Elected to Washington’s 3rd largest school district’s Board of Directors in 2014. Represents the District and its students in meetings with Washington’s governor, federal and state legislators, community leaders, and labor organizations. Creates and establishes educational policy in cooperation and coordination with fellow board directors. Serves as ex-officio board member of Lake Washington Schools Foundation board.

Employs experience and relationships to promote, defend and rehabilitate organizational/product brand reputations. Available as external consultant or staff contractor providing strategic counseling & tactical services including public, media, community and 3rd-party relations; issue, situation, crisis and fundraising communications; and crisis/situation mitigation/management. Clients in: biotech, oncology and Autism.• Promoted publication of pre-clinical research for successful treatment of metastatic breast cancer, colon cancer and melanoma creating international awareness of the research and the biotech start-up.• Promoted the American Society for Breast Disease public policy outreach informing physicians how to most effectively comply with new state laws regarding dense breast imaging patient notification.

Hired initially as Manager to rebuild reputation; identified/recruited stakeholders and 3rd party advocates for crisis mitigation and agenda advocacy; served as crisis spokesperson on crisis response team; led proactive advocacy recruitment and media relations campaigns to support marketing and political campaigns; provided issue management counsel; counseled leaders on issue and marketing messaging; and provided media training for senior management.• Developed third-party support of a major state labor union & recruited it to join Premera’s editorial board media tour campaign on medical costs driving insurance and health system costs. • Raised company/CEO’s stature with previously unresponsive alliances by gaining positive national (NYT) coverage (on my 2nd day) on an issue of mutual importance. • Persuaded provider associations to publicly praise Premera’s multi-year pioneering of a large clinic/ medical group collaboration that created dynamic quality standards and public quality score cards. • Executed a pre-emptive media outreach and crisis mitigation campaign that muted insurance commissioner’s criticism of a 22.5% rate increase, enabling us to attract third party advocates.• Led crisis communication (internal/external) message development during headquarters site flooding.• Enhanced corporate reputation by engaging employees & successfully igniting their competitive spirit to elect Premera as the “Best Employer” (et al) in the 2006, 07 & 08 Seattle Times online campaign;• Achieved international media coverage of Premera in launch of insurance joint venture in China deepening our relationship with Washington’s governor by promoting her trade initiatives.• Persuaded Premera senior management to “look around the corner” and not employ business tactics that had resulted in catastrophic financial/regulatory/reputation crises for other companies.

Provided public, media and medical society relations and issue management strategic/tactical counsel to clients supporting their brands, image or political interests; established third-party relationships for clients; created and led (as in-house director) communications departments for start-ups; and served as seamless subcontractor to public relations & investor relations firms.Achievements - • Recruited past AMA leaders (chairs and presidents) to counsel International Food Information Council (IFIC), prior to AMA policy debate on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) & foods.• Orchestrated and led subtle behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign that successfully persuaded state medical societies and AMA delegates to continue support GMOs and not reverse policy.• Relocated practice from NYC to LA exclusively serving client (See CTL ImmunoTherapies also highlighted separately) as Corporate Communications Director with direct report to biotech start-up’s CEO. • Designed communications strategy to support CTL’s clinical trials of its therapeutic melanoma vaccine and its novel delivery platform for oncology patients.• Created its first crisis communications plans for CTL’s onsite animal research facility, vaccine production lab and clinical trials.• Orchestrated physician awareness campaign via AMA events to introduce CTL and its oncology therapeutic vaccine to physicians who helped open clinical trial talks with their institutions;• Convinced American Medical News to highlight CTL and its oncology therapeutic vaccine research in its annual biotech development to watch in the coming year (2002) feature; • Clients included CTL ImmunoTherapies, IFIC, Solexa, NeurogesX, CytRx, Healthology.com, Baptist Hospital of Miami (FL), PharmaFrontier, Vitas, and Westchester (NY) Medical Center.

Provided strategic planning & tactical execution of public relations programs to support marketing campaigns & strategic positioning for brand launches, investor relations, crisis situations, public & professional education and product informational campaigns.• Employed my extremely strong interpersonal relationships with past AMA leaders to recruit them to expand or create client relationships with the media, government and organized medicine. • Enabled Ethyl Corp. to testify and present peer-reviewed research at an AMA scientific hearing and led an orchestrated (yet subtle) lobbying campaign by my AMA “alumni” team, resulting in preventing costly litigation and in AMA saying Ethyl’s fuel additive did not pose any environmental health hazards. • Mitigated regional situation via message counseling to Pioneer Hi-Bred when it introduced poultry feed that produced lower-phosphate manure which reduced potential for water table contamination.• Recruited U.S. and international tropical disease experts to authoritatively and definitively dispel rumors of a post-hurricane epidemic outbreak of Dengue Fever.• Convinced a major Chicago all-news radio station’s anchor join in our client’s live taste test during morning commuter’s prime time in Union Station. • Created and led national media relations team to launch a cholesterol-lowering butter substitute.• Lobbied the lobbyists preventing AMA & state medical societies from endorsing medicinal marijuana and ballot initiatives, giving my client a platform to discuss the benefits of its FDA-approved medication.

After establishing my reputation in its Chicago headquarters, AMA senior management and Board selected me to establish its first New York City media relations office. Experience, moxie, and fairness forged my media relationships.Responsibilities: Served as liaison to national health, science, business, opinion & consumer media; provided strategic issue management & media relations counsel to senior management and board; developed/executed media outreach plans for issue campaigns; conducted NYC and national media tours; wrote officers' media statements; and responded to 250+ monthly media inquiries. Accomplishments:• Opened NYC office prior to the 90s health system reform debate enabling frequent contact with the city’s nationally-focused print and broadcast media (special emphasis on editorial board members) to cultivate and grow the relationships essential to positioning our messages.• Developed relationship with the New York Times (NYT) health policy editorial writer, culminating in NYT endorsement of the AMA’s 1996 Medicare reform proposal.• Persuaded Money to name the AMA chair "One of Seven People to Watch" in 1997. • Arranged semi-annual regional/national media tours for 10+ years on public health topics.• Orchestrated and led AMA chair’s (eight publication) editorial board tour on eve of President Clinton’s health system reform proposal launch, dispelling myth of AMA opposing any reform. • Gained national coverage for the launch of the first national, cross-specialty physician data web site for consumers – AMA “Doctor Finder.” • developed relationship with the former U.S. Surgeon General that began when I urged editors to include in TIME’s 1994 List of Young Leaders when she was a young family doctor from rural Alabama; .• Called ONLY three key reporters (AP, WSJ & Washington Post), giving worldwide publicity to a peer-reviewed medical journal study of what ailed Dickens' Tiny Tim in "A Christmas Carol."