My Expertise

- Communications counsel to presidents and trustees

- Strategy and creative direction, in equal part

- Deep experience in institutional identity and messaging

- Decades concepting and leading fundraising campaign communications

- Crucial-news rollouts and follow-ons

- Communications team organization and leadership

- Consulting, for dozens of institutions

- Dedicated mentor, coach, teacher

Bigger Picture

I've architected programs and led teams that advance the vision of presidents and trustees through work steeped in the values and character of the place and its people. I excel at communications and marketing department turn-arounds; bring an editor’s healthy skepticism to all collaborations; and push boundaries in the creative product. Experienced in the educational, cultural, healthcare, and charitable sectors, I’ve been recognized for down-to-earth approaches to the high purpose of campaign communications, reaching the hearts and heads of some of our toughest critics by keeping it real. I’m at my best advancing worthy causes—amplifying them through meaningful outreach, protecting them in times of difficulty.

This Portfolio

I concepted, wrote, and collaborated with an art director or filmmaker for every piece in this portfolio, except the MIT oculus text and the magazine stories, which were freelanced. While my top responsibility to my institutions was leading teams—supporting, critiquing, rewarding the efforts of great colleagues—I’ve always been a player-coach who set the tone for the creative and took on select projects.

Consulting Work

These are the institutions and organizations I’ve consulted for throughout my career:

Mentoring, Coaching
- Atlanta Metropolitan State College
- United World College Costa Rica
- University of Alberta

Campaign Communications
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston
- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
- College of the Holy Cross
- Emma Willard School
- Greenwich Country Day School
- Knox College
- Lincoln Park Zoo
- London School of Economics
- Mary Bird Cancer Center
- Milton Academy
- New York Philharmonic
- Nova Southeastern University
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Rockport Music | Shalin Liu Performance Center
- Saint Paul’s School
- United Way of Metropolitan Dallas
- United Way of Miami-Dade
- University of Calgary
- University of North Carolina School of the Arts
- University of Toronto
- Westover School

Team Restructures
- Brandeis University
- Marquette University

Writing Workshops
- Furman University
- Gettysburg College
- University of Texas at Austin

Message Platforms
- Business School Lausanne
- The Jackson Laboratory

Magazine Assessments
- DePauw University
- Mount Holyoke College
- Plymouth State University

Board Service

Educational, Cultural
Rokeby Museum, an Underground Railroad site on the National Register of Historic Places, 2026-2029

Healthcare, Medical
Hope Foundation for Cancer Research, an international public charity to make clinical trials accessible to all patients, 2019 to 2025

Philanthropy
Journey Gives, crowd-funding through world travel, 2017-2020

Select Achievements

Teaching: Earned top-teacher and laureate mentor designations from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) having served on the faculty of its Summer Institute in Communications and Marketing since 1997 and as a presenter, including keynote, at numerous other conferences. Known for a specialty in teaching—in addition to producing—campaign communications, including instrumental talks to help bridge the longstanding gap between advancement and communications pros.

Magazines: Remade Cornell into a two-time Sibley Magazine of the Year, chosen by Newsweek editors, three years into the job. At Northeastern, won Folio’s national Editorial Excellence Award as the top education magazine, and was consistently named by CASE as one of the country’s Ten Best university magazines.

Entrepreneurship: At Northeastern University Magazine, I devised and created one of the industry’s more lucrative advertising efforts, not only defraying publishing costs in tight financial times but enabling new investment to attract some of the country’s best writers, photographers, and illustrators. At Cornell Magazine, designed and built a profitable in-house custom publishing operation for campus clients reversing five consecutive year-end (inherited) deficits with a surplus replenishing 70 percent of the cumulative loss. At fiscally strapped Hampshire College, figured out a way to publish a biannual print magazine on an average $300 per issue for text and visuals—capturing the soul of the institution in a way the magazine hadn’t done before and immediately increasing visibility and reader engagement. See New Ventures below for more details.