New York, NY – Markle Foundation CEO and President Zoë Baird today announced the appointment of Claudia Husemann as Senior Director, Strategic Communications and Public Engagement. Husemann will be responsible for Markle’s strategic communications and media relations initiatives and public engagement strategy. Markle is working to transform our labor market from one solely focused on traditional credentials, such as degrees and work history, to one rooted in the digital economy skills needed for jobs of the 21st century. It seeks to advance a modern labor market that aligns the skills of the workforce to the needs of employers, keeping American businesses competitive and giving American workers opportunities for quality jobs over the course of their lives.
Husemann joins Markle from Edelman, a leading global communications marketing firm, where she served as Executive Vice President with responsibility for one of Edelman’s largest global accounts. She led the Edelman team delivering communications in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia. Husemann previously was Group Head of the firm’s New York Corporate Communications practice.
Before joining Edelman, Husemann led Hill+Knowlton Strategies’ New York Corporate Practice after successfully establishing its New York Technology Practice. A graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in International Relations, Husemann began her career more than 20 years ago in Silicon Valley, where she learned to first immerse herself in her clients’ businesses in order to develop strategic communications campaigns to drive growth and strengthen their market positions.
“Claudia brings great capacity to achieve our critical mission at Markle. With the recent launch of our Rework America Task Force, we’re aggressively pursuing opportunities for all Americans to thrive in the digital economy. We are pursuing a skills-based labor market that will unlock economic opportunity for job seekers, workers and businesses,” said Markle CEO and President Zoë Baird. “Claudia has worked with some of the world’s largest and most successful companies. She is smart, creative, and disciplined in her approach to communications. Her enthusiasm and expertise, particularly in using technology for communications, will help us achieve our mission of transforming the U.S. labor market for the 21st century digital economy. Claudia will also lead the communications efforts of Skillful both in Colorado and as we expand Skillful to engage with other states. I am delighted to welcome Claudia to the Markle Foundation and to our senior leadership team.”
The Rework America Task Force, which brings together influential leaders from diverse backgrounds and experience, builds on the success of the Markle Foundation’s Skillful initiative, which launched in Colorado in 2016 and focuses on empowering the nearly seven out of ten Americans who don’t have a four-year college degree but have, or can learn, the in-demand skills needed in today’s job market. Skillful provides data, tools, and resources that enable businesses to define the exact skills they seek, and turn those insights into a skills-based hiring process that allows workers to demonstrate and articulate the skills they can bring to an organization.
“The Markle Foundation, Skillful and the Rework America Task Force are addressing an issue critical to our nation’s economic health, social fabric, and to individuals’ well-being,” said Husemann. “Markle is an important voice in a timely national conversation that can inspire action to meet the needs of all Americans. I’m excited to be part of it.”
About Markle
The Markle Foundation works to realize the potential of information technology as a breakthrough tool to address some of the nation’s most challenging problems. Working as an operating foundation, Markle has participated in partnerships to build the systems that transform sectors, including creating the policy and technology architecture that has enabled improvements in healthcare, national security, and access to the Internet. Markle’s priority today is to provide Americans with access to good jobs and enable people to prepare for today’s rapidly changing digital economy, as articulated in its book America’s Moment. For more information, visit markle.org, and follow @MarkleFdn and @ReworkAmerica onTwitter.
Markle Media Contact: Leah Johnson
212-713-7632 or communications@markle.org
