Denise Gray-Felder
Ms. Gray-Felder is widely recognized as the force behind Communication for Social Change becoming a recognized and respected practice within communication fields. With 30 years of multi-faceted communication experience and proven leadership abilities—combined with her passion for CFSC and the respect she has earned from her peers within communication, nonprofit, academic, and business circles—she is uniquely positioned to lead the CFSC Consortium. Prior to creating and launching the CFSC Consortium, Ms. Gray-Felder, who has been accredited in public relations since 1978, was the vice president of communication and administration for the Rockefeller Foundation, based in New York City. There she led the communication, information technology, office services/facilities, finance and comptrollers, library, records, and research services, and Bellagio Study and Conference Center (in northern Italy) functions. She served as chairperson of the Bellagio Committee for nearly 3 years (a competitive scholarly residential program). Hired in March 1995 to be the Foundation’s top communication officer, she was responsible for restructuring the department and rebuilding the department’s credibility and capacities among multiple constituents including policymakers, grantees, and the philanthropic community. She and her team set a new communication vision for the foundation and its communication grant-making portfolio, helped develop the communication capabilities of nearly 100 grantee organizations, repositioned the foundation, oversaw the foundation’s public policy agenda in the United States and globally, and managed basic public relations, social marketing, advocacy, employee communication, issues advertising, and media promotion responsibilities. Ms. Gray-Felder holds degrees from the University of Michigan School of Business, Executive Education Program in global marketing; an MA in speech—Radio/TV/Film, Wayne State University; and a BA in journalism, University of Michigan.
