Home Integrated Capabilities Clients Proven Results News About Contact	About Thom M. Serafin With a distinguished career spanning three decades, Thom M. Serafin is of one the Midwest’s leading business communications advisors and political pundits. The founder and CEO of Serafin & Associates, Inc. 20 years ago, Thom leads a powerful communications team, providing strategic counseling on public relations initiatives, public affairs campaigns, and crisis and reputation management. The diverse Serafin client list ranges from local and state businesses and associations to multi-national corporations. An insightful strategist, Thom is well-known in the business arena for his ability to identify and effectively deliver a message, and he is the go-to guy when a crisis warrants strong leadership. Thom has an innate ability to diffuse potentially damaging crisis situations. His calm demeanor and methodical business sense make him the ideal advisor and spokesperson when corporate reputations are at stake. Thom’s expertise as a political communications analyst comes after years of hands-on experience, first as a network radio political correspondent, later as press secretary for three U.S. Senate campaigns, a U.S. Presidential campaign, and on the Washington D.C. staff of U.S. Senator Alan Dixon. Over the years, he has served as a strategist for some of the country’s most high-profile politicians. An independent thinker as well as voter, Thom is a widely sought after political analyst and familiar face and voice on Illinois and Chicago network television and radio affiliates. His in-depth knowledge of the political scene, along with an affable manner and great sense of humor, make him a regular on PBS, WGN and Chicago’s ABC, NBC and Fox network affiliates and he has appeared on NBC’s Today Show. Thom received his Master’s Degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois, Springfield under the direction of his long-time friend and mentor, the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon. While not too many Americans have supped with Fidel Castro, Thom spent a day with the dictator and Sen. Simon when he served as Director of Operations and Media for Sen. Simon’s humanitarian mission to Cuba in 2001. Thom serves on the Communications Advisory Board of the Salvation Army, Chicago, the Board of Directors of the West Suburban Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the University of Illinois, Springfield Alumni Board, and the University of Illinois’ Leadership Roundtable. An avid sportsman and Little League coach, Thom lives with his beautiful wife and two sons in LaGrange Park, Illinois. Betsy Sales Betsy Sales joined the Serafin team in 1991 and is responsible for some of the company’s most complex accounts. Before joining Serafin & Associates, Inc., Betsy was marketing director for the Chicago Tribune’s WGN Radio where she sharpened her reputation in the industry as a marketing guru. She helped coordinate all public and media relations, marketing, promotional, philanthropic and advertising outreach efforts for the station and worked closely with city and state officials to inform listeners of public programs and events. Betsy initiated, developed and executed many joint sports marketing ventures with the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears and DePaul University that are still in evidence today – the most famous being the “Harry for a Day” program where celebrities such as Bill Murray, George Wendt and Jim Belushi filled in for Harry Caray during his recuperation from a stroke. Betsy worked closely with Arlington Park, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Chicago and Illinois tourism officials to develop a promotional and marketing program for the 2002 Breeders’ Cup held at Arlington Park. The program resulted in substantially increased awareness for this exciting international event. Betsy continues to consistently break new ground developing innovative public affairs/relations activities for the clients at Serafin & Associates. It was the urban marketing program she designed that enabled Wal-Mart to achieve its first successful store entrance into a major metropolitan community. In Chicago’s business and political worlds, Betsy is appreciated for her candor and can-do attitude, having been involved in a variety of issues and philanthropic endeavors. She is a graduate of the University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA) and lives with her husband, Tom, in Chicago. Joshua E. Robbins Joshua Robbins’ career has been driven by his passion and determination to serve clients' needs while encouraging them to pursue challenging goals. Joshua has used his strategic approaches to communications, human relations and crisis management to serve a diverse client base including manufacturing, energy, technology, government and not-for-profit organizations. He has used his knowledge in community relations, crisis management and organizational communications to help clients through litigation and organizational change, while pursuing proactive relationship building and positioning. Joshua has also made many political strides for clients, leading underdog companies to legislative victories. He has developed and implemented a wide array of extensive stakeholder, community, grassroots and customer outreach programs, and led communications assessments for state agencies, industry, public companies and not-for-profits. Joshua joined Serafin & Associates in 1998 and is currently providing his superior leadership to major companies such as Ameren Illinois Utilities. For three years he has managed the Vulcan Materials Company account, overseeing the community relations function for 26 aggregate production facilities in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. His communications scope includes litigation, zoning/permitting, media relations, corporate contributions, community outreach, critical issues and reputation management. Joshua began his interest in politics and communications in 1993 when he was appointed student trustee on the Miami University Board of Trustees. He resumed his political journey with George Voinovich's gubernatorial campaign in 1994. It was there that Joshua honed his ability to work in a fast-paced environment while dealing with aggressive timelines. Joshua followed that up by becoming director of special communications at the Ohio Bureau Workers' Compensation (BWC) – a $23 billion state insurance agency that employed 3,300 people. Through improved customer service and outreach programs, Joshua played an instrumental role in a massive agency transformation. In 2004, Joshua was nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Achievement for Special Events Programming after developing the concept for and producing a two-hour bipartisan debate between U.S. Senate candidates.
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