Reaching
New Heights in Communications
By Rebecca Rhodin and Dave Block ’93
Photography By David W. Coulter
In the past few years,  Jennifer Cortner ’85 has overseen the evolution of EFX Media Inc. in Arlington, Va., from a video production company to a full-service marketing and media communications agency with 35 employees and $6 million in annual revenue. The company’s clients include AOL, Sallie Mae, ExxonMobil, American Red Cross, and U.S. Postal Service.
“As part of our strategic growth plan, we hired several seasoned creative and marketing executives who have been a tremendous asset to our team,” she says. “We’ve focused our business on a few key areas: internal corporate communications, issue advocacy communications,
and online consumer advertising.”
The company’s strength in video and film production is working to its advantage with the explosion in popularity of online video; EFX is working with several large corporations in launching online television and video networks. It has developed an online streaming video library for AOL that features more than 2,000 broadcast news clips used on
a daily basis for AOL’s public relations and internal communications.
Knowing what the client wants and meeting it within budget is
90 percent of her task, says Cortner.
“Today many people think you can do anything with the press of a button, so we have to manage expectations,” she says. “We sit in on creative sessions to mediate, seeing that the product is meeting the client’s needs and budget.”
Strong on people skills, Cortner divides the top job with chief executive officer Jim Franco, running “the front of the store” while he handles the back—such tasks as taxes, payroll, and equipment leases.
“We have figured out what our strengths are,” she says.
When Cortner joined EFX in 1987 as its first sales account executive, women were relatively rare in the field. She faced challenges from male clients who would try to trip her up with technical terms.
“But I chuckle about that now,” she says. “Many clients are women.”
Cortner’s position requires technical know-how amid constant change, which she would not have predicted to be a career requirement while majoring in international affairs and French.
“My mother always marvels at this—that her daughter is in a highly skilled technical field,” she says. “But even if I were starting over, I would do everything the same way. I love the whole liberal arts educational experience.”
Lafayette’s international affairs program helped provide diplomatic skills vital in business.
“I exercise diplomacy every day, just not in the political area,” Cortner says. “I wouldn’t have changed my major for the world. It taught me to be a critical thinker, to write well, and gave me a global perspective—all attributes that have served me well in my career thus far.”
Last year, she received a Woman of Vision award from Women in Film and Video, honored at a gala alongside Carrie Fisher and Brooke Johnson, president of the Food Network. She recently was named to the Board of Directors of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, which provides financial education and work-life training programs to lower-income, women-headed families. EFX Media provides pro-bono work
to the foundation, as well as to Habitat for Humanity of
Northern Virginia.
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