We are a team of well-regarded creative brand marketing strategists whose singular focus is helping our clients succeed.
Our strategic partnership model enables us to bring together top talent that delivers bottom line results.
Deborah Pratt Johnson BurnsManaging PrincipalBrand Strategist & Business Accelerator
Change Agent | Growth Catalyst
Deborah Pratt Johnson Burns founded Burns Communications, LLC in 2007 in partnership with a network of senior branding, business, marketing and communications strategists and industry experts. Together, they work closely with C-level executive management, presidents, founders, and decision makers at capitalized early stage, small and mid-sized companies.
Deborah and her team develop and direct multi-year retainer and project-based brand marketing communications campaigns for capitalized start-ups and small- to mid-sized companies in the consumer products, financial and professional services, healthcare and technology industries. Deborah’s strategic partner network, coupled with her proprietary offerings, have served to position Burns Communications as a leading brand marketing communications agency.
In addition to being adept at building brand relevance and increasing market share for her clients’ companies and brands, Deborah also has a talent for building profitable companies. She launched the Public Relations division of Creative Partners, a boutique ad agency based in Stamford, Connecticut. She built it to over $1MM in revenues over a five-year period and earned the agency industry recognition as one of the fastest growing privately held 'PR agencies to watch' in Southern New England. Previously, she launched and directed the Consumer Public Relations Division of Earle Palmer Brown advertising in Stamford, Connecticut, and New York, respectively. Through four management buyouts she built the Division to $10MM in revenues over a fourteen-year period.
She also served two consecutive terms as President of the Connecticut chapter of the Association for Women in Communications (AWIC), as part of her ongoing mentorship of aspiring communications professionals.
She started her career as a journalist at Hearst and also held roles as a publicist at Max Factor Cosmetics Company, and as sections editor and writer on the staffs of two upscale national magazines, Travel Holiday, and Power & Motoryacht.
Michael A. LombardoCreative Director
Creative Director | Visual Designer | Digital Illustrator
Michael is a seasoned creative professional with diverse experience in conceptual design and creative direction. As a hands-on visual designer, Michael’s expertise consists of core strengths in art direction, brand identity, creative marketing strategies, digital design and data visualization.
He pushes the creative boundaries with breakthrough ideas and executes from concept to completion, and ensures the delivery of required and expected successful results. As an inventive, forward-thinker, Michael strives to develop smart and compelling creative solutions that add value to client goals in driving company growth. Michael possesses a dynamic balance of technical design proficiencies supported by a fundamental and traditional artistic background. He thrives in a team environment with a talent for building and collaborating with like-minded creatives.
Adam Pemberton, PartnerEcho Brand Group
"I've been fortunate to count Deborah Burns as part of our extended team for more than a decade. She brings exceptional ideas, energy and a plain-truth style to everything she works on. Not afraid to challenge the status quo, even when the room has made up its mind, her original thinking invariably adds strategic and brand value to every engagement."