Business to Business Exchange Luncheon Honoree - Jeannine Blanco, Public Affairs Specialist at State Farm Companies

Jeannine Blanco has worked within the insurance industry for the past 14 years. Currently, Jeannine is a Public Affairs Specialist at State Farm Companies. State Farm is the largest insurer of cars in North America and the leading insurer of homes in the United States. It is ranked No. 22 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. As a Public Affairs Specialist, her role is to manage community and media relations as well as the company’s philanthropic giving for New York City, Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties.

Prior to moving into her role in Public Affairs, Jeannine spent 9 years in Human Resources as a Recruiter. During this time, she developed recruiting strategies and handled the recruiting needs for a variety of positions throughout New York State. In addition, her responsibilities included training managers on interviewing skills and techniques. As her responsibilities increased, she was selected as a Corporate Trainer to train fellow Recruiters throughout the country on recruiting techniques and company initiatives. While in this role, Jeannine developed a recruiting tool that was approved for other recruiters to use company-wide. One of her biggest accomplishments while in this role was being published in the book, “Insider’s Guide to Finding a Job: Expert Advice from America’s Top Employers and Recruiters”.

Jeannine is very active in the community and serves on several boards. She is an Executive Board member of the African American Chamber of Commerce, the South Queens Boys and Girls Club as well as Tomorrow LEADERS Inc. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Inc.

Jeannine received her B.A. in English from the University of Rochester. She received her MBA from the University of Phoenix. Currently, she is pursuing a certificate in Corporate Citizenship from Boston College. Jeannine was recently married in October 2006 to her husband, Miguel, Associate Publisher of the newspaper, El Aguila. They currently reside in Westchester County.