Matthew Howard named Argonne's top communicator

(Download printer-friendly, PDF version.)

ARGONNE, Ill. (May 11, 2009) – Matthew Howard, a veteran communicator with broad expertise in strategic communications and both new and social media, was appointed director of Communications and Public Affairs (C&PA) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

In his new role, Howard heads a staff responsible for all of Argonne's communications to its internal and external audiences, including employees, the community and the news media. Other C&PA responsibilities include the contents and appearance of the laboratory's Web presence (www.anl.gov), a speakers' bureau, visits by to the lab by members of the public and interactions by Argonne with officials of local governments, agencies and other organizations. Howard reports to Steve Richardson, Argonne's deputy director for operations.

Howard joined the laboratory in 2007 as manager of special initiatives with responsibility for the communications aspects of a number of key Argonne initiatives. The following year, he was appointed interim director of C&PA.

During the past 12 months, Howard has completed a strategic communications plan for Argonne, engaged a lab-wide brand council, launched a social networking strategy on emerging social media sites such as Twitter, Flickr and Facebook among others, and is leading a re-design of the laboratory's Web site.

Before joining Argonne, Howard served as founder and director of the Media Initiatives Group at the University of Chicago. In that role, Howard devised and implemented strategies and methods to improve communications between the university and its many audiences, raise the institution's profile in a broad range of media and extend the university's brand to a global audience.

Prior to that assignment, Howard was a senior producer at a firm that developed online education programming, a senior editor and producer at a start-up company that created online K-12 educational programming and an assistant editor at the University of Chicago Press.

A recipient of several honors and awards including two certificates of merit at the Chicago International Film Festival, Howard was visiting scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, a renowned retreat for emerging novelists and writers, and a visiting lecturer at the Vermont Studio Center, an international residency program for artists and writers.

Howard holds an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an M.A. degree in English from Miami University and a B.A. degree in English from the University of Rochester.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Steve McGregor (630/252-5580 or media@anl.gov) at Argonne.

Follow Argonne on Twitter at http://twitter.com/argonne.