Jenny Kern

Managing Senior Vice President

Jenny brings nearly twenty years of experience in strategic communication, nonprofit advocacy, politics and public affairs as well as a contagious enthusiasm for her work at Spitfire. She focuses much of her work on collaborating with clients to improve education and better support families. Her portfolio spans early learning, K-12 and higher education. While she speaks edu-wonk, she works with clients to translate complex information into accessible, compelling messages. 

Relationship building is at the center of everything she does. Whether she’s providing strategic counsel to a client, working closely with the media to help shape a story or facilitating a coalition meeting, Jenny takes the time to understand the individual needs of those she’s working with and responds carefully. Jenny is happiest when she’s coaching her clients and seeing them become sharper communicators. 

Building on work to draft their new strategic plan, Jenny partners with First 5 LA to strengthen staff capacity to use communications to drive forward lasting impact for LA’s youngest children and their families. Working with Bay Ed Fund, a community investment fund and all-in strategic partner to district communities, she collaborates with the Ravenswood City School District and South San Francisco Unified School District to develop communication strategies to bring their community-lead visions to life.

Jenny is currently developing narrative and message guidance to combat attacks on fair opportunity in education and defend equity, opportunity, academic freedom, and democratic values. Jenny is proud to work in deep partnership with California Community Colleges, supporting communication strategies and messaging around faculty and staff diversification and their larger Diversity Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility efforts, centering racial justice as part of Vision 2030, elevating systemic barriers to transfer through dynamic visualizations, and beyond. Through the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she supported messaging and brand development to launch the Higher Ed Equity Network.

Prior to joining Spitfire, Jenny led the PR & Company’s education practice and directed work for Early Edge California, the Partnership for Children and Youth, and the California PTA. She is an alumna of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs and cut her teeth at the Drug Policy Alliance. In addition to developing policies and messages, Jenny has served as a spokesperson to such outlets as CNN, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Newsweek.

A graduate of the University of California Berkeley with a B.A. in rhetoric and sociology, Jenny is still amazed that her studies apply to her daily work. As the mother of an elementary school-aged daughter, Jenny enjoys spending time in Golden Gate Park, drinking tea and any chance she gets to sit quietly and rest.  

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