DeMartine Group brings together a senior-level team of public relations and marketing communications professionals with deep industry and broad domain expertise gained from working at some of the world’s largest corporate communications departments, PR agencies and news organizations.  Our team includes:

Karen DeMartine, who has nearly 20 years of experience in public relations, corporate positioning and marketing communications.  Karen has an exceptionally loyal base of clients and colleagues, many of whom she has known since establishing her own agency nearly 15 years ago.  She began her PR career at Ogilvy, Adams & Rinehart in New York, specializing in raising the public profile of foreign multinational corporations in the U.S. markets, including Benckiser Consumer Products and Matsushita Electric Industrial, and serving on the firm’s prestigious Mergers & Acquisitions communications team on a number of high-profile, cross-border deals.

Over the years, Karen has volunteered her PR services and insights to helping both charitable and professional organizations in their fund-raising and membership-building efforts.  Most recently, she was appointed to the advisory board of Experegy, Inc., a strategic consulting firm that helps companies leverage the Internet to improve corporate performance; served as president of the Insurance Media Association; completed a year as a contributing columnist for Outsourcing Venture magazine; and spoke at several integrated marketing and creative services conferences for professional and financial services providers.

Karen is a graduate of Harvard University, where she was a member of the women’s varsity swim team.  She founded the Hangzhou University-Radcliffe College Academic Exchange Program after working as a Foreign Teacher of English at Hangzhou University in the People’s Republic of China in the early 1980s, when few foreigners were living and working full-time in that country.

Matthew Conroy, who has more than 10 years of corporate communications and media relations experience, working with a number of market-leading companies, including Deloitte Consulting, Digital Equipment Corporation, GNC Corporation, MasterCard International, Sharp Electronics, Sprint and Universal Health Services.  Matt previously helped to develop and expand Stanton Crenshaw’s capabilities in the information technology, entertainment and interactive marketing sectors and, earlier, worked as a senior account executive at Golin/Harris International in New York.  Fluent in French, he holds a B.A. degree from Harvard University.

Jim Elder, who has provided marketing and public relations services for over 20 years, predominantly in the technology sector.  Jim has worked with clients ranging from small technology start-ups to global companies like Baan and IBM.  He previously worked at IBM, where he managed communications for several multibillion dollar IBM businesses in a broad range of industries.  Earlier in his IBM career, Jim managed marketing communications, media relations and legislative, community and employee communications for the company’s military and space technology businesses.  He began his career as a newspaper reporter and editorial writer, after graduating from St. Lawrence University with an undergraduate degree and earning a master’s degree in journalism from Penn State University.

Joanne Lessner, who has spent the past 15 years as a specialist in business and consumer media relations.  Joanne has secured high-profile coverage for clients in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Business Week, Forbes, The Economist, USA Today, TIME Magazine, Today Show, CNN, CNBC and hundreds of other print, television, radio and online media outlets.  A graduate of Yale University, Joanne is fluent in Italian, with a working knowledge of French and German.

Lisa Jane O’Neil, who has 15 years of experience in corporate communications and the media, with a special focus on the financial services sector.  Lisa Jane previously managed media relations for The Blackstone Group after leading the financial services team at Stanton Crenshaw, where she oversaw a large portfolio of clients that included Bain Capital, Cantor Fitzgerald and Pequot Capital.  She began her career as a finance journalist in Asia and Australia and established the Vietnam news bureau in Hanoi for Bloomberg Business News, after the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo in 1994.  Lisa Jane, who has a working knowledge of Japanese and French, completed a journalism cadetship in Perth, Western Australia, and attended St. Brigid’s College.

Randy Savicky, whose 20-plus-year career includes senior executive positions at two global public relations agencies, Edelman and Ruder-Finn, and more than 10 years as a journalist in the trade and consumer media.  Randy has spearheaded the development of major strategic PR programs for global brands, including Apple, Ericsson, Fujifilm, Mattel, Motorola, Sony, UBS and Wyeth-Ayerst; early stage companies such as Arbinet, Dialogic and Juno; and start-up ventures like BarnesandNoble.com and ClubMom.com.  A member of the Society of Professional Journalists, he earned a journalism degree from State University of New York.

Tracy Van Buskirk, who has worked closely with the print, broadcast and electronic media on the national, regional and local levels for 10 years.  A media relations specialist, Tracy has successfully positioned dozens of clients as expert commentators and thought leaders at numerous top-tier trade, specialty and “C-level” publications that reach targeted business and consumer audiences.  She also has extensive experience conducting media audits, thought leadership studies and corporate positioning analyses.  Tracy is a graduate of Boston University, with a background in market research.