Susan Shelby, CPSM
Principal

A Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) with over 12 years of experience in Public Relations, Susan founded Rhino Public Relations LLC in December 2004.

Previously, she held the role of Director of Marketing and Business Development for Mount Vernon Group Architects and Director of Corporate Communications with Vanderweil Engineers. At Vanderweil Susan spearheaded the company's first PR campaign and performance of all day-to-day communications. Results included coverage in BusinessWeek Online, Boston Business Journal, Consulting-Specifying Engineer, Banker & Tradesman, Mass High Tech, among others.

Previously, Susan served as Director of Public Relations for Tiburon Networks and Director of Corporate Communications for HarvardNet. While at HarvardNet, Susan designed and executed upon the company's first PR plan, positioning the company as the leading provider of business-class DSL and broadband VPN services in the Northeast and an up-and-coming player in the Web hosting services market.

Susan also spent a considerable amount of time working with PR agencies. At Mullen Advertising & PR, Susan generated significant results for several high-technology clients, including Altiga Networks, NewsEdge and SAGA Software.

Beginning her PR career at the Neva Group, Susan worked with high-technology startups such as Aptis Communications, Cascade Communications, Connected Corporation, DAGAZ Technologies, and VideoServer.

Active outside the office, Susan's professional affiliations include:

• Boston Society of Architects (BSA)
• Boston Women's Network (BWN)
• Downtown Women's Club (DWC)
• New England Women In Real Estate (NEWIRE)
• Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS): A member of the SMPS Boston Board of Directors, Susan served as President for the 2006-2007 year and is Immediate Past President for the 2007-2008 year. She also served as Communications Director and co-Chair of the 2005 SMPS Northeast Regional Conference.
• The Publicity Club of New England: Susan served as judge for the 2005 Bell Ringer Awards and was a Director-at-Large on the 2006-2007 Board of Directors.

Emme Hertz
Account Executive

Emme brings over 10 years of experience to Rhino.  With a specialization in the A/E/C industry, she also has experience working with non-profit, corporate, and high-tech clients.  Previously she was the Director of Marketing for Copley Wolff Design Group, a landscape architecture and planning firm in downtown Boston. 

Before working with CWDG she provided creative consulting services in San Francisco, Miami, London, Seattle and Boston, and for companies as diverse as Street Attack (a Guerrilla Marketing company), to Volunteers of America (a non-profit human services organization).  Her specialties include: public relations, traditional and guerilla marketing, graphic design, writing, editing, event planning and project management.

Emme has a B.A. in English and Communications, as well as a certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is also a multi-media artist, and aspiring raw food chef.

Professional Affiliations include:

• BSA (Boston Society of Architects)
• SMPS (Society of Marketing Professional Services)
• ULI(Urban Land Institute)
• GMIA (Guerilla Marketing International Association)

Monique Klares
Account Executive

Monique has more than 19 years of marketing communications and public relations experience in technology, healthcare, A/E/C and publishing.  Prior to joining Rhino Public Relations, Monique was Public Relations Group Director at SGW Integrated Marketing Communications.

Monique has also been a consultant for HighTech Public Relations and The Weber Group. In addition, she has held the position of Senior Account Executive at The Weber Group, at the time, one of the world’s top five high-tech PR firms. At The Weber Group, and formerly the Neva Group, she successfully executed core client programs such as speaker bureaus, media relations, customer reference, media tours and tradeshows.

Prior to the Weber Group, Monique worked at Lewtan Technologies, a leader in asset securities management.  As a Marketing Associate at Lewtan, Monique was responsible for a corporate image redesign, trade show coordination and supervising marketing material updates. Monique also held the position of Marketing Analyst at Liant Software Corporation, a developer of computer languages. At Liant, Monique wrote press releases, coordinated the development and printing of all corporate collateral, and conducted market analysis. Monique’s other positions include marketing coordinator at Allied Mechanical & Burner Corporation and marketing assistant at The Stamford Advocate/Greenwich Time newspapers.

 Monique received a B.B.A. from Iona College with a major in Marketing.

Christa Mahar
Account Executive

Christa joins Rhino PR with over 25 years of public relations and marketing experience within the architecture, engineering and construction (A/E/C) industry. Most recently an associate and the Director of Marketing for Gund Partnership in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Christa’s expertise lies within the arena of strategic market analysis and marketing plan implementation as well as communications and public relations. She is a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges with a Bachelor of Arts in urban planning and a double-minor in English and British history. She also obtained a certificate of environmental impact assessment from Harvard University and has completed advanced graduate work in environmental engineering. Christa is currently a member of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) and the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), North Atlantic Regional Council.

Jennifer Shelby
Account Executive

Jennifer Shelby brings more than ten years of experience in the architecture, engineering and construction (A/E/C) industry.

Prior to joining Rhino Public Relations, Jennifer was the in-house graphic designer for S E A Consultants, a multi-disciplined civil and environmental engineering and architectural firm.  Her in-house clients included Client Sector Leaders for the Municipal, Energy, Higher Education, State Agency and Transportation sectors of the company as well as Principals and Project Managers at the firm.

As the proposal and graphics coordinator at GZA GeoEnvironmental, a multi-disciplined company providing its clients with a wide range of geotechnical engineering, environmental consulting, and remediation services, Jennifer was responsible for the management and design of all corporate marketing pieces.

While project assistant at Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, one of the largest architectural and interior design firms in the Northeast, Jennifer coordinated deadlines, schedules and distribution for an in-house architectural team.

Jennifer received a B.A. in English from Boston College.  She is pursuing a Certificate in Advertising and Print Design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).  She currently serves on the Communications Committee for the Boston Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS Boston).

Michele Spiewak
Account Executive

Michele Spiewak, a public relations professional with 10 years of experience, recently joined the Rhino PR team. Her prior positions include extensive writing and public relations experience in the technology and architecture/design fields, with a writing focus on press releases and bylined articles. Previously, Ms. Spiewak was Senior Public Relations Manager at Art Technology Group in Cambridge, where she focused on corporate communications, customer-centric public relations, and event and trade show publicity. Prior to that, she worked at a high-tech public relations agency where she developed communications programs and managed the public relations activities for a variety of clients. Her professional experience also includes services marketing and public relations work at Sasaki Associates, a multidisciplinary architecture and design firm in Watertown.