hughes for more than 30 years.

“I think one of my proudest parts of running a business this long is that we have been able to retain many of the clients that I started with 40 years ago,” Hughes said.

After working together for more than a decade, Hughes and Linning decided to start their own companies in Greenville. Hughes said she wanted to create a full-service agency that offered more than just public relations and event management but also provided advertising and marketing services.

Hughes Agency was established in 2001.

Building the Hughes Agency brand

Photo by Chelsey Ashford

Today, Hughes Agency stands as one of the leading full-service public relations and marketing agencies in the South. Hughes said the company has grown alongside Greenville and evolved in response to the industry’s demands over the past 25 years.

The firm offers a range of services for its clients, including public relations, media relations, community relations, event management, marketing, social media, paid advertising, brand development, crisis communication and strategic planning. Hughes Agency currently has a team of 21 industry professionals.

“There’s no aspect of PR, marketing, advertising and events that we’re not very proficient in, and we have multiple people that are very talented in each of those areas,” Hughes said.

Hughes Agency strives to work with clients who are dedicated to making a positive impact in their communities. More than two dozen local and national organizations are clients of Hughes Agency, from Fortune 500 companies to nonprofit organizations.

Some of the firm’s most notable clients include TD Synnex Corp., Atlantic Packaging, Clemson University, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville Triumph, Greenville Liberty, the YMCA of Greenville, the Greenville Chamber of Commerce and more.

“Some of these companies are billion-dollar companies,” Hughes said. “They could hire anybody in the world, and they chose to hire the Hughes Agency. And why is that? Because they know that we’re going to give it all we have.”

Bill Fox, Hughes Agency chief operating officer, believes that one of the company’s biggest strengths is the network of connections with clients, business executives and community leaders. He said clients will often choose to work with Hughes Agency to have access to these connections.

“We cross-connect clients with each other,” Fox said. “It opens up resources and opportunities and things that the clients would not have had if they hadn’t tapped into that network.”

Making an impact

Glenn Head, Peter Larocque and Velda Hughes at 2023 TD SYNNEX Share the Magic. Photo by Jack Robert

Hughes and her team have become known for their successful fundraising capabilities. Over the years, Hughes Agency has helped raise more than $66 million for nonprofits and community projects. Hughes explained that it was a natural evolution for the firm to assist with fundraising campaigns.

“We never intended to do fundraising. We just sort of fell into that,” Hughes said. “I think fundraising is natural once you have lived in a community, made a lot of connections and relationships.”

The firm’s first significant fundraising campaign was for The Children’s Museum of the Upstate, which began in 2005. Hughes Agency helped raise $15 million for the museum at Heritage Green in downtown Greenville. The Children’s Museum of the Upstate opened in 2009 and is now recognized as one of the largest children’s museums in the world.

The most recent fundraising effort by Hughes Agency was for Unity Park. The city of Greenville hired Hughes and her team in 2018 to lead the private fundraising effort for the project. Greenville Mayor Knox White said organizers knew from the beginning that private donations would be needed to create the park.

“Hiring Velda and the Hughes Agency was the perfect way to reach out to the broader community and share the vision of the park,” White said.

A total of $17 million in private donations was raised for the project. The new 60-acre park near downtown Greenville officially opened in 2022. Hughes Agency organized the grand opening of the final two elements of the project, Mayberry Park and the Thomas and Vivian A. Wong Honor Tower, in 2025.

Hughes Agency is also credited for helping to create TD Synnex Share the Magic, a charitable fundraising initiative that supports children’s charities across North America. Share the Magic has raised $34 million since its inception in 2011. Peter Larocque, former North American president for TD Synnex and founder of Share the Magic, said Hughes Agency was the right partner when it came to fundraising.

“I’ve worked with Velda for the past 15 years plus,” Larocque said. “There’s nobody that is as good as her in doing these things.”

Hughes said it has been the joy of her life to lead Hughes Agency for the past 25 years. Looking towards the future, she wants to continue to grow the public relations and marketing agency, bring in new clients and remain an integral part of Greenville’s growth and success.

“I’m beyond sure that this line of work was my passion, and I wish I could live to 100 so I can continue because this is what I was meant to do,” Hughes said. “I have no regrets. I found the career of a lifetime.”

Timeline

1976: Velda Hughes starts working for The Greenville News-Piedmont Co. of Multimedia.
1981: Velda Hughes and Sandy Linning work together to plan the city of Greenville’s 150th celebration.
1989: Velda Hughes establishes Linning Hughes Public Relations with Sandy Linning.
1990: Linning Hughes Public Relations hires its first employee.
2001: Velda Hughes starts Hughes Agency.
2005: Hughes Agency starts raising $15 million for The Children’s Museum of the Upstate.
2011: Hughes Agency helps create Share the Magic for what is now TD Synnex.
2018: The city of Greenville hires Hughes Agency to raise $17 million in private funding for Unity Park.
2022: Velda Hughes is presented the Order of the Palmetto from Gov. Henry McMaster.
2026: Hughes Agency celebrates 25th anniversary.

Fundraising efforts

Hughes Agency has been involved in multiple fundraising efforts over the years, helping to raise more than $66 million for nonprofit organizations and community projects.