Areas of Expertise:
Joanne Peters Denny is a director at APCO based in Raleigh, where she is a member of the firm’s Health practice. Ms. Peters Denny brings nearly two decades of experience in media relations, message strategy, crisis and strategic communications planning. She has served as a trusted advisor to U.S. cabinet secretaries, university chancellors and members of Congress, and has a track record of designing campaigns to communicate complex issues and achieve legislative and policy victories.
Prior to joining APCO, Ms. Peters Denny served as media relations director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she led communications efforts to position the University as a leading global research institution, ran Carolina’s message strategy operation through the COVID-19 pandemic and provided counsel and media training to University leaders. In this role she also oversaw issues management and crisis response to a range of high profile matters facing the University.
Previously, Ms. Peters Denny served in senior communications roles in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was the national press secretary for health care at the U.S. Dept. 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.
Ms. Peters Denny 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 the key battleground state of Virginia, and was national press Secretary for the Democratic National Convention, which was hosted in her hometown of Charlotte.
Ms. Peters Denny is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an avid Tar Heel fan. She is an alumni of Leadership North Carolina and volunteers with the Junior League.