About the Author
A brief overview of the author’s experience, by sector
Non-Profit
Marrianne McMullen is the Director of Communication and Dissemination at Chapin Hall, a research and policy center focused on family and child wellbeing
Great Lakes communication director for the American Friends Service Committee
Government
Appointee under President Barack Obama, serving as the the Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs in the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
Chief of Staff for Public Engagement at the District of Columbia Public Schools
Labor
Senior aide to Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern
SEIU Illinois State Council communication director
Public affairs director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31 based in Chicago
Journalism
Editor and co-publisher of The Dayton Voice, an alternative newsweekly
Reporter at the Palladium-Item, a Gannet newspaper, in Richmond, Indiana
News editor at Sojourners Magazine
Political Campaigns
Robert Emmons Jr. for Congress, IL-1, 2020
Obama presidential campaign, Cleveland 2012
Obama presidential campaign, swing-state bus tour for SEIU in Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, 2008
Obama for U.S. Senate, 2006.
John Kerry presidential campaign, Wisconsin, 2004
At a recent conference, Marrianne presents on The Persuasion Matrix, a tool she developed for planning communication campaigns.
Education
Master of Arts in Communications, University of Dayton
Bachelors of Science in Journalism, West Virginia University
Personal
From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Became a licensed foster parent at age 26
Married to Jeff Epton of Chicago
One son, Brendan Epton, an attorney with the Cook County Public Defender’s Office in Chicago
Two step children, Nate Epton, a middle school counselor in Urbana, Illinois and Julie Epton, a middle school science teacher in Corvallis, Oregon
Six former foster children, two of whom are deceased
