Laurie Jakobsen, the founder and president of Jaybird Communications, has over 25 years of public relations and marketing communications experience, ranging from artist representation to start-up dot-coms to major multi-national music companies.

As part of the boutique public relations firm Shore Fire Media, she represented Bruce Springsteen, Wynton Marsalis, Everything but the Girl, the family of Jimi Hendrix and Natalie Merchant. In 1997, she joined the first Internet-focused record label, N2K Encoded Music, helmed by the legendary producer Phil Ramone. From there, she worked with AT&T’s early music distribution company a2b Music, and as part of public relations firm Middleberg Associates, worked with many start-up and established companies in the early Internet era. In 1999, she was recruited to handle all new technology-related communications at Sony Music Entertainment, including the launch of one of the first subscription music services, pressplay (now Napster), and oversaw public relations for all of their incubated properties.

In 2003, she joined the leading U.S music licensing agent, The Harry Fox Agency (HFA), to create the company’s marketing and communications discipline so it could better respond to the digital marketplace. In 2009, the company was named #182 in InformationWeek’s top 500 innovative American companies — the highest-ranked music company on the list.

Laurie is also active in fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs and creating more opportunity for underrepresented voices. Since 2013, she has been involved with the NYU Steinhardt Music Business program’s capstone Entrepreneurship class as a mentor and as Executive in Residence; she has been appointed to the faculty as an adjunct professor starting Fall 2020. She is an early-stage investor in several women- and femme-founded startups through Pipeline Angels, and has been a speaker and mentor for DWT Project W, including the Women Entrepreneurs Boot Camp and the inaugural Black Founder 1:1s program. In addition, she is a regular speaker at conferences and schools on topics related to creative communications, the music industry, and entrepreneurship. She has a BA from Tufts University in English, and an MBA from NYU Stern.

When not Jaybird-ing, Laurie enjoys cooking (because she also likes eating), horseback riding, Pilates and yoga.

Bill Greenwood has worked with Jaybird Communications for over 10 years, working his way up to Director while leading campaigns for the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP), Bandsintown, Bandzoogle, music clearance expert Deborah Mannis-Gardner, Exactuals, Indaba Music, Linkfire, Made in Memphis Entertainment (MIME), Mixcloud, the Music Business Association (Music Biz), the NY Tech Alliance, ole (now Anthem Entertainment), OpenPlay, Soundfly, Soundstripe, Tracklib, Verifi Media, hip-hop business expert Wendy Day, and many more. He now manages a team of communications specialists located throughout the U.S., including Los Angeles, Nashville, and Portland, OR.

Bill has landed clients on Billboard’s coveted Power 100, Indie Power Players, Digital Power Players, Women in Music, and Pride lists, as well as the Inc. 5000 and Inc. Regionals lists. He also helped secure the inaugural Agent of Change Award for MIME during the Music Biz 2022 Bizzy Awards. In addition, Bill has established multiple clients as go-to experts in their industry by placing op-eds, features, Q&As, and quotes in major outlets such as Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Variety, Billboard, Music Business Worldwide, Music Week, HotNewHipHop, HipHopDX, DJBooth, Bloomberg, Playbill, and The Tennessean. He also assisted with rebranding campaigns for Music Biz (formerly NARM) and the NY Tech Alliance (formerly NY Tech Meetup); promoted major industry events such as the annual AIMP Global Music Publishing Summit and Music Biz conferences; booked presentations and panel appearances for clients at SXSW, Music Biz, Midem, Mondo.NYC, Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), Podcast Movement, and the A3C Conference; and helped various clients strategize and execute launch plans and other campaigns.

Prior to joining Jaybird, Bill spent several years in the journalism industry, where he got his start as a Staff Writer for The Cranbury Press and South Brunswick Post before becoming an Assistant Editor for information-technology B2B publications Information Today, Streaming Media, and Computers in Libraries. He also interned at Sony Music Entertainment and has done marketing work for independent bands Roosevelt Dime and The Paper Jets, which he also managed until their disbandment in December 2018. Bill received his BA in Journalism from Rider University in 2006 and his Master’s in Media Studies from The New School in 2011.

Based on the New Jersey side of the Philadelphia area, Bill is always up for a round of karaoke or a midnight screening of B (and C) level films like The Room or Cats. He is proud to own a copy of Billy Joel’s pre-fame heavy metal album on vinyl, and would love nothing more than to meet his idol, Dave Grohl.