A nimble and tireless public affairs firm, North Bridge Communications designs and implements successful communications strategies to help clients achieve their goals in Washington, DC, and around the globe.

North Bridge Communications knows that effective communications is not an occasional press release or a costly press conference around a no-news news event.

It's not checking off a to-do list from a how-to textbook or wasting time with the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all campaigns that many of our larger competitors sell and resell.

Effective communications is the power to move people, issues, and stakeholders.

Effective communications is maximizing a highly individualized campaign for a very specific issue.

For more than a decade, the senior practitioners of North Bridge Communications have planned and managed winning campaigns that move people and issues using these key philosophies:

• Define yourself and your opponent before they do it for you.
• Dictate the debate.
• Show people why they should care.
• Keep your message clear, concise, relevant and—above all—consistent.
• Repeat your message over and over and over...
• Humanize your issue.
• Work harder than your opponent.
• Speak directly to your target audiences.

Paul A. Cummins brings more than 10 years of experience to North Bridge Communications of providing domestic and international clients with strategic communications counsel, media and investor relations expertise, crisis management, and political campaign and event management skills.

Cummins has served on presidential campaign staffs in the United States and South America, directed national advocacy efforts, managed grassroots programs at both the federal and local legislative levels, and overseen domestic and international business announcements and product launches for Fortune 50 companies.

Prior to co-founding North Bridge Communications, Cummins worked for the DCI Group, Westhill Partners, Robinson Lerer & Montgomery Strategic Communications, and Chlopak, Leonard & Schechter. At these firms, he specialized in the telecommunications, technology, financial, and media sectors.

His experience also includes four years working exclusively with America Online, Inc.

Cummins earned a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. He is a citizen of both the United States and the European Community.

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Phillip W. Hayes

Phillip W. Hayes brings nearly a decade of experience to North Bridge Communications in public affairs, media relations, and crisis communications.

Currently overseeing communications activities for the American Sugar Alliance, Hayes has worked for the Senate Agriculture Committee, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Hill & Knowlton, one of the largest public relations agencies in the world. He was also an associate partner for The Aker Partners, a midsize public affairs firm in Washington, DC.

Hayes specializes in agriculture, energy, and trade issues and has managed campaigns for dozens of clients throughout the years, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Ford Motor Company, Association of Oil Pipe Lines, National Association of Wheat Growers, and the Newspaper Association of America.

A graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hayes holds degrees in journalism and history.

"By the rude bridge that arch'd the flood,
Their flag to the April breeze unfurled,
Here the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard 'round the world."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only hours after Paul Revere's midnight ride, an angry group of farmers armed with pitchforks and muskets gathered at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Mass.

When the English troops arrived, the bewildered British soldiers were met with a ferocity that would come to characterize the upstart colonials. The ragtag militia repelled their attackers and word of the David versus Goliath victory spread like wildfire.

A smaller, smarter, more nimble contingent could defeat a seemingly invincible foe.

Inspired militias across the colonies took up arms and the Revolutionary War began. A nation was born on that April afternoon in 1775.

Since then, the Old North Bridge has been celebrated as the site of the "shot heard 'round the world" —a shot that would have never been fired if not for Revere delivering a clear message in a timely, effective way.