1. Behind the Headlines with Susan Butenhoff
By: Megan Tracy
It was recently announced that Access Communications and Emanate will be merging to become
Access Emanate Communications, which will operate under Ketchum. We at Gorkana got a chance to
chat with Susan Butenhoff, CEO and founder of Access Communications, about her thoughts on the
integration of Access and Emanate and what the future holds, how she got her start in Public Relations,
the culture she likes to surround herself with and her proudest moment of her career.
Susan began her career as a chef. But, enticed by the idea of creative development through
storytelling and constructing a narrative for the consumer, she was drawn into the vast world of public
relations. So, taking what she knew from her time as chef, she applied herself to a new career creating
PR campaigns for food brands at Ketchum. She then transitioned to working on branded products,
inching closer and closer to the technology sector before she had the idea to take a chance on starting
her own firm, Access Communications. Looking back on it now, even though it was overwhelming at the
time, Susan definitely considers stepping out on her own and starting Access Communications to be the
proudest moment in her career.
Of course, success did not come overnight. Susan has had to grow and adapt with the leaps and
bounds that technology has taken over the past thirty years. “It was quite unnerving to make the move to
starting a tech PR firm, as they weren’t huge when I started Access,” says Susan. “Technology then was
so much of an untapped market.” But as it turns out, she made the right move. Access took off in Silicon
Valley in 1991 and as the technology market grew and startups began sprouting from the ground, Susan
found that getting in early has made all the difference.
“The technology market has changed so much since I started Access. It’s as if time has sped up;
there is more news and it’s arriving faster and faster with the growth of the internet. It went from having to
be topical to needing to be relevant on a microscopic level. You have to anticipate where the competitive
pressure is coming from and strike fast.”
As the tech industry boomed, it started spreading to other brand sectors as well, leading Access
to pick up consumer clients who were looking to expand their brand name through social media, which
Access was already well versed in. Then, in 2008, recognizing the commanding presence of Access in
the tech PR industry, Ketchum—the firm where Susan got her start in PR—acquired Access
Communications.
“I sort of boomeranged in my career after Access went to Ketchum, and it was so funny because I
remember when I left Ketchum to start Access I had asked if I could come back if things didn’t work out.
But when I did sort of go back, when Ketchum acquired Access, it was in a better way than I ever
expected!” Once again under Ketchum, Susan was working as CEO of Access, which still operated under
its own brand name, and was later named Director of Ketchum’s Global Technology practice.
Now, once again, Access is taking on another merger, combining with Emanate, a leading firm
focused on consumer and corporate public relations. Access Emanate Communications will operate
under its own brand within the Ketchum network, focusing on broadening the services they can offer to
clients and combining Access’ consumer-tech expertise with Emanate’s Relevance Marketing to bring a
greater pool of digital and measurement resources to deliver more comprehensive programs to all of their
clients.

2. Throughout this process, Susan has said, “what sets us apart is the desire to keep our employees
as well as our clients always reaching for more. With this merger, everyone is getting the chance to
expand their knowledge and reach. It’s especially exciting for the employees of both Access and
Emanate, because right now no one is stagnant. The thing that sets PR professionals apart is their
tendency towards intellectual ADD; we always want to learn more and expand our portfolios while
simultaneously delving deeper into what we already know. With this merger, we get to work with clients
we’ve had for years while also exploring what each other has to offer in terms of new and different
accounts. This allows us to satiate our curiosity, expand our skill sets, and work with new co-workers and
clients all while not having to move agencies. It’s going to be the perfect well-rounded experience for
everyone.”
Susan is definitely a leader who holds her team in high regard. When asked what she does in the
morning when she gets to the office, she simply stated, “I walk the halls. I see who’s around and get a
feel of the office. If there’s a team that’s having trouble with a project I want to know about it. It’s my
morning health and wellness check.”
In building her team Susan has always considered surrounding herself with a group of
intellectually curious teammates, which she considers a crucial aspect in order to move any project
forward. “You can’t get to be both resilient and successful unless you’re constantly learning. My peer
mentor since starting Access has been Access President Matt Afflixio, and he always told me to hire
people smarter than me because you cannot change if you’re not going to challenge yourself. It’s okay to
be uncomfortable! I just want people who work from a place of common respect and are always striving to
improve the good of everyone over their individual success.”
Susan remembers fondly the time she hired Matt when she was first starting out. “He came in as
a sort of courtesy interview because he wasn’t sure he wanted to stay in the PR industry, but as soon as I
met him I wanted to hire him on the spot. The only problem was, I had no idea how I was going to pay
him! He took the job anyway and the next day sent me a sheet cake with a press release drawn in the
icing. The “icing release” was an announcement about the great move Access Communications made in
hiring industry veteran Matt Afflixio. Obviously, he was right.”
Moving forward, Susan will be named CEO of the newly formed Access Emanate
Communications. In her new role she will be focused the integration of the two agencies and expanding
to get new clients. “With our diverse list of clients and the extensive level of services we will be able to
offer, we will have more support for new creative services, especially in the digital arena. Clients are
moving more toward digital video campaigns to reach consumers and we will be more equipped to handle
that now. I am here to ensure that together is better for Access Emanate.”
With all of this excitement going on, Susan is still always looking toward the future of the
company and is enthusiastic to see where it will grow. “In ten years I hope to be even bigger than we are
now. It would be great to run campaigns for global brands and I hope to have multiple offices around the
world. It’s my hope to keep striving for success.”