Experienced team join INVNT to bring the agency’s challenger positioning and approach to college and university event programs
INVNT. a global live brand storytelling agency™, announces the launch of a higher education division dedicated to providing universities and colleges with strategically and creatively led physical and virtual experiences that challenge convention and unite and excite audiences.
Sarah Winkler has been appointed senior vice president of INVNT Higher Ed, and JoAnn Peroutka, has been named vice president of the division. They each bring more than 25 years’ experience to the agency, and first joined forces to create an award-winning higher ed practice while employed at a Baltimore-based event design and production company.
The duo’s shared passion for working with leading educational institutions to craft authentic, results-driven event engagement strategies prompted the launch of their own boutique strategic event design and production firm, Educe, in 2013, which was later sold in 2020.
Over the course of their careers, they have successfully ideated and delivered higher education events including campaign launches, regional tours, centennial and sesquicentennial celebrations, and presidential transitions for clients including Johns Hopkins University, Auburn University, Emory University, USNA and UConn.
Kristina McCoobery (pictured left), CEO, INVNT says, “Education has the ability to change lives and change the world for the better. With so much going on around the globe right now, from the social justice movement to sustainability and COVID-19 pandemic, it’s never been this important for universities and colleges to educate, inspire and connect their communities through compelling experiences.
“This is where INVNT Higher Ed comes in,” she continues. “Offering a combination of INVNT’s unique challenger positioning, experiential expertise and creative minds, combined with the specialist experience of Sarah and JoAnn, our new division is expertly equipped to move audiences when it matters most, and in turn ensure the country’s more than 5,000 colleges and universities achieve both their own goals, and those that address the wider social, cultural and political issues that are most important to their constituents.”
Winkler adds: “JoAnn and I are thrilled to be joining INVNT to lead this new division, where we’re leveraging both the agency’s award-winning approach and our combined experience to curate tailored solutions for clients in the higher ed world. We’re passionate about working with institutions to help them share their mission, their purpose and engage and mobilize entire communities in the process, and we look forward to continuing to do this at INVNT.”
Founded in 2008 by Scott Cullather and Kristina McCoobery, INVNT® uses the craft of live brand storytelling to create and produce live experiences that excite and unite physical and virtual audiences, globally. The company’s “challenge everything” positioning statement helps clients including General Motors, Grant Thornton, Merck, PepsiCo and Samsung share their stories with every audience that matters. Part of [INVNT GROUP], THE GLOBAL BRANDSTORY PROJECT™, INVNT’s offices are strategically located in New York (where its INVNT Higher Ed division is based), London, Sydney, Detroit, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Stockholm and Singapore. For more info, visit www.invnt.com
A division of the award-winning global live brand storytelling agency, INVNT® Higher Ed specializes in providing colleges and universities with strategically and creatively led physical and virtual experiences that challenge convention and unite and excite audiences. Led by Senior Vice President Sarah Winkler and JoAnn Peroutka, vice president, the division draws on INVNT’s award-winning challenger positioning and approach and their combined experience in higher ed to curate tailored solutions that communicate institutions’ mission and purpose, and engage and mobilize entire communities. For more info, visit www.invnt.com.
