John Guilfoil
Biography
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.
He is also the Founder and Owner of JGPR Academy.
John has been honored nationally for his work on behalf of JGPR’s clients. In 2015 and 2016 he was named the National Public Affairs Professional of the Year by the public relations trade association PR News. The same organization also named him the 2016 National Crisis Manager of the Year, and later, one of the industry’s 50 National Game Changers of Public Relations in 2017, as well as one of PR News’ PR People of the Year in 2020.
Under his leadership, at 2021’s 53rd Annual Bell Ringer Awards, JGPR took home 15 awards in a variety of categories from Crisis Communications to Public Affairs to National Television Placement. In total, JGPR won two Gold Bells, three Silver Bells, six Bronze Bells and four Merit Awards, and was New England’s top Bell winner.
John’s interest in public safety began at a young age—his father and brother serve as firefighters on the same department in Connecticut—and journalism and the media became a passion. In 2007 John completed a double bachelor’s degree in journalism and criminal justice with a concentration in policing studies at Northeastern University, and in 2010 he received a master’s Degree from Emerson College.
John started at the Boston Globe in 2006 as a Northeastern co-op student and worked his way up to staff reporter, working closely with public safety officials across New England. He left after 2011 to become Deputy Press Secretary to legendary Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
John teaches journalism and public relations at Northeastern University and Lasell University and has extensive experience training police, fire, school, and municipal government personnel on a variety of topics including Public Relations, Media Relations, and Crisis Management.