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Karyn Romano
Metro Strategies President
Professional Background
Karyn Romano is a distinguished professional in the fields of public affairs, community relations, and policy development, with a career spanning over 20 years in Illinois. As the founder of Metro Strategies, Inc. in 2004, Karyn initiated a remarkable journey, transforming a modest one-person operation with just two clients into a thriving firm known for its expertise and reliability. The success of Metro Strategies is a testament to Karyn's entrepreneurial spirit, dedication, and her unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality planning, policy, and public affairs services.
Metro Strategies serves an impressive array of clients across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, earning a solid reputation for excellence. Karyn's extensive experience in community and government relations equips her with the unique skills to navigate complex political landscapes, advocate for meaningful policy change, and effectively manage multifaceted projects. Her passion for public involvement and engagement ensures that stakeholders are meaningfully included in discussions that impact their communities, which is particularly vital in today’s dynamic civic environment.
Karyn's expertise spans numerous specializations, including advocacy and legislative strategy, project management, and government affairs. She excels in identifying project funding alternatives, utilizing her robust research skills to guide clients in securing financial resources through grants and other funding programs. Her ability to communicate effectively with agency staff and elected officials has proven invaluable, fostering successful collaborations that benefit her clients.
Education and Achievements
Karyn Romano pursued a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a focus on Urban Studies at Elmhurst University. This academic foundation has equipped her with both the analytical skills and the practical knowledge necessary to tackle urban and community issues through strategic planning and policy initiatives.
In her career, Karyn has held several notable positions, enhancing her expertise and broadening her influence in the community and public affairs realm. She served as the Transportation Director at the Metropolitan Planning Council, where she was instrumental in shaping transportation policy and advocating for innovative solutions to transportation challenges in Illinois. Additionally, her role as President of the Chicago Area Public Affairs Group further reflects her commitment to fostering professional growth and collaboration within the community of public affairs practitioners.
Her previous positions as a Board Member at DuPage County and as the Public Agency Liaison at Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd. demonstrate her diverse skill set and her ability to engage with various stakeholders across sectors. Karyn's role as Project Coordinator at the Illinois State Comptroller showcases her capacity to manage complex projects while ensuring compliance and accountability. Furthermore, her expertise as Council Liaison at the North Central Council of Mayors and Program Coordinator at the West Central Municipal Conference highlights her deep understanding of local government processes and her ability to develop policies that address community needs.
Achievements
Karyn Romano's career is marked by numerous achievements that showcase her dedication to improving community outcomes and enhancing public policy. Through her leadership at Metro Strategies, Karyn has successfully facilitated public involvement processes for large-scale projects, ensuring that the voices of community members are heard and considered in decision-making. Her strategic guidance in advocacy and legislative initiatives has helped clients navigate complex bureaucratic challenges, leading to successful outcomes and meaningful policy changes.
Karyn's commitment to research and policy development manifests in her contributions to formulating effective recommendations that drive positive change within various sectors. Her passion for grant writing has enabled organizations to secure crucial funding, enhancing their capacity to implement projects that serve public interests. Additionally, her rich network of relationships with officials at all levels of government provides her clients with distinct advantages in securing project approvals and funding.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Karyn is actively involved in local organizations and initiatives, demonstrating her commitment to community service and professional development. She consistently seeks opportunities to mentor emerging professionals and contribute to the broader public affairs dialogue, reinforcing her reputation as a leader in the field.
Conclusion
Karyn Romano is a driving force in public affairs and community engagement, with a proven record of success that spans over two decades. Her entrepreneurial journey with Metro Strategies, her extensive network of relationships, and her deep understanding of the public and private sectors positions her as a sought-after expert in planning and policy development. As she continues to advocate for her clients and contribute to the betterment of communities across Illinois, Karyn remains a respected leader dedicated to shaping effective public policy and fostering collaborative relationships that enhance civic engagement and societal outcomes.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.