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| Hermes Award, one of many awards won by Jane Mitakides' company, Helsley Advertising |
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Jane (Helsley) Mitakides of Dayton, Ohio is a businesswoman and life-long activist in the Democratic Party, who was the Democratic candidate for congress from Ohio's Third District (Clinton, Highland, and parts of Warren and Montgomery Counties) in 2004 and 2008.
Jane has worked with a wide variety of Democratic efforts, including the campaigns of President Clinton in 1992 and 1996, the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards (1994), and Al Gore's presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2000, among others. She was a founding member of the DSCC's Women's Council in 1992, and also a founder of the DNC's Small Business Council.
Professionally, Jane is a specialist in strategic communications. She began an advertising career in New York with the Madison Avenue firm of Calderhead-Jackson Advertising and was later the founder of the Helsley Advertising, incorporated in Ohio in 1981. Within the very first year of its existence, Jane's company won the prestigious "Best of" Hermes award for Excellence in Newspaper advertising. The company continued serving national clients and winning awards until it was purchased by a larger company in the 1990's. During her communications career, Ms. Mitakides has also won professional recognition including ANDY, ADDY, Hermes and CLIO awards.
Jane is also an investor in DRNA, Inc., a leading environmental company serving the dental market. She served as the national editor for "The Gunn Salute," a national Scottish heritage society newsletter, and contributing editor to "Echo," the publication of Cox Broadcasting Corporation.
Jane's husband of 30 years is John Mitakides, a dentist in the Dayton area and a specialist in TMJ disorder and craniofacial pain. He is also a nationally-known lecturer on Ehlers-Danlos disease in the TMJ patient. They are the parents of a daughter, Katie, and son, Andrew. Jane was born in Dayton, Ohio.
Jane was honored in both 2004 and 2008 to have an outstanding campaign team, including several who have gone on to national and international careers. In 2008, the team included Ashton McRae, an outstanding communications/outreach director who is now working in Washington, DC and whose professionalism is unparalleled, and campaign assistant Gambrill Foster who later served with the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan.
Jane has served her community on a number of boards and organizations, including the Development Board of St. Elizabeth Hospital, Opera Guild and the Friends of the Dayton Ballet. She has chaired Dayton's Opera Ball twice, and is a member of Opera Guild, and The Jefferson Patterson Society of The Dayton Art Institute. With a lifelong interest in both family and American history, Jane is also a member of The Daughters of The American Revolution, and the National Society of Colonial Dames of America, The National Genealogy Society, and the Virginia Genealogy Society.
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