HEATHER C. CONOVER, CEO
The founder and CEO of Conover + Company Communications, Inc., Heather Conover has over 25 years of communications experience with a specific focus on environmental communications, public education, community involvement, and corporate citizenship programs. She has worked with federal, state, and local government agencies and private sector, education, and non-profit clients on a wide range of environmental, energy, and real estate projects and public relations, marketing communications, and corporate citizenship programs. Heather has also lived and worked abroad and has overseen projects in more than fifty countries.
Heather was formally trained in environmental planning and policy and executed numerous public education and community involvement programs where she has drawn on this background.
Heather holds an M.A. in Urban, Social, and Environmental Policy from Tufts University. She is a board member of the Environmental Business Council of New England and “e” inc., and a member of the economic development committee of the 495/MetroWest Corridor Partnership, the Society for Marketing Professional Services, and the Public Relations Society of America’s environmental professional interest section.
Heather offers clients strategic communications guidance and has hands-on involvement in all phases of the firm’s projects from strategic planning to execution. She is committed to meeting the individual needs of each of the firm’s clients to ensure the successful and timely attainment of their goals.
JEANNE SKLARZ NICOLOSI, President
President of Conover + Company Communications, Inc., Jeanne has over 20 years of marketing communications and public affairs experience in project management, strategic planning, coalition and constituency building, media training, crisis management, image building, media relations and budgeting. She has trained both corporate and government public affairs spokespeople to communicate complex and technical issues to diverse audiences from consumers to the media. She has directed public affairs, public relations and marketing campaigns throughout the United States and internationally.
During a four-year assignment in London, Jeanne managed international media relations projects and special events for the firm’s Europe-based clients. Upon returning to the firm's headquarters, she oversaw the firm's healthcare accounts. She later ran Conover + Company’s Washington, D.C. operations and was responsible for its government and international clients. In 2006, she opened the firm’s office in the New York metropolitan area.
With an undergraduate degree in zoology and a graduate degree in education and counseling, Jeanne began her career as a biology teacher and a school counselor, heading up a guidance and counseling program for a K-9 population of 1000.
Prior to joining Conover + Company, Jeanne worked with the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Greater Boston Chapter serving initially as program coordinator and then as district director. As district director, Jeanne directed the field office operation for one of the northeastern United States’ largest non-profit health organizations. She was responsible for public health education, patient services including three clinics in the Boston area, fundraising strategy, administration, and public relations related to the forty diseases covered by the Association. Additionally, she organized and managed 2500 volunteers for the Jerry Lewis Day Telethon in eastern Massachusetts.
PAULA L. GREEN, Vice President
Paula L. Green, vice president of Conover + Company Communications, is responsible for account management. Paula brings over 17 years of communications experience to the firm’s clients.
At Conover + Company Communications, Paula provides clients with public relations and marketing communications counsel. She works with educational and healthcare institutions, life science companies, non-profit organizations, and government agencies.
Prior to joining Conover + Company Communications, Paula worked in a variety of health care settings both as a licensed nurse in geriatric and pediatric settings and, later, as a communications professional. Paula worked for the Fallon Healthcare System and Saint Vincent Hospital where she was responsible for strategic communications planning, public affairs, media and community relations, crisis communications, issues management, government relations, and special events. She was the chief communications officer during the construction of a new medical center and the conversion of a not-for-profit hospital to a for-profit organization. During her tenure, Paula managed all communications including media and community relations activities for numerous public affairs issues surrounding minority inclusion initiatives, corporate finance, tax increment financing, and community development. She was also the principal spokesperson for the hospital and managed all media relations during its move to a new location and two-month nurses’ strike.
Paula received her B.A. from Emmanuel College and her Master of Public Administration from Clark University. In addition to her undergraduate and graduate degrees, Paula also holds a certificate from the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program “Dealing with an Angry Public.” She has also been an instructor/lecturer in public relations for the Assumption College Continuing Education Program.
Paula has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the YMCA of Central Massachusetts since 1995 and was the recipient of the organization’s 2006 Diversity and Inclusion Award. She also serves on the steering committee for the YWCA Katherine Erskine Award, the Martin Luther King Jr. Business Empowerment Center’s Marketing Committee and the advisory board for Rainbow Child Development Center.
JAMES M. CAREY,
Senior Communications Consultant
With over 10 years managing strategic communications in and outside of Washington, D.C., Jim Carey has amassed a portfolio that demonstrates the exciting and respected role he has played as an advertising / public relations / communications practitioner and trainer for many of the nation’s most visible public affairs campaigns and marketing communications programs.
A former reporter, a grassroots activist and with over ten years in both advertising and public relations at Ogilvy & Mather (in Washington, DC, Brussels and Moscow), he has developed dynamic skills to devise and implement effective communication strategies and messages to targeted audiences.
On the public affairs front, Jim played a key role in helping the American Hospital Association meet the difficult communication challenges during the recent national healthcare debate, as well as to balance the delicate issues of jobs and the environment on issues for a major labor/management committee. As a director of public relations for a Dulles-based firm, Jim devised a dynamic campaign that transformed a small firm into a major player in tech circles through thoughtful and deliberate media relations outreach to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and the Industry Standard. More recently, he has provided strategic political and communication counsel and training to the current Vice President of Colombia in a difficult crisis, terrorist environment.
