The principals of Place + Main Advisors, LLC are a dynamic duo with more than 40 years of combined experience in economic and downtown development, real estate development, promotions and marketing, public relations, nonprofit and project management experience.
A seasoned marketing and public relations professional, Kirsten Borgstrom has more than 25 years of experience in the field. Her diverse background includes marketing, media and public relations in economic development, travel and tourism, real estate development, and sports marketing.
Borgstrom launched a boutique marketing and public relations firm, PubHound Public Relations, in 2010 working with a variety of Midwest destination marketing organizations, resorts, wineries, events and products. PubHound Public Relations officially became part of Place + Main Advisors in 2020.
Prior to PubHound Public Relations, Kirsten was the Media Relations Manager for Travel Michigan where she developed and implemented local, regional, and national media relations programs to support the Pure Michigan campaign. Under her direction, Travel Michigan realized a more than tenfold increase in total media placements,
Borgstrom’s career also includes marketing, public relations and special events management with Chicago’s Greater North Michigan Avenue Association and The John Buck Company, a large Chicago-based real estate development firm.
Joe Borgstrom is an accomplished professional in the fields of Downtown Redevelopment, Community and Economic Development, Main Street and Placemaking. His 20 year career includes executive management, project financial structuring and evaluation, fund development, foreign direct investment recruitment, market research, program management, public speaking and consulting. He and his teams have used state and local incentives to leverage more than $2.2 billion in private investment into communities.
Borgstrom’s expertise is in the areas of retail market analysis, real estate redevelopment, real estate finance, business recruitment, strategic planning, incentives, and economic development strategy. He has served clients in communities as small as 700 residents to more than 400,000.
He has been a featured keynote speaker at statewide downtown conferences in Wisconsin, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, and Delaware, multi-time presenter at the National Main Street Conference, and was a featured speaker at the White House Placemaking Summit.
Borgstrom is a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional through the National Development Council.