John F. Kouten

About JFK

Agency experience. Corporate perspective. Entrepreneurial instinct.

JFK brings together 35 years of life-science communications experience shaped inside global agencies, boutique firms, Big Pharma and more than two decades building an independent communications business.

The result is senior counsel that understands the science, the business and the realities of getting important work done.

Big agency

Learned at scale.

Experience inside major global and boutique communications agencies, including WPP-level environments, where sophisticated brands and high expectations were the norm.

Big pharma

Learned from inside.

A decade inside Sanofi, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson provides firsthand understanding of how communications decisions are made within major life-science companies.

Entrepreneurial

Built from the ground up.

More than two decades building JFK Communications created a different perspective on senior counsel, flexibility and delivering sophisticated work without traditional agency layers.

Life science

Thirty-five years. One industry.

Experience spanning biopharma, oncology, medical devices, diagnostics, clinical technology, SaaS and emerging AI-driven clinical science — with deep relationships across media, KOLs, advocates and industry leaders.

Senior expertise

Built around the challenge. Not an org chart.

Every assignment is different. So is the team it requires. JFK brings together the right mix of strategy, science, media, digital, creative and advocacy expertise for the work at hand—then adjusts that mix as the challenge evolves.
Peter Steinberg
Peter Steinberg
Director of Editorial Services
Editorial · Media · Content
Tony DeFazio
Tony DeFazio
Strategic Partner
Strategy · Corporate Communications · Reputation
John F. Kouten
John F. Kouten
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Strategy · Life Sciences · Oncology
Bob Karczewski
Bob Karczewski
Strategic Partner
Scientific Communications · Medical Affairs · Oncology
Chris Rosica
Chris Rosica
Strategic Partner
Media Relations · Executive Visibility · Launch
Michael W. Young
Michael W. Young
Senior Advisor
Diagnostics · Digital Health · Market Access
The JFK story

Built differently. For a reason.

JFK didn't begin with a new agency model. It evolved into one — shaped by experience inside agencies, Big Pharma, entrepreneurship, industry disruption and more than two decades of listening to what life-science clients actually need.

JFK Communications team at its first Race for the Cure, 2006

First Race for the Cure, 2006

Journalism taught us to find the story.
A life-science background and a journalist's training — the habit of finding what matters in the science and saying it plainly.
PR agency and Big Pharma taught us how decisions get made.
Years inside global and boutique agencies, then inside Sanofi, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson — learning how communications decisions are actually made, and what they cost.
JFK is born.
An independent model takes shape: senior people on the work, specialists matched to the assignment instead of a bench that has to be kept busy.
Built to adapt.
Two industry disruptions changed how life-science communications is sourced and delivered. Each time the firm evolved around senior judgment rather than headcount.
Senior experience. Built around the assignment.
Programs led personally by a senior practitioner, with a network of senior specialists brought in when the assignment calls for them.
Not more agency. More experience.

The right thinking. The right people. At the right moment.

JFK combines senior strategic counsel with specialized life-science expertise assembled around the challenge. The team can expand, contract and evolve as the work changes—without forcing every client into the same agency model.

Judgment
Know what matters — and what doesn’t.
Expertise
Bring in the right specialists for the challenge.
Agility
Build the team around the work, not the other way around.
Got something BIG to share?

A breakthrough. A milestone. A challenge. An idea that deserves more attention. Tell us what’s next.