The Rockefeller Foundation Appoints Neill Coleman as Vice President, Global Communications

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Jul 11, 2012, 02:41 ET

NEW YORK, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, today announced that Neill Coleman has been appointed Vice President, Global Communications (VPGC), effective August 13.

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Coleman comes to The Rockefeller Foundation from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development where he serves as Chief External Affairs Officer. Coleman will report to Dr. Rodin and oversee the Foundation's global communications team in New York, Bangkok and Nairobi.

"I am thrilled to welcome Neill to The Rockefeller Foundation," said Dr. Rodin. "Neill understands the power of communications to influence and inform public policy and yield innovations that respond to our rapidly changing world. He will play a crucial role in using our centennial year as an opportunity to highlight the effectiveness of our work and engage people across the world in the development of innovative approaches to address the challenges and opportunities of globalization. I look forward to working with Neill to ensure that communications informs and supports all our work."

"I am honored to have the opportunity to lead The Rockefeller Foundation's communications team into its centennial year," said Coleman. "I am eager to make use of a broad range of communications tools to publicize The Rockefeller Foundation's impressive work to build resilience and more equitable growth. I will also be focusing on how The Rockefeller Foundation can pioneer new ways to hear and share innovative ideas and perspectives on serving the needs of poor or vulnerable people in a time of rapid change."

Coleman has served in senior communications roles in the public, private and non-profit sectors. As Chief External Affairs Officer for HUD, Coleman has promoted the Obama Administration's response to the housing crisis and a new role for HUD in advancing sustainable community development. Before assuming the leadership of HUD's Office of Public Affairs in 2009, Coleman served as Assistant Commissioner for Communications at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development; as Director of Communications for the New York League of Conservation Voters and he also managed North American communications for the global architecture firm RMJM. A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Coleman has a MA in Modern History from the University of Oxford.

About The Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation's mission to promote the well-being of people throughout the world has remained unchanged since its founding in 1913. Today, that mission is applied to an era of rapid globalization. Our vision is that this century will be one in which globalization's benefits are more widely shared and its challenges are more easily weathered. To realize this vision, the Foundation seeks to achieve two fundamental goals in our work. First, we seek to build resilience that enhances individual, community and institutional capacity to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of acute crises and chronic stresses. Second, we seek to promote growth with equity in which the poor and vulnerable have more access to opportunities that improve their lives. In order to achieve these goals, the Foundation constructs its work into time-bound initiatives that have defined objectives and strategies for impact. These initiatives address challenges that lie either within or at the intersections of five issue areas: basic survival safeguards, global health, environment and climate change, urbanization, and social and economic security. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org

SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation