Publications

This page contains publications on which I was the primary or sole contributor to written content. These publications have been made available to the public by the copyright holders. To reach each publication, click on the corresponding heading.

DDOT 10th Anniversary Book

One of my proudest professional accomplishments was developing a 10th anniversary commemorative book for the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). As construction was wrapping up on the 11th Street Bridge project – at the time, the largest project in the agency’s history – DDOT wanted a way to showcase its accomplishments in making Washington a safe, sustainable, and prosperous city. HNTB was tasked with management of the bridge reconstruction program, as well as with developing the commemorative book.

I spent hours talking to employees about the organization, from longtime agency staff (although DDOT was only 10 years old at the time, some staff had been with its predecessor agencies for 40 years) to fresh-faced leaders brought on to implement innovative new programs. I combed the agency’s internal library and DC Public Library’s Americana Room for insight into DDOT’s history and origins to demonstrate how the city’s transportation systems have developed from the dirt roads and canals of the 1820s. I even had to take over graphic design after the original designer left the company.

All of the hard work was rewarded with a transportation communications award from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

DAI Solutions Advisor – Find the right audience to sharpen your communications

At DAI Solutions, I serve as the primary copy editor of the DAI Solutions Advisor, a monthly newsletter of employee-generated content that is distributed to clients and business partners.

For the April 2017 edition, I was asked to contribute an article related to communications planning. I chose a topic I believe is critical to any communications plan – audience definition. A poorly defined audience can doom your communications plan right off the bat, wasting limited resources and making it difficult or impossible to achieve your desired results. Leveraging my professional experience, I highlighted best practices and pitfalls related to audience definition and segmentation.

This article was my second for the Advisor, following a February 2017 piece on crafting decision documents.

BergerWorld

During my time as a corporate communications specialist with Louis Berger, a global engineering, architecture, and project management firm, I served as editor and primary author of BergerWorld, the corporate magazine. The quarterly glossy magazine was distributed to more than 5,000 employees, clients, and business partners on five continents, and highlighted the firm’s recent marquee accomplishments in a particular region or market segment. My responsibilities included:

• Generating topic ideas and issue outlines for review with the company’s CEO
• Conducting interviews of technical project team members to obtain relevant facts
• Writing copy for each issue
• Managing freelance writers to assist in copy development
• Editing the work of freelance writers
• Coordinating approvals of each article with the relevant corporate leaders
• Reviewing layouts and proofs with the creative team
• Managing domestic and international distribution lists

My work on BergerWorld allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of the company and its business offerings. Interacting with employees from around the world at various levels of each project gave me the insight necessary to tell compelling stories – covering the “why” rather than just the “what” and “how” – not only for the magazine, but also for the company’s website and media releases.