MEET THE TEAM: Jed Weiner
Broadcast journalists are curiosity-seekers who dig for facts and weave compelling narratives. Meet Jed Weiner, a Jeff Winton Associates consultant who started his career in broadcasting and later applied his storytelling skills to roles in global public relations agencies and biopharma companies.
Born in Manhattan, young Jed was determined to harness the energy of the Big Apple by experiencing life fully and being the best at whatever he decided to undertake. One way to do this was to broaden his horizons and get a non-New York world view at college. Jed enrolled in Washington University in St. Louis, though he quickly realized most of his classmates were from the greater New York area. After a year, he transferred to Boston University, where he had two newsroom internships before obtaining a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and film, with an emphasis in journalism.
“I had visions of being a field producer for ’60 Minutes,’ a writer for ‘New York Magazine’ and a feature-film director. Hey, a guy can dream,” he jokes. “However, I decided that starting in TV news would be the easiest way to become self-sufficient versus being a struggling writer or film director.”
Jed assumed a range of on- and off-camera roles in television news in various media markets, including New York City; Portland, Oregon; Idaho Falls/Pocatello, Idaho; and Green Bay, Wisconsin. “Basically, I did everything but the weather!” Jed says.
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Above: Jed is passionate about movies and sports, especially basketball.
After 11 years, Jed made another life-shifting decision by entering public relations in Edelman’s NYC office. He was an original member of the agency’s National Media Relations Department, which serviced all Edelman account teams nationwide. Jed says, “It was there that I learned that health care best suited my journalistic experiences and career goals.” He subsequently followed his mentor and three other colleagues to Fleishman-Hillard to create that agency’s new Health Care & Biotechnology Practice.
A few years later, when Jed and Laurie, his wife since 1982, planned a move to Chicago to be closer to her family, he opted to try working on the corporate side, joining Abbott’s Public Affairs Department as company spokesperson on corporate issues. He never looked back. Over the course of his career, he focused on health care communications for prominent agencies and biopharma companies Astellas, AbbVie, Baxter, G.D. Searle and Shire.
Above: Jed and Laurie enjoyed celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in Paris with their two sons and the sons’ wives.
Jed was introduced to Jeff Winton in 1999 when Jeff came to Chicago to learn about Searle’s assets when that company was being acquired by Pharmacia. Jed explains, “I was working as a full-time consultant for Searle handling communications for the company’s cardiovascular franchise as well as helping to prepare C-suite execs for media interviews about Celebrex® before and after receiving FDA approval. Jeff and I met during a meeting and bonded very quickly.” It was just a matter of time before the two would work together, first when Jeff added Jed as a consultant to the Astellas Corporate Affairs team, and again when Jeff formed his agency in 2020 with co-founder, Jim Modica.
Jed notes, “Consistent across all my career moves has been the joy of working with great colleagues to solve important challenges, especially those that can help enhance patient care.”
Aside from projects that keep the lights on and the bills paid, Jed actively donates his time to health-related causes. He is a pro bono mentor to health care entrepreneurs through MATTER, a Chicago incubator. Before COVID-19 ushered in infection-control protocols preventing post-surgical hospital visitations, Jed was a regular visitor to patients recovering from heart operations or procedures through Mended Hearts, a national patient and caregiver support group. Additionally, he has provided media relations support to Cures Within Reach, a global leader in drug repurposing research, and to SuperSibs, a non-profit created by one of his friends to support, honor and recognize the siblings of children with cancer.
Above: Jed and Laurie are travel buffs. After renewing their vows in Paris, they visited the French Alps.
Above: Among their European travels, Jed and Laurie loved Rome.
In his free time, Jed enjoys watching movies and TV series with Laurie, and watching/attending sports on his own. They cherish the opportunity to travel within and outside the U.S. In addition, when one of his two sons and daughter-in-law travel, he is more than happy to care for their loving rescue dog, Chef.
And although Jed has called the Windy City home since 1990, his mind and heart rest where he was born. “I will ALWAYS be a proud New Yorker!”