-
Our Team
We consider communications to be an integral part of every client’s business strategy.
Our clients work with us because they place a high value on time; appreciate fresh, unbiased perspectives; and demand high accountability from their business partners
Jeannine Addams
President and CEO
Jeannine Addams, who doesn’t know whether a football is blown or stuffed, was lucky to have the chance to start her own business in 1987 with NFL legend and entrepreneur Fran Tarkenton. She still drives a stick shift and mastered crème brulée on the first attempt.
Kristin Wohlleben
Managing Director
Kristin Wohlleben began her PR career 25 years ago, ready to write, to design and to persuade. Today, at J. Addams & Partners, she has earned the confidence of the most exacting of clients and prefers problem solving to smooth sailing no matter the project. She has an uncanny memory, can juggle three tennis balls while having a conversation, and on most days, is able to understand French.
Gail Davidson
Account Executive
Gail Davidson uses her charm, personal magnetism and organizational skills bring together client stories and journalists. A former sous chef, she is the only member of J. Addams & Partners who can operate a pressure washer, drive a boat and back up a trailer while wearing pearls.
Suha Kestintepe
Creative Director
Suha Keskintepe disdains bureaucrats, paper-pushers, and human roadblocks and surrounds himself with the smartest, most talented, most senior people who work directly with clients to create powerful, singular voices for their brands.
Chet Richards
Business Strategist
Chet Richards was a close colleague of the late USAF Colonel John Boyd, creator of the OODA loop model for strategy. Chet specializes in helping companies use time-based competitive strategies that draw on Boyd's principles. Having been the first to discover how to get inside one's own OODA loop, Chet now spends most of his time there. This is a talent that has also proven useful in his alternate career as a yoga instructor. On the cultural side, he claims to have read the collected works of William Faulkner, some of them twice.
Women’s Business Enterprise
J. Addams & Partners is a Women’s Business Enterprise, certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council through the Greater Women’s Business Council.
Pro-Bono Accounts
We are honored to provide pro-bono public relations and marketing counsel to two extraordinary nonprofit organizations, Furkids and National Families in Action. Our team members serve on the boards of directors of both organizations.
Here is a partial list of clients served by J. Addams & Partners.
-
Smart, intuitive and with no bureaucratic layers, the J. Addams & Partners firm is a true lean communications machine. No matter how challenging or complex a situation, the entire JA&P team takes the time to listen and understand before mapping out a recommended course of action. While quickly zeroing in on a client’s needs, the group pools their unique talents and expertise, enabling the delivery of everything as promised, and then some. Whether I have a problem or an opportunity, J. Addams & Partners is my go-to marketing communications resource.
Michael Pittman
CEO, Lead the Way, Inc.
-
The quantity of work J. Addams & Partners produces with a small team in servicing clients demonstrates the high productivity and cost-effectiveness that most PR firms should deliver – but don’t. I’ve seen twice as many people at much larger firms who fail to generate even half the quantity and quality of work that JA&P delivers.
Jane. H. Bick, Ph.D., APR
Public Relations Counsel and Professor of Communications
-
(This is) probably the most impressive press kit I’ve seen in a long time, and I see a bunch of them. Very well done…and very complete. Will this it to my JRN 450 class at Central Michigan University. I teach PR/Journalism there.
Ed Hutchinson
Spring Garden Editor, Associated Press
-
J. Addams and Partners grasped our core values, understood our nonprofit budgetary limitations, and created an outstanding communications toolbox that educated our critical audiences about what the Parent Corps is and its significance.
Sue Rusche
President and CEO, National Families in Action
-
Congratulations to all of you on the product launch team for your contributions to this rating and review in one of the most important consumer publications in North America. Yes, a lot of credit goes to the development team, no doubt, but unless the product and its associated information are communicated effectively to the media, nothing will come of it. J. Addams & Partners and the Honda PR Team did the legwork, wrote the copy, produced the press kits and events − doing what PR pros are supposed to do, and it paid off. Kudos to all of you.
Kurt Antonius
Senior Manager, Public Relations, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
-
I must see a dozen of these media kits a week—everything from tires to new trucks to motorcycles and even clothing lines, and this is the only one that stands out on the shelf. Very creative and nicely put together. Has to be the most unique that I have seen this season.
Matthew Baynard
Product Evaluations Section Editor, the Rubicon Media Group Inc.
-
During my three years as an Executive Vice President at Exide Technologies, the J. Addams & Partners team not only met my needs, but far surpassed my communications expectations. The JA&P group performs as true counselors, knowledgeable about communications on all levels and highly responsive and professional in whatever they deliver. As one example, their work in earning media coverage about EXCELL, Exide's lean manufacturing system, helped buoy the success of the initiative inside and outside the company among a variety of key stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and investors. J. Addams & Partners is an important communications partner, and this fact I simply cannot overstate.
Robert B. Weiner
Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing & Engineering, Exide Technologies
-
J. Addams has been a valuable partner to PAS Technologies. Their team always goes the extra mile to understand our marketing needs. They invested their time to fully understand the PAS company vision, markets we serve, our products and services, our customers, and to ensure our messaging is relevant and on target. They were instrumental when PAS rebranded in 2014 and worked around the clock to help make the transition seamless. No matter what project we hand them, they always respond quickly, with accuracy and passion to deliver good work. J. Addams is dedicated to the marketing success of their clients, and we couldn’t be happier to have them as part of our team.
Thomas C. Hutton
CEO, PAS Technologies Inc.
-
Before joining J.M. Huber, I worked with J. Addams & Partners through a period of extremely difficult time at a company where communications with internal and external stakeholders were crucial. The team at JAP was always responsive and reliable, many times working through all hours of the night to ensure information flowed in a timely manner. They placed a strong focus on customer service, often times I forgot that they had other clients as I felt they were my internal team. Their extensive history and knowledge with my company was highly valuable to ensure consistency and integrity of messaging. J. Addams & Partners is a consummate professional firm where the team really cares deeply about the clients and their needs.
Lily Prost
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, J.M. Huber Corporation
