Justin Kenney is the Director of Communications and External Affairs at NOAA. He is the former Senior Public Affairs Officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, where he managed strategic communications. He successfully shaped media strategies for the launch and implementation of several environmental initiatives, including campaigns on ocean conservation, climate change and wilderness protection.

He has also served as Director of Communications for the Pew Ocean Commission, the first independent review of federal ocean policy in more than thirty years. His accomplishments there included a successful three-year public meeting tour, effective translation of scientific materials to the public, completion of the commission’s recommendations, and rollout of the final report, which continues to generate media coverage to this day.

He formerly served as the Deputy Director for Communications for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, senior environmental policy advisor to the Secretary of Commerce, and Communications Director for NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program.

Justin earned his Masters Degree in Public Communication from American University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Iowa.