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The expression “Who’d have thunk it?” is a favorite one for Jennifer Cortner ’85 when describing the path her career has taken. The International Affairs and French graduate set out to be the next Madeleine Albright, but instead landed at the top in business as president of a company.
If she had read a crystal ball, Cortner might have majored in psychology, because “getting inside” the client figures so largely in her success.
In fact, knowing what the client wants and meeting it within budget is 90 percent of her task, says Cortner, who is president of EFX Inc., a video production company in Arlington, Va.
“Today many people think you can do anything with the press of a button, so we have to manage expectations,” she says. “We sit in on creative sessions to mediate, seeing that the product is meeting the client’s needs and budget.”
EFX, which Cortner joined in 1987 as its first sales account executive, makes public relations, training and advertising videos from script to screen for the corporate market, government agencies, and trade associations.
When it opened in 1983, the company created animated graphics and videos used by the broadcast industry. It also served the military market, showing how President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative was intended to work, and animated complex procedures for the medical world, Cortner says.
Today EFX makes six to 10 videos a month, with America Online as a major client, along with the U.S. government and Washington-area trade associations, she says. It has launched a new interactive multimedia division to produce CDRoms, DVDs and web sites.
“Our business has flatlined like others in the creative services field over the last 24 months, but we haven’t had to lay people off,” says Cortner, who puts EFX’s annual revenue at about $4.2 million.
To meet a goal of $20 million, she says the company will eventually probably merge with others that have the right stuff for EFX.
Strong on people skills, Cortner divides the top job with chief executive officer Jim Franco, running “the front of the store” while he handles the back — such tasks as taxes, payroll and equipment leases.
“We have figured out what our strengths are,” she says.
Cortner’s admiration for Albright and interest in world politics served to lure her to the Washington area, but her International Affairs major helped provide those diplomatic skills vital in business.
“I exercise diplomacy every day, just not in the political area,” she says, recounting a quote she read on a poster once, to the effect that “diplomacy is the art of letting someone else get your way.”
But her position as president also requires technical know-how amid constant change.
“Who’d have thunk it?” comments Cortner. “My mother always marvels at this — that her daughter is in a highly skilled technical field. But even if I were starting over, I would do everything to same way. I love the whole liberal-arts educational experience.”
Studying at Lafayette has helped her analyze and communicate in a field where “content is still king.”
“You have to tell a good story. And you have to understand and communicate concepts and ideas,” says Cortner.
When she started in the field, women were relatively rare in it, and Cortner faced challenges from male clients, who would try to trip her up with technical terms, she says. “But I chuckle about that now. Many clients are women.”
Asked what she would advise younger women entering her business, Cortner says, “Don’t be intimated by technology,” and explore such technical fields as the camera and graphics. In addition, the concept of networking thrives — when you move into a city, look up other Lafayette graduates, she suggests.
Cortner, who doesn’t have children, works with her husband, Bruce Scallon, who is senior vice president and creative director of EFX, and estimates that she puts in 10- to 14-hour days at the office.
“Sometimes we have to call the ‘work police’ on each other at home!” she says. “It’s easy to fall into the trap of talking about work!”
Cortner says she enjoys a great group of friends in Washington, along with skiing in New England, Colorado, and Utah. She is also an avid cyclist and member of Chics in Flics, a group of women who dine out and watch films together.
Keeping her life in balance is important to Cortner as she looks ahead to EFX’s and her own next steps. She hopes eventually to work fewer hours, easing into a consulting role and grooming young staff members “to become the next us.”
“We’re at a crossroads. In a perfect world, we would like to still be involved, but turn over the day-to-day to younger people,” Cortner says. “But delegating is hard. I can’t imagine not being involved for the next 10 years.”