On New Year’s Day, Goff Public officially expanded its footprint on the ninth floor of downtown St. Paul’s UBS Plaza by roughly half, moving digital specialists, graphic designers and other visual content strategists into new offices across the hall.

Taking over three-fourths of a corporate floor on Cedar Street may seem like a decision that cuts against the grain in an era of remote work, but what’s become one of St. Paul’s highest-profile state lobbying, public relations and public affairs companies grew during the pandemic, from 17 employees to 24 and an intern.

That’s a testament in part to the high demand for strategic communications in the fast-moving social media era, including within the public sector. It’s also a matter of company culture. At a time when other firms have gone largely remote, Goff has insisted since mid-2021 that employees come into the office Tuesday through Thursday, under the premise that creative minds think best in collaboration and face to face.

These days, an important spot for collaboration at Goff is the kitchen, which offers a view of the Minnesota State Capitol, a key service area for private and public sector clients.

“When we ran out of physical space, we said, ‘Do we spend money on more space, when so many companies are going the other way?’” said Jennifer Hellman, who became president and chief executive officer around the height of the pandemic.

Goff Public CEO Jennifer Hellman (Courtesy of Goff Public)

“As a group, we decided there was a lot that we had missed,” recalled Hellman, who said she met with each employee to understand their feelings on in-person versus remote work before making the call to bring the team back to the office. “A lot of times, people join a public affairs and public relations agency because they want to learn how you operate in this industry, and it’s really hard to do that remotely.”

Key government clients

Over the past decade, Goff Public has been at the helm of glossy communications and community engagement events around the city-owned CHS Field, the private redevelopment of St. Paul’s Ford site and Ramsey County’s future Rice Creek Commons property in Arden Hills. While the firm does not get involved in candidate campaigns, it maintains a steady presence at the State Capitol lobbying around issues and agencies.

In addition to the city of St. Paul and Ramsey County, Goff counts among its recent clients trade associations, tribal governments, institutions of higher education, nonprofits like the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and government-related agencies and associations like the St. Paul Downtown Alliance and Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Since June 2018, Ramsey County has paid Goff $159,000 for strategic communications, according to a county spokesperson. Since February 2021, the county has paid Goff another $167,000 for lobbying services, as well as another $10,000 for emergency communications from early 2022 through 2023.

The pandemic forced state lawmakers and municipal agencies to convene remotely and pushed nonprofits and other agencies to fashion their messages through social media channels some had felt tepid about. They found plenty of company online, not all of it pleasant.

“There had been a trend even prior to the pandemic … with social media, and how quickly news and information can spread and how anybody, really, with any type of following can share information, true or false,” Hellman said.

During a crisis, she added, “if information is not coming from the company, it creates a vacuum, and people go somewhere else” for what may be an unflattering or misleading narrative.

That’s fed greater focus within Goff Public on social media managers and digital specialists who can fashion logos and front-end website landing pages, if not an entire digital strategy. It’s also meant increasing, not decreasing, in-person collaboration compared to the early days of the pandemic.

“The way you do that is by running into each other in the kitchen,” said Hellman, “and going, ‘Did you see that story on the front page of the Pioneer Press? Well, here’s the backstory, and here’s the players involved. And here’s what it might mean for the Legislature this session, and what we might see elected officials talking about, and how it might impact the business community and the nonprofit community.’”

Bob Goff and Nick Coleman

It’s a lesson Hellman picked up from the company’s co-founder, Bob Goff, some 26 years ago, when he interviewed the fresh St. Olaf College graduate for an entry-level writer job.

Bob Goff (Courtesy of Goff Public)

Goff had launched the public relations firm in 1966 with noted state lawmaker Nicholas D. Coleman, who would go on to become a longstanding majority leader of the Minnesota Senate.

Together, the two men moved what started out as their advertising agency into the emerging realms of public relations and public affairs, helping public and private agencies navigate relationships with lawmakers and the general public.

Coleman, father of former St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and the late journalist Nick Coleman, died in 1981. Goff died in 2017.

Goff Public relocated within downtown St. Paul more than once, eventually landing in a historic building across from the St. Paul Union Depot in Lowertown and then within the UBS Plaza on Cedar Street in 2018. Hellman, who had became a shareholder, bought a larger stake in the company when Goff sold his ownership around 2008.

She was named chief operating officer 12 years ago and then, in January 2022, its president and chief executive officer. Other principals include chairman Chris Georgacas, chief financial officer and chief operating officer Heidi Larson, vice president of public affairs Elizabeth Emerson and Chris Duffy, vice president of public relations.

“We love this city,” said Hellman, sitting in a small conference room in the firm’s new expansion space on Wednesday. “St. Paul is our home, our backyard.”

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