In March 2021 Ben Millstein was promoted to Senior Communications and Marketing Manager at Local Projects, the exhibit design studio behind the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Planet Word, and Greenwood Rising, a forthcoming museum about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the resilient community that survived it. He also recently launched Prolognyc.com, a program dedicated to helping people become the better creative collaborators by measuring and growing their creative strengths.
It’s been just over 5 years since Christiana graduated from Medill and she continues to lean into her consumer centric focus that she took away from the program. Now starting at Nike as the North America Email Director, she still appreciates all she learned from the IMC program as it plays into her work everyday!
Britta Waller Melton presented the content marketing keynote address at the 2021 ASJA Writers Conference, held virtually in April. The talk, entitled “No-Stress Success: Browse, Read and Binge in 2021 to Fuel Your Creativity,” focused on how to cultivate an omnivorous media diet and how to use that to generate ideas and grow your freelance business. Melton is a group creative director at Pace (paceco.com), which is based in Greensboro, NC.
Colin Boyle was selected as a finalist for two Peter Lisagor Awards. The nominations are for Best Photography (all media) and Best Deadline Reporting (online) for his visual reporting during summer 2020 for Block Club Chicago. The winners are announced on May 14, 2021.
In April, Susan Howe was named to the PR Week “Hall of Femme,” along with 27 other women leaders in the public relations industry. The award recognizes female leaders who demonstrate commitment to mentorship and the advancement of women in the field. Howe is currently Chief Growth Officer at Weber Shandwick, a leading global communications agency. She serves as Chair of Northwestern’s Council of 100, a group dedicated to supporting Northwestern women in their careers.
Collin Hansen was promoted in January 2021 to vice president of content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition (TGC), one of the largest Christian websites in the world. This year he also published Gospelbound: Living with Resolute Hope in an Anxious Age (Multnomah), written with TGC senior writer Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra (MSJ05).
His Gospelbound podcast in April 2021 featured an interview with Northwestern President Morton Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson, Lawrence B. Dumas Professor of the Arts and Humanities. In January 2022 he will begin teaching cultural apologetics as an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
John Eligon was named Johannesburg Bureau Chief for the New York Times. Eligon had been working as a national correspondent covering race and inequality in the United States.
Eligon joined The Times in 2005 and spent his first two years on Sports before going to Metro, where he helped cover the trial of Brooke Astor’s son and the sexual assault investigation into Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
In 2012, he went to Kansas City to cover the Midwest and arrived in the middle of a drought. When Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014 and the Black Lives Matter movement thrust issues of race and inequity to the front of the national conversation, his beat transitioned from covering the region to covering race in America.
“John is a brilliant and generous colleague who spots good stories everywhere,” said Jia Lynn Yang, the NYT National editor. “He has practically moved to Minneapolis to produce one powerful story after another on the reverberations of George Floyd’s killing. John’s stories are special, and readers of International are in for a real treat.”
Source: NYT announcement
Summer Nettles is producing and directing a six-episode docuseries entitled “She Quit” that will air on Rocky Mountain PBS. The series focuses on the exit of Black women from the traditional workforce due to its negative impact on their health, financial and emotional wellbeing. Nettles hopes to complete the series by September of 2021. She’s currently seeking donors and sponsors to help bring these stories to life. To learn more about the series, share a story or donate reach out to her at Summer@GreaterPurposeMedia.com.
Gina Gibbs Foster has been named Vice President of Corporate Communications for Staples, headquartered in Framingham, Mass. In this role, Gina is responsible for leading the public relations strategy for the company’s external and internal stakeholders. In addition to serving as a key adviser to the CEO and Senior Leadership Team of Staples, Gina provides oversight for all aspects of media relations, issues and crisis management, employee communications, financial communications, corporate reputation and branding. Prior to joining Staples, Gina progressed through a series of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications management roles of increasing responsibility at The Dow Chemical Company, Linde plc, and Messer Americas. She earned a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University in 2014.
Melissa Grady who has served as the CMO of Cadillac since 2019, was named to the third-annual Forbes CMO Next list. This honor spotlights innovative marketing leaders who are transforming or redefining their role. Grady was recognized for her collaborations with stars such as Spike Lee and Timothée Chalamet as well as her modernization of Cadillac’s digital marketing and ability to adapt during the pandemic.