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Denver Resources Partners has chosen JohnstonWells Public Relations to assist in the planning of an upcoming Denver conference that will inform potential U.S. investors of Australian-based resource companies.

JohnstonWells will offer strategic public relations counsel and an investor outreach program to drive awareness of the conference taking place on Feb. 29, 2012.

Denver Resources Partners is a Colorado-based company that helps foreign companies establish themselves in North America.

JohnstonWells has been hired to develop a strategic plan for Mattson Development, a leading real estate re-development firm in Maine.

With a focus on the rehabilitation of historic properties, Mattson Development is the largest landlord to the State of Maine. The firm has received numerous awards for its work, including the Maine Preservation’s Statewide Historic Preservation Award and the Maine Downtown Center’s Outstanding Historic Preservation Project of the Year Award.

JohnstonWells will work with former JohnstonWells employee, Drew Morris, who is now the director of communications for Mattson, to create the plan.

To continue to celebrate its 40th anniversary, today JohnstonWells delivered 40 pairs of socks to the Delores Project, a homeless shelter for women.

As a year-round shelter, The Delores Project is able to enhance services, providing support for women in securing long-term housing and addressing the other myriad challenges they face.

JohnstonWells has pledged to do something every 40 days from its 40th anniversary on Oct. 1. Last month they delivered 40 muffins to competitor Linhart Public Relations, to thank them for the leadership in public relations. The firm also it doing $40,000 worth of work for the Halo Foundation, an organization in the Five Points area that has after school programs for students who might otherwise go home to empty houses.

“The part that interested us, at first in the Halo Foundation, was its arts programs, but we think what they’re doing goes beyond art,” says Gwinavere Johnston, CEO of JohnstonWells.

Animal lovers everywhere can support and honor veterinary medicine by voting for one of five projects submitted in the 2011 Heska Inspiration in Action Contest.

Heska, a leading provider of veterinary diagnostic and specialty products, will award the grand prize winner $25,000 and the second place winner $5,000 to help bring inspired ideas to life (subject to official contest rules).

"Veterinarians spend countless hours working to impact the human experience through our bond with animals," said Robert Grieve, Heska's Chairman and CEO.  "Serving that bond every day creates room in the imagination to think differently about solutions to important problems that directly impact the health of both animals and humans worldwide.  Heska promotes this contest as a means to encourage innovation.  We are honored to provide this opportunity to our colleagues.”

As part of JohnstonWells’ ongoing celebration of its 40^th anniversary, our team delivered 40 muffins to Linhart Public Relations this morning to celebrate Linhart’s acquisition of Celestial Seasonings as a client and the company’s recent leadership in public relations counseling.

“We promised we would do something every 40 days after celebrating our 40^th year,” said Gwin Johnston, CEO of JohnstonWells.  “We missed it by a few days, but we really did want to point out Linhart’s leadership in the field.”

Linhart Tweeted its thanks to JW.

IPREX, the international public relations network, recently put together the following creative show reel to highlight the organization’s objectives, breadth of experience and global reach. JohnstonWells is one of 70 independent agencies in 30 countries that is a part of IPREX.

Austin Exploration, an oil and gas exploration company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia (with a satellite office in Lakewood, Colo.) has chosen JohnstonWells Public Relations to implement an intensive public relations campaign, as it prepares to be introduced to the American oil and gas industry.

JohnstonWells will execute an all encompassing campaign that includes a corporate name change to Arapahoe Energy, a new design aesthetic and website, and media and community relations.

ValveXchange, Inc. has performed successful First In Man (FIM) surgeries demonstrating the practicality and advantages of its novel Vitality™ two-part heart valve system.

“With other valves if you break a suture you’re basically committed to taking the valve off and out. Here there are no leaflets, so it’s very easy to see and put in extra sutures.”

The surgeries were performed by two highly renowned U.S. cardiac surgeons, Lars Svensson, MD, PhD of The Cleveland Clinic and W. Randolph Chitwood, MD of The East Carolina Heart Institute, working with Adrian Ebner, MD at his facilities in Asuncion, Paraguay. The surgeries took place Sept. 26 and 27, 2011. Three men aged 49, 62 and 72 received the Vitality™ heart valves. All have been discharged and are recovering normally.

JohnstonWells Public Relations was 40 years old on Saturday, October 1. The firm, founded by Gwinavere A. Johnston, has made its mark in Denver and the U.S. by working with many high profile clients.

“Every day has been different, and that’s been fun and exciting,” said Johnston. “That means that every day we get smarter.”

In honor of its 40-year anniversary, the company will provide $40,000 in pro-bono public relations services to an organization close to Johnston’s heart – The HALO (Helping Art Liberate Orphans) Foundation.

Established in Denver in 2009, the HALO Center now serves as a safe haven to more than 40 children each night, fostering educational and emotional growth while equipping at risk youth with the skills to become contributing members of their communities. A variety of programming is offered after school, focusing on education, art therapy and recreation.

Known for her eclectic folk art collection and philanthropic efforts in the Denver art community, JohnstonWells’ founder Gwin Johnston sees HALO as the perfect opportunity to bridge her love of art with helping Denver’s at-risk youth. Each night the children are served a hot meal (courtesy of the Food Bank of the Rockies) and participate in an art project while being offered tutoring services.

Nikki Cady, executive director of The Halo Foundation said she feels extremely fortunate that JW has chosen Halo as the recipient of such a wonderful gift.

“The Halo Foundation is a grass roots organization and relatively new to the Denver community. We have touched the lives of hundreds of at risk youth and their families in Denver. We are extremely excited to be able to share the story of our successes with the help of JohnstonWells," she added.

Our CEO, Gwinavere Johnston will be inducted into the Denver Press Club’s Hall of Fame tonight, an honor that recognizes her ongoing leadership in the public relations field and in the Denver community, where she has made numerous contributions.

“Gwin Johnston is not only a remarkably creative communicator, she also gives back to our community as much as anyone I know. Gwin is most deserving to join the best of the best at the Denver Press Club,” Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said when he learned Johnston was being recognized.

IPREX – the worldwide corporation of independent public relations and communication firms, appointed Alaina Gjertsen as Director of the Americas last week.

IPREX President the Americas, Renzi Stone (Saxum, Oklahoma City) welcomed the appointment as part of the network’s commitment to world-class internal management:

“Alaina’s appointment reflects the continuing growth of partner interactions in the IPREX Americas region. With 35 partners operating 52 offices from Canada to Latin America and working in everything from public affairs and financial communication to cutting edge social media work, the depth and breadth of expertise we now offer our clients needs professional management.

LUNGevity Foundation, the nation’s largest lung cancer non-profit, has teamed up with JohnstonWells to hold the first annual Breathe Deep Denver 5K run/walk at INVESCO Field at Mile High on November 5, 2011.

The event – part of the organization’s nationwide effort to raise funds for lung cancer research – will kick off with a yoga warm-up led by Sarah Russell, owner of Breathe Yoga & Cycling Studio, and a performance from the Breathe Deep Tuba Chorus, sponsored by the Downtown Denver Partnership and directed by Bill Clark, who is also the director of the Queen City Jazz Band.

Pieces from JohnstonWells’ whimsical folk art collection are being featured as part of the 15^th annual Corporate Collections exhibit, “The Art of Collecting,” at Republic Plaza in Downtown Denver through August 24, 2011.

“Our firm has always been known for our art collection,” said JohnstonWells CEO, Gwinavere Johnston.”  “We display some of the art on our website, use photos of it in our new business proposals and use it as inspiration because we’re a creative group. I always try to buy art from living American folk artists and craftspeople and that way I know I’m helping them to create even more.”

Ernst & Young LLP is pleased to announce the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^® Mountain Desert Award winners. This group of leading entrepreneurs was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous winners of the award, leading CEOs, private capital investors and other regional business leaders. The winners were revealed at a gala event on June 16, 2011 at the Seawell Ballroom in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

JohnstonWells Public Relations has been hired by Coolerado, an award-winning manufacturer of energy-efficient air conditioning systems, to work with the company’s marketing team on public relations strategy and media relations.

Founded in 2004, Coolerado designs, manufactures and markets air conditioning systems for light commercial use. Coolerado’s cost-effective proprietary technology has been proven to save customers as much as 90 percent in energy savings. Coolerado products are virtually maintenance-free and are currently operating in 21 countries around the world. Coolerado was recently voted Green Business of the Year by the Denver Chamber of Commerce. For more information, visit www.coolerado.com.

JohnstonWells Public Relations won a Gold Pick and a Silver Pick Award at the annual ceremony hosted by the Colorado Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America on May 5, 2011.

The firm was recognized for its work with BERNINA of America and Heska Corporation.  BERNINA is a family-owned manufacturer of fine, Swiss-made sewing and embroidery machines. Heska Corporation is a manufacturer and provider of veterinary diagnostic and other specialty products.

All the Asian partners attended an Asian IPREX Roundtable in Hong Kong in April.  They were joined by Kathy Tunheim, global president for IPREX, and Gwin Johnston, who is former president of IPREX North America.

Partners from China, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, India, Australia, Japan and New Zealand attended the meeting.

For the 30th year in a row, Gwin Johnston was asked to be a Silver Anvil Judge by the Public Relations Society of America. The Silver Anvils are considered the top award in public relations.

Johnston was once again a senior judge--a distinction she has held since her second year of judging. Judges on Johnston's team included Clarke Caywood, director of graduate studies at Northwestern; Mike Goss, vice president of Jack Horner Communications in Pennsylvania and Sara Whitman, senior director at Peppercom in New York City. 

Judging was held in New York City on March 25.

Gwinavere Johnston, CEO of JohnstonWells, attended the European meeting of IPREX in Belfast, Ireland March 7-9.  IPREX, an international partnership of independent public relations firms meets annually in Europe.  Twenty five IPREX partners from all over Europe and three from the U.S. attended the meeting.

Johnston said, “These meetings are invaluable in understanding what it happening in public relations in other parts of the world.”

JohnstonWells currently has three international clients.

AORN Works, a subsidiary of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), just announced that its market research and surgical insights division will lead the strategic priorities of its business.

On behalf of clients, market research/surgical insights measure the attitudes of perioperative professionals who are the end users of medical products and services.

The new strategy results from its niche ability to provide exceptional market intelligence to medical device manufacturers and service providers that sell to operating rooms throughout the United States.