Paul Wilke
Co-Founder

Walking Duck was co-founded by Paul Wilke, who has worked in journalism and communications for 30 years. Paul began his journalism career at the Delaware Business Review and has been at the forefront of communications in  journalism and communications industries ever since.

As founder and CEO of  Upright Position Communications, Paul has worked with some of the world’s leading companies and reporters. Prior to founding Upright in 2012, Paul headed public relations operations for Splunk and Visa, and sat on the President Obama’s Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Paul lived in Singapore for 12 years.

Paul is a featured speaker on IPOs, crisis communications and public relations. He holds a degree in Broadcast Journalism from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Mark Halperin
Co-Founder

Journalist Mark Halperin has covered every American national election since 1988. He currently writes the “Wide World of News” daily tip sheet and hosts Mark Halperin’s Focus Group on Newsmax TV.  He is the co-author of New York Times #1bestsellers Double Down: Game Change 2012 (2013) and Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime (2010), and the author or co-author of three other books.  

In his journalism career he has also been the creator, executive producer and co-host of Showtime’s political documentary series The Circus; senior political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC; managing editor of Bloomberg Politics; co-host of Bloomberg TV and MSNBC’s With All Due Respect; editor-at-large and senior political analyst for TIME magazine; and the political director of ABC News. Halperin received his BA from Harvard University.

Audra Wilke
Co-Founder

Audra manages all aspects of the agency’s business operations, including finance, human resources and technology infrastructure, allowing the communications experts at Upright to focus exclusively on what they do best – deliver sustainable public relations results.

Audra has a wealth of experience in the tech world of Silicon Valley as a sales engineer, adviser to entrepreneurs and systems administrator/implementation consultant for companies including Heller Consulting, Hispanic Scholarship Fund and RelayHealth, a subsidiary of McKesson.

Audra has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cognitive Science from University of California, Berkeley.