Ben Wright Email & Phone Number

Austin, TX, US

Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area

• Public relations and public affairs services for a variety of clients in the higher education, public policy and water/wastewater sectors.
• Services include media relations strategy, speechwriting, ghost-writing editorials, crafting press releases, social strategy, and reputation research.
• Edited Canary, a weekly newsletter on higher education messaging and reputation.

Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area

• Covered the American water and wastewater sector for GWI.
• Wrote on a range of topics, including municipal bond issuance, PFAS mitigation, M&A,water scarcity, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and federal environmental regulation.
• Responsible for updating the US sections of GWI Water Data.
• Researched and presented GWI’s utility forecast for the US market (2023-28)

Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States

• Responsible for presidential communication strategy, ensuring alignment with wider university goals around community engagement, development and reputation management.
• Managed content creation processes across a range of channels including media relations, executive cascades, keynote speeches, social media presence, earned media opportunities, correspondence processes, board.
• Senior member of the planning team responsible for managing the roll out of WFU’s strategic framework process across campus.
• Cultivated trust between the administration and campus community through proactive campaigns that increased the impact and visibility of DEI, ESG and cultural initiatives.

Austin, Texas, United States

• Primarily responsible for drafting presidential remarks — everything from short welcomes to keynote addresses.
• Draft presidential campus messages, public statements, and media quotes.
• Create and maintain presidential communications strategy.
• Senior team member for University Communications, assisting with a diverse range of challenges including public health communications, campus controversies and major initiative roll-out.
• Assist with issue management, crisis communications and social media strategy.

• Create content for the Briscoe Center's visual, written, and electronic communications
• Manage the overall publicity strategies regarding the center’s brand, acquisitions, events and activities
• Assist with curating exhibits, specifically with exhibit research and content production
• Handle media inquiries and crisis communications, acting as a spokesperson where necessary
• Assist with event organization, collections research and archival acquisitions
• Assist the executive director with statements, remarks, and editorialsSpecial Projects: “From Commemoration to Education: Pompeo Coppini’s Statue of Jefferson Davis.”

Sid Richardson Hall, UT Austin Campus

• Create content for the Briscoe Center's visual, written, and electronic communications
• Manage publicity strategies for events, acquisitions, exhibitions and publications
• Cultivate relationships with reporters at the local and national level
• Coordinate center’s social media presence across multiple platforms
• Plan, edit and publish the center’s print magazine, e-news, and Director’s column
• Serve as center’s communication liaison to System, the tower and other CSUs

Austin, Texas Area

• Prepared speeches, press releases, statements and talking points for a state Senator
• Cultivated a network of media, business and academic contacts
• Handled press queries, crafted messaging, pioneered social media outreach
• Crafted pamphlets, newsletters, graphics and logos
• Coordinated projects and communications at a distance with the district office
• Worked with stakeholders, state agencies and legislative offices to draft legislation

Austin, Texas Area

• Organized committee hearings, facility tours and press events across the state
• Prepared speeches, press releases, talking points and issue primers for the chairman
• Chief policy analyst for emergency preparedness issues
• Consulted with state and local entities regarding their preparedness ideas and concerns
• Responsible for writing the 150-page interim report to the Legislature
• Maintained committee records and budgets, managed graduate interns

• Actively sought out stories, pitching them to a variety of media partners across the state
• Solid understanding of news cycles, political communication and electoral strategy
• Effective use of social networking/web 2.0 tools to engage the public
• Successfully juggled multiple clients, projects and deadlines

• Covered the 2009 state legislative session and the 2008 general election
• Broke numerous statewide stories, many featured in statewide news clip services
• Concentrated on Texas House floor debates, committee hearings and press conferences
• Assisted with pagination, editing, CMS management, and cultivating an online presence
• Experience capturing, editing, producing and embedding high quality audio and video
• Frequent local radio and television appearances, regular column in a print monthly

• Mentored high school aged students within Lyon’s English speaking community
• Led leadership training programs, trained youth leaders, ran leadership workshops
• Advocated community causes through public speaking, event organization and networking

• Mentored high school age students
• Raised funds through local church initiatives for organizations tackling third world poverty
• Led service projects in Mexico, organized children’s clubs in colonias

El Paso, Texas Area

• Mentored high school students
• Led service projects in Mexico
• Organized children’s clubs in colonias

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, American History (United States)

Activities and Societies: Junior Fellow (British Studies, College of Liberal Arts) Churchill Fellow (British Studies, College of Liberal.

Ma History, American Foriegn Policy, Communication Theory, History Of The Press, British Elections, Eu Identity

Activities and Societies: KCL Rugby club, KCL Anglican chaplaincyCoursework: 40,000+ words Result: High Merit - equivalent to 3.9 GPA

Bachelor'S Degree, History

Ba, History

Activities and Societies: KCL Rugby club, KCL Anglican chaplaincyFocused on modern British and European history, evolution of political.