Tell me a little bit about your professional journey. How did you find your way into this profession, and what drew you to public affairs and communications?

How I got here is a bit of a serendipitous journey. It started with an education in liberal arts. My dad was the mayor of our town, so I guess I had politics in my blood.

I graduated and I moved out to Washington, D.C. I wanted to work at the White House, and everybody said, well, you can’t just move to Washington and say you want to work at the White House. And I just didn’t take no for an answer.

I made a lot of connections, and ultimately, someone that I met had worked in Vice President Cheney’s office. I connected with the team and got a job there.

After that, I interviewed with a small public affairs firm that was based in the Northwest, and I was able to work for a guy who is one of the most strategic thinkers I’ve encountered in my career.

He taught me: How do you develop a strategy? What’s the difference between strategy and tactics? And it was then that I realized that many of the skills I had learned in my liberal arts education — making an argument, the critical thinking, good writing — were fundamental to communications and public affairs.

What attracted you to your current role with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association?

Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of the most iconic brands in the country, and certainly in healthcare, so the opportunity to work for such a well-respected and trusted brand that’s locally rooted in the community drew me to the job.

Healthcare is complicated and highly regulated. It was daunting going in and knowing I needed to learn a whole new area of expertise, but that was also what drew me to it because I’m curious and I love to learn.

When I took on the role over 4 1/2 years ago, there was a lot of opportunity to rethink the role that communications had inside the organization and how to position
the organization and the brand more proactively, both inside Washington and nationally.

You have a lot of experience working for associations. How has your perspective evolved as you’ve moved across sectors?

What is so incredible about associations is the role that they play in advocating for whatever industry they represent and how much those communities rely on associations. Many organizations rely on that work because they couldn’t do it without their trade association. Even if they have a state or federal government affairs official or public affairs team, there’s a volume of work here in Washington that’s just too hard to keep up with.

What’s distinctive about working for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association?

This association is very different from the other association jobs that I’ve had. We license the Blue Cross Blue Shield brand to 33 independently operated Plans — and the Association is the infrastructure that makes it possible for those 33 Plans to function as one national network. We also run the federal employee health plan.

And we’re a trade association — we lobby Congress and the administration. In effect, I have two jobs corporate communications role and a trade association role.

Tell us about the successful rebrand you oversaw when you were at the Consumer Brands Association.

Consumer Brands Association had previously been the Grocery Manufacturers Association. The organization had undergone a lot of changes over time and had been in some financial distress. Traditionally, it had been very focused on food, but the new leadership wanted to bring the entirety of the consumer-packaged goods industry together.

It was super fun as a communicator and marketer to be part of the rebrand. You know, what’s the right name for that organization? How do you modernize the look and feel of a brand that’s been around for a long time? It was a really exciting time.

Do you have a favorite moment or experience from the rebrand that stands out?

We launched the rebrand with a reception on Capitol Hill where we brought mascots from all the members’ Brands including the Keebler Elf, Tony the Tiger, the Brawny Man, the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the Jolly Green Giant.