Bios
Patrick Dorton – Partner
Patrick Dorton has handled communications at the highest level of business and government, including serving as a senior advisor in the Clinton White House.
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Patrick is a public affairs communications expert with extensive experience in corporate, financial, public policy, and political strategy and messaging. He is an experienced spokesperson who has been quoted in more than 2000 news stories during the past several years. Patrick served as a senior strategic advisor in the White House and for U.S. Senators, Congressmen, and the Senate Agriculture Committee. Patrick has directed fully integrated communications campaigns on behalf of companies and non-profits. He has provided high-level counsel to companies and organizations such as RR Donnelley, Arthur Andersen, KPMG, and AIPAC; advised numerous Washington trade associations on sensitive PR situations; and worked on a wide variety of issues, including financial services, health care and medical research, business transactions, agriculture policy and education, human resources, tax policy, international trade, land use, privacy, aviation, and military defense.
Patrick was the chief spokesman and Director of Media Relations at Arthur Andersen LLP during the firm’s 2002 crisis and subsequent sale of assets. Before joining the global accounting firm, Patrick was Special Assistant to President Clinton and Communications Director for the White House National Economic Council. He served on the White House team governing the President’s communications, events, and speeches. He also wrote and coordinated economic press statements and talking points for the President, was the on-the-record economic spokesperson for the White House, and served as a senior advisor for National Economic Advisor Gene Sperling.
Patrick also served as the Press Secretary for U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio and for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and the Senate Agriculture Committee minority from 1996 to 1999. He was Deputy Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee in 1994 and 1995, and for U.S. Senator Richard Shelby from 1991 to 1993.
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Don Marshall – Partner
Don Marshall is a communications strategist who combines deep political experience with an expertise in business and new media communications.
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Don has spent over 15 years working as a communications professional, handling public relations and new media strategy for political leaders, companies, non-profits and public policy organizations. Don served as a member of the senior management team for The Washington Post Company’s online subsidiary, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI). He led the company’s corporate communications and business marketing departments, and developed and executed public outreach strategies for washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com. He has directed communications for numerous companies on the leading edge of technology and innovation, including the Information Technology Industry Association, Bright Automotive, the Online Publishers Association and the Software & Information Industry Association, and has built and implemented new media communications strategies for organizations of all sizes.
Don’s corporate experience includes taking a lead role in planning and executing Coca-Cola’s national communications strategy for the Olympic Torch Relay and serving as a top spokesperson for the company. An experienced political and public affairs communicator, Don has worked for numerous candidates and elected officials. He has held senior positions with three members of the U.S. Congress, including running the communications office and serving as lead spokesperson for Senator John D. Rockefeller IV. Don directed communications for political campaigns across the country, including in Ohio, Louisiana and Massachusetts. His public affairs work extends beyond government and campaigns to include policy organizations and international affairs. He has provided communications counsel to the nation’s largest anti-tobacco advocacy group and worked with the second democratically elected president of Nicaragua to improve his government’s national outreach.
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Rob Gray – Partner
Rob Gray runs Rational 360’s Boston office and is one of the Northeast’s most effective media relations executives, working for high profile corporate and public affairs clients.
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Rob is known as one of the most knowledgeable and effective public relations executives in the Northeast. Gray holds more than a decade of media and public affairs experience at the local, state, and national levels, specializing in developing and implementing communications plans for high-profile clients in both the corporate and public sectors. On a daily basis, he advises Fortune 500, Fortune 50 and other businesses regarding communications challenges.
Outside of his corporate communications practice, Rob was a senior advisor and media strategist to Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s 2002 campaign. In the 2000 and 2004 election cycles, he was a consultant to the Bush/Cheney presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee – assisting in the primaries, general election and Florida recount. Before joining Rational 360, Rob served as Press Secretary to Massachusetts Governor William Weld and Governor Paul Cellucci. In that capacity, he was the Governors’ top spokesman and media strategist and managed all media communications and planning for cabinet and sub-cabinet agencies. Rob has also worked as a gubernatorial campaign manager, U.S. Senate race Communications Director and Press Secretary on Capitol Hill. Recognized by The Boston Business Journal as one of the top public relations executives in Boston, Rob and his firm represent major corporations and other clients in fields including health care, construction, energy, real estate and finance.
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Jeff O'Mara – Partner
Jeff O’Mara runs Rational 360's Seattle office and has created and executed transformative marketing campaigns for Fortune 50 companies, start-ups, and public policy interests using integrated marketing strategy, branding, positioning, and research.
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At Microsoft, Jeff was on point for some of the company's most high-profile perception change efforts including the transition from Windows Vista to Windows 7, Apple compete, the company’s proposed purchase of Yahoo! and addressing the challenge of free software. He also directed a global portfolio of corporate citizenship and reputation issues, ranging from education to security, intellectual property, and platform compete.
Jeff has run marketing for technology start-ups from Silicon Valley to Seattle, positioning these companies as innovative category leaders, growing customer bases and driving sales, and attracting new rounds of financing. He got his start in technology running marketing for a Silicon Valley networking services start-up (Slam Dunk Networks) founded by technology veterans and backed by Mayfield, El Dorado and a host of major corporations including American Express, Cisco, Oracle, SAP, VeriSign and others.
Jeff spent the first decade of his career in Washington, DC, where he was Press Secretary to U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN). Then he left Capitol Hill to work on a number of high profile national public affairs issues, ranging from health care to telecommunications, education, and the effort to use democracy to rid the Teamsters Union of corruption. -
Brian Kaminski – Vice President
Brian Kaminski has led communications campaigns on behalf of high profile companies, ranging from Sallie Mae to the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA).
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On behalf of the student loan and credit card industries, Brian developed and executed public relations outreach efforts surrounding reform legislation moving through Congress. For these projects, he led strategic message development, managed targeted advertising, and directed the work of third party groups seeking to educate lawmakers and consumers about the consequences of proposed legislation.
Prior to joining Rational PR, Brian worked as part of the communications teams in the Office of Senator Barbara Mikulski, the Office of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and at the Democratic National Committee, where he worked on national radio outreach. He also worked in the private sector for Accenture, Ltd. Brian received his BSLA from Georgetown University, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame. He speaks Spanish fluently.
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Alissa Hinkson – Vice President
Alissa Hinkson has expertise in message development and strategic positioning for leading corporate and public affairs clients.
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Alissa has directed communications campaigns for a diverse range of clients, helping them articulate focused agendas, execute key communications objectives, and reach target audiences with their messages. She has led Rational 360’s work for the Personal Care Products Council, the leading trade association representing the global cosmetics industry, the American Dental Education Association, and the American Clean Skies Foundation.
A former senior aide at Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research, Alissa worked with pollster Frank Luntz to develop communications for a variety of industries, ranging from healthcare, to financial services, to consumer goods. She worked to develop Disney’s corporate responsibility platform, helped Proctor & Gamble identify the best philanthropic focus, and identified the best strategies to increase corporate partnerships for the United Nations Foundation & the Nike Foundation, and for Conservation International. Other clients included State Farm, Citigroup, Pfizer, Anheuser-Busch, and PWC.
Alissa also edited both fiction and non-fiction trade books for ReganMedia and published features in the Hartford Courant as a contributing writer to the Sunday Magazine. Alissa is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.