Dr. Joanna Massey

Dr. Joanna Massey Speaker Biography

Dr. Joanna Dodd Massey is an experienced C-level communications executive and Board Director, who advises Fortune 500 companies, startups and nonprofits. She has worked for more than 25 years strategizing on crisis communications, global brand reputation management, corporate culture and corporate social responsibility (CSR) at companies, such as Condé Nast, Lionsgate, CBS, Viacom, Discovery and Hasbro. She managed corporate turnaround as Condé Nast transitioned from print to digital video; risk and crisis communications for publicly held companies with their consumers, regulators, investors and advertisers; culture transformation when Lionsgate purchased Starz, CBS converted UPN to The CW, and Discovery shuttered its Hub TV Network; successful communications with diverse stakeholders as head of internal and external communications; and multi-million-dollar P&Ls as a department leader. Dr. Massey’s career spans media, film, TV, digital video, publishing, venture capital and academia. She is based in the United States and has international experience working with partners in Europe, the UK, China and India.

Currently, Dr. Massey is a communications consultant, as well as Founder & CEO of The Marketing Communications Think Tank, a B-Corp whose mission is to shift the way we communicate about politicized social issues, such as racism, the environment and gun control, so that diverse groups of people can have a constructive discussion not a contentious debate. She is also a sought-after corporate speaker and the author of two books, Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations in One Workplace and Communicating During a Crisis: Influencing Others When the Stakes Are High. In addition, Dr. Massey is an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where she teaches a graduate-level course in corporate communications and brand reputation management in the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

Prior to becoming a consultant, Dr. Massey ran numerous communications departments reporting into presidents and CEOs. She was Head of Communications at Condé Nast Entertainment; Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications at Lionsgate; Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Publicity at the Hub Network, a joint venture between Discovery and Hasbro; Senior Vice President, Communications, West Coast at CBS; Senior Vice President, Media Relations at UPN; and Vice President, PR, Marketing and New Business Development at the independent production company LMNO Productions. Dr. Massey began her career at the international PR firm Fleishman Hillard and then quickly transitioned to the media industry, working in-house as a senior publicist for the CBS Television Network.

As a Board Director, Dr. Massey serves on corporate, startup and nonprofit boards and is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. She currently serves as an Independent Board Director for KULR Technology Group (OTCQB:KULR), where she is Chair of the Nominating & Governance Committee, as well as a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees. In addition, she is on the Advisory Board of 8B Education Investments, a for-profit business providing innovative student-financing products for African students studying abroad; and on the Advisory Board of The Resolution Project, a nonprofit organization providing seed funding and mentorship for undergraduate students with entrepreneurial ventures that promote social good. Formerly, she served on the Board of Directors of the following 501(c)(3) organizations: The Resolution Project as a member of the Audit committee, the University of Southern California New York Alumni Club as a member of the Executive Board, and Colors LGBTQ Youth Counseling Services.

Dr. Massey is also an angel investor. She previously served as a Managing Director at Golden Seeds, an early-stage female-led investment firm with more than $125 million in total investments in over 170 female run businesses. Dr. Massey advises entrepreneurs on investor decks, go-to market messaging and developing workplace culture. She is a member of the Angel Capital Association.

Dr. Massey’s diverse professional background includes several years of higher education. She has a Graduate Certificate in Corporate Finance from Harvard, as well as an MBA from the University of Southern California (USC), and two graduate degrees in psychology—a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles, and a Doctorate in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University (formerly the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology). While receiving her psychology degrees, Dr. Massey served as a therapist in a community clinic and then as a personal coach working with individual clients and holding public workshops to help people recognize conditioned thinking and achieve higher levels of personal and professional success. Dr. Massey is a member of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Massey was born and raised in New York City. She lived briefly in Paris studying French, and spent many years in Los Angeles, having originally moved there to attend USC as an undergraduate student, where she obtained a B.A. in journalism with an emphasis in public relations and a minor in philosophy with an emphasis in ethics.