Why Lewis Pulse?

Palo Alto, CA

Johnston is the president of LEWIS Pulse. He started his career in software before entering journalism. He reported for the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle and later served as assistant dean at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. In Australia, he led marketing and operations for HP’s largest systems integrator. In the U.S., he held executive marketing positions at public and private software companies in Silicon Valley. Johnston has written for many publications, including California Magazine, Computer Praxis, Der Spiegel, London Today and Stanford Lawyer. He holds a BA in English from Stanford University and a master’s in journalism from University of California at Berkeley.

San Francisco, CA

Oda has more than 20 years of experience with marketing, PR, community engagement, and social media campaigns. Prior to LEWIS Pulse, he was vice president in charge of sales and marketing for a major enterprise software and network infrastructure company. Oda was an early leader in moving companies to online Web communications in his previous role as CEO of a major Internet company and popular web-based social networking site. A veteran executive in Silicon Valley, he has held vice president roles in business development, product marketing, product management, and strategic alliances. Most recently for LEWIS Pulse, Oda has developed online communications and customer engagement strategies for Cisco, Google, Polycom, McAfee, VMware, SAP, and many other companies. Oda has a BA in English from the University of Hawaii.

Santa Barbara, CA

George has more than 14 years’ experience in consumer and technology public relations on both the client and agency sides of the business. His consumer clients have included Home Depot, Kinko’s and McDonald’s. In technology, George was a co-founder of the Venture PR Group where his agency supported a wide range of early-stage startups, including Versora (acquired by Kaseya), a provider of Windows-to-Linux migration software. As a senior member at Page One PR, George has led a wide range of accounts, including Cleversafe, Cloudera, GroundWork Open Source, Hyperic and Mulesource. George holds a BA in business and economics and English from Westmont College.

social media director
San Francisco, CA

Hebert joined LEWIS Pulse and the social media team in 2009 from Morrissey & Company in Boston, where she focused on reputation management and public relations for healthcare and financial institutions. Hebert has extensive experience managing global social media campaigns for companies that include Cisco, McAfee and VMware. Hebert and her team have also developed social and digital campaigns for events such as Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Intel Developer Forum, VMworld, and McAfee FOCUS Conference. Hebert was a competitive figure skater for more than 10 years, competing at the collegiate level. She holds a BS in public relations and American studies from Boston University.

San Francisco, CA

Leslie Johnson has fifteen years of experience in developing and implementing PR programs for technology companies. She has led teams in consistently achieving top-tier results for technology innovators including Citrix Online, Dropbox, RingCentral and SugarCRM. Before joining LEWIS Pulse, Johnson served as vice president at Schwartz Communications, and account director at Atomic PR and Citigate Cunningham. She also served as the internal public relations manager at PeopleSoft. Johnson’s background also includes conducting targeted public affairs and marketing communications programs for McDonald’s Restaurants of Northern California, the San Francisco International Airport and the Bay Area Rapid Transit District. She holds a BA in political science from the University of California, Davis.

San Francisco, CA

Nellums joined LEWIS Pulse in 2010 with more than six years experience in professional services and technology public relations. She was previously with Merritt Group where she oversaw client service for the San Francisco office, with a particular emphasis on technology companies within information security. Nellums oversaw clients such as Fortify Software, Blue Coat Systems and GoingOn, as well as contributed to PR programs for PGP Corporation, DemandTec and MIOX, among others. Prior to that, she was an associate at Infinite Public Relations where she handled media relations for a number of corporate law firms. Early in her career, Nellums held a communications role within the California State Speaker’s Office of Member Services and managed a winning State Assembly campaign. She holds a BA in political science and international relations from the University of California at Davis.