Speaker Bios

Jeff is a senior communications counselor and director of business development for Portland, Ore.-based McClenahan Bruer Communications (McBru), a full-service agency focused on technology companies.

Jeff has ten years of experience leading online communications campaigns for clients ranging from high-flying startups such as file-sharing software Morpheus to multinational organizations such as Amazon.com, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and PolyServe (now HP).

In 1998, Jeff brought his music industry and journalism experience to KVO Public Relations, where he was selected to lead the RIAA in its efforts to communicate online with consumers illegally downloading music. The challenge was obviously an uphill battle – free entertainment is an impressive value proposition – but the experience enabled Jeff to hone online “conversational marketing” techniques years before the approach would be considered the new wave in PR.

Jeff later led Streamcast in its launch of Internet file-sharing service Morpheus, one of the most popular new software applications of 2001. Relying largely upon online communications, Jeff helped Morpheus garner one million users in 30 days, generate stacks of media coverage (including a cover story in Time) and influence overwhelmingly positive user reviews. His online-communications approach to launching Morpheus, a product once involved in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, is featured in the fifth edition of McGraw-Hill's textbook Public Relations: The Profession and the Practice.

While with Fleishman-Hillard, where he was West Coast lead for the firm’s “Internet PR” practice, Jeff managed the client relationship with online retailing leader Amazon.com from 2002 to 2004. Employing a combination of traditional PR and blogger relations, Jeff’s team helped Amazon.com sign up thousands of new software developer and retail partners, generate features in publications ranging from USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, and encourage Wired magazine to grant Amazon.com the No. 2 spot in the coveted Wired 40 innovation rankings.

Jeff holds a bachelor's degree in English from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. In his spare time, he plays drums for a local band, reads, and snowboards.