Jonathan Rick is the director of new media at Susan Davis International, a public relations firm in Washington, DC. Blending expertise in online communications with a background in public affairs and journalism, Rick helps a broad range of clients leverage the Internet to promote their message. He oversees the strategy, execution and marketing of all Web-based campaigns, including blogger outreach, advertising, Web site development, and social networking.
Previously, Rick was the communications director of the American Conservative Union, one of the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots lobbying groups. Rick served ACU in a variety of capacities: In public affairs, he crafted an earned media program, comprising print, online, radio and TV outlets, and developed strategic partnerships with reporters, producers and bloggers, all of which significantly heightened ACU’s profile. In government relations, he streamlined and strengthened an aggressive online grassroots lobbying system, resulting in tens of thousands of e-mails and phone calls to congressional offices. And in new media, he coordinated the long-term vision for and implemented all daily updates to ACU’s five Web sites, which increased traffic over tenfold and doubled membership.
Rick has also held positions with the Institute for Humane Studies, which appointed him a journalism fellow at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; with the Cato Institute, where he edited and pitched op-eds; with Time magazine, where he wrote for the magazine’s Notebook (now Briefing) section; and with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where he prepared submissions for the Food and Drug Administration.
He is a graduate of Hamilton College, where he swam, won numerous awards for writing, speaking and research, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and philosophy.