April 2001

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After a career spent moving from one leadership role to another, Ken Eudy now heads Capital Strategies, one of North Carolina's top public relations firms.
 

Capital Strategies just Eudy's latest successful endeavor

Photo by Maricarmen Josephs

Ken Eudy’s first job after he graduated from Carolina in 1975 was as a producer of the 11 p.m. newscast at WTVD in Durham. About nine months later, after a stint as the city hall reporter, he became the producer of the 6 p.m. newscast.

"I was 22 years old and managing people who had been in the business longer than I had been alive, and I really didn’t like that," Eudy said.

Some people just seem to be cut out for management, whether they like it or not.

"It seems like most of my career, I’ve been pushed toward management, editing or leadership positions, and that has never really been something I have aspired to," Eudy said.

Though it may not have been his aspiration, Eudy’s certainly made the most of his opportunities. He has been a producer, reporter, executive director of the N.C. democratic party and a solo public relations practitioner. In 1994 he created Capital Strategies, a public relations firm in Raleigh.

Eudy said he didn’t have a master plan for starting his own company.

"There wasn’t any grand design to build a company," he said. "It was just being a successful solo consultant with more work than I could get done, and I had to hire some help."

Under Eudy's leadership, Capital Strategies has grown to include more than 50 employees in Raleigh and Charlotte. It is regarded by many as one of the best public relations firms in the state, particularly in political P.R.

For those who know Eudy, Capital Strategies' success comes as no surprise.

"I've known Ken since he was a struggling undergraduate," said Stephanie Bass (AB '72), former chief of staff of the N.C. Health and Human Services Department, now working on her own as a consultant. "He has had several things going for him: a tremendous capacity for hard work, a good sense of what the current climate will bear and a great sense of humor — necessary when you work in politics."

Winding Road

After WDTV, Eudy worked as the Raleigh correspondent for WBTV in Charlotte, covering the legislature and political campaigns. In two years, he was back in a leadership role as an assignment editor for the station. He held the position for one year then switched roles to become the correspondent for "Carolina Camera," an on-the-road feature.

"It was almost like being on vacation," he said. "Basically you go anywhere in North or South Carolina and do stories."

He spent about a year with "Carolina Camera" before he made the switch from television to newspaper and became the chief political writer for The Charlotte Observer.

"It was an unusual change in journalism," he said. "Usually the transition is from print to broadcast and I went from broadcast to print."

If you measure job satisfaction by the length of time spent at a job, chief political writer must have been one of Eudy's favorites. He spent six years with the Observer.

"I was in all 100 counties in this state numerous times," he said. "You really get to know the people and the geography and the culture. It was just wonderful."

But in 1987, Eudy made another major career move. He became the executive director of the N.C. democratic party, where he ran the day-to-day operations.

"That, to me, was a questionable career move at best," he said. "It was just a really difficult thing to do, and I think I didn’t do it very well."

Eudy said going from one side of the microphone to the other was a tough transition.

"First of all, I’m just not that partisan," he said, adding that he was amazed at the jealousy and backstabbing that so many consider to be characteristic of politics.

"I was surprised at how brutal it could be and how poorly so-called friends and allies treat each other, and I wasn’t prepared for that," he said.

Developing 'Strategies'

Eudy stayed at the state democratic party for two years before going to work as the vice president of public relations at FGI, a marketing and research company in Chapel Hill. But after only two years, he was on the move again, leaving FGI in 1991 to become a solo public relations consultant. This time, his path led to the creation of Capital Strategies.

"I worked out of a spare bedroom in my house on Rogerson Drive in Chapel Hill," Eudy said. "I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. But as time went on, I began to get really busy and needed some help."

In 1994, Eudy opened an office in Raleigh with a fellow solo public relations consultant, Scott Miehan. Originally, the two intended to keep their clients separate and share only an office space and an administrative assistant.

"We did that, and then immediately people started calling us and saying,’We heard that you and Miehan have gotten together, and we want to hire you," hesaid.

From that point on, although Eudy and Miehan kept their existing clients separate, they began to put new clients they'd acquired under the umbrella of Capital Strategies. Soon the umbrella grew into a full-size public relations company.

Eudy said he enjoys the flexibility of owning his own company, but with that flexibility has come added responsibility.

"We have 50 plus employees, and I do feel responsible for their well-being, their compensation, their mortgages, car payments and student loan repayments in some cases," he said. "I feel some burden to keep our business really humming."

Eudy said, though, that he hasn’t felt overwhelmed by the responsibility.

"It wasn’t a deep concern, because I’ve never finished my ‘to do’ list," he said. "We have always been very fortunate that we have more to do than we can finish in a given day, and that’s a good place to be."

Jenny St. Clair is a senior in the public relations sequence.