Jeffrey Hodnett | Founder/Senior Consultant, Strategic Marketing

As founder and senior consultant, Jeff Hodnett provides strategic direction for all the Group’s clients. Jeff also oversees and executes media and analyst relations, copywriting and investor communications for the firm’s clients. With more than 15 years of corporate communications experience, he has delivered results-based marketing and communications campaigns for leading companies in high-technology, telecommunications, health care and consumer product markets. Companies he has worked with include: Juniper Networks, GTE/Genuity, Computer Associates, Partners Health Care, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, Children’s Hospital-Boston, The Stanley Works, and Osram Sylvania.

Jeff has experience working with start-up companies such as online shoe retailer Grapevine Hill, collaboration software vendor Collabworx, and German software designer, Trilog/AQM Solutions. Likewise, he has helped craft messaging for successful roll-up companies including: Global Marine Systems (fiber optical cables), NaviSite (hosting and application services), and Unisphere Networks (routers and voice gateways.)

With degrees in Business Administration and English from Gordon College, Jeff takes a consultative approach to creating communications campaigns. He works directly with key stakeholders in product marketing/management, engineering, finance, sales, and senior management to ensure results match expectations. Jeff’s experience across many communications disciplines help him to create messages and execute campaigns that are the right fit for the client.

Maureen Rogers | Product Management and Marketing

With over 20 years experience in technology marketing, Maureen Rogers is a Senior Consultant specializing in product marketing, making products and services easier to sell and easier to buy. Maureen has experience in the software and managed services industries, working at Interactive Data Corporation, Wang Labs, Softbridge, Genuity, and NaviSite.

A graduate of the Sloan School of Management at MIT, Maureen has varied experience in developing results-driven marketing plans, product requirements, working closely with all key constituencies (customers, product management, sales, marketing, support), messaging analysis/development, collateral/sales tools, product launches, and win-loss analysis of sales efforts.

Maureen believes that marketing's job is to ensure products meet true market requirements; sales people are equipped to sell; and customers clearly understand what they're buying (and why). Her marketing plans are created to align with overall strategy, budget parameters, and sales force expectations and consider press and analyst relations, advertising, lead generation, events, sales tools, training, collateral, interactive, and market research.

Rosanne Desmone | Public Relations

A PR and communications veteran, Rosanne is a seasoned professional who has worked as both a consultant and employee in the corporate, association and government sectors. Having experienced public relations from both the agency and corporate sides, she brings a unique perspective to working with public and private organizations of all types, startups, restructured organizations, and global corporations.

For more than 15 years, Rosanne has specialized in high tech PR and marketing communications, focusing on strategy and planning, media and analyst relations, trade show communications, Web site development and content, and integrated PR and marketing programs.

Edna Kaplan | Media and Analyst Relations

Edna Kaplan has more than 15 years of PR and management experience having worked with a variety of clients ranging from emerging companies such as Queechee Resorts and Linius Technologies; to community-based service providers including hospitals and long-term care providers; to Fortune 500 companies such as Hewlett Packard.

With a bottom-line orientation, Edna focuses on business growth strategies, effective media placement, and carefully targeted communications that reach their mark. Edna holds an MS degree from Boston University's College of Communications and a BA from Brooklyn College. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America. Her pro bono activities include chairing the marketing committee of a not-for-profit community center, where she is also a long-time board member, and serving as public relations counsel to the Late Onset Tay-Sachs Foundation.

 

J. Sean Branagan | Interactive Marketing and Web Services

Senior Consultant Sean Branagan is a recognized expert in Interactive Marketing, Technology Marketing, business-to-business marketing and using digital media for creating accountable and measurable marketing processes. A graduate of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, much of Sean's career has been in marketing and communications with firms selling technical products and services.

Sean's marketing experience met the Internet and World Wide Web in 1993 when consulting at a national super computing center. Since then, Sean has engaged in online strategy, interactive marketing and website producing for organizations nationwide, including the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, Cutco Cutlery, the DuPont Registry, Indium Corporation of America, Lighthouse International, NaviSite, Rack Room Shoes, Time-Warner/Road Runner, Welch Allyn and Wilton Armetale.

For five years, Sean has taught a graduate-level course in interactive marketing and advertising at Syracuse University's Newhouse School. He has lectured at other universities and has presented to business groups at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Caterpillar, NYS's Dept of State, and Carrier Corp. He has also presented at seminars, conferences and trade shows in New York, San Francisco, Raleigh, Tampa, Charlotte, Maui, Austin, Buffalo, Denver, and Washington, DC. In 2003, Sean presented at Internet World in San Jose, CA.

Marc Ruggierio | Creative Director, Designer

Marc Ruggiero is a talented and creative designer/producer with varied experience at some of the world's largest and most influential advertising and design and firms. Marc has held positions at agencies in Boston, Miami, and LA, including Arnold World Wide, Mullen, and Crispin, Porter & Bogusky. Marc has also done freelance projects for Saatchi and Saatchi, 72andSunny, and Deutsche. Marc has a degree in Visual Arts from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, and has served as an instructor at the Miami Ad School.

Jeremy France | Creative Director, Designer

Jeremy has spent the past decade building brands on both the agency and client side of the business. He has extensive experience helping non-profit organizations and startups develop comprehensive corporate identities.

Jeremy has an MBA from Norwich University that he says has given him a new appreciation for how much an integrated and well-executed marketing and branding strategy can impact the entire organization.

John Whiteside | New Media and Search Engine Marketing

John Whiteside is a Senior Consultant with expertise in marketing strategy, product marketing, and marketing communications, including building processes for database marketing and effective sales/marketing interaction. He has experience in the software, managed services, and the collaboration/messaging industries.

With an MBA in marketing from Northeastern University and a BS in communications from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, John has held several positions in product marketing and marketing communications with managed services providers NaviSite and Interliant, global telecommunications provider Cable & Wireless, and software developers InteliData and EIS.

John's experience ranges from high level market analysis and planning to managing tactical programs and sales support. John has particular experience with the integration of diverse businesses in merger/acquisition situations or product line integration, having guided these efforts at Interliant, NaviSite, and Cable & Wireless. John's marketing abilities span the range from high-level planning to final execution for successful, profitable market entry.