Kevin Sullivan (born November 9, 1958) was the

White House Communications Director The White House communications director or White House director of communications, also known officially as Assistant to the President for Communications, is part of the senior staff of the president of the United States. The officeholder is resp ...

, also known as the Assistant to the President for Communications, from July 24, 2006, until January 20, 2009. From April 2005 he was the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach at the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

Biography

Education

Sullivan was born in

Evergreen Park, Illinois Evergreen Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. In 2020, the population was 19,943. The village shares a border with Chicago on the north, east, and south sides; while also sharing a border with Oak Lawn on the west side. H ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science in management from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

and earned an MA in mass communication from

Iona College Iona University () is a private Catholic university with a main campus in New Rochelle, New York, United States. It was founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and occupies a campus of in New Rochelle and a campus of in Bro ...

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

. He serves as an advisor to The Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation.

Professional career

Before his role in the White House, Sullivan was assistant secretary for communications at the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. He had previously worked as a chief spokesperson and media relations executive at

NBC Universal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is a subsidiary of Comcast and headquartered at 30 ...

. He has a background in sports

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

for NBC and prior to that for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. Sullivan was recognized five times by the media as Outstanding Public Relations Director in the NBA's Western Conference and received the NBA's 2004 Splaver/McHugh Tribute to Excellence Award. In January 2009, he was replaced by Ellen Moran when President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

took office. Following his departure from the White House Sullivan founded Kevin Sullivan Communications, a strategic communications consulting firm. He was a frequent guest co-host of "Polioptics," during the political communications show's run on SiriusXM's POTUS channel.Polioptics
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Publications

*''Breaking Through: Communications Lessons From the Locker Room, the Board Room & the Oval Office'', digital book, 2015

Sources

White House press release, 11 July 2006 * https://www.ksullivancommunications.com/our-team

References

External links

Kevin Sullivan Communications
* 1958 births American civil servants Iona University alumni Living people People from Chicago People from Evergreen Park, Illinois American political commentators Purdue University alumni White House communications directors {{US-politician-stub