Member Spotlight - Jane Hess

Jane Hess is the Public Relations Manager for U.S. Weather Consultants, the largest private forecasting service in Southwest Florida.  U.S. Weather Consultants specializes in hurricane and tropical storm forecasts for government and private industry, frost and freeze forecasts for agribusiness, and weather event research and testimony for the legal profession. She has been a member of FPRA since 2010.

Jane comes from a radio and television news background, spending 20 years as a reporter, anchor and producer in both commercial and public television fields. “Being a reporter was very important to me,” she says. “It allowed me access to all sorts of people who trusted me to be impartial and to get the story straight.  It taught me to be a good listener and a good sounding-board for ideas…and to be able to put those ideas into words and pictures. As a Producer, I learned to be a project manager—to figure out budget, manpower and equipment—to problem solve. All these skills I now apply to my new career in public relations.”

Since coming to U.S. Weather Consultants in 2008, Jane has revamped the company website, marketing materials, and has dabbled in ways the company can incorporate social media. She is now concentrating on identifying new stakeholders and expanding the company’s visibility in new markets.

Jane is the mother of two talented (of course!) children and the owner of one large yellow dog of undetermined origins.