About

The voice says in a British accent, “Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.”

That’s the mission of Mind The Gap Public Relations to bridge the gap between traditional public relations/marketing and social media for businesses and nonprofits. We help you mind that gap between you and your audience.

We will assist you to raise awareness for your organization connecting you with your customers in a meaningful way. We will help you protect your business in times of crisis through effective communications.

The People

Ann Marie van den Hurk, APR – Principal

Ann Marie is an award winning PRSA-accredited hybrid public relations counselor bridging the gap between traditional PR and social media. She has over a decade of intensive experience assisting businesses and non-profits in:

• Navigating successfully Web 2.0 and PR 2.0 (including website, social networking, blogging, and mirco-blogging.)

• Taking leadership in sensitive issues, crisis communications and reputation management.

• Development and implementation of strategic communications/public relations plans and programs.

But what does that all mean? It means Ann Marie is a practitioner who will provide you with quality, realistic, sound public relations to grow and protect your organization. Ann Marie’s experience is diverse; however, she has made a name for herself for handling of crisis communications, development of successful community relations programs, and being an early adopter of social media.

In addition to running Mind The Gap Public Relations, Ann Marie is a business columnist for Lexington (KY) Lexington Herald-Leader. Her award-winning column focuses on public relations, marketing, and social media for businesses often addressing topics before they become adapted mainstream.

Ann Marie formed the consulting company of Van den Hurk PR with the purpose to provide quality, realistic, sound public relations to grow and protect organizations in 2007. It has evolved into Mind The Gap Public Relations, LLC. Before Van den Hurk PR and now Mind The Gap, she was the Vice President, Communications and Advocacy for the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Council located on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Jeroen van den Hurk, Ph.D. – Research & Design

Jeroen is an experienced researcher receiving his Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Delaware.  His dissertation titled Imagining New Netherland: Origins and Survival of Netherlandic Architecture in Old New York received the Hendricks Manuscript Award. Jeroen is originally from the Netherlands where he obtained his Masters in Architectural History from Utrecht University.  In 2005, he was the inaugural Quinn Dissertation Fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Jeroen has presented papers at professional conferences in the United States and Europe, and has been published in the United State, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Belgium.

He brings classically trained eye with European sensibilities towards design.