NEWTON - Brian Grace, Newton Memorial Hospital’s director of marketing and public relations will retire at the end of the year after 11 years of service. Although a marketing and public relations position has exited at the hospital for many years, Grace is credited by his coworkers and peers in the industry as having put Newton Memorial on consumers’ radar, and giving it a high level of recognition. Under his direction, the hospital has done award-winning radio, billboard, television and newspaper campaigns, all backed by a solid public relations strategy. “Advertising and public relations work hand-in-hand,” said Grace at a recent meeting. “The advertising builds the brand of the hospital and makes our services top-of-mind with consumers, and the steady press coverage of public relations leaves a long-term impression with those we serve.” Busy tenure Grace’s tenure was a busy one. Over the last decade, the hospital has built two health and wellness centers, a cancer treatment center, a renal center, a new emergency services department, and a single room maternity all of which needed to be promoted to the public with advertisements, open houses and press coverage. Grace also played a key role at Newton Memorial during “TOPOFF 3,” the most comprehensive terrorism response exercise ever conducted in the U.S. But Grace wasn’t always in health-care marketing in fact, most of his career was in a completely unrelated field. For years, he was a marketing guru for Allied Chemical (now Honeywell) to worldwide markets. During his time at Allied, Grace often traveled to Europe, Asia and the Baltics to make large, international deals happen. Along the way, he learned to speak Japanese and became something of an expert on Asian culture, earning him the respect and admiration of business people across the globe. Years of hard work and good fortune gave him the opportunity to retire at age 51. But Grace had too much energy, and too much to offer, than to just sit back and relax. Temporary’ job “I knew I was in trouble when I actually started looking to see what was on Oprah that day,” Brian joked. “I still felt I had a lot to give, so when the hospital job came up, I took it, thinking it was temporary.” But the temporary position turned into 11 years and a proven track record of marketing success for Newton Memorial Hospital. “Brian has always been, without exception, cutting edge in health-care marketing,” said Bob Davieau, senior vice president of The Corporate Communications Group, the hospital’s long-time advertising agency. “Many times, the direction Brian set, and our creative execution, would become a trendsetter for competing hospitals. We would often see our concepts copied by other health-care organizations, sometimes even a year or two later.” In the first few months of taking the job, Grace embarked on a rigorous self-education on hospital marketing: talking with physicians and staff, learning all he could about every department, and studying the competition. “He immersed himself,” said Davieau, a 25-year veteran of health-care marketing. “In a matter of months, he was totally up to speed.” Over the years, changes also took place in Grace’s personal life. His two sons, Brian and Ryan, got married and now have families. His wife, Dolores, took a senior role in their church after retiring from Philip Morris. Grace and his wife are now looking forward to putting their energy and time into being with their four granddaughters. “It’s been wonderful at Newton Memorial,” said Grace. “I’m very proud of the whole team here, and what we’ve accomplished becoming a first-rate hospital. We did make a difference. Now, Dolores and I are eager to start the next chapter of our lives.”