BSY Associates Inc., Marketing Communications Firm, Marks 35Years As Premier Agency in Global Trade and Transportation
HOLMDEL, NJ--The fact that women can succeed in that most masculine of all strongholds, international trade and transportation, has been demonstrated by the ongoing achievements of Barbara Spector Yeninas, whose company, BSY Associates Inc., (www.BSYA.com) marks its 35th anniversary this month.
Yeninas did it the hard way back in 1974 when she left a flourishing career as an award-winning journalist covering transportation for the Newark Evening News to provide marketing communication business-to-business services that would promote and define the maritime industry and, ultimately, every facet of world trade and transportation. She began her career at the Asbury Park (NJ) Press.
Working from her basement in the early days, Barbara quickly developed a reputation for her dedication to public relations success. But in 1974 many told her that a woman-owned company would never last. I have had an awesome mentor, Helen Delich Bentley, a waterfront journalist in Baltimore who later became chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission and a congresswoman. She taught me to never say 'no', to always say 'let's try'.
And try she did. Covering world transportation gave Yeninas a unique perspective at a critical time in the industry's development. Transportation had been redefined by the very fact of containerization in shipping, and there was a need to convey the reality of 21st century transport. My commitment to the women's movement was often more actual than philosophical.
On the very day other women were burning their bras in Atlantic City, I was covering a wildcat dock strike in Port Newark, she said. I knew I had to give the entrepreneurial spirit within me a try.
The players were not attuned to the refinements of corporate communication -nor should they have been. These were men, people like Malcom McLean, the inventor of this kind of transportation, caught up in the cataclysmic changes of a very meat and potatoes industry. They could hardly be expected to factor nuance into the movement.
She opened BSYA's first office in West Caldwell, NJ, in 1975 near many of the growing agency's new clients. BSYA moved to Holmdel in Monmouth County in 2004. On board, as the company grew from a one-person entrepreneurial venture to one of the most respected agencies covering this field throughout the world, is a team of bright and talented professionals Ms. Yeninas has been lucky to engage along the way.
Gordon Forsyth IV of Fair Haven, NJ, is the firm's managing partner. Since joining BSYA in 2002, Forsyth has helped to develop the company into one of the country's top business-to-business advertising agencies as ranked by Crain's BtoB magazine. Key contributions include developing BSYA's FOCUS methodology for marketing management and expanding the firm's capabilities in brand development and new media design.
With Gordon's help, the company has taken some major steps, said Yeninas, CEO and senior partner.
Today, BSY Associates Inc. is an award-winning marketing agency offering brand management, public relations, marketing consulting, integrated marketing communications, design and promotional services to companies worldwide. Mrs. Yeninas herself in recent years was named New jersey Businesswoman of the Year by the Girl Scouts; Top 50 NJ Businesswomen in 2007 and last year the Containerization & Intermodal Institute, an prestigious trade association, presented her with her a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Barbara Yeninas, who has several clients still onboard since opening BSYA doors in 1974, adds: Our clients know that we focus on partnership over profit with flexibility to adapt to changing market dynamics so they don't miss a beat. We take on challenges large and small with the same passion for excellence, she added.
Over the years, BSYA has retained clients in virtually every sector of the transportation industry on almost every continent, as well as a variety of leading companies in business-to-business markets, such as software, facility management, industrial equipment and business consulting.
Understanding the commercial connections that make the world smaller is an important driver of competitive advantage today. Understanding cultural differences is even more important. BSYA's experience in the trade and transportation industry has taken its principals across the world and back again. We work with overseas clients to raise awareness in North American markets by developing comprehensive business plans for marketing, sales and public relations, said Yeninas.
Kimberly Kastner McCloskey is account manager and events director at the firm. She added to the company's core competency of media relations-excelling at identifying and working with key market influencers to communicate clients' core messages. She oversees some of the finest corporate and industry events in the United States and overseas specializing in the production of galas, conferences, fundraisers, informational seminars and conventions ranging from small breakfast meetings to dinner-dance productions with more than 1,000 attendees.
For 14 years Grace Marino has been the firm's executive assistant with a knowledge of virtually everyone in the field on a first name basis and an assertive style that makes her known, respected and invaluable to the company's efforts.
After three and a half decades of keeping the world well-informed and an industry well-counseled, Yeninas offers this advice: Be relevant. Be true.
Be compelling if you want people to pay attention. Your customers and employees are bombarded with information. You need to cut through the clutter with credible language and powerful visual communications.
Yeninas did it the hard way back in 1974 when she left a flourishing career as an award-winning journalist covering transportation for the Newark Evening News to provide marketing communication business-to-business services that would promote and define the maritime industry and, ultimately, every facet of world trade and transportation. She began her career at the Asbury Park (NJ) Press.
Working from her basement in the early days, Barbara quickly developed a reputation for her dedication to public relations success. But in 1974 many told her that a woman-owned company would never last. I have had an awesome mentor, Helen Delich Bentley, a waterfront journalist in Baltimore who later became chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission and a congresswoman. She taught me to never say 'no', to always say 'let's try'.
And try she did. Covering world transportation gave Yeninas a unique perspective at a critical time in the industry's development. Transportation had been redefined by the very fact of containerization in shipping, and there was a need to convey the reality of 21st century transport. My commitment to the women's movement was often more actual than philosophical.
On the very day other women were burning their bras in Atlantic City, I was covering a wildcat dock strike in Port Newark, she said. I knew I had to give the entrepreneurial spirit within me a try.
The players were not attuned to the refinements of corporate communication -nor should they have been. These were men, people like Malcom McLean, the inventor of this kind of transportation, caught up in the cataclysmic changes of a very meat and potatoes industry. They could hardly be expected to factor nuance into the movement.
She opened BSYA's first office in West Caldwell, NJ, in 1975 near many of the growing agency's new clients. BSYA moved to Holmdel in Monmouth County in 2004. On board, as the company grew from a one-person entrepreneurial venture to one of the most respected agencies covering this field throughout the world, is a team of bright and talented professionals Ms. Yeninas has been lucky to engage along the way.
Gordon Forsyth IV of Fair Haven, NJ, is the firm's managing partner. Since joining BSYA in 2002, Forsyth has helped to develop the company into one of the country's top business-to-business advertising agencies as ranked by Crain's BtoB magazine. Key contributions include developing BSYA's FOCUS methodology for marketing management and expanding the firm's capabilities in brand development and new media design.
With Gordon's help, the company has taken some major steps, said Yeninas, CEO and senior partner.
Today, BSY Associates Inc. is an award-winning marketing agency offering brand management, public relations, marketing consulting, integrated marketing communications, design and promotional services to companies worldwide. Mrs. Yeninas herself in recent years was named New jersey Businesswoman of the Year by the Girl Scouts; Top 50 NJ Businesswomen in 2007 and last year the Containerization & Intermodal Institute, an prestigious trade association, presented her with her a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Barbara Yeninas, who has several clients still onboard since opening BSYA doors in 1974, adds: Our clients know that we focus on partnership over profit with flexibility to adapt to changing market dynamics so they don't miss a beat. We take on challenges large and small with the same passion for excellence, she added.
Over the years, BSYA has retained clients in virtually every sector of the transportation industry on almost every continent, as well as a variety of leading companies in business-to-business markets, such as software, facility management, industrial equipment and business consulting.
Understanding the commercial connections that make the world smaller is an important driver of competitive advantage today. Understanding cultural differences is even more important. BSYA's experience in the trade and transportation industry has taken its principals across the world and back again. We work with overseas clients to raise awareness in North American markets by developing comprehensive business plans for marketing, sales and public relations, said Yeninas.
Kimberly Kastner McCloskey is account manager and events director at the firm. She added to the company's core competency of media relations-excelling at identifying and working with key market influencers to communicate clients' core messages. She oversees some of the finest corporate and industry events in the United States and overseas specializing in the production of galas, conferences, fundraisers, informational seminars and conventions ranging from small breakfast meetings to dinner-dance productions with more than 1,000 attendees.
For 14 years Grace Marino has been the firm's executive assistant with a knowledge of virtually everyone in the field on a first name basis and an assertive style that makes her known, respected and invaluable to the company's efforts.
After three and a half decades of keeping the world well-informed and an industry well-counseled, Yeninas offers this advice: Be relevant. Be true.
Be compelling if you want people to pay attention. Your customers and employees are bombarded with information. You need to cut through the clutter with credible language and powerful visual communications.