Jeff Blumenfeld
President of Blumenfeld and Assoc., Inc.
Editor and Publisher of Expedition News
Darien, Conn.

Jeff Blumenfeld is founder of Blumenfeld and Associates, Inc., a public relations and special events firm based in Darien, Conn. Agency services concentrate on Public Relations and Publicity, Special Event Planning and Implementation, and Sponsorship Evaluation and Management. Clients served include 3M Thinsulate, The Coleman Company, Du Pont, Iceland Tourist Board, Lands' End, Orvis, Sikorsky Aircraft, Timberland, Timex, Virgin Atlantic, and W.L. Gore & Associates.

Blumenfeld is also the founder and current publisher and editor of Expedition News, a newsletter and Web site he started in 1994 to assist companies in participating in Adventure Marketing opportunities.

Prior to establishing Blumenfeld and Associates in 1980, he was vice president at New York public relations agency Dorf/MJH. Before that he was an account executive at Burson-Marsteller Public Relations, also in New York.

During his career, Blumenfeld has worked with astronauts John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, and Alan Shepherd to dedicate a "Mercury" chairlift at Colorado's Breckenridge Ski Area. Other noted personalities associated with Blumenfeld and Assoc. include the late scientist Carl Sagan, and astronaut "Buzz" Aldrin.

An expert at creative special events, Blumenfeld conceived of the world's tallest wheelie - a press stunt on the observation deck of the Empire State Building; launched a new ski area gondola at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; delivered cream puffs to the ABC-TV affiliate in New York to promote the New England state fair; placed a ski deck in front of the Waldorf=Astoria; and organized a kayak marathon around Manhattan Island.

A member of The Explorers Club in New York, and former chair of the organization's Public Affairs Committee, Blumenfeld is an authority on adventure marketing. Most recently he advised The Coleman Company on how to generate awareness through sponsorship of expeditions to Mount Everest and a race through Death Valley in the heat of summer.

Blumenfeld has traveled on business to some of the remotest places on earth. He journeyed to Anadyr, an isolated outpost in Soviet Siberia; and brought media to an Eskimo village on Canada's Baffin Island. A media trip to Yellowknife, NWT, for Lands' End included a sled dog ride for reporters, cross country skiing, and a spectacular display of the Northern Lights. Blumenfeld went to Santiago, Chile, to develop the first ski race in Antarctica; spent two weeks in Nome and Anchorage during promotion of an expedition across the Bering Strait; supervised a team of ski instructors testing ski apparel at 12,000 feet in the High Andes of Argentina; created awareness for a hotel with cave lodging in Copper Canyon, Mexico; and promoted skiing and a midnight golf tournament near the Arctic Circle in Iceland.

High visibility adventure marketing projects have also included promotion of Du Pont sponsorship of both the 1986 Steger International Polar Expedition to the North Pole, and 1990 Trans-Antarctica Expedition.

A few years ago he journeyed to Cozumel, Mexico, to promote the shattering of the world breathhold diving record set by freediver Pipin who dove on a weighted sled to 531 feet and returned 3 min. 12 sec. later on a single breath of air. The sport of freediving was featured in a Wall Street Journal article based, in part, on information he provided.

He also promoted the voyage of an authentic Icelandic Viking ship that commemorated the 1,000th anniversary of the discovery of North America by Leif Eiriksson. He traveled to Greenland for a week to develop a public relations plan for the country's tourist board. A Fellow of London's Royal Geographical Society, he addressed a conference there on the subject of expedition marketing.

Blumenfeld is a former adjunct faculty member of New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies/Marketing and Management Institute. A graduate of Syracuse University, he holds a Bachelor of Science in television/radio. He is a member of the American Alpine Club and board member of Voices of September 11, the leading advocacy group for the friends and families of victims of 9/11 (voicesofsept11.org). Blumenfeld is an avid snow skier, sea kayaker, fly-fishing angler, and competitive sailor. An expert in media of all types, he collects telegraph glass insulators and is fluent in Morse code.

Jamie Gribbon
Account Executive

Jamie Gribbon, who joined Blumenfeld and Associates in 2002, is a graduate of the University of Georgia with prior experience in public relations gained through Jacobs & Prosek Public Relations in Connecticut.

He has worked with clients including Orvis, Mares scuba gear, LEKI and W.L. Gore and Associates. He has traveled to Iceland for the Iceland Tourist Board and helped launch the CW-X Conditioning Wear and SpringBoost footwear brands in the United States, as well as representing clients at the Outdoor Retailer Summer and Winter Market trade shows in Salt Lake City.

Jamie is an avid sportsman. He was a recipient of the South Western Conference "Scholar Athlete Award" in 1997 as captain of the swim team at Bunnell High School in Stratford, Conn., where he was also a member of the track and field team. He continued on to compete for Georgia on the men's Ultimate Frisbee team. As a fan of the outdoors, Gribbon also hikes and camps (including an ascent of Mt. Marcy, the highest peak in the Adirondack Mountain Range), and continues to actively play Ultimate Frisbee.

Jamie competes in amateur auto racing with the BMWCCA and C.A.R.T. He is a graduate of the Skip Barber School of Advanced Driving at Lime Rock and the Panoz Racing School at Road Atlanta. In early 2007, he appeared on the reality television show Forza Motorsports Showdown on the Speed Channel where he raced against other competitors in drag racing and head-to-head racing at Road Atlanta's 2.54-mile Grand Prix road course.

---

Jeanne Corcoran Wiggin
Media Relations Specialist

With over a decade of public relations and writing experience, Jeanne is most happy when she is working on the front lines -- whether it’s writing a press release, talking to a media contact, coordinating an event or planning a public relations program. Having started her career in the trenches working for a small weekly newspaper she knows how the business works inside and out.

Jeanne has an extensive background in industries including travel and tourism, consumer products, health care, technology, publishing, and sports. Over the course of her career she has worked with such recognizable national and regional brands as Bloomingdale’s, Domain Home Fashions, Duofold, Garelick Farms, Guinness and The Coleman Company. She has earned placements for her clients in local, regional, national and trade media including USA Today, ABC Radio, Associated Press, Bloomberg Television, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Popular Science, Forbes.com, WNYW-TV (FOX)/New York, New York Daily News, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Adweek to name a few.

She has also planned and implemented Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration exhibit launches, which included the coordination and execution of press conferences for exhibits such as PT109 and Titanic, highlighting renowned explorer Bob Ballard’s expeditions; and grand opening events for Bertucci’s restaurants in South Carolina and Boston which included partnering with local charities and NFL players to raise visibility for the restaurants and position the company as a community supporter.

Jeanne earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H. She has received numerous awards for her work.