Founder
John Guilfoil is the Founder and Owner of JGPR, founding the public relations firm in 2013 to support media relations for police and fire departments during a crisis. Since then, the company has expanded to include school districts, public health agencies, public works, state/county agencies and whole municipal governments, as well as non-profits and business clients.
Manager
Benjamin Paulin is the Vice President of John Guilfoil Public Relations and Manager of JGPR Academy.
Ben oversees the company’s Canton office, which manages the company’s clients south of Boston, including police departments, fire departments, school districts and municipal government agencies.
Instructor
At JGPR, Zinni serves as a Senior Consultant, working to strengthen relationships with school districts and other clients served by JGPR. He is an indispensable peer resource for new and established educational leaders alike. Zinni will expand and enhance JGPR’s services and programs for school clients by creating new and valuable programming to serve the public education sector.
Retired Police Commander
David Avery is a retired Randolph Police officer having served for 32 years. During his career he served as a patrol officer, duty detective, prosecutor and supervisor before retiring as an executive officer with the rank of Lieutenant.
Retired Fire Chief
Fire Chief Roger Hatfield has over 40 years of private, municipal, state and federal experience in life safety and emergency management.
He started his fire service career in 1978. He worked part-time in a non-firefighting role for the City of Nashua, NH Fire Department.
Active Duty Fire Chief
Rob Reardon has been in the Fire Service for over 24 years. Currently, he is the Chief of the Duxbury Fire Department in Massachusetts where he has worked for the last 21 years. Chief Reardon is a National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer graduate, as well as a Chief Fire Officer graduate from the Massachusetts Fire Academy.
Retired Police Captain
Stephen Davis served the Pensacola Police Department for thirty-two years before retiring as a Captain in 2021. Among his many duties, he also managed the department’s social media, growing it more than 800% in four years. The Pensacola Police Department’s social media is recognized as one of the best nationally and has twice been awarded for its engaging storytelling, as well as being featured by national news organizations.
Instructor
Catherine Zinni has been an educator and school leader for more than 36 years serving as a school principal, central office administrator, general education teacher, and special education teacher. She recently retired as a Special Education Director in June 2024. Catherine has extensive experience in the areas of special education, multi-lingual learners, practical behavior support, and literacy instruction.
Instructor
Karyn Regal started her news career as a 16-year-old in the Merrimack Valley by taking advantage of an internship program solely because she wanted to get out of high school on a half-day; she found herself back there a few decades later as a veteran crisis reporter covering one of the worst natural gas disasters in American history.
Instructor
Tom joined John Guilfoil Public Relations in February 2021 after an accomplished career as a reporter and editor at the Middlesex (now MetroWest Daily) News, The Sun of Lowell and the Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchburg. Each paper earned numerous industry honors during his tenure.
Instructor
Kayla joined JGPR in August 2021 after graduating from Worcester State in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a concentration in journalism.
She has completed numerous Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) courses as it relates to incident communications and public information.
Instructor
Matthew Kaplowitz began his intelligence career in 2003 when he was hired by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Matthew performed as an all-source analyst using all sources of intelligence, including human intelligence, open source intelligence, signals intelligence, and satellite intelligence to help the U.S. military achieve their tactical and strategic goals.
While at DIA, Matthew was the team leader of a multi-agency team that sought identify, characterize, and reverse-engineer underground facilities in his target area.
Instructor
Camryn began working with JGPR as an intern in June 2022. She recently joined the staff as a part-time Account Coordinator in January. Camryn is a native of Rockport, Maine but has been living in Worcester, Massachusetts for the past four years. She graduated from Clark University in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in English and graduated with a master’s degree in Communications in May 2023.
Retired Bureau Chief
Robert Tornabene is a retired law enforcement officer with 27 years in Law Enforcement with progressive advancement from a patrol officer, Sergeant, Commander and Bureau Chief.
Robert has over 17 years’ experience handling Crisis Communications utilizing all aspects of media to interact and inform the public. Robert has worked in public sector agencies in Illinois and Colorado as a public information officer.
Public Information Officer
Sarah Lux, M.A., APIO, is the Lead Public Information Officer for the Lake County, Florida Board of County Commissioners. She has more than 10 years of public relations experience. She is a popular PIO instructor and was named Lake and Sumter Style Magazine’s 40 Under 40 for 2024.
Active Lieutenant
Lieutenant Jeremiah Nicastro oversees the Gloucester Police Departments’ Community Impact Unit. His Law Enforcement career started as a Correctional Officer in 1998. During his tenure Lt. Nicastro has served as a Patrolman, Detective, Sergeant and his current position as a Lieutenant.