Joseph Bonilla
Joe Bonilla is a results-driven entrepreneur committed to providing tough, but decisive leadership in communications, startup business, and media. As the co-founder, managing partner, and senior media director of Relentless, an award-winning creative strategy firm headquartered in Albany, NY with offices in Greenville, SC and Las Vegas, Joe has led Relentless to work with some of the most recognized organizations (including but not limited to: Deloitte, Uber, Amtrak, Waste Management, Bow Tie Cinemas, and many more) and public figures over the past decade-plus in business. Originally a two-person operation working out of "Class D" office space, Joe has built Relentless into a communications and creativity powerhouse since its founding in 2012 - working with rising leaders at the local, state, and federal level, startup organizations to Fortune 500 companies all driven to be part of the "public conversation," no matter the terrain or the time zone.
Under Joe's continued leadership, Relentless is recognized for its media relations expertise, excellence in creative design and media production, and ingenuity in solving complex public challenges. Relentless clients have spanned the globe – from California to China, from the Beltway to Brooklyn.
In addition to Joe's leadership with Relentless, Joe - alongside Relentless co-founder Rich Fazio and award-winning former journalist Liz Benjamin - co-founded Motor Oil Coffee, a startup craft coffee company based in the Capital Region, and CivMix, a news and commentary platform. Further, Joe has worked to develop and manage back-office / administrative business operations for Two Buttons Deep, an information and entertainment digital platform, to help build the brand into the fastest growing media outlet in Upstate New York with more than 250,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
Prior to Relentless, Bonilla handled media outreach for a leading enterprise technology public relations firm and was a communications director for a New York State Assemblywoman. Bonilla also served as the founding executive director of the Capital Craft Beverage Trail Association, a leading craft beverage trade association in New York State.
Bonilla previously served as chairman of the City of Albany’s Public, Educational, and Government Access Oversight Board, president of the board of directors for Capital CarShare Inc., and as vice chair of Troy Prep Charter School. Bonilla was also a regular panelist of WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s nationally-syndicated and award-winning news and discussion program The Roundtable and co-host of CivMix’s The Mix podcast with former journalist Liz Benjamin. Bonilla is also a co-founder of Feed Albany, a non-profit charity that was focused on providing meals to in-need and at-risk individuals in the Capital Region in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Active within the community, Bonilla serves on the following boards and commissions:
Vice President and Strategic Planning Chair, University at Albany Alumni Association
Trustee, Maria College
Board Member, Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region
Board Member, Albany Convention Center Authority
Board Member, Rensselaer County Chamber of Commerce
Board Member, United Way of the Greater Capital Region
Advisory Board Member, Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
Capital Region Board Member, New York League of Conservation Voters
Board Member, New York Urban Orchards
Bonilla, a graduate of the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany (B.A., Public Policy), has recognized by:
NYCR Hispanic Chamber (Business Person of the Year 2022)
City & State Magazine (Albany Rising Stars 2017, Upstate Power 100 2021, Political Consultants Power 75 2021 , PR Power 50 2022, PR Power 50 2023, Political Consultants Power 75 2023)
Hispanic Coalition of New York (40 Under 40 Latino Rising Stars 2012)
Albany Business Review (40 Under Forty 2014)
University at Albany (Thirty Under 30 2014)
Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy (Young Alumnus in Political Science 2017)
Albany County Legislature (Beyond the Call 2020)