As a founding member of Avelo’s senior leadership team, I built from scratch the airline’s first internal and external communications function. Reporting to Avelo’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO Andrew Levy (former United Airlines CFO and an Allegiant Air founder and president), I have oversight for media relations, brand marketing, social media, internal communications, issues / crisis management, community and government engagement, and executive communications.

For three years, I explored the world teaching, advising, writing and speaking. During this period, I visited and lived in 17 countries across five continents while serving as an Executive in Residence at the African Leadership University in Mauritius; a Professor of Practice in Public Relations at Syracuse University; and interim CCO at Steward Health Care. Along the way, I was also an adviser to Westinghouse, Avelo Airlines, Proof Analytics, Earthbound Farm and Caveman Foods; served as a keynote speaker at industry conferences and corporate retreats across the U.S., Africa and Europe; and wrote a leadership column that appeared in Fortune, Fast Company and other high-visibility publications.

Appointed to the top global communications post just weeks after new CEO Oscar Munoz experienced a life-threating heart attack and life-saving heart transplant, I led the communications-driven transformation of the 90,000-employee company’s culture and corporate reputation. This contributed to a record-setting operational performance, an elevated market cap, industry-leading labor relations and employee engagement, and a brand reputation turnaround.

For half a decade, I led a 50-person global in-house and agency team responsible for fortifying Starbucks’ reputation as one of the world’s most innovative, courageous, and socially responsible brands. With dual reporting lines to Starbucks’ chief communications officer and president of international, I orchestrated internal and external communications across the 300,000-employee company’s North American, Latin American, Asian, and European regions.

During one of the most turbulent periods in modern aviation history, I served as a senior adviser and spokesperson on a broad range of financial, operational, corporate, and labor issues, including accidents, severe weather disruptions, quarterly earnings, M&A initiatives, and safety concerns. Most notable was the crisis response I led following the 2009 crash of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River (The Miracle on the Hudson) – globally recognized as a model in contemporary crisis management.

WE Communications (formerly Waggener Edstrom Worldwide) is one of the world's largest public relations agencies. I established and built the agency's first global corporate communications practice and subsequently cofounded and led the agency's global digital strategies practice. During my tenure at WE, I advised a broad range of technology, consumer and aerospace clients, including Boeing, Microsoft, DHL, Texas Instruments, HTC, and Lance Armstrong among others.

Overture (originally GoTo.com) was the pioneer of Web search marketing, serving as the commercial search results provider for MSN, Yahoo!, AOL and other leading portals and media properties. I served as the Vice President of Corporate Communications for the fast-growing, publicly traded company (NASDAQ: OVER) during its meteoric growth from startup to $1.6 billion acquisition by Yahoo! in 2003.

I spent the first decade of his career in the automotive industry, including seven years as a trusted adviser to Nissan North America – during a critical period of transformation for the company. In 1993, I joined the automaker’s integrated advertising and public relations agency (TBWA Chiat \ Day) as an account executive. In 1995, I was recruited to TBWA’s sister PR firm (Porter Novelli) to lead Nissan's digital strategy, including the creation of the company’s first corporate website, online newsroom and employee intranet. In 1997 - at the request of Nissan - I co-founded a strategic communications consultancy (Lost Dog Communications) to drive product and corporate news, as well as continue my groundbreaking digital media work.