The Institute for Public Relations is thrilled to announce our four new Trustees to its Board:
- Bradley Akubuiro, Partner, Bully Pulpit Interactive
- Brian Grace, Chief Communications Officer, Nationwide
- Brendan Mullin, Chief Communications Officer, EY Americas
- Michelle Russo, Chief Communications Office, US Chamber of Commerce
Bradley Akubuiro
Bully Pulpit Interactive
Partner
Bradley Akubuiro is a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, an advisory firm founded by leaders of the Obama-Biden campaigns. He focuses on corporate reputation, executive communications, and high visibility crisis management and media relations efforts, as well as equity, diversity, and inclusion matters for clients. Bradley has led public affairs and media relations for Fortune 50 companies and has been a close advisor to a number of highly visible leaders. He was Boeing’s Chief Spokesperson as the company navigated the 737 MAX crisis and led media relations and global public affairs for United Technologies through multiple M&A activities ultimately leading to the creation of Raytheon Technologies. Earlier, Bradley served in roles as an advisor to Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and separately to the Republic of Liberia post-civil war.
A nationally recognized expert in his field, Bradley has been named to 40 Under 40 lists by both PR Week and Crain’s Chicago Business and his columns have been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, and Inc. Magazine, where he is a regular contributor. Bradley is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he currently serves on the Board of Advisers and as an adjunct member of the faculty.
Brian Grace
Nationwide
Chief Communications Officer
Brian Grace is Nationwide’s Chief Communications Officer, leading the company’s internal communications, public relations, and reputation management functions. Grace joined Nationwide from Progressive Insurance where he served in a similar capacity. Before joining Progressive’s Marketing team, Brian led strategic communications at Target. Prior to that, he was a communications manager at NASA and Pentagon contractor, ATK. Earlier in his career, Brian honed his storytelling and relationship-building skills while working as a news reporter and anchor in his hometown of Minneapolis.
He graduated from the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN and received a post-graduate certificate in Managing High-Performance Teams from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. He is active in the community both personally and professionally. He is the incoming chairman of the board at Easterseals of Central and Southeast Ohio, he served as chair of judges at the 2020 PR Week Awards, served on the board of the Public Relations Society of America’s Cleveland chapter and has provided pro bono marketing and PR counsel to Urban Ventures – an organization focused on breaking the cycle of generational poverty, MDI – a social enterprise empowering the career success of people with disabilities, and Toys for Military Kids.
Brendan Mullin
EY Americas
Chief Communications Officer
Brendan Mullin is (Interim) Chief Communications Officer at EY in the Americas. Reporting to EY’s US Chair and Managing Partner and Americas Managing Partner, he is responsible for leading EY in the strategic development of effective audience-centric communication strategies that grow and protect the brand.
Prior to EY, Brendan was Vice President at Moody’s in charge of reputation management in the Americas working closely with the organization’s C-suite, marketing, public policy and legal teams.
Brendan also spent many years in various PR agencies. At Edelman, he served as Senior Vice President in the Corporate & Public Affairs group. He led the client relationship on behalf of a global professional services firm overseeing a team of 30 people across multiple work streams focused on executive positioning, crisis management and promoting branded thought leadership. He also conceptualized and drove the market-by-market launch of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, a newly launched real estate brand in the U.S. In 2012, Brendan participated in the World Economic Forum in Davos accompanying the CEO of a major global financial firm to manage bilateral business engagements and media briefings with leading global influencers.
Brendan also served on the management committee of Peppercomm and his experience included direct oversight of blue-chip accounts including EY, Panasonic, Whirlpool, Ricoh, General Electric, General Motors, ITT Corporation, among others. He provided deep crisis counseling in scenarios that included criminal charges brought against a global CEO, the first ever case of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) violations, and fallout from implied culpability in the collapse of a major bank during the financial crisis.
Outside of the office, Brendan is an avid golfer and enjoys traveling, especially to see his extended family.
Michelle Russo
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Chief Communications Officer
Michelle Russo joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – the world’s largest business organization and network – as its first CCO in April 2019. Representing companies of all sizes and across all sectors, the Chamber is the voice of American business in Washington DC, across the country and around the world.
In short order, Russo transformed and modernized the communications function to develop integrated strategies and data-driven campaigns that frame the public debate, elevate issues important to the business community and drive value for its members. Under her leadership, the Chamber has grown exponentially the reach and impact of its work.
She led the strategy for the Chamber’s CEO transition, the first in 24 years. During her tenure she also has overseen the modernization of the 110-year-old institution, refreshing the Chamber’s brand for the first time in half a century and launching a dynamic new website, doubling web traffic and introducing new audiences to the Chamber’s work. She has helped expand the organization’s global influence, with the Chamber hosting the CEO Summit held in conjunction with the Summit of the Americas in 2022 and creating the annual Global Forum. And on the most meaningful legislation impacting the business community—including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and more—under Russo’s leadership, the Chamber has shaped the public debate and forged consensus on Capitol Hill to deliver results for its members. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, the Chamber was cited in over 10,000 news stories, a new record.
Before joining the Chamber, Russo spent four years in London as executive vice president of Global Communications for leading media company Discovery, Inc., where she supervised cross-functional marketing and communications teams across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. In addition, she led the top-to-bottom communications and public affairs strategy for the company’s groundbreaking first broadcast of the Olympic Winter Games across Europe. Prior to relocating to London, she served as the company’s senior vice president of Corporate Affairs & Communications in the U.S. There she built and managed Discovery’s reputation as a global media leader, including its debut as a publicly traded company.
Earlier in her career, Russo was a media consultant on two Presidential campaigns and served as the primary spokesperson on media issues at the Federal Communications Commission under both Democratic and Republican leadership. There she led public relations for major policy initiatives, including the relaxation of media ownership rules and regulatory reviews of industry mergers. She also served on the FCC crisis response team after the September 11 attacks.
Russo earned a Master of Arts in Communication Management from the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, with an emphasis in business administration, from UCLA. She serves on the Board of Directors for So Others Might Eat as well as on the advisory boards of small private companies and nonprofits.
About the Institute for Public Relations
Founded in 1956, the Institute for Public Relations is an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations™. IPR creates, curates, and promotes research and initiatives that empower professionals with actionable insights and intelligence they can put to immediate use. IPR predicts and analyzes global factors transforming the profession, and amplifies and engages the professional globally through thought leadership and programming. All research is available free at www.instituteforpr.org and provides the basis for IPR’s professional conferences and events.
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