Gwyn Hicks, Chief Operating Officer

Gwyn Hicks has a wide variety of public advocacy experience, working in both the communications and public policy sectors. As Spitfire’s first official employee, Gwyn developed and implemented communications programs for several of Spitfire’s early clients working on issues including wiping out hunger through Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale; protecting forests for the Boreal Song Bird Initiative; increasing food safety regulations with Safe Tables Our Priority; and lowering the high school drop out rate for the Mott Foundation. Gwyn also helped plan and launch the first executive training program (now the CLEAR program) and ran the Robert Wood Johnson Strategic Communications Training Program for several years before changing her focus to more of the behind-the-scenes work at the firm.

Before joining Spitfire Strategies, Gwyn was executive vice president of Environmental Media Services (EMS) where she led a number of efforts aimed at using media to impact environmental policies. While at EMS, Gwyn worked on several ocean conservation campaigns including Give Swordfish a Break and Seafood Choices Alliance, an effort to educate chefs and other food purveyors about the environmental impacts of seafood selections and help them make good menu choices. Gwyn also worked on public transportation, land conservation and endangered species issues, often compensating for small budgets by using solid communications strategy to overpower highly funded corporate opposition.

Prior to EMS, Gwyn was director of communications and marketing for American Hiking Society where she ran National Trails Day, an annual nationwide trail celebration, and conceived of and launched Winter Trails to promote snowshoeing and other winter trail activities. Gwyn also developed and promoted public outreach campaigns for Times Mirror Magazines’ Conservation Council, including Public Lands Appreciation Day (now National Public Lands Day), an effort to encourage volunteerism on public lands.

She also worked as a staffer for the House Subcommittee on National Parks and was previously a reporter covering city and county government and environmental issues for newspapers in Maryland and New Jersey.

Gwyn has an M.A. in public communications from The American University’s School of Communications and a B.S. in journalism from Boston University’s College of Communications. She is a co-author of Exploring the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, which explores the historical and cultural significance of the trail, and has been published in the EPA Journal and Walking magazine.