welcome.
nice to meet you.
rbb Communications is a nationally-recognized integrated communications agency that champions breakout brands.
Through its proprietary breakout brand research and approach, rbb inspires companies with actionable insights and integrated marketing and communication programs to create customer passions that deliver bottom-line results.
Named by Forbes as one of the Top 200 PR agencies of 2021 and by PRovoke Media as Top 5 Creative Agency of the Year 2020, rbb has a blue-chip client roster with an agency tenure and employee retention that averages an unparalleled 9 years.
Headquartered in Miami, Florida with operations in NY and LA, rbb provides the full-suite of agency services: integrated marketing and advertising, PR, corporate communications, branding strategy, creative and digital.
Our 45 year legacy
Founded in 1975 as a boutique public relations agency, rbb evolved through several phases of expansion, embracing new partners with new expertise along the way.
In 2015, rbb Communications emerged as it is today – a full service, platform-agnostic PR and advertising agency that seamlessly integrates communication and marketing disciplines into solid actionable results. We offer a full suite of services we call crafts that include strategic branding, creative campaigns, traditional and digital PR, crisis and risk management, media relations, corporate communications, paid media planning and buying, digital marketing, advertising, multicultural and hispanic marketing, and web/technology solutions.
Today, rbb’s unique employee culture of ownership and accountability is what we are known for and a key factor in being named Agency of the Year 6 times in recent years. Our employee-driven workplace is not only built into our DNA of how we operate, it also yields consistent award-winning results.
At rbb, we approach every project with an open creative mind – what strategy will serve you best? A cross-platform brand strategy? Digital PR? Social Media Content? Internal Communications?
As a uniquely integrated team 80+ members strong, we may have been born and bred from PR, but have matured to add digital marketing solutions at our fingertips. Your business lives across all and you need a partner that is platform-agnostic. It’s about achieving long-term measurable results vs short-term one-offs.
rbb’s legacy is firmly rooted in our uniqueness against all others.
With clients and staff whose average tenure both range from 9 to 23 years, rbb is solid and reliable – because of who we are as individuals, how we work and what we deliver.
The rbb culture is uniquely
experienced
entrepreneurial
integrated
employee-driven and
women-owned.
And we’ve earned it.
rbb is a triple threat repeatedly recognized as champions in the fields of PR, Digital/Marketing and Advertising. In 2020 alone we were among the Top Five Global Creative Agencies of the Year, the US Small Agency of the Year, named to the Top 100 PR Elite, among Forbes’ 2021 Best PR Agencies in America, and took home campaign honors in every competition we’ve entered. In the past decade we’ve been named Agency of the Year six times, added 100+ Awards for our work and repeatedly named a Best Place to Work. Not that we’re counting, but… you do the math.
meet your leaders.
Christine Barney, APR
CEO & Managing Partner
Christine is our fearless leader. An inspiring public speaker, creative writer and analytical thinker, she drives strategic and creative operations while being hands on with B2B/B2C global, national and local brands who want unvarnished truth and real answers. Christine has thoughtfully guided entities like Thomson Reuters and Masterfoods/M&Ms through a variety of needs such as change management, lead generation, mergers & acquisitions, executive communications and brand development.
A firm believer that happy employees create happy clients, Christine leads the agency’s diverse team of Counselors, Connectors and Creators. With her innovative management style and “employee-driven” philosophy, the firm is a repeated winner in “Best Place to Work” rankings and average Employee and Client tenure (7 years) that blows most other agencies out of the water.
An active and influential community leader, Christine is the past chair of the South Florida Business Council, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Miami and Florida International University Metropolitan Center. She is in the officers cabinet of the Beacon Council, board member of the Orange Bowl Committee and a member of Leadership Florida, the International Women’s Forum, the Page Society and the Florida 500. Christine is Accredited in Public Relations (APR) by the PRSA where she received the 2016 Bill Adams Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Lisa K. Ross
President & Partner
Lisa is a strategic marketer with more than 25 years’ experience in developing breakout brands. She co-founded rbb and serves as its Chief Growth Officer overseeing new client relationships and strategic alliances as well as the firm’s Hospitality Practice.
Lisa has counseled numerous consumer brands such as Allegro Resorts, Cleveland Clinic, Hilton, Virgin Voyages and Zumba Fitness on breakout strategies that led to increased brand loyalty, sales and market share. She connects complimentary and unlikely partners, and transforms smart, fresh ideas into award-winning campaigns which in turn has earned her the gratitude and friendship of many business leaders who remain long-term rbb clients and firm ambassadors.
Lisa believes in giving back and is active in various industry and business organizations. She is often tapped to serve as a judge for leading awards competitions and conference speaker on communications industry issues. Lisa currently serves as a board member of Easterseals South Florida and recently co-chaired Big Brother Big Sisters of Miami’s annual Jazz@Joes luncheon. She also recently completed a term as board member and co-chair of the Americas for PROI, the largest global partnership of independent communications agencies, and served as former board chair of The Strategic Forum and a past board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. She is a member of WPO (Women Presidents Organization) and HSMAI (Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International) and has served on its Marketing Advisory Council and as a Platinum judge of its highly-regarded Adrian Awards. She also received designation from the organization as one of Top 25 Minds in Hospitality Sales & Marketing.
Lisa‘s career success, creativity and entrepreneurialism have gained her recognition in Who’s Who in Communications; Enterprising Women’s Top 100 Female Executives and South Florida Business Journal’s Most Influential Business Women. She graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and attended Columbia University’s Executive Education Leadership Program. She currently resides in Aventura, Florida and enjoys meeting new people, traveling, exercising, discovering exciting new venues and wines, and especially spending time with her sons, Alec, 24, and Cameron, 21.
Tina Elmowitz
Executive Vice President & Partner
Tina is our Chief People Officer, who leads the consumer sectors, and drives talent management. In the pursuit of incredible media and bottom line results, Tina has found elephants who paint, created a frosting experience that grew sales by 106% and launched a coffee College for Starbucks.
Her work is far-reaching, with clients including Hampton by Hilton, Bank of America, Disney on Ice, Cinch Home Services and the Miami Marlins.
And on top of her clienting skills, Tina ensures rbb’s team is getting the professional development they desire - more than 60 hours a year, that our teams are staffed with the most exceptional talent and that our diversity and inclusion efforts continue to raise the bar. She guest lectures and creates connections at various universities to ensure the next generation of talent recognizes rbb’s incredible offerings.
She sits on the University of Florida’s PR Advisory Council, is a member of The Women’s Edge, Broward Forum and former board member of The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida.
ready, set, go.
Everything we do is laser-focused on result-oriented action plans that contribute real value to our clients.
It begins with the team assigned to your business, ready to make things happen.
Want to know how we are structured? Simple and intuitive.
3 types of team members will lead your business at rbb:
counselors, connectors, creators.
counselors
counselor: a seasoned rbb team leader with years of experience trained to give expert guidance and strategic leadership in unique industries.
Your client advocate, a channel expert who knows your business inside and out and will advise in smart proactive ways to drive value; they have honed their skills both within their chosen industry Craft and their chosen industry Sector.
connectors
connector: a committed team member who owns the workflow and process and assures the journey of a project or campaign beginning to end is smooth and efficient.
They manage, follow up, communicate, produce and report. They keep the trains running on time and assure clarity of objectives, consistency in work and success in your investment.
creators
creator: a dynamic team member that has the creative ability to view challenges through a unique lens to turn strategic plans into bold concepts and ideas into reality.
They are our free-thinking creatives, artisans and craftspeople who innovate concepts that connect with people, and then bring them to life, through visual design or skilled copywriting — able to marry art and copy into content, assets, commercials, campaigns that influence behavior and deliver real results. Creativity that works hard.
meet the rbb family.
distinct in thought. distinct in skills. distinct in approach.
Your business will be immediately championed by a senior counselor dedicated to you 24/7,
supported by a team of connectors and creators
to build a solid foundation of cross-functional support
at all times ready to move at your pace.
Lauren Bernat
Vice President of Account Services, Partner
Tom Bolger
Director, Content Studio
Sandra Fine Ericson, APR
Executive Vice President, Energy Practice Leader, Partner
Laura Guitar
Executive Vice President, Health, Crisis Communications & Issue Management
Jeanine Karp
Vice President, Partner
Lisette Loughner
Vice President of Human Resources, Partner
Josh Merkin
Vice President, Partner
Bruce Rubin, APR
Senior Counsel, Litigation & Crisis Communication
Rashid Saker
Senior Vice President of Operations, Partner
Maite Velez-Couto
Senior Vice President, Partner
Shawn Warmstein
Vice President, Partner
local and national
Headquartered in Miami’s historic Coral Gables, our roots in Florida are strong and run deep.
Yet our true reach is broad as we have rbb team members in New York City and Los Angeles.
We are a true national agency serving brands across the entire US and when needed, a partner-presence in Mexico, Latin America and Canada.
In addition, as a result of being a member of PROI Worldwide, we have access to the world’s largest partnership of agencies in 5 continents, 50 countries and over 100+ cities.