Bios

Lennie Rose:

Lennie Rose, President of Rise Public Relations LLC drove 2007 revenues to the company's best year on record. Among her successes, her work with Belniak Media on the SilverSchmidt global marketing campaign resulted in selling out the product until more could be manufactured. Bringing her unique vision to marketing and PR, Lennie has worked with entrepreneurs and enterprise. She is expert in developing, molding, articulating and promoting businesses in both the B2B and B2C sectors.

A former screenwriter and author, Ms. Rose, is a regular speaker at the Women's Business Development Center in Chicago. She has played a key role in developing numerous businesses from concept to launch.

A member of the Chicago Chapter of Athena International and on the Leadership Team of Empowering Women Network (EWN), Ms. Rose is a mother of two daughters. Her eldest is a doctor in residency married to a professional wrestler. Her youngest speaks Mandarin and works in marketing at the Penn Club in Manhattan.

Kathryn Burkhardt:

Before joining the Rise PR and Marketing Consortium, Kathryn developed her business acumen through 14 years of success in operations, sales, customer service and marketing management. She has developed successful B2B marketing and communications initiatives for the Environmental Industry, Manufacturing Industry, IT Service Management and Non- Profit Organizations. Experienced in many facets of business in a variety of industries, Kathryn is adept at analyzing research and developing strategic approaches for new product development and market expansion. With a focus on brand awareness to drive revenue growth, she blends traditional marketing foundations with innovative concepts.

When asked where she calls home, Kathryn has a longer answer than most. As the daughter of an Air Force Fighter Pilot, she can count having lived in 8 states. Fortunately, she now calls home- her favorite city of Chicago. Kathryn finds joy in volunteering and serves on the Advisory Councils of the Elam Davies Social Service Center and The Illinois Unit of RFB&D (Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic).

Brad Shorr
Partner, Rise PR

With a proven track record of driving multimillion-dollar sales growth through innovative marketing and sales strategies, Brad has over 15 years of diverse and cutting-edge business development expertise. Prior to joining the Rise PR and Marketing Consortium, Brad was Director of Marketing at Shorr Packaging Corp., where he successfully led all marketing and PR activities for the industry-leading wholesale distribution firm. Earlier, he produced rapid growth as Shorr's Director of Sales, and led highly successful start-ups in National Accounts and telemarketing sales.

Brad specializes in alternative and creative marketing programs such as blogs, search engine optimization, and other online marketing strategies. Brad's mix of unique marketing leadership, strategy, and technical experience, coupled with his ability to plan and execute high-impact sales generating programs makes him an invaluable asset to the Rise Team. For more marketing insights check out Brad's blog on www.wordsellinc.com.