John Guilfoil Public Relations (JGPR) is pleased to announce several key personnel changes in its two offices.
Cody Shepard Joins JGPR
JGPR is extraordinarily happy to announce the hiring of Cody Shepard as Account Manager and Team Leader for its Canton Office and Southern New England PR team.
A Halifax resident and Eastern Nazarene College journalism graduate, Cody comes to JGPR after an 11-year career in newspapers, including his most recent role as Senior Reporter at The Enterprise of Brockton. During his news career, Cody received several awards from the New England Newspaper and Press Association for crime, courts, government and spot news reporting as well as racial or ethnic issue coverage and social media use in breaking news.
Cody brings his organizational skills, leadership and strong news judgment to the helm of a busy PR team that serves clients in Southeastern and Western Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Katelyn Goddard Promoted to Marketing Manager
Katelyn Goddard joined JGPR in November 2020 as a part-time WordPress Specialist/Web Developer. She was soon welcomed full-time. During her tenure, Katelyn has evolved into JGPR’s marketing maven, developing a sales strategy for JGPR’s custom client-branded products and creating a marketing plan for the company itself, including JGPR’s special projects: FirePermits.com®, RedBlueJobs® and JGPR Academy.
As marketing manager, Katelyn will oversee the company’s web development projects and staff, its photo and video assignment desk, branded product sales and JGPR’s company marketing efforts, including a year-long transition to a new CRM system and marketing software.
During her tenure at JGPR, the company has been awarded nationally for her efforts, including consecutive American Inhouse Design Awards for JGPR’s municipal websites and national and regional awards from PR News and the Public Relations Club of New England.
A More Fitting Title for Paul Zinni
Since embarking on his new chapter in public relations after an esteemed career as a public school leader and superintendent, Paul Zinni has been named Director of Education, Training and Development at JGPR.
Paul joined JGPR in July 2023 as a Senior Consultant. Paul’s educational management and leadership expertise will continue to be on display, as he will further his work consulting on crises and working on long-term projects for school clients. In his new role, he will oversee JGPR Academy courses, coordinating training efforts directly and through JGPR Academy’s roster of master instructors. He will also lead training and professional development efforts, for all sectors, especially public school clients. This will include live classes via Zoom and in person at the JGPR Canton classroom, as well as booked training days at client sites.
Under his leadership, JGPR’s training courses were approved for professional development credits from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). JGPR is exploring similar credit-bearing benefits in other states.
Paul has also been instrumental in assisting with JGPR’s growth as a company, helping to create and implement new Mission/Vision Statements, a 5-year Strategic Plan, and a revamped employee evaluation process. Paul will lead these companywide values and human resources efforts in his new role.
Kristen Potter Elevated to Vice President
Now in her sixth year at JGPR, Kristen Potter, MBA has been a pillar of consistency and progress – just ask any of the clients, including police and fire associations in six states outside of New England that have joined with JGPR under her tenure, making JGPR a truly national communications consultancy.
In her new role as Vice President of Digital and Enterprise Accounts, Kristen will oversee JGPR’s growth in new territories while maintaining and growing our existing relationships with statewide and county public safety and government associations and national nonprofits.
During her career at JGPR, Kristen has led marketing and public relations campaigns from coast to coast and she has overseen the launch of more than 100 police, fire, school district and city/town government websites.
Kristen will also continue to oversee the Marketing and Video departments, ensuring that both have a roadmap for stable growth.
Benjamin Paulin Advances to Senior VP
JGPR Vice President Benjamin Paulin has been promoted to Senior Vice President.
As the company’s second-in-command and longest-tenured employee, Benjamin Paulin has been at the center of JGPR’s growth and development since 2017.
In his role as Senior Vice President, Ben will continue to work on high-level projects and client campaigns, and he will be responsible for client relationships, something he has specialized in ever since arriving at JGPR from the newspaper world.
Ben is a Suffolk University journalism and communications alumnus. The Easton native and Oliver Ames alum lives in North Attleborough with his wife and two children.
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These changes come as JGPR wraps up the first year of its regional PR teams approach, creating better organization and division of labor among JGPR’s clients in public safety, government services and education.
“I could not be more excited for the current position of JGPR as we continue to evolve and grow after 11 years of providing innovative communications services and products to those agencies that need it most – those that have a direct impact on our day-to-day lives – our police, fire, public school and municipal government departments,” company founder John Guilfoil said. “With such strong leaders driving us forward, the future truly looks bright for our agency.”
About John Guilfoil Public Relations:
With the philosophy that every police and fire department and government agency deserves effective communications and public relations on the same scale as major corporations, John Guilfoil Public Relations produces clear, concise written materials, communications strategy, website development, and crisis management services for our clients and responds to breaking news incidents for more than 300 police and fire departments, public schools, and municipal governments, and nonprofits nationwide. The company is based in Massachusetts and was founded by John Guilfoil, a former Boston Globe staff reporter who served as deputy press secretary for the late Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. JGPR.net.
