MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 18, 2026--
Rosalie Morton, senior vice president, Channels and Integrated Marketing, and member of Padilla’s executive leadership team, has been named to Ragan's Top Women in Marketing, Class of 2026, earning recognition in the Tech/Digital Marketers category. Presented annually by Ragan, the awards recognize exceptional women whose leadership, innovation and measurable impact are shaping the future of marketing.
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“Rosalie is the quintessential next-generation leader, and she’s proven it – rising from intern to executive leader at the firm,” said Matt Kucharski, president at Padilla. “She brings together strategy, creativity and emerging technologies to help our clients solve complex business challenges. This recognition from Ragan reflects Rosalie’s deep industry expertise, innovative thinking and entrepreneurial approach, all of which have strengthened both our clients’ businesses and our agency.”
Morton was recognized for her leadership in developing integrated marketing strategies that drive measurable business results and help clients navigate an evolving media and digital landscape.
She leads Padilla’s team of social media, paid media, media relations and digital strategists, delivering award-winning, integrated campaigns for brands including McDonald’s, Winnebago Industries, Florida Department of Citrus and the Norwegian Seafood Council.
Among her recent innovations is Padilla GEO 3D™, a proprietary service that improves brand visibility and performance in generative AI search environments. This offering reflects Padilla’s commitment to helping clients adapt to changing search behaviors and the evolving AI landscape. Beyond her client work, Rosalie has made a lasting impact on Padilla’s culture by mentoring colleagues, fostering cross-collaboration and helping develop the next generation of marketing and communications professionals.
“I’m honored to be included in this year’s Top Women in Marketing class, and grateful to the colleagues, clients and mentors who have shaped my career,” Morton said. “Padilla has always given me the freedom to explore new ideas and innovate when I see an opportunity. After 16 years with the firm, that ability to keep challenging myself, bring fresh thinking and try new things is what continues to make the work energizing and rewarding.”
The 2026 honorees will be recognized at the Top Women in Marketing Awards Luncheon on October 22, 2026, at the Yale Club in New York City.
About Padilla
Padilla is a full-service agency that transforms brands and organizations through strategically creative communications. Our work across a range of industry sectors is consistently recognized by the PRWeek Awards, PRovoke IN2 SABRE Awards and PRSA Anvil Awards, among others. Padilla operates in seven cities in the U.S. through its family of brands, which includes SHIFT (performance communications), FoodMinds (food and nutrition affairs) and Joe Smith (brand strategy). As an AVENIR GLOBAL company and a founding member of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, the agency provides services to clients through 115 offices worldwide. Transform with purpose at PadillaCo.com.
Rosalie Morton, senior vice president, Channels and Integrated Marketing, and member of Padilla’s executive leadership team.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Hours of fierce fighting between government troops and militias that killed dozens of combatants in Somalia’s southwestern city of Baidoa also left at least four civilians dead and 98 others wounded, a hospital official said Tuesday.
The fighting erupted early Monday when militia groups attacked government positions on the outskirts of the city, which is home to more than half a million people displaced by conflict and drought. Somali officials said at least 30 attackers were killed, but did not immediately give a toll for government troops.
Dr. Abdikafi Omar Mohamud, head of the emergencies department at Bay Regional Hospital in Baidoa, said the fighting also killed at least four civilians and injured 98, including 28 women and an elderly man hit by stray bullets.
The latest violence placed additional pressure on health services already struggling to serve residents and displacement camps in Baidoa, about 245 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Mogadishu.
Mohamud's hospital had only 40 beds available and put up an emergency tent to accommodate the influx after the fighting erupted. Medical workers were also struggling with shortages of essential medicines, he said.
Calm returned to Baidoa on Tuesday as security forces patrolled major streets and inspected buildings and vehicles damaged in the fighting. Residents cautiously emerged from their homes, although troops maintained a heavy presence in key areas.
The violence began shortly after 5 a.m. on Monday with two explosions near a military base east of Baidoa. Heavy fighting broke out minutes later around another base in Bonkay, south of the city, before armed men entered Baidoa and exchanged fire with government troops.
Fighters loyal to former South West state President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen displaced the new administration’s troops from parts of Baidoa for about six hours before being driven from the city, said Samira Gaid, a regional security analyst at Balqiis Insights.
In separate attacks, fighters of the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab struck two Somali military positions on Baidoa’s outskirts, Gaid said. The timing of the assaults prompted allegations that the extremist group had coordinated with Laftagareen’s forces.
Somalia’s federal government said the attackers included Laftagareen-aligned militias and fighters from al-Shabab. The government said its forces killed nearly 30 attackers and captured several others. South West state authorities reported a higher toll, saying about 50 attackers were killed.
Neither figure could be independently verified, and authorities did not explain the discrepancy.
South West Internal Security Minister Isak Mohamed Korsaar said Tuesday that government troops recovered the bodies of al-Shabab fighters and captured others alive.
“The militias that attacked us were not alone,” Korsaar told reporters. “We have confirmed that they were accompanied by al-Shabab.”
The fighting followed months of tension over South West’s leadership and its electoral process. The federal government rejected Laftagareen’s disputed indirect re-election in March.
Federal troops took control of Baidoa on March 30, prompting Laftagareen, who had governed South West since 2018, to announce his resignation.
Gaid warned that the fighting demonstrated how political disputes can create openings for extremist groups.
“When elite disputes are settled militarily, they create the conditions that the terrorist group exploits,” she said. “It is Somali civilians who pay for it.”
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
Government troops check the bodies of militia members following clashes in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
