About Us
At AKB Strategies we deliver creative solutions to nonprofit advocacy organizations, trade associations, corporations and public sector clients seeking to advance an issue, cut through the media clutter, strengthen their brand or find creative funding solutions. We run soup-to-nuts public affairs campaigns, build and manage coalitions and associations, execute media relations campaigns, represent clients on Capitol Hill, and more.
Clients come to AKB Strategies for strategic problem solving and result-oriented campaigns. We are committed to understanding our clients’ goals and motivations and then developing and executing tailored campaigns to tackle each client’s unique challenges.
Ann Brown, President
For more than 25 years, Ann has developed and implemented strategies for clients working to protect the environment, advance sustainable agriculture, end human trafficking, support smallholder farmers, combat genocide, and more. And the dynamic team she’s built at AKB shares her mission of helping clients forge change for social good.
Ann places high value on listening and understanding not just what clients are trying to accomplish, but also how to work successfully together. Relationships matter. Ann has successfully provided counsel and implemented strategies to help organizations raise brand awareness, advocate for policy change, and shift the public narrative. Her broad range of expertise includes grassroots campaign strategy, stakeholder outreach, coalition management, communications strategy and messaging, media relations, writing, and more.
Before launching her business, Ann managed fundraising, public education and grassroots organizing campaigns for the environmental organizations Friends of the Earth and Clean Water Action. She holds a BA in biology from Carleton College. Read more about Ann’s work here.
Ken Brown, Principal
Ken advises public and private sector clients on federal funding, legislative and regulatory solutions, and other tools to advance clean energy, economic and community development, brownfields revitalization, infrastructure upgrades, air and water quality improvements and other priorities. He also advises private sector clients on promoting environmental technologies and environmentally preferred products. Ken serves as Executive Director for Transportation Energy Partners, a non-profit organization promoting clean fuels and vehicles. Ken speaks regularly on infrastructure, clean energy, brownfields and other community revitalization issues. He has more than 30 years of experience working on a broad range of public policy issues at the local, state and national levels.
Previously, Ken was a partner with The Ferguson Group, government affairs director for Spiegel & McDiarmid, executive director of the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals, executive director of Renew America, national program director for Clean Water Action, co-founder and director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation, and legislative assistant for Congressman Bill Gradison. Ken holds a BA and MA in public policy from the University of Michigan. Read more about Ken’s work here.
Jill Coody Smits, Strategist
Jill is a communications professional with 20 years of experience in nonprofit communications and public relations. After working as an in-house communicator for nonprofits like Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Texas Medical Association, Jill became a freelance writer and consultant, specializing in strategic communications, grassroots advocacy, and consumer-facing publications. In addition to her work with AKB Strategies on behalf of organizations like Refugees International, Save Darfur Coalition, Fairtrade America, and Humanity United, her work is published in numerous print and online outlets including CNN.com, The Washington Post, The Hill, Southwest Magazine, Psychology Today, and Austin Monthly.