Jennifer Houston
President WE Studio D®
With more than 17 years of experience in building and implementing online and offline communications strategies for companies of all sizes, including well-established global corporations and startup ventures, Jennifer Houston serves as president of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide’s global WE Studio D® team.
Jennifer built and leads the practice, which focuses on digital storytelling, social media strategy, measurement and research, and experience design, a role that requires her to evolve the agency’s understanding and definitions of influence and engagement. The dynamic digital field requires a dynamic, take-charge personality, and one of the key attributes of Jennifer’s leadership is her unconventional approach to tackling big challenges in pursuit of opportunities. A passionate entrepreneur, problem-solver and self-proclaimed rule-breaker, Jennifer is always seeking new ideas and new approaches. Her areas of expertise include perception-shifting campaigns, digital influence, storytelling and narrative generation, competitive strategy development, business strategy and development, crisis communications, and influencer relations. Jennifer also oversees the agency’s product development and R&D organizations. In earlier years at WE, Jennifer served as vice president in product development, business development and numerous client-focused roles.
Her work building and growing WE Studio D earned her the honor of being named as one of PR Week’s 40 Under 40 in 2009.
Jennifer has more than 10 years of experience working on Microsoft accounts. Most recently, she served in helping to imagine and further Microsoft’s harnessing of digital influence and their digital storytelling platform: the Microsoft News Center. She has served as the agency’s lead for Microsoft’s integrated communications efforts by evangelizing and systematizing communications into cross-discipline campaigns, including the Windows FTP campaign. Before that, she ran the PR team responsible for the global communications for Microsoft Windows after the Windows Vista launch. She also built the communications strategies for and launched Microsoft’s People-Ready Business campaign to extend Microsoft’s dialogue with business decision-makers. Before that, Jennifer spent three years leading a team focused on building Microsoft’s competitive and intellectual property PR strategies regarding Sun, Oracle, IBM and open source. She spearheaded the company’s “Get the Facts” and intellectual property public awareness campaigns, shifting public perception and garnering coverage in top media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune and the Associated Press. She led the infrastructure, embedded and security businesses for Windows 2000, and was part of the broader Windows 2000 launch team. She also developed strategy for Microsoft’s giving and community affairs campaign and managed the announcement of Microsoft’s largest donation and investment in the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
In addition to Microsoft, Jennifer has also provided strategic communications counsel to other innovation brands including BMC Software, Boeing, HTC, Fran’s Chocolates, Shurgard Storage, Homegrocer.com and VoiceBox.
Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a minor in Spanish language and literature from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Jennifer lives in the Puget Sound area with her husband and their four children, as well as their cat, guinea pig, goldfish, and Cairn terrier. She is an avid outdoors enthusiast, foodie and lover of her husband’s gourmet meals, and when she isn’t chasing around the kids and pets, she’s running, biking and swimming to prepare for sprint triathlons. If you move fast enough, you may be able to catch her on http://www.twitter.com/jhouston89.
