JESSICA K. LAUFER, M.A.
Chief Executive Officer

A pioneer in social marketing, Jessica Laufer has more than 20 years of marketing communications experience. Her key areas of focus include global corporate citizenship, health, education, social welfare and environmental policy, social issue marketing, corporate communications, media relations, public affairs, crisis management, new technology and consumer product marketing.

She was profiled in Adweek in an article that described the firm as “an agency with a conscience,” and in Inside PR in an article that named the firm the “13th hottest” agency in the nation. The agency has won numerous honors, including The Media Access Awards, and awards from the International Association of Business Communicators, the Public Relations Society of America, the Publicity Club, and the Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Association, among others.

Ms. Laufer has designed national marketing campaigns for organizations ranging from Fortune 100 companies to entrepreneurial start-ups. Select clients include: The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Home Depot, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Walt Disney Studios, Universal, Pacific Bell, Ford Foundation, the California Council on Science and Technology, CALSTART, the National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, City of Los Angeles Recycling Program, Mrs. Field’s Cookies, National Mental Health Association, Next Generation California Tobacco Control Alliance, and municipalities throughout the nation.

Ms. Laufer’s prior strategic communications experience has focused on multi-ethnic consumer marketing and public affairs. As head of international media relations for the American National Red Cross, she developed corporate communications and marketing strategies for more than 3,000 chapters in the United States, directed global media outreach efforts, and served as corporate spokesperson.

Ms. Laufer’s public affairs experience includes serving as health and environmental policy advisor to Senator Christopher Dodd and as research associate during the Carter Administration for the Congressionally mandated Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health in Washington, D.C. This effort, lead by Chairperson Lizbeth Schorr, culminated in Better Health for Our Children: A National Strategy, which recommends a comprehensive health care plan for American families. Ms. Laufer co-authored chapters in Volumes I and II.

While Director of Special Projects for a marketing communications firm in Washington, D.C., Ms. Laufer developed national and international consumer marketing campaigns and produced broadcast programs for health and technology-based clients. These clients included major consumer product and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Several of her award-winning campaigns targeted ethnic communities, including Latinos and African Americans. Moreover, Ms. Laufer's corporate partnership work with the National Cancer Institute and Kellogg's is considered an early milestone in cause-related product marketing.

At Walt Disney Studios, Ms. Laufer produced educational media products for the Disney Channel and the Epcot International Teacher’s Center.

Ms. Laufer serves on the Board of Directors of Business for Social Responsibility, LA Shares, Heal the Bay, Corrine Seeds University Elementary School (UCLA), and the entertainment industry group ECO. Following the events of September 11, she was appointed to the Governor’s (California) Strategic Subcommittee on Terrorism to help guide and launch California’s most current terrorism preparedness and response communications strategy. Conventional, nuclear, biological, chemical, cyber and agricultural-related terrorist threats are all addressed through this emergency campaign. She is also a past Executive Vice President and Board member of Women In Communications, Inc., and is listed in Who’s Who of Women Business Executives. She was a finalist in the Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and was honored by the Boy Scouts of America which named her a Distinguished Woman of the Year, conferring on her the organization’s Krystallos Award.

Ms. Laufer earned a Master of Arts degree from Harvard University with honors, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University and Harvard University.