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Joe Brennan |
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Robin P. Schell
Senior Counsel & Partner
(603) 770-3607
rschell@ jjwpr.com
Stacey Smith
Senior Counsel & Partner
(603) 205-6302
ssmith@jjwpr.com
Main Office
(603)-964-6302
Joseph A. Brennan, Of Counsel
Joe Brennan provides strategic public relations counsel that enables colleges, universities and non-profit organizations to adapt to changing and challenging times. Drawing on skills developed over a 25-year career as a senior communications executive, Joe helps mission-driven organizations to:
- understand clearly their culture and context
- discover and tell their authentic stories
- engage internal and external publics around a shared vision, and
- make use of innovative communication methods.
Joe’s ability to listen carefully, interpret research findings, and craft powerful narratives has allowed him to create outstanding results for the organizations he serves. His many accomplishments include:
- Guiding the messaging strategy to build support for major changes to how higher education is funded in New York State - resulting in $100 million in new revenue for a major research university.
- Devising a multi-channel campaign that changed how taxpayers perceived a Big 10 institution - resulting in an enrollment surge, and helping the university fend off proposed funding cuts of up to $60 million.
- Crafting communication and audience engagement strategies that helped a public radio station achieve its three biggest pledge drives and the highest ratings in 20 years.
- Leading a professional association to double its membership, attract the highest sponsorship levels and produce the two best-attended conferences in its history.
- Directing a fundraising communications program that helped a private university in the West to raise $377 million, exceeding its goal by 78 percent.
- Planning and producing a low-cost event that generated more than 1 million media impressions for a community college in the South and was recognized by Bulldog Reporter as the “best public relations campaign” in America.
A superb writer and gifted public speaker, Joe has the ability to turn abstract concepts into clear and compelling language that inspires audiences to take actions. He is frequently asked to present at conferences. Joe has been heard on National Public Radio and has conducted live, on-stage interviews with former First Lady Laura Bush and branding experts The Beekman Boys.
Joe is also a recognized expert in issues management and crisis leadership. Drawing on his political acumen and ability to understand organizational culture, Joe provides counsel that enables his clients to navigate highly-charged, risky situations. He has managed the messaging and served as spokesman for dozens of critical incidents, including
- An early-morning fire that destroyed an apartment complex, displacing 250 students
- A power outage that took a large section of a campus offline for a week
- Allegations of racially-motivated violence that drew national news coverage and social media, including tweets from a presidential candidate and an NFL player
- Scrutiny of intercollegiate athletics departments, coaches and student-athletes
- Campus unrest, including efforts to force presidents out of their jobs
- Lawsuits against university officials
- Internal conflicts that risk the ability of leaders to lead
- Serious injuries and deaths
- Violent crimes, including sexual assaults and armed robberies
Joe holds four college degrees: an MA and PhD in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo, an MBA in Marketing from University of the Pacific, and a BA (summa cum laude) from Wayne State University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and three other academic honor societies.
He is Accredited in Public Relations and is a Fellow of the Public Relations Society of America. He has twice been named “communicator of the year” by his peers, and his work has been honored with dozens of regional and national awards.
Joe holds appointments as a Clinical Professor of Business and an Adjunct Professor of Management Information Science at the State University of New York. He teaches college courses and conducts research in public relations, marketing and mass communications. His 16 peer-reviewed and professional articles include pieces in Inside Higher Education, Trusteeship and University Business. His work has been written about in best-practices articles in CASE Currents and Campus Safety magazines.
Outside of work, Joe enjoys making homemade pizza with his family and bicycling on the country roads near his home in the Hudson River Valley of upstate New York. A former bike racer, he has competed in state championship road races in New York and Iowa, ridden four “double centuries” (200 miles in a single day) and climbed many iconic peaks including Mt. Greylock, Whiteface Mountain, Mt. Hamilton and several peaks in the Rockies. In 2014, Joe pedaled across the entire state of Iowa, logging more than 700 miles in a single week. He stopped for pie and pork tenderloin sandwiches in so many small towns along the route that he actually came home weighing more than when he left!