Lea-Ann Germinder, APR, Fellow PRSA is founder and president of Germinder & Associates, Inc., a communications firm and parent company of www.goodnewsforpets.com. Germinder is a communications veteran, consultant, speaker, editor and publisher, who has created award-winning campaigns in several industry categories for national brands. With offices in New York City and Kansas City, she and her teams connect people, provide sponsorships of niche web sites, and create traditional and social media campaigns for pet and veterinary products and services. She launched Germinder & Associates, Inc. in 1998 and www.goodnewsforpets.com in 2000.
For the past 15 years she has focused on national brands in animal health. She and her teams have launched over 125 campaigns in animal health. She has handled a wide variety of crisis communications issues and educated the pet-owning public about new products and disease management, prevention and treatment. Some of her better known national awareness campaigns are “Healthy Cats for Life!” and “Pets Need Dental Care, Too!” Germinder has also delivered speeches on emerging communications trends at domestic and international venues including the Veterinary Medicines Summit in Nice, France. Germinder was an early proponent of the power of the Internet for public relations, beginning work in this area in 1995 with one of the first niche pet web sites, www.petdental.com.
Germinder began her career as a marketing coordinator at a sales promotion agency with incentive company E.F. MacDonald, now Carlson, working on such brands as AT&T, Northwest Airlines, and First Bank Systems. She later formed a consultancy working with companies in the pet industry including the launch of the hydroponically-grown aquatic plant market and worked with Ornamental Fish International (OFI)’s U.S. branch office on trade ban and related issues. Later agency work has included national media and educational campaigns for clients as diverse as Dayco Automotive, Western Auto, Helzberg Diamonds, Farm & Home Savings, Sprint, and Bo Jackson for Cramer Products Sports Medicine. Her pet industry and veterinary profession clients have included Fort Dodge Animal Health, Pfizer Animal Health, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, the American Heartworm Society and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA).
She and her team have won dozens of awards, including the AAHA Gold Key Award and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Silver Anvil Award of Excellence, one of the highest national public relations awards. Germinder presently serves on the national advisory board of Enterprising Women and was named a 2008 Honoree. Germinder was named to the 2006 Top 25 “Women Who Mean Business” in Kansas City by the Kansas City Business Journal.
Germinder is a member of the Women President’s Organization (WPO), is a past-president of the Kansas City chapter of PRSA, past PRSA Midwest district chair and holds memberships in the New York and New Jersey chapters, the Counselor’s Academy, the Healthcare and the International Sections. She is also a member of the Association of Veterinary Partners, a veterinary consultants group. She serves as publicity chair for the Cat Writers’ Association and is a member of the Dog Writers Association of America.
In 2008, Germinder was inducted into the prestigious PRSA College of Fellows, one of the most distinguished groups of senior leaders in the public relations profession.