Our Agency

We are a full-service PR agency working with growth-minded businesses to build the recognition they deserve.

We work every day to do right by those with whom we partner. We’ve built and boosted some of the most recognizable global brands and launched scores of innovative, emerging-growth companies.

Our clients are our passion.

We took a pass on offices with high overhead and junior-level staffers to build a new PR agency comprised of agile senior communications pros with all the capabilities of big firms, but without the name-brand bloat.

Escalate is unique in its ability to adapt to changeable workloads with a fixed, core team that scales to meet demand.

The result? Straight-up great results with a laser focus on exceeding client goals — no fluff, no wasted cycles.  

Joel Richman
Partner
Boston

A 20 + year PR and digital marketing professional, Joel has built cutting-edge visibility campaigns across a diverse spectrum of companies, from startups to publicly traded enterprises. Joel’s technology experience spans B2B clients in DevOps, security, AI/ML, advertising and marketing technology, hardware, open source, enterprise software, robotics, unmanned aerial systems, and cloud/SaaS. His data-driven programs feature tight integration of traditional media outreach with social media amplification strategies to tell compelling client stories, to the right audiences, via the right channels.

Prior to starting Escalate, Joel was with Lewis PR with responsibility for East Coast client development. Prior to Lewis, Joel spent seven years as a Vice President at SHIFT Communications, where he built from scratch a multi-million dollar enterprise software portfolio. Before SHIFT, Joel spent 13 years at PAN Communications and was instrumental in creating the firm’s first social media practice. In addition to collaborating with clients on their traditional and social media visibility, Joel devises and executes data-informed integrated campaign strategies that drive measurable business results.

Joel’s responsibilities include strategic planning, message development, media training, and working with clients to maximize their overall marketing mix impact. Joel is also intimately involved in the tactical elements of his programs. He contributes to all of the run-rate activities, the ‘big think’ ideas, and their execution.

Jason Ouellette
Partner
Boston

Jason has been working with some of the most well-recognized enterprise technology companies around the world for over 20-years. Prior to the launch of Escalate, Jason spent his career at award-winning mid-size and global Public Relations agencies helping clients engage with the audiences that matter most to them, create compelling narratives and strategically plan how the communications function moves their business forward. Jason partners closely with each client to help them understand the larger industry landscape, lead message development, media train spokespeople and garner the awareness across their industry that impacts their business.

Paula Finestone
Chief Operating Officer
Boston

Paula has over 25 years of financial and operations expertise in the Public Relations industry. She started her career at Sterling Hager, Inc. and then moved on to SHIFT Communications, Inc. where she helped grow and develop the business building it to over 20M in revenues with 4 offices across the US. Eventually she played a key role in successfully managing a lucrative acquisition of SHIFT by Avenir Global, a Canadian holding firm. Her thoughtful approach and strategic counsel have been invaluable to the success of the organizations she has worked with.

Jennifer Jewett Misra
Senior Vice President
Scottsdale

Jennifer brings a never-say-never drive and more than two decades of diverse global corporate communications experience with B2B and B2C technology companies. Her work has spanned consumer, hardware and software specifically including cybersecurity, AI, HR and corporate learning and manufacturing. Building successful media relations and analyst relations programs, managing diverse company and product launches, developing and handling crisis communications, creating integrated marketing communications campaigns & supporting collateral to drive quality leads has given Jennifer a strong understanding of how to create individualized communications programs to support an organization’s needs.

Jill Van Nostran
Senior Vice President
Indianapolis

Jill has two decades of strategic marketing communications leadership experience, partnering with executive leadership teams to deliver communications counsel for B2B technology enterprises and startups. Her work has contributed to the successful acquisition or IPO of a number of companies.

Jill is highly focused on organizational goals and strategically knitting together marketing communications programs that will help reach those goals. She’s experienced in strategic positioning, message development, executive communications and executive thought leadership, content strategy, analyst relations, crisis communications, storytelling, and digital communications strategy and measurement.

Prior to Escalate PR, Jill worked at Zeno Group (formerly PR21) and Calysto Communications.

Greg Vitarelli
Senior Vice President
Boston

A 25+ years communications veteran supporting techs’ biggest and emerging brands. Experience across agency and in-house environments in roles ranging from account executive to agency founder. A dual citizen of the US and the UK with years of front-line experience in both markets

Rebecca Ferros
Senior Vice President
New Jersey

Rebecca Ferros has over a dozen years of experience implementing strategic public relations programs for clients. An experienced marketer with a demonstrated history, she is skilled in Public Relations, Media Strategy, Social and Corporate Communications with a track record of growing brand affinity and awareness. Rebecca has supported media relations and strategies for large and small brands, including product launches, partnerships with key opinion leaders, video content creation and work with social media influencers.

Lauren McNamara
Senior Vice President
Virginia Beach

Lauren McNamara is a senior communications specialist with over ten years of experience executing public relations programs for B2B tech companies. She has partnered with companies of all sizes to drive results by optimizing company messaging, creating impactful content, and securing relevant media coverage. Lauren’s specialty is turning technical messaging into a format that resonates with media and end-users.

Traci Massaro
Senior Consultant
Louisville

During the course of her 25+ year career, Traci has promoted name brands like Ronald McDonald House, Discover Card, Compaq, Dell, Lycos, Excite, eBay, CompUSA, and even Elvis Presley Enterprises, along with virtually every kind of technology. she has garnered media attention for startups and large BtoB and BtoC focused companies, universities, and NGOs. She has built and run communication departments, led communications efforts for two IPOs, and been involved in several acquisitions. Traci enjoys messaging, planning, and putting a strategy in place as much as getting in the weeds of the business and ‘doing the work’ to secure the results. Understanding what makes a company unique, a product innovative, and executive teams deserving of the attention they seek is key for Traci to champion their messages to the world. She has expertise in many facets of marketing communications including: media and analyst relations, product and corporate awareness, crisis communications, investor relations, collateral development, executive media training and visibility, awards programs, and more.

Megan Leer
Senior Consultant
San Diego

Megan is a performance-driven public relations professional with nearly 20 years of experience in creating and implementing effective marketing strategies for a broad range of clients – from fast-growth digital natives to established enterprise brands. She’s worked both in-house and on the agency side, and approaches public relations as the key to driving business forward. A self-proclaimed research nerd and news junkie, Megan is skilled at creating compelling content and connecting key stakeholders with targeted media to generate measurable results.

Emily Adams
Senior Consultant
Connecticut

Emily Adams is a PR consultant with a decade of experience driving communications and media relations strategy for B2B technology clients, from early-stage startups to unicorns to publicly traded companies. She has worked across a variety of industries, including data and analytics, AI, SaaS/cloud computing, software development, cybersecurity, 3D printing, ad/marketing technology and more.

Reshma Miranda Prabhu
Senior Consultant
New York

Reshma Miranda Prabhu has more than 15 years of consumer and B2B agency experience implementing complex integrated public relations programs. Over the course of her career, she has planned successful product launches, created award-winning social campaigns, designed custom media training programs, and handled crisis communications alongside her clients. At Escalate, Reshma is primarily focused on developing and delivering strategic content for her clients.

Laura Collins-Rodriguez
Senior Consultant
Scottsdale

Laura Collins-Rodriguez is a senior communications consultant with nearly 15 years of experience leading high-performing PR programs for fast-growth tech and consumer brands in emerging categories. Prior to starting her consultant business, she spent more than 10 years as the Corporate Communications Director at Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), a SaaS company providing CRM and marketing automation software to 100K small business users. In this role, she implemented effective PR and earned marketing strategies that helped the company build brand equity, establish category leadership, and grow annual revenue from $10M to $100M. Prior to that, she worked with private and public tech companies and consumer and hospitality brands at a global PR agency. Most recently, she was Public Relations Director at Offerpad (NYSE: OPAD) where she led media relations when the real estate tech company became publicly traded via a SPAC merger in 2021.

Brands we've made shine.