Specialized Experience and Skills

• Featured in a NYTimes travel column on Twitter
• Public communications strategy design and implementation; public speaking and presentations to constituents.
• Electronic communications and new media.(samples: Facebook; LinkedIn; Twitter; Blogs; Wikipedia; YouTube; Wikis; Google Maps; Del.icio.us; Flickr; RSS)
• Website design.
• Google Maps, Analytics and Adwords.
• PR staff and team management.
• Microsoft Office; Macromedia Dreamweaver; Adobe Acrobat, PageMaker and Photoshop; Windows and Macintosh platforms.
• Content Management Systems.
• Higher education and international development fields.
• Conversational in Russian, French and German.
• Audio/visual installation.

Since July 2007, Director of Online Communications, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
Innovate, maintain and coordinate the association’s use of new technology and media in communicating with NAICU members, members of Congress and their staff, and other key constituencies.

• Manage NAICU blogs, news feeds, RSS, Twitter, and coordinate association presence on Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, and LinkedIn.
• Direct all aspects of the University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN), an initiative of the private higher education community. Includes recruiting and involving institutional partners, overseeing development of critical technology, and ensuring continued relevance of information provided.
• Design and conduct Google Adwords campaigns.
• Design and manage special project Web sites, including Your Vote Your Voice and HEA 101.
• Serve as spokesman for the organization at public events.
• Draft, edit, and publish timely content for the NAICU website on a daily basis.
• Liaise with member institutions and organizations to ensure continued partnership.

October 2002 – July 2007, Communications Manager, Higher Education for Development, American Council on Education
Directed all public communications, marketing, outreach, media relations, and print and electronic publications to promote higher education international development partnerships.

• Advocated for higher education engagement in international development.
• Briefed executive director and board of directors on communications and marketing issues.
• Developed and managed communications and outreach budget.
• Managed Web site redesign of www.hedprogram.org; served as webmaster.
• Supervised communications staff; managed project-based teams.
• Designed and implemented communications, marketing and outreach strategies to increase public awareness of higher education engagement in international development— resulted in increased media attention, expanded funding and improved institutional participation.
• Developed successful branding strategy to communication organization name change, resulting in full assimilation in six months.
• Increased government agency and donor organization understanding of the value of higher education in international development by creating focused strategies, products and events.
• Served as HED spokesman; advocated stronger involvement by the higher education community in international development; served as liaison to HED’s sponsoring associations.
• Co-authored and edited more than twenty requests for applications; helped coordinate peer review competitions; managed all aspects of selected grants, including financial and substantive reporting.

September 2001 – July 2002, Graduate Assistant, University of Maryland, College Park
Instructional Technology Intern, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures (9/2000-7/2002): Coordinated outreach between numerous departments in newly created school, assisted in the design of marketing and outreach strategies, and created marketing and public relations materials.

Editorial Assistant, History Department (8/2001-7/2002):  Principal editorial assistant for the journal, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History.

April 1999 – July 2000, Outreach Coordinator, Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS), University of Maryland
Managed student administrative staff in the completion of various project elements concerning legal, democratic and economic reform in developing countries, Russia focused.

• Designed and implemented public relations campaigns, wrote news releases, organized and maintained IRIS Web site, designed and launched Inside IRIS, a monthly newsletter and IRIS Quarterly (IQ), an academic journal, and represented IRIS at meetings and public events.
• Organized over twenty-two proposals for government agencies and private organizations – over $10 million awarded; centralized resources for efficient proposal development.

August 1997 – April 1999, Purchasing Manager/Audio Engineer, Signal Perfection, LTD
Managed purchasing for twelve million dollar company; fabricated audio systems.

• Master of Arts, University of Maryland, College Park, History, May 2002; Phi Alpha Theta (National History Honor Society)
• University of Pittsburgh Russia Institute, Moscow, July, 2001
• Bachelor of Arts, Davidson College, History, 1997
• Army ROTC Scholarship, 1993

• Master’s Thesis: “In Search of Legitimacy: Persuasion and Propaganda in Early Soviet Cultural Policy.”
• Publication: Translation from French of Charlotte Goussef’s review of La faucille et le rouble. La modernization conservatrice en URSS, by Anatole Vichnevski, Kritika (3:3 Summer 2002; 558).
• “Lies, Contradictions and Intervention: Early Relations Between the U.S. and the Bolsheviks,” Departmental Award for Senior Thesis, 1997.