"Whether it's drop-out rates or closing the achievement gap, education in America today is in trouble. The good news is, there are a lot proposed solutions out there - so much so that evaluating one policy reform over another, or setting priorities, can be difficult. This is where strategic communications can make an enormous difference."
- Parker Blackman, Deputy General Manager

Parker Blackman has been working in public-interest communications, advocacy and organizational development for more than 15 years. At Fenton, he has been in charge of branding, positioning, communications planning and media relations strategy for a range of clients, including Human Rights Watch, Sports4Kids, 1Sky.org, the Hewlett Foundation's Education Program and Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.

Blackman served as press secretary for Arianna Huffington's run for governor of California and has worked as a communications advisor to Robert Kennedy Jr. He was the lead communications strategist on two high-profile national campaigns that have helped reshape and revitalize the debate on fuel efficiency and global warming: For the Evangelical Environmental Network's "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign, Blackman was instrumental in leveraging a modest campaign budget into between $3 million and $4 million of free media, including features on World News Tonight With Peter Jennings and Good Morning America. His strategic consulting for Huffington's Detroit Project significantly raised the temperature of the debate, landing on the pages of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and every major network and cable news show.

As the former executive director of the Washington Public Interest Research Group, Blackman led a campaign that successfully blocked the construction of a major oil pipeline in Washington State and created new accident-prevention and enforcement standards for all existing pipelines in the state. He is the former director of the PIRG National Fellowship Program and opened PIRG's first Intermountain West field office serving the western United States. He is also a former organizer for Green Corps.