Tana Watanabe

Senior Managing Advisor

Tana Watanabe brings a strong base of cross-cultural communications and agency work to her role at Jarrard Inc. Working primarily with academic medical centers and super-regional health systems, Watanabe focuses on change management work including physician compensation, communications audits and departmental infrastructures. She also provides excellent insight into thought leadership and media relations work.

Prior to joining the firm, she worked for Greentarget Global, a public relations firm focused exclusively on business-to-business organizations. While there, she represented numerous healthcare practices for law firms and management consultants in developing relationships with reporters at leading healthcare publications including Modern Healthcare, Becker’s Hospital Review and HealthLaw 360 as well as leading business publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. She also led the firm’s community service program.

Additionally, Watanabe is rooted in the Chicago community as the former chair and a current leader of Ascend Justice’s Young Professionals Board, which supports the organization in providing legal aid to end domestic violence and help families harmed by the Department of Children and Family Services.

Watanabe earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with a minor in Japanese from Willamette University and Master of Science in Health Communication from Northwestern University, where she continues as a teaching assistant.

During her time at Willamette, she was co-president of the Willamette Events Board and interned for the Oregon State Legislature in their Legislative Revenue Office.

Worth Knowing:

1. Bakes everything from scratch and specializes in cheesecakes
2. Knows where to find the best pinots in the U.S.
3. Studied abroad in Japan for a semester in college