Media Relations, Crisis Comms Expert Joanne Peters Denny Joins APCO Worldwide’s Health Care Practice in Raleigh

Raleigh – October 7, 2021: Joanne Peters Denny, a trusted advisor with nearly two decades of experience in media relations, message strategy, crisis and strategic communications planning, joined APCO Worldwide as a director, Raleigh Managing Director Courtney Crowder announced today.

“Joanne has advised U.S. cabinet secretaries, members of Congress and university chancellors, and has a proven track record of designing and launching successful campaigns to communicate complex issues and achieve organizational objectives,” Crowder said. “I am very excited to welcome Joanne to APCO and I look forward to her insightful counsel aiding clients as well as colleagues.”

Previously, Peters Denny served in senior communications roles in the Obama administration. She was the national press secretary for health care at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the launch of HealthCare.gov. She also served as deputy director of the Office of Communications at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In this role she led communications efforts to build support for the department’s major policy priorities, including a national communications strategy that helped to secure passage of major congressional legislation to address the opioid crisis.

Peters Denny will be based in APCO’s Raleigh office, which since officially opening in 2014 has quickly established itself as key player, helping local and global clients be catalysts for progress and achieve business goals by creating bespoke, individualized approaches to face complex problems in an ever-changing environment.

“I am thrilled to join the talented APCO team, and to be a part of a growing and dynamic office in Raleigh,” said Peters Denny. “I look forward to using my skills and experience to help APCO’s clients meet their goals in a constantly changing world.”

Prior to joining APCO, Peters Denny served as media relations director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this role, she ran the message strategy operation through the COVID-19 pandemic and provided counsel and media training to university leaders. She also led communications efforts to position the university as a leading global research institution and oversaw issues management and crisis response to a range of high-profile matters facing the university. She began her career on Capitol Hill and has worked on congressional and presidential campaigns. In 2012, she served as a spokesperson for the re-election campaign of President Obama in Virginia, and was the national press secretary for the Democratic National Convention, which was hosted in her hometown of Charlotte.

Peters Denny joins a deep global bench of health care experts and industry veterans at APCO, including Global Health Practice Lead James Tyrrell, North America Health Policy Lead Katie Milgrom, North America Health Care Lead Richard James, Greater China Lead Anne Wang and Southeast Asia Lead James Yi, as well as APCO International Advisory Council Health Advisory Board Members Lance Leggitt, Leslie Norwalk, Fredrik Nyberg, Kavita Patel, Wayne Pines, Chew Suok Kai and Peter Urbanowicz.

For more than 37 years, APCO has been a trusted advisor and partner to private, public and non-profit clients as they try to identify and manage new and emerging issues, challenges and opportunities around the world. Established by Margery Kraus as a single-person operation in 1984, APCO has grown to a global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping clients be catalysts for progress through its 900+ staff and International Advisory Council members in more than 30 markets, and having experience working in more than 80 markets globally, providing in-depth advice, perceptive guidance and creative approaches for its clients.