Jean Gonsoulin is president of The Gonsoulin Group, a public relations consultancy that recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Well regarded in the public relations industry, Jean is a seasoned communications professional with more than 30 years in public relations, marketing and corporate communications split between the agency arena, corporate sector and her current independent consultancy. As a result, she brings a unique perspective to client service and a deep understanding of business challenges.
Among the practice areas in which she excels are strategic planning, message development and brand positioning, stakeholder engagement, thought leadership and executive visibility, and crisis and reputation management. Clients seek out her services because of her ability to take what they bring to the table and how they want to position themselves with stakeholders, and translate that into a cohesive, compelling marketing and communications blueprint with all the messaging, content and tools necessary to execute.
Although a generalist in her experience across a breadth of industries, she has particularly deep expertise working with clients in the real estate and insurance/insurance tech space. She has worked with major industry associations, including the California Association of REALTORS and MLSListings, one of the largest multiple listing organizations in California. She has also worked with both residential and commercial real estate companies. Her work with these clients spans strategic communications planning and marketing, brand positioning, message development, direct stakeholder communications and crisis and issues management.
She has also worked with Farmers on their brand positioning in the technology/innovation area and communications around smart home coverage and new rental market products that are more personalized consumer-controlled, technology-driven insurance solutions.
In addition to her work advising clients on communication and reputation strategy, Jean also has extensive experience training spokespersons and other communicators within an organization to deliver not only information, but the key messages that are critical to understanding and acceptance. Among her areas of training skills specialization are presentations, media interviews, message delivery and executive coaching. She works with C-suite executives, subject matter experts, managers and other levels of leadership, celebrities and similar high- profile individuals.
She has been a leader in the public relations industry, serving on the boards of directors for both the Houston and Los Angeles chapters of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), as a past-president of PRSA-LA, and as a former board member of the Texas Public Relations Association. She has won numerous awards for excellence in the public relations field through the years and has spoken in a number of academic and professional forums, as well as authored articles, on crisis communications and issues management.