The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science recently appointed Joe Farren, executive vice president with Powell Tate, a division of Weber Shandwick, to its Board of Visitors.
"We are delighted to welcome Joe Farren to our Board of Visitors," said Don Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "Following in the footsteps of his firm’s namesake, Jody Powell, who also served on the UMCES Board many years ago, Joe brings a level of expertise in communications and branding that will punctuate the Center’s critical mission to advance environmental science and education.”
Farren leads multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive brand reputation and public affairs services to clients such as Bank of America, Verizon and The Big Ten Conference (B1G). He has 20 years’ experience helping Fortune 500 brands, large trade associations, and public institutions enhance their reputations and move their business plans forward.
Previously, he was assistant vice president for public affairs at CTIA – The Wireless Association in Washington, D.C., an international trade association that advocates on behalf of wireless carriers and their suppliers. He served as the global spokesperson and was responsible for shaping and communicating the industry’s positions and public messages on controversial consumer issues and policy proposals pending before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and state legislatures across the country. He was also the day-to-day leader of the wireless industry’s first-ever multi-media, national advertising campaign, which continues to this day.
Prior to joining CTIA in October of 2004, Farren served as a senior staff member in the New Jersey Senate where he built governing platforms and advised Senate leaders on a host of policy, political, and communications matters. He was previously a government affairs consultant in Trenton, New Jersey, representing Fortune 500 corporations, municipalities, public utilities, and non-profit associations before the legislature and New Jersey’s state government. He began his career in 1992 as a legislative aide to a former co-president of the New Jersey Senate.
He earned a BA in political science from Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey and a MPA from Rutgers University. He also spent a semester abroad in London, England, studying government and communications. He, his wife, and their three boys live in Bethesda, Maryland.
