Our Leadership Team

Michael Layne

Michael Layne has been serving established and growing companies in the Detroit metropolitan area since the early 1980s. Over the past 34 years, he has provided strategic communications counsel to numerous industry leaders as an extension of their corporate brand.

As a founding partner of Marx Layne & Company in 1987, he has been instrumental in building Michigan’s largest independently owned public relations agency. Layne attributes the rise of Marx Layne & Company to the development and retention of a diverse client base and the careful building of a dedicated and capable team of public relations professionals.

Layne regularly plans and implements unique, results-oriented public relations programs for clients in a broad range of industry sectors, including real estate, hospitality/food service, technology, entertainment, non-profit, professional services, sports, manufacturing, retail, financial services, consumer products and communications.

As both the demand for information about companies grows and the media becomes more complex and fragmented, Layne’s experience provides a basis for creating ongoing, original and highly successful programs. Layne serves clients with their communications needs in major metropolitan areas across the nation.

He strongly believes in personalized service, availability and accountability. Layne respects the correlation between dollars spent by a client and results.

Michael Szudarek

Michael Szudarek counsels clients in the automotive, high-tech and consumer product sectors. He is directly responsible for directing a broad range of public relations, marketing, communications and media relations programs. He previously served with a Fortune 500 Company and has been on both the corporate and agency side of the communications business, understanding first-hand the many issues and challenges businesses face today in this fast paced, competitive world.

Prior to joining Marx Layne, Szudarek worked for another metropolitan Detroit area public relations agency, where his efforts were focused primarily in the heavy-duty trucking and automotive original equipment and aftermarket industries. There, he serviced a number of multi-billion dollar corporations and assisted in implementing marketing communication programs for use throughout North America.

Szudarek’s academic credentials include a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Wayne State University. He currently holds membership with the Automotive Press Association and the Public Relations Society of America.

Glenn Oswald

Glenn Oswald has more than 15 years experience serving clients in the retail, health care, education and nonprofit sectors. Oswald’s work includes coordination, execution and securing significant media coverage of high-profile events, such as groundbreakings, grand openings, charitable donations and milestones.

He led public affairs campaigns and community relations initiatives for a Fortune 50 retailer, leading to zoning approvals and subsequent store construction. He also has successfully coordinated rezoning efforts for a major metropolitan Detroit real estate developer, resulting in the development of a new mixed-use community.

Prior to joining Marx Layne & Company, Oswald served as the Director of Operations for Metro Networks/Shadow Broadcast Services in Detroit. He brings 20 years of broadcast journalism experience to Marx Layne.

Michael Odom

Michael Odom has more than 20 years experience providing marketing, public relations and event planning services for clients in the nonprofit, health care, hospitality and retail sectors. Odom has worked with a variety of metro Detroit charitable organizations and has coordinated numerous community programs and events.

Odom has strong ties to the Hispanic community and currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Southwest Detroit Business Association, a nonprofit organization serving a predominantly Hispanic region of Detroit.

Prior to joining Marx Layne & Company, Odom served as a project manager for a local nonprofit organization where his community outreach and educational campaigns targeting Hispanic communities and at-risk lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered populations received local, regional and national recognition.

Lana Mini

Lana Mini has more than 10 years’ experience in public relations, community relations and digital marketing for clients in hospitality, food and beverage, special events, nonprofit, real estate development, and senior living sectors, among others. She coordinates grand openings and manages media for live events of all sizes, provides strategy to grow social media presence and leads media training sessions to help clients develop their key messaging.

Prior to joining Marx Layne nearly a decade ago, Mini served as an award-winning journalist for Gannett, Real Detroit Weekly, Digital First Media and C&G Newspapers covering investigative news, government, business, retail, arts, food, lifestyle and entertainment. She also spent several years as a communications manager for a national nonprofit organization, focusing on national and international media relations. Mini has ties in the arts, social justice and animal rescue communities.

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