Communications Director

Seasoned communications professional with a history of maximizing positive reputation, perception, and presence of major organizations on a local, national, and global scale.

During a distinguished career in journalism and public relations, Dennis Nealon has acquired vast experience as a prolific writer and editor, key spokesperson, crisis response leader, and principal media and marketing communications advisor to senior administrators.

In July 2011, after working at Brandeis University and as a writer and communications consultant at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Mr. Nealon joined the staff of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a communications associate.

At Brandeis, where he earned a master’s degree in Politics and served as Executive Director for Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Nealon worked at the highest levels of the organization, helped to raise the institution's image nationally and internationally, and led it through numerous communications challenges.

For almost a decade before working in higher education, Mr. Nealon was a reporter for award-winning daily newspapers in New England. He covered education, municipal government, and a wide range of major breaking stories, including the daring escape of convicts from a maximum security prison in Tennessee.

In higher education, he assembled and led public affairs and media relations teams, advised presidents and other senior executives, created an acclaimed "Meet the Author" series, and directed all communications logistics for the visits of dozens of major leaders and celebrities, from Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, to the Dalai Lama, to actors Charlton Heston and Barbra Streisand.

As a lead spokesperson, Mr. Nealon has been quoted in international and national publications, including the Jerusalem Post, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and appeared in regional radio and television news reports.

The son of a highly decorated U.S. Army officer (WWII, Vietnam), Mr. Nealon was born in Arlington, Virginia, and lived in Heidelberg, Germany, and on Oahu, Hawaii, before his family settled in Massachusetts. He resides in Medway, Mass., with his wife and son.

See profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/dennealon