Meet Antenna

As chief executive officer, Keith Zakheim ensures Antenna lives and breathes the firm’s core values — strong ethics that instill trust and impart transparency; respectful, positive, collaborative, mutually beneficial relationships among client-partners, colleagues and those with whom we conduct business; continual education for the highest standards; empowering entrepreneurial passion and a commitment to public service and volunteerism to give back to those less fortunate.

Keith has earned an industry-wide reputation for savvy, strategic counsel, forging deep partnerships and business connections and leading the firm during an era of unprecedented organic and acquisition-driven growth. A sought-after expert on crisis management, he has been a panelist and featured speaker at conferences worldwide. His work has been published widely on topics related to public relations, crisis management, presidential politics, domestic policy and foreign relations. Keith also hosts Raising Your Antenna, a popular podcast that features CEOs and Founders, investors and public policy experts.

Keith is the proud husband of Sara Zakheim and a father of four: JJ, Max, Alex, and Isabelle.

As head of Antenna Spaces, Christa is responsible for strategic planning, campaign coordination and project execution on behalf of Antenna Spaces’ client-partners, including real estate developers/owners and investors; brokerage firms; real estate technology companies; architecture, engineering and construction firms; and industry service providers.

Specialties: Campaign strategy, communications, branding, issues and crisis management, strategic partnerships, media relations, content creation, and business development.

For over 20 years, Andy Beck has worked in the upper echelons of the U.S. government and the private sector successfully spearheading public relations, marketing and public affairs campaigns that moved the needle. By engaging policymakers and the media, influencing influencers, building grassroots and social media momentum, developing alliances, driving consensus toward desired business and political results and opening new markets; he has helped companies and organizations gain greater brand recognition, profit from increased sales, influence policy and mitigate crises.

A first-rate strategic thinker, Andy is an expert at boiling down complex issues and persuasively articulating his clients’ case to a broad range of stakeholders through multiple channels. In doing so, he has developed a reputation as one of the nation’s most innovative communicators in the energy, manufacturing, transportation, finance and environmental sustainability sectors.

Andy has an impressive book of media and government contacts and a tremendous understanding of the workings of the U.S. and international governments, having served as the Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy—the U.S. government’s top energy spokesperson and communications strategist. He also served as the senior communications and outreach advisor to the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and as a senior communications advisor the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary.

As head of Antenna Cleantech, Jake is responsible for the agency’s work in clean energy, smart mobility, sustainable tech, environmental impact and emerging tech. He serves as a strategic advisor to Antenna’s client-partners and leads Antenna’s strategic growth and business development efforts.

Jake has helped launch dozens of cleantech, mobility and sustainability startups, previously served as CEO & Founder of Eco Branding and was recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy in 2018.

Sharon has over a decade of experience working with healthcare companies, from conglomerates to startups. Whether it’s launching a new treatment or bringing life to a hundred-year-old brand, she builds targeted strategic communications programs that drive business objectives.

Managing a wide variety of campaigns, including media relations, thought leadership, social media, digital marketing and beyond, Sharon builds integrated marketing programs that target priority audiences with compelling messaging across all relevant platforms. From FDA approvals to campaign and product launches, her clients span the healthcare sector including oncology + immunotherapy, infectious disease, neurology, dermatology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, dentistry, pain management and mental health.

As SVP of Digital Strategy at Antenna, Mike blends his talents of business and technology to create integrated marketing campaign strategies for clients. Mike has spent the last 12+ years passionately helping businesses use modern technology & strategies to grow their business.  Mike has a talent for communicating complex topics in simple and unique ways.

Mike loves solving problems; making the world of digital strategy a natural fit for him as he creates solutions rapidly, while quickly and continuously improving upon them. He is a perpetual learner in all areas of his life and takes great satisfaction in discovering/creating new things and sharing them with others.

Prior to joining Antenna in 2017, Mike was the co-founder of Chicago Digital, a digital marketing & web agency, and Solid Sky, a cloud-based application & integration development company. Mike attended the University of Illinois where he graduated from the business school with a major in Management Information Systems and a minor in Technology & Management.

As Senior Vice President of the digital division, Scott oversees the creative and web development team for the agency. Scott joined forces with Antenna in 2017 after their acquisition of Chicago Digital, a digital marketing & web agency he co-founded in 2009. With more than 12 years experience and over 500 website projects completed, Scott is responsible for the execution of the creative and engineering team.

Scott graduated from the University of Illinois College of ACES. The College of ACES is a global leader in agricultural, consumer, and environmental sciences. His background along with strong skill-set in business, marketing and engineering lends itself to the projects and businesses we work with at Antenna that are making a positive impact on the world.

Hardy Spire is a veteran communicator specializing in media strategy & campaigns, messaging, public affairs and creative development. Hardy is an experienced media trainer and crisis manager and has worked extensively with C-suite executives.

Prior to his public relations career, Hardy spent more than two decades as a national television news producer.  Most recently Hardy worked as a Senior Producer at CNN in Washington, D.C. where he oversaw production of “Inside Politics” with John King each weekday and Sunday, and prior to that, “Reliable Sources” with Brian Stelter and Howard Kurtz. He also spent time on the production teams for “The Lead”, “The Situation Room”, and “State of the Union”. Hardy was part of CNN’s Emmy-award winning 2012 election night broadcast.

Before CNN, Hardy was in charge of “EnergyNOW!”, a Capitol Hill-based weekly television news magazine airing on Bloomberg and WJLA-TV where his team of former network news correspondents and producers delved into the most pressing stories of the day about energy, the environment, technology, and politics.

Hardy began his career at CBS News in New York, and later Washington, D.C.  He spent fifteen years learning the news business from the ground up including four years traveling the world as White House producer for CBS correspondent Bill Plante, and later as Senior Producer for the CBS News Early Show.

Ryan joined Antenna in 2008 and has been a Vice President in the firm’s real estate practice since 2014. Both creative and analytical, Ryan has guided the strategic direction and implementation of communications campaigns for companies across the entire spectrum of real estate. A former journalist, he is an expert in communications strategy development, messaging, content development, team coordination, media strategy and relations, issues/crisis management, grassroots campaign coordination, and influencer partnerships. Ryan holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and english from the University of Scranton.

Jared brings more than 10 years of energy industry background to support Antenna’s energy and cleantech clients with strategic marketing and PR counsel.

His initial work in the energy industry was with the Solar Energy Industries Association, where he supported the organization’s policy efforts with strategic communications counsel.

He has since advised dozens of solar and cleantech firms on marketing and public relations.

Prior to his solar career, Jared was an agriculture and natural resources policy advisor to U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.

Jared has an MBA from Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Vanessa Donohue is a director in Antenna’s healthcare practice. With nearly a decade of experience working agency and corporate PR, Vanessa has managed and executed a wide variety of media-focused campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and startups alike. Her previous industry experience runs the gamut, including work in healthcare diagnostics, pharmaceutical, consumer, tech and nonprofit. She considers herself a professional storyteller, learning on real feedback from her established list of media contacts to guide her counsel. These relationships have secured placements in outlets such as CNN, TODAY, ABC, New York Times, USA TODAY and more.

Dan Ivers is a Director at Antenna Spaces, where he oversees strategic marketing and public messaging campaigns for various real estate entities, including owners, developers, property managers, law firms, investment managers, data providers and technology companies.

He entered the PR industry after eight years as a journalist, including four at The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., and has written extensively on topics encompassing government, real estate, criminal justice and legal issues across New Jersey and the Northeast.

A native of Connecticut, he holds a bachelors’ degree in English and Journalism from the University of Connecticut.

Isaac has spent the last 8 years in PR and communications, creating media strategy, building journalist relationships and securing top-tier coverage for companies in fields such as cleantech, energy, mobility, B2B tech, healthcare, cybersecurity and blockchain. His work is underlined by a passion for distilling emerging technologies, important industry conversations and new ideas into compelling narratives for mainstream and specialized audiences.

As Director of Media Relations, Isaac oversees the planning, strategy and execution of media campaigns for teams across all of Antenna’s Ecosystems, ensuring clients’ stories are told successfully and with the utmost consideration for reaching key audiences with key messages.

Working on behalf of organizations ranging from stealth startups to nonprofit advocacy groups to established, publicly-traded industry players, Isaac has secured features in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Reuters, The Washington Post, CNBC, NPR, Bloomberg, WIRED, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Fast Company, Greentech Media, Curbed and many more.

Isaac has a BA in International Economic Relations from American University in Washington, DC.

Katherine brings over a decade of experience to her work in the public relations and marketing fields. She specializes in media relations and program management for clients in the real estate, travel, and luxury lifestyle sectors.

Katherine has helped launch the successful public relations campaigns for luxury hotels, restaurants, and new developments around the world, including the Four Seasons, Belmond, Park Hyatt, and residential buildings in New York City and Miami including The Surf Club and 432 Park Avenue.

Katherine graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English and a minor in communications. She holds a Master of Sciences from Florida International University’s Global Strategic Communications program.

Dave has spent years in sales, marketing, business automation, website development and online marketing. Now he takes that experience and leads our team of Developers in creating bespoke, conversion focussed websites