Christine Heenan's guest appearances

Christine Heenan

Morning Prayers

Achieve Great Things

The Caring Economy with Toby Usnik 

Steven Pinker

David Allen

Donna Hicks

Jason Mitchell

David King

Jenny Shih

Richard Wrangham

Atul Gawande

Jim Williams

Jill Abramson

Brad Jenkins

Johns Hopkins

Joshua Cohen

Tom Moore

Jonathan Fields

OwlTail

Christine Heenan serves as Flagship’s senior partner and chief communications officer, overseeing communications, external affairs, brand and marketing for Flagship and its enterprise companies. She also serves as an advisor to the dozens of Flagship-founded companies in its broader ecosystem. She is the founder and former president of Clarendon Group, a consulting firm focused on social impact, communications, advocacy, and leadership voice. While at Clarendon she advised clients including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Broad Institute, the Whitehead Institute, the Social Science Research Council, CARE USA, University of Miami, the Rockefeller Family Office, philanthropist Donald Sussman, and other notable organizations, leaders, and philanthropists. She served as Senior Vice President for Global Policy &amp; Advocacy at The Rockefeller Foundation, where she led the Foundation’s policy, program influence, partnerships, and communications teams, as well as its regional teams in Asia, Africa and Italy. She also oversaw the Bellagio and Fellows unit.  While at Rockefeller, she led the creation of #Solvable, a global platform for highlighting the UN Sustainable Development Goals featuring more than 45 mini-films, an acclaimed podcast, and an award-winning documentary film. She also helped conceive and launch the “Without Mom” campaign, a multi-country effort to raise awareness for preventable maternal mortality launched during Mom Congress on Capitol Hill in 2019. From 2008 to 2015, Heenan was Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for Harvard University, overseeing its communications, government relations, and digital strategy teams in Cambridge, Boston, and Washington, DC. During the Clinton Administration she served in the White House as a Senior Policy Analyst and speechwriter, focused primarily on health care policy, women’s issues, and other areas of domestic policy. Heenan was an adjunct assistant professor of public policy at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University and a Freshman Seminar instructor at Harvard College, teaching on communications in policy making. In 2010, Heenan was awarded a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center at Harvard. She was previously a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, and now serves as Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, where she is part of the teaching team for a new and highly participatory class at HBS called “Conversations on Leadership.” Heenan began her career in business strategy consulting for Telesis and SJS – spinoffs of Boston Consulting Group – working on business process analysis, cost analysis, market strategy, and strategic planning for national and international corporations including Corning, Rubbermaid, Ahlstrom, and IKEA. She has served on a number of boards focused on child development, education, and economic policy, and now serves on the boards of the David Rockefeller Fund and the University of Rhode Island. She and her family live in New York and Rhode Island. Don't forget to check out my book that inspired this podcast series, The Caring Economy: How to Win With Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Christine Heenan serves as Flagship’s senior partner and chief communications officer, overseeing communications, external affairs, brand and marketing for Flagship and its enterprise companies. She also serves as an advisor to the dozens of Flagship-founded companies in its broader ecosystem. She is the founder and former president of Clarendon Group, a consulting firm focused on social impact, communications, advocacy, and leadership voice. While at Clarendon she advised clients including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Broad Institute, the Whitehead Institute, the Social Science Research Council, CARE USA, University of Miami, the Rockefeller Family Office, philanthropist Donald Sussman, and other notable organizations, leaders, and philanthropists. She served as Senior Vice President for Global Policy &amp; Advocacy at The Rockefeller Foundation, where she led the Foundation’s policy, program influence, partnerships, and communications teams, as well as its regional teams in Asia, Africa and Italy. She also oversaw the Bellagio and Fellows unit.  While at Rockefeller, she led the creation of #Solvable, a global platform for highlighting the UN Sustainable Development Goals featuring more than 45 mini-films, an acclaimed podcast, and an award-winning documentary film. She also helped conceive and launch the “Without Mom” campaign, a multi-country effort to raise awareness for preventable maternal mortality launched during Mom Congress on Capitol Hill in 2019. From 2008 to 2015, Heenan was Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for Harvard University, overseeing its communications, government relations, and digital strategy teams in Cambridge, Boston, and Washington, DC. During the Clinton Administration she served in the White House as a Senior Policy Analyst and speechwriter, focused primarily on health care policy, women’s issues, and other areas of domestic policy. Heenan was an adjunct assistant professor of public policy at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University and a Freshman Seminar instructor at Harvard College, teaching on communications in policy making. In 2010, Heenan was awarded a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center at Harvard. She was previously a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, and now serves as Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, where she is part of the teaching team for a new and highly participatory class at HBS called “Conversations on Leadership.” Heenan began her career in business strategy consulting for Telesis and SJS – spinoffs of Boston Consulting Group – working on business process analysis, cost analysis, market strategy, and strategic planning for national and international corporations including Corning, Rubbermaid, Ahlstrom, and IKEA. She has served on a number of boards focused on child development, education, and economic policy, and now serves on the boards of the David Rockefeller Fund and the University of Rhode Island. She and her family live in New York and Rhode Island. Don't forget to check out my book that inspired this podcast series, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Caring-Economy-Corporate-Social-Responsibility-ebook/dp/B07FBRFFKJ" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Caring Economy: How to Win With Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).</a>

Christine Heenan, Chief Communications Officer & Senior Partner, Flagship Pioneering

From pandemic updates to climate change news alerts, we’re constantly bombarded with negative messages and bad news, which can trigger feelings of helplessness. Christine Heenan, former Vice President for Global Policy &amp; Advocacy at The Rockefeller Foundation and current President of the Clarendon Group, believes that optimistic communications can help. Unlike communication strategies that focus solely on talking about today’s most pressing problems, solutions-oriented communications can not only make audiences feel better, but opens them up to hearing what they can do to help.

From pandemic updates to climate change news alerts, we’re constantly bombarded with negative messages and bad news, which can trigger feelings of helplessness. Christine Heenan, former Vice President for Global Policy &amp; Advocacy at The Rockefeller Foundation and current President of the Clarendon Group, believes that optimistic communications can help. Unlike communication strategies that focus solely on talking about today’s most pressing problems, solutions-oriented communications can not only make audiences feel better, but opens them up to hearing what they can do to help.

Christine Heenan on The Importance of Optimism in Communications

Morning Prayers service with speaker Christine Heenan, Vice President for Office of Government, Community, and Public Affairs at Harvard University, on Tuesday, September 16, 2014.

Christine Heenan — Tuesday, September 16, 2014