Executive Team
Aaron R. Kwittken
CEO / Managing Partner
You can follow Aaron on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/AKwittken
During Aaron’s 20-year public relations career, his expertise and performance have resulted in a rapid ascent through the industry, ultimately culminating in his founding of Kwittken & Company (KCO). Since he began his career as a 19-year old intern at Manning Selvage & Lee, Aaron has always strived for excellence in public relations and has sought to surround himself with the best and brightest colleagues in the business.
A vice president at Fleishman Hillard by 25, an executive vice president of GCI Group (now Cohen & Wolfe) managing 250 people by 29, a president handpicked to resurrect Internet PR agency Euro RSCG Middleberg by 31, Aaron has enjoyed spectacular success and was recognized by PRWeek in 2007 as one of the nation’s top 40 public relations professionals under the age of 40. His services have been requested by numerous iconic brands and blue-chip companies such as Stryker Corporation, IBM, Yahoo!, Mercedes-Benz USA, Cantor-Fitzgerald, D&B, ThomsonReuters, Visa International, Goldman Sachs, and KPMG.
Founded by Aaron in 2005, KCO boasts an impressive client roster, which spans the healthcare, technology, education, ecommerce, professional services, media, B2B and marketing industries. KCO clients include Stryker Corporation, DSM Biomedical, Towers Perrin, U.S. News & World Report, Coursesmart, ThomsonReuters, Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, Hoover’s, McGraw-Hill Education, General Atomics, Beanstalk Marketing Group and First Advantage. The company was also named the best new agency of the year by The Holmes Report in 2006, won honorable mention as best small agency of the year at the 2007 PRWeek awards and was finalist for PR Week’ Boutique Agency of the Year award in 2009.
As a CEO who enjoys client interaction, Aaron makes a point to work very closely with a majority of KCO’s clients, providing strategic counsel and day-to-day management oversight. His core areas of expertise include brand management, crisis communications, issues management, trade and national media relations, corporate social responsibility, social media and integrated marketing communications. Aaron also runs the agency’s spokesperson training program, preparing some of the most recognized names in business for interviews with journalists, analysts and other audiences in order to sell products or services, clarify issues or advocate positions.
Aaron believes that it is important to give back to the public relations profession as well as to the community at large. Philanthropy has long been a part of KCO’s philosophy, and since its founding, the agency has committed nearly 2 percent of its net income each year to various charitable organizations. For the past five years Aaron has also served as a board member of Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS), the largest social services agency in Westchester County, NY, providing services to more than 16,000 people a year.
Aaron once served as an adjunct professor of marketing and communications at New York University, and he contributes to the industry through his active membership in the Public Relations Society of America and through his firm’s membership on the Council of PR Firms. Aaron writes a regular monthly column for Entrepreneur Magazine, called the PR Post, makes regular guest appearances on CNBC and FOX and is often asked to provide expert comment on matters involving reputation management and marketing to national and trade media around the world.
His remarkable dedication to his career has not, however, held Aaron back from his life outside the office. A competitive swimmer and avid runner, Aaron started competing in triathlons in late 2008. In 2009, Aaron decided to take his newly minted passion for the multi-sport life to an entirely new level by training for and competing in 12 races, and starting a new company, Fitness-Intelligence, with a few other fellow age-grouper triathletes committed to creating a new standard for race performance analytics tools.
Aaron lives with his wife and two young children in Armonk, New York and earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and speech communication at The George Washington University.
To view Aaron’s public profile on LinkedIn, click here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronkwittken
akwittken@kwitco.com
Jason Schlossberg
President/Partner
You can follow Jason on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/JSchlossberg
Jason is well known in the industry for his creativity, vision and ability to deliver high-impact results for his many clients. His unquenchable intellectual curiosity and readiness to reinvent himself when necessary has enabled him to gain a broad range of expertise and experiences that are rarely found in one PR professional. As a result, Jason has been a key player in some of the most successful PR programs of the past decade, and in 2009 was named to PRWeek’s esteemed 40 Under 40list.
A partner and co-founder of Kwittken & Company, Jason works daily with most of the agency’s clients in either the capacity of creative director or as a senior account lead. As creative director, Jason is charged with ensuring that all agency account teams develop unique, innovative and media-neutral communications programs that embrace both traditional and alternative media vehicles and tactics. As a senior account lead, he plays an integral and hands-on role in developing highly targeted programs that involve corporate positioning, branding, extensive media relations, promotional campaigns, product launches and issues management.
A communications generalist by choice, Jason refuses to silo or limit his work to one industry or category, choosing instead to work with companies, brands and products that he finds intellectually stimulating, exciting and challenging. He strongly believes that a diverse client base and experience set leads to fresh, original and creative programming and big-idea development.
As a result of this philosophy, Jason has extensive experience in consumer, healthcare, human capital, retail, publishing, corporate and technology marketing. Jason has worked closely with industry leaders such as Yahoo!, Mercedes-Benz USA, Paul Stuart, The Sharper Image, American Eagle Outfitters, The Absolut Spirits Company, Towers Perrin, Weight Watchers, Stryker Orthopaedics, First Health, Take-Two Interactive (the parent company of Rockstar Games), CVS/pharmacy, Silverjet, Stylesight, The Beanstalk Group, and leading Japanese retailer UNIQLO, among others.
Prior to co-founding Kwittken & Company, Jason was a senior vice president at Euro RSCG Magnet (formerly Middleberg + Associates). Jason was at Euro RSCG Magnet for nearly seven years in a number of roles. He was the founding member and leader of the agency’s Health & Human Capital practice and the co-founder of the agency’s PopWorx practice, a group dedicated to non-traditional communications tactics. In 2003, Jason led the U.S. public relations effort around Euro RSCG’s research on the emergence of “Metrosexuals,” helping to create one of the year’s biggest buzzwords.
Before joining Euro RSCG Magnet, Jason was a member of Ruder Finn’s Strategic Communications Group.
Jason’s first career was academics. While working as a research assistant in New York University’s department of cinema studies, he earned a master’s degree. During his two-year tenure in that department, he assisted with research for the book, The Sounds of Commerce, and was asked to present his original scholarship at conferences around the world.
Jason earned a bachelor’s degree in socio-cultural anthropology with a minor in creative writing from the University of
California, San Diego.
To view Jason’s public profile on LinkedIn, click here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonschlossberg
Gabrielle Zucker Acevedo
Managing Director
Gabrielle plays an integral role in determining the strategic direction of clients’ integrated communications campaigns and spearheads efforts to create high-level thought leadership opportunities.
Gabrielle has an extensive understanding of the healthcare, education, technology and financial services industries, including work within insurance and reinsurance, stock, bond, commodities, options/derivatives and energy markets, as well as a focus on credit risk, electronic trading, online brokerages and traditional banking. Her focus on creating and increasing awareness for her clients among key audiences, advocates and influencers, earned Gabrielle national recognition, receiving a SABRE award in 2004.
Previously, Gabrielle served as vice president of the Corporate & Financial Practice at Euro RSCG Magnet and was responsible for growing the practice and cultivating relationships with key financial services, technology and education companies. Before joining Magnet, she managed the public relations division of VMW, Inc., an investor relations firm handling small- and medium-cap clients. In this role, Gabrielle worked closely with publicly held companies on shareholder communications and investor relations.
Throughout her career, Gabrielle has managed public relations campaigns across financial services, healthcare, technology, consumer and other vertical industries. Key clients include AIG, Cantor Fitzgerald and their subsidiary eSpeed (Nasdaq:ESPD), Stryker Orthopedics, U.S.News & World Report, Seventh Generation, Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC) and their subsidiaries Thomson Financial, Thomson Healthcare, Thomson Scientific and Thomson Learning (now Cengage Learning), Scottrade, DBM, Resources Global Professionals (Nasdaq: RECN), Automated Trading Desk, Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq:TTWO) and their subsidiary Rockstar Games, First Data (NYSE:FDC), Kiodex, and Soleil Securities, among others.
gzucker@kwitco.com
Ellie Jones Rossi
Managing Director
Ellie Rossi is responsible for creating high-level editorial collateral and messaging platforms for clients and for offering clients editorial counsel on a broad array of communications and thought-leadership initiatives. In addition, Ellie draws upon her 10-plus years as a journalist to support the agency’s executive communications coaching practice by helping clients to prepare for and capitalize on media interviews.
Before joining Kwittken & Company, Ellie was a vice president at Euro RSCG Magnet for six years. Prior to joining Euro RSCG Magnet, Ellie spent over 10 years working as a reporter, editor and writer for a variety of media outlets.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ellie double-majored in English and the history and sociology of science.
erossi@kwitco.com
Jim Gorman
Managing Director
Jim is a managing director and member of Kwittken & Company’s executive team.
In executing public relations plans that get results, Jim draws upon his 10 years at some of the nation’s most prestigious PR agencies and his 10 years in-house as an executive at some of the largest and most respected financial services firms in the world, including Prudential Financial, Deutsche Bank and Liquidnet.
Jim’s philosophy of public relations is the Newtonian Law of “work” = force x distance. He believes that planning and messaging is only effective if it resonates with key audiences, motivates them to act, and in turn helps move the client closer to their objective. To that end, he takes a hands-on role in the planning and execution of his clients’ strategies and constantly reevaluates their effectiveness to be sure they are “working.”
Throughout his career, Jim has managed public relations campaigns across financial services, healthcare, technology, consumer and other vertical industries. Key clients include Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), Liquidnet, Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ: CBSH), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Dain Rauscher, St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ), Coinstar (NASDAQ: CSTR), Rosenbluth Travel and Don Julio tequila, among others.
jgorman@kwitco.com
