Founded in 1981 by Steve Avakian, Avakian Consulting specializes in personal attention to every detail of community outreach. We believe that every client need is different and that one size does not fit all.
When you hire Avakian Consulting you’re hiring a proven professional team that tailors a specific solution to your problem — no “cookie cutter” approaches are practiced here. Every client of Avakian gets personal attention, and many of our clients have been with us for a decade or longer.
Joel offers a range of experience in politics and has been involved in political campaigns at every level and even abroad for more than 25 years. This includes work on multiple presidential campaigns, the Irish Parliament, mayoral campaigns, and campaigns for the US Senate and governorship. It also includes serving in public office as an elected official.
Joel graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and attended Harvard University for graduate studies. He also completed program work from Harvard in conflict resolution and from the University of Chicago in creative writing. Joel has worked throughout the country as part of his political work.
Steve Avakian grew up in New York City and earned degrees at The College of Wooster and Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism before launching a reporting career with the Cleveland Press. Merging his passion for public policy work and reporting, Avakian served as press secretary to Senator John Glenn from 1974-79 and then managed Glenn’s first re-election campaign. That 1980 re-election campaign set the record for earning the largest plurality in Ohio history by carrying 87 of Ohio’s 88 counties. A record that remains unbroken to this day.
In 1981 Steve launched Avakian Consulting focusing on grassroots campaigns of all types and throughout the state of Ohio. Throughout the decades, Avakian Consulting continued to evolve and expand their work into public policy planning and outreach. This specialty work entails a diverse client base ranging from municipalities to park boards and from school districts to professional associations.
While Avakian Consulting continues to grow, the guiding philosophy remains to assist organizations in developing a better understanding of how the public must be engaged.
Carole has more than 20 years of experience in politics with experience ranging from state and local government to campaigns for candidate and ballot issue initiatives. Prior to joining the Ohio local government, where she has worked in numerous capacities for more than 10 years, she worked in the Michigan Senate as a writer on the majority leader’s staff and for many caucus senators.
She is known for developing responsible and responsive outreach strategies so that organizations can effectively communicate with their constituencies and garner support and credibility. Carole is a periodic presenter on outreach strategies and programs.
Carole is a native Ohioan. She has a B.S. in English Literature from the University of Cincinnati and M.A. in Public Policy and Management from The Ohio State University.
Jennifer has spent over 15 years in government and non-profit service including as a legislative aide for Assistant Majority Leader of the Ohio House of Representatives and as a lobbyist and grassroots coordinator for the Ohio School Boards Association.
She has extensive experience in grassroots advocacy and creating strategy, as well as advocating in both the legislative and executive branches on behalf of client interests. She’s worked on both local and statewide ballot issues and candidate campaigns and has developed outreach strategies and communication plans for a variety of interests from the local, state and national levels withproven success.
Jennifer is a native Ohioan and grew up in Boardman. She has a B.A. in Communication from The Ohio State University and M.A. in Public Policy and Management from The Ohio State University.
Cathy brings experience and expertise to the team of Avakian Consulting. For over ten years Cathy has worked along side one of the best in the business, Steve Avakian. Together they have worked on numerous and successful school and municipality levy campaigns.
Cathy brings over 20 years of fundraising experience to the Avakian Consulting team. Her fundraising work on behalf of municipal and school issues has been especially noteworthy, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in donations to fund referendum efforts and scholarship funds.
She owns and operates Cathy Young Consulting, LLC a local consulting firm specializing in Fundraising Development, Effective Communication Training, Media Relations, and Turnkey Productions.
