Neal Kane, Nancy Williams Faris, Christine Kane, Jason M. Rubin
Alison Case, Sarah Jensen, Andrea Still, Nancy Boissonnet, Natasha Waibel, Daniel Pereira, Donna LeBlanc

Neal Kane
President

Widely regarded as one of New England’s leading business writers and messaging strategists, Neal Kane is the president and founder of Libretto. Since beginning his freelance writing career in 1986, he has completed projects for hundreds of organizations, and received numerous awards for his work. As president of Libretto, Neal leads a group of twelve writers, strategists, and project managers, oversees the company’s operations, and serves as creative director. He works extensively with senior-level executives and administrators to address their high-level communications needs, and to translate those messages into compelling communications materials. Neal also manages Libretto’s close collaborative relationships with many of the region’s leading design firms and creative agencies.

Neal is a member of the advisory board of the Boston chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). He has been a member of the adjunct faculty of the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, and a guest lecturer and critic at the Massachusetts College of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, and other institutions. Neal also serves as chair of The History Project, one of the nation’s leading LGBT history organizations, and is the editor of Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History From the Puritans to Playland, published by Beacon Press. He holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Brown University.

Some favorite novels: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Middlemarch by George Eliot

Wordplay of choice: The Sunday New York Times double acrostic; he also admits to a brief membership in the Scrabble Club during college

Try saying this three times fast: “I’ll have it edited in an hour.”

Nancy Williams Faris
Strategist

During her more than 15 years at Libretto, Nancy Faris has developed, orchestrated, and executed numerous writing, concept development, communications planning, and naming and branding assignments. She has created information architecture and shaped content for clients ranging from startup companies to major industry leaders. A creative strategist with a passion for meeting business objectives, she particularly enjoys developing messaging platforms, sitemaps, brand identity programs and advertising campaigns. She has experience in a wide range of industries including education, high technology, financial services, and healthcare. Nancy has also taught advertising at Simmons College. She holds a BA from Kenyon College.

Work quirk: The scream stretch, made popular by domesticated dogs throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Nancy has cultivated this endearing habit into something that would make Tantric Buddhists envious.

Choice words: A big fan of the “woody” word (round, full) over the “tinny” word (short, nasal), Nancy finds herself looking for occasions to exercise her favorite: Blasphemous.

Sideline: Graphology, i.e., handwriting analysis. In letters and in life, it’s always helpful to be able to recognize a baseline shift.

Christine Kane
Senior Writer

Drawing on her early background in newspaper journalism, Chris has been involved in corporate communications since 1981. She works in a range of sectors, including technology, education, consumer products, financial services, and real estate. As a senior writer at Libretto, her project approach involves immersing herself in the details of the client’s business while offering the impartial and even-tempered perspective of an outsider. With solid creative skills and a clear, polished writing style, Chris works in many formats but especially enjoys annual reports, print collateral, and writing for the Web.

Favorite challenge: I enjoy mediating differing perspectives on the client side in a way that leaves everyone feeling “heard” and satisfied with the outcome. People often think they are in disagreement when, in fact, their viewpoints share a great deal in common.

Best advice to clients: Get clear buy-in from your key stakeholders early in a project, when the important thinking and decision-making happens. Otherwise you risk major, last-minute course corrections that wreak havoc with your budget, production schedule, and peace of mind.

Favorite quote for keeping it all in perspective: “The very stone one kicks with one's boot will outlast Shakespeare.” From To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

Jason M. Rubin
Senior Writer

Jason joined Libretto as a senior writer in September 2000, after 15 years working client-side for such respected organizations as Deloitte & Touche, WGBH, Cabot Corporation, and Bitstream. Jason particularly enjoys meaty projects in which his challenge is to convert complex information into clear, readable copy. He holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, as well as a deep respect for deadlines and a sharp eye for detail.

Some favorite words: Akimbo, Behoove, Cuneiform, Fillip, Gambol, Ignis fatuus, Nimbus, Obfuscate, Ululate, Scrutiny.

A line I wish I’d written: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” (Bob Dylan, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”)

Books I’ve read more than once: James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men; Toni Morrison, Beloved; Stephen B. Oates, With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln (five times); Ursula Hegi, Stones from the River; Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff.

Alison Case
Writer

Since joining Libretto full time in 2005, Alison has led several major website overhauls, including those for Ipswitch, the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, and Pace University Law School. She has also built a large portfolio of print work, including advertisements for the Boston Design Center, brochures for Berkeley Investments and FedEx, and admissions viewbooks for Hackley School and Beaver Country Day School. Prior to joining Libretto, Alison worked in the development office at Lesley University, where she gained experience writing fundraising materials. She has drawn from that experience to develop successful annual appeals for educational institutions such as Wellesley and Emerson colleges. Alison holds a BA in English literature from Fairfield University.

Some favorite words: Avuncular, Curmudgeon, Debacle, Extemporaneous, Untoward.

Person whose brain she’d most like to borrow: Besides Einstein, Alison would most like to find a portal into Kurt Vonnegut’s cerebral cortex and just hang out for a while.

Favorite line from a book: “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Sarah Jensen
Writer/Editor

Sarah came to Libretto following a stint as journalist and copyeditor for The Ludington Daily News in Western Michigan, where her stories received Michigan Associated Press and Michigan Press Association awards. She continues to write a bi-weekly op-ed column and contributes stories and reviews to publications nationwide. An award-winning poet, she was founding editor of the Boston-based literary journal atelier.  Her Libretto Nightstand review of poet Jack Ridl’s collection Broken Symmetry was recently reprinted in the college textbook, Approaching Literature. She holds a BA in anthropology from Michigan State University.

Literary passion: The expatriate era of 1920s France, as evidenced by an extensive library of literature and biography, and the ability to recall trivial minutia about Alice B. Toklas on command.

Best advice received from another writer: “You must look at your own life for the myth and archetype there that may have nothing to do with reading or writing of poetry, but what make your life the material of poetry.” – Diane Wakoski

The one book I’d want if I were marooned on a desert island (Besides How to Build a Boat): The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A perfect novel that’s got everything: love, hope, champagne and stardust, cufflinks made of human molars – but mostly heartbreakingly beautiful writing.

Andrea Still
Director of Operations and Marketing

Trained as an archivist and librarian, Andrea has over 10 years of experience in the organization and maintenance of information, working in both public and private sectors. As director of operations and marketing, her duties at Libretto include billing, estimating, HR, and marketing support. She also serves as project manager on a number of Libretto projects, including development campaigns for the health care industry, high-tech marketing publications, and websites for academic clients. Andrea earned an MS in Library and Information Science in 2003 from Simmons College, specializing in Archives and Records Management. She also holds a BA in Anthropology from Wayne State University in Detroit. In addition to her work at Libretto, she sits on the board of The History Project, serving as an archives consultant.

Longest distance cycled in one day: 135 miles.

Favorite medium: Radio, especially radio theatre.

Favorite rabbit hole: Wikipedia

Nancy Johnston Boissonnet
Project Manager

Nancy joined Libretto as project manager in 2007, shortly after relocating from New York, where she was pursuing graduate studies and teaching at NYU. Previously, she lived in France, where she served as student services coordinator and taught at the Council on International Education (CIEE) Paris program. At Libretto, Nancy specializes in managing complex projects with multiple deliverables; she has participated in diverse projects for various departments at MIT, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and other colleges and secondary schools. She also participates in activities related to new business, estimating, billing, and staffing. Nancy holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Brown University and an MA in French literature from New York University.

Some favorite books: White Noise by Don Delillo, Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos, The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, anything by James Baldwin or Marguerite Duras.

Most challenging wordplay: Translation. It's never quite close enough.

Guilty Pleasure: The Approval Matrix, every week in New York Magazine.

Natasha Waibel
Writer

Natasha has been involved in a variety of projects at Libretto, including the relaunch of the social networking site, wis.dm, and an internal microsite for the biopharmaceutical services company PAREXEL. Natasha has also helped develop communications materials for Assumption College and Bucknell University, as well as content for a brochure and microsite about photovoltaic technology for Mass Audubon. Prior to joining Libretto in 2007, Natasha contributed to City Living Magazine, a lifestyle publication based in Central Massachusetts, as well as the student travel guidebook, When in Madrid. She holds a BS in journalism from Boston University.

Favorite book: Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver

Word I try to weave into conversation as much as possible: lecherous. Oddly
enough, I use it often, e.g., "The man on the bus was giving me a lecherous
stare."

Words I still need to think twice about when spelling: Wednesday, labyrinth, weird, rhythm.

Daniel Pereira
Intern

Daniel joined Libretto in September 2008, several months after graduating from Brandeis University with a BA in English and Creative writing. The story of how he wound up at the firm is long; suffice to say that it involved a stint in Cairo, an island off the coast of Maine, and a healthy dose of bewildering coincidence. As the newest addition to the Libretto staff, he supports the team in editing, administration, and IT maintenance. Daniel also works as a writing tutor in the Boston Public High Schools and maintains a literary blog called Vou Escrever.

Favorite books: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway; Lord Jim, Conrad; Paradise Lost, Milton.

Most Literary City: Hands down, Cairo takes the prize - 17 million stories crammed into romantically dilapidated buildings by the world's longest river, the Pyramids, medieval mosques, and endless desert.

Favorite word: Currently, insouciant. It's something we should all aspire to be.

Donna LeBlanc
Bookkeeper

Donna LeBlanc has been helping Boston companies keep track of their finances for over twenty years. Before enlisting her financial savvy at Libretto in October 2004, Donna held accounting positions at numerous agencies including Hill Holliday, Emerson Lane Fortuna, and Polese Clancy. Donna holds a BS in Accounting from Northeastern University as well as an associate degree in Business Management from North Shore Community College. Even though Donna is a self-described numbers person, she enjoys working with “crazy artistic” types since they enliven her sometimes-dull accounting duties.

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