Since November 2011, I’ve held the position of Assistant Director of Public Relations for the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center(AHC), an expansion of the PR Manager position I’d held since July 2010.

At its most basic, my charge is to align the public relations efforts of six health sciences schools which comprise the AHC, while strategically positioning the work of our physicians & researchers.  I also oversee media relations strategy for University of Minnesota Physicians (UMP), the practice group for our 700+ Medical School faculty.

In addition to directing media relations for all schools and UMP, my team is responsible for social media strategy and execution, our department’s project management system and all editorial content on the AHC & Medical School web sites.  Issues management is a large part of what I do, and I work closely with executive leadership, steering AHC’s response to conflict of interest issues, legislative affairs and investigative reporting.

Prior to my current position, I managed media relations for a 350-bed private, community hospital (AAMC) in Annapolis, Md.  All told, I have more than eight years in health care communications.

As you may have been able to tell from my homepage, I’m an avid mountain biker. I also enjoy taking advantage of the nationally-underrated downtown Minneapolis, pretending I have time to spend as much time on Twitter as some of my PR counterparts and rabidly following Boston sports (lived there as a kid) and South Carolina NCAA athletics (college).  Each year I take an annual trip to Las Vegas with my college friends and when I write for pleasure, it’s usually a script, not a novel.

I currently live in Maple Grove, MN, with my wife Kristi and new daughter Dylan Kristina.