Faculty & Administration
Master's Degree in Strategic Public Relations
The faculty of the Graduate School of Political Management represents a broad diversity of professionals and scholars in the public relations and political management fields.
Administration
The Hon. Mark Kennedy
(M.B.A., University of Michigan)
Director and Professor, The Graduate School of Political Management
The Honorable Mark Kennedy leads George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM), the world's first school of applied politics. GSPM's premier position and global partnerships ideally position it to help democracy work!
Kennedy equips leaders to succeed at Business in a Political Age by sharing insights that fuse the perspectives he has gained from:
Politics – United States Congressman from 2001 to 2007, and presidentially appointed trade advisor to both President Bush and President Obama
Business – Fortune 100 senior executive (Macy’s), and more
Academics – Professor of Political Management at GSPM, has taught at leading graduate business schools around the world
Global Engagement – three decades of extensive speaking and involvement with foreign business leaders and government ministers across 40 countries
Kennedy has acquired a unique combination of perspectives from his experiences leading in C-suites, serving in the halls of Congress, and traveling across the world to engage business, political, and civic leaders in nearly 40 countries. In his speeches and lectures, Kennedy shares insights taken from his broad experiences that overturn conventional business wisdom.
Previously, Kennedy led as a Senior Vice President and Treasurer of a Fortune 100 company (Macy’s); helped Pillsbury acquire Häagen Dazs and spread it around the globe; served three terms in the U.S. Congress (2001–7); and then returned to the private sector in a global role with Accenture (a leading consulting firm) while continuing public service as a presidential appointee to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy (under both President Bush and President Obama).
Kennedy teaches, advises and speaks to audiences across the globe on success as a Business in a Political Age. Kennedy shows how businesses can effectively engage with political, regulatory, media, and activist-group forces to simultaneously advance their market strategies and benefit society.
Kennedy is an Executive in Residence at John Hopkins University’s Carey Business School and has lectured or led research projects at the University of Pennsylvania / Wharton, London Business School, HEC-Paris, Mannheim Business School, National University of Singapore Business School, Fundação Getulio Vargas (São Paulo) and the University of Maryland.
Kennedy also serves as Chairman of the Economic Club of Minnesota (www.ecomn.org).
Kennedy has a record of effective collaboration. While a Republican Congressman, he partnered with twenty Democrats to introduce and lead several pieces of legislation; more than half of the Democrats in the U.S. House co-sponsored one of his bills.
A graduate of St. John's University, Kennedy received a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) with distinction from the The University of Michigan.
Mark and Debbie, his wife of 31 years, are the proud parents of four successful young adult children. When they are not traveling, they split their time between Washington, DC and Minnesota.
Lawrence Parnell
(M.B.A., University of New Haven)
Program Director and Associate Professorial Lecturer
Larry Parnell is an Associate Professor and Director of the Strategic Public Relations program at The Graduate School of Political Management.
Over a 30-year career, Parnell has held senior communications positions in consulting, on the client side and in politics. Most recently, he was Vice President and Group Leader of the Corporate Communications practice at Hill and Knowlton Canada. He came to Hill & Knowlton from Barrick Gold Corporation (Toronto) where he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations with responsibility for corporate, financial and internal communications. In New York, he served for four years as Director of Global Public Relations at Ernst & Young LLP. While at Ernst & he was named PR Professional of the Year (2003) by PR Week magazine.
Parnell's previous corporate experience includes senior positions at GTE Corporation, People's Bank of Connecticut, and The Stop & Shop Companies, Inc. His consulting experience includes senior roles at Ketchum Public Relations, Gavin Andersen & Co. Inc., and Manning Selvage & Lee.
Early in his career, Parnell served as a speechwriter for the Mayor of Atlanta, press aide for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign, public information officer for Massachusetts Department of Corrections, and speechwriter for the Attorney General of Massachusetts.
Parnell holds an MBA from the University of New Haven and a Bachelors degree in Journalism from Boston University. He is a frequent author and speaker on communications topics and a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). He is also a member of the prestigious Arthur Page Society.
Faculty
Myron Belkind
(M.S., Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism; B.S., Ohio State University)
Belkind has 40 years of multicultural experiences internationally in a wide range of disciplines including serving as editor-in-charge of major news bureaus, ensuring well-written copy, recruiting and supervising staff, coordinating news coverage in regions worldwide, and initiating visionary changes in editorial product through the development of new beats to broaden the scope of traditional news agency coverage. Belkind has been the Chairman of the International Correspondents' Committee at the National Press Club since 2005, Secretary on the Board of Governors of the National Press Club since 2009 and a member of the World Affairs Council in Washington DC since 2004.
Belkind worked with The Associated Press from 1962 to 2004 as: Editor of the New York National Desk (1962); Pulitzer Traveling Fellow (1963) in Southeast Asia; Editor of the New York International Desk (1964-1966); New Delhi correspondent (1966-1967); Kuala Lumpur correspondent (1967-1968); New Delhi Bureau Chief (1968-1977); London Assistant Bureau Chief (1977-1980); London Bureau Chief and Managing Director of AP Limited (1980-2001); Tokyo Bureau Chief (2001-2004). Belkind also conducted media training seminars in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Albania, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Montenegro) from 2005-2007.
Ann Collier
(M.B.A., The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; B.A., University of South Carolina)
Ann Collier is president of Collier Communications Consulting, LLC (a consulting practice focused on business strategy, investor relations and integrated corporate communications programs) and an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University. Ann has more than 30 years experience helping companies build profitable business strategies and communicate those strategies to key stakeholders. Ann teaches the graduate level PMGT 6230: Issues Management class for GWU's online and on campus programs and to both graduate strategic public relations and political management students. She also has facilitated several courses in the online GSPM program.Ann spent more than 16 years at Circuit City Stores, Inc., a Fortune 200 company, where she established and led the investor relations and corporate communications function as vice president. She led this function during a time when Circuit City was a high-growth company and the top performing stock on the NYSE, as well as during periods of industry maturity and corporate transition. She was an integral part of the management team that developed and launched the public offering for the CarMax used and new car retail superstore business, which is today a separately traded Fortune 500 company. After leaving Circuit City, she served as senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Collegiate Funding Services, a rapidly growing student loan lender, which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase.
Ann's experience includes start-up, high-growth, and mature companies. She has participated in initial public offerings, secondary offerings, spin-offs, divestitures, and acquisitions. She has managed crisis communications ranging from human resource issues to financial surprises. She has led consumer brand research and channel analysis, competitive analysis, and consumer trend research and is attuned to the rapidly changing impacts of online communications, both from a news and social marketing perspective.
During her career, she has had extensive experience with senior management. She has worked directly for four CEOs. She has one-on-one experience with Wall Street and understands public company disclosure, governance requirements and corporate financial statements. She has worked directly with general counsel, outside securities counsel and outside auditors. Ann has worked with all major media outlets, including financial publications, daily newspapers, television news and feature programs, as well as trade and consumer specialty magazines. Ann earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of South Carolina and Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Matthew Gonring
(M.S., American University; B.S., University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point)
Matt Gonring has has nearly 30 years of experience with major global corporations - the past 20 leading the function of communications and marketing for four Fortune 500 companies. His corporate experience spans manufacturing, professional services, airlines, healthcare and environmental organizations. He is widely published and recognized as a global leader in marketing integration, internal, organizational and external communications.
Most recently at Pactiv Corporate, Matt was vice president and chief communications officer. He led the corporate and business functions of communications and reported to the Chairman and CEO. For three years prior to Pactiv he served clients in a variety of industries, from financial services, pharmaceuticals and automotive to consumer products and manufacturing as a consultant with Gagen MacDonald. This included a broad range of applications including functional operations and structure, change management, leadership communications, employee engagement, channel application and utilization, messaging, and organizational alignment. Until 2006, Matt was VP Global Marketing and Communications at Rockwell Automation where he was managed the corporation's global marketing, internal, external and Web communications, advertising, issues management and brand development. At Rockwell he nurtured and developed an integrated global team reflecting the company's matrix structure, led the brand repositioning, set up a customer experience center and measurement process, established fact-based internal programming and implemented substantial technology investments resulting in significantly enhanced marketing and communications programming.
Before joining Rockwell, Matt was vice president, Corporate Communications for Baxter International where he led internal and external communications, Web and business unit communications and global brand development. Under his leadership Baxter adopted a master brand model and developed a centralized Web management team. Before Baxter, he spent three years as Managing Partner, Communications and Integrated Marketing, for Arthur Andersen. As the firm's top marketing and communications executive he oversaw development and implementation of a new firm-wide business brand strategy. Additionally, he managed communications surrounding the Andersen/Accenture arbitration. Before his Andersen career he spent ten years at USG Corporation where he was vice president, Corporate Communications, leading communications and marketing at the corporate and business unit levels. Some notable accomplishments at USG: Managing communications during a prepackaged bankruptcy, a leveraged recapitalization and hostile takeover. Matt also spent eight years in the airline industry holding key headquarters communications assignments with United Airlines and Northwest Airlines. Additionally, he served in state and federal government environmental protection agencies early in his career.
Gonring has written extensively for professional and business periodicals and is a frequent speaker in top-level communications and marketing forums. He has authored a chapter on news media relations in the Integrated Marketing Communications Handbook, among other business books. A board member of The Arthur W. Page Society and co-chair of The Institute for Public Relations, Matt has served on Boards and as an advisor for 10 different consulting, not-for-profit and professional associations
Suzanne Holroyd
(Ph.D., University of Southern California; M.A., The George Washington University; B.A., The University of Missouri-Columbia)
Dr. Suzanne Holroyd works in public affairs for the U.S. government. She has more than 20 years of experience in public relations, community outreach, research and analysis, media relations, branding and marketing. She has provided research for advertising and public relations campaigns in numerous industries in areas such as higher education, non-profits, consumer products, chemical, manufacturing, utility and service industries. Previously she was with Booz Allen Hamilton as public affairs consultant and also taught at the Defense Information School in Fort Mead, Maryland. Prior that, she was at a mid-sized firm in St. Louis worked for The RAND Corporation and Fleishman-Hillard. In addition to George Washington University, she has provided lectures on public relations topics at numerous universities, including Washington University in St. Louis, Webster University, St. Louis University, and University of Maryland. Holroyd earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Southern California, her M.A. in International Relations from The George Washington University and her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Missouri- Columbia.
Janis Page
(Ph.D., Missouri School of Journalism; M.A., National College of Education; B.A., University of California, Berkeley)
Janis Page spent last year in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, as a visiting professor in the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University. While there she taught strategic communication to Emirati women, conducted research on nation building and national identity, and provided communication seminars for the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her seminar students included Afghan diplomats and the UAE ambassadors to South Korea, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Norway, England, and the U.N. International Civil Aviation Organization.From 2005-2010, she was a full-time faculty member in the public relations department, College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida and also taught full time at Purdue University. In her prior 20-year executive career, she directed strategic communications for U.S. business and consumer media companies, including Cahners Publishing Company, Sunset magazine, Chicago magazine, and Emmis Communications. She is now a partner in the consultancy MediaWorks Strategic Communications based in Evanston, IL.
Dr. Page holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (English), an MA from the National College of Education, and a Ph.D. from Missouri School of Journalism. She has instructed graduate courses in business and public relations at Medill School of Journalism/ Northwestern University and at Missouri School of Journalism, and has developed strategic communication study abroad courses and programs in Argentina, Chile, France, Greece, and Spain.
Her scholarly research on political communication and visual persuasion has been recognized both nationally and internationally through conference presentations and journal publications. She is a member of the National Communication Association (NCA), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and the International Communication Association (ICA). At the 2011 ICA conference she presented results of field research conducted in the UAE which will be published in Routledge's upcoming Handbook of Strategic Communication.
Tracy Schario
(M.A., Ohio University; B.A., Ohio State University)
Tracy Schario, APR, is a seasoned counselor with 20 years experience in corporate communications and public affairs. Currently, Tracy manages a consulting practice and writes a blog on public relations and for the Capitol Communicator. She has lectured in communications at The George Washington University, Ohio University, De La Salle and Ateneo universities in Manila, Philippines and the Institute for Business Management and Technology in Surabaya, Indonesia.As the spokesperson for The George Washington University, Tracy frequently appeared on national and local television, radio and print media. She was responsible for GW's communications strategy including issues management for lawsuits, labor issues, Congressional inquiries and crises. She also developed GW's social media plan (#1 university for tweets per day in 2009), administered its award-winning news Web site, produced a weekly E-Newsletter and conceived the university's first sustainability communications strategy.
Prior to joining GW, Tracy was Vice President at Strategic Communications Group where she developed corporate strategy and created PR and marketing strategies for B2B and B2G product campaigns. While living in Southeast Asia, Tracy worked in community relations for the U.S. Department of State in Indonesia and the Philippines where she received a Meritorious Honor award. Early in her career, Tracy lobbied environmental issues for a trade association and was a public information officer for the State of Ohio.
Tracy served as president of PRSA National Capital Chapter in 2006 and is a Diamond Award recipient for chapter service. Tracy earned her M.A. in communications from Ohio University, where she received the Outstanding Master of Arts Candidate Award and served as a coach for the speech and debate team. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.A. in communications. She lives with her husband in Washington, D.C.
Ben Zingman
(Ph.D., Rutgers University; M.A., Rutgers University; B.A., Brooklyn College)
Senior Consultant Ben Zingman has specialized in strategy development, issues management and crisis communications for numerous blue-chip corporations, trade associations and non-profit organizations for more than two decades, successfully combining media, community and government relations. He has particular experience managing environmental, energy and international trade issues.
Zingman also has helped global corporations develop diversity policies and strategic philanthropy programs in the U.S., as well as employee education and grassroots programs. He has a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University.
"I have a firm grasp of concepts and practices that before I may not have realized were important. In addition, assignments were often made that directly related to projects I was working on at my job. The program has given me a solid academic background and a strong network of professionals, both of which will help me to advance in my career."
