TCC Group Welcomes Strategic Communications Leadership and Research Partner
Susan Wolfson has joined TCC Group as the Director of Strategic Communication & Stakeholder Engagement in the Corporate Practice.
Susan brings more than three decades of experience in strategic communication, stakeholder engagement, and collaborative program creation to TCC Group. Susan has conceived, choreographed, and contributed to multiple ground-breaking initiatives that integrate awareness, education, social change, and corporate philanthropy innovation, with special emphasis on HIV/AIDS and women's health. In collaboration with corporations, government, nonprofit, academic, and advocacy organizations, Susan has developed and executed dozens of strategic communication plans; assembled and managed advisory boards, including consumers, patients, health providers, and a broad range of stakeholders to inform messages, research, campaigns, community change initiatives; and provided strategic direction and oversight for publication-driven data releases.
Over the past several years, Susan has been spearheading innovative social impact initiatives with ViiV Healthcare, including ACCELERATE!, a four-year, $10 million commitment to fund and co-create community-driven solutions to address the persistent challenges of the HIV epidemic on Black gay and bisexual men in Baltimore, MD, and Jackson, MS (two US cities hardest hit by HIV). Additionally, Susan and her team are currently working as a strategic partner with ViiV Healthcare to help close the gap in HIV prevention, treatment and care for disproportionately impacted individuals and communities through innovation initiatives that include grants, strategic communication, collaborative learning communities, and stakeholder engagement.
Additional programs of note include: Powering the PrEPosition: (How to Get Away with) Murder, Media, Insight and Impact, promoting safe space discourse on the complex roles of media, culture, and medical professionals in the awareness and adoption of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a highly effective HIV prevention strategy; Marketing HIV Prevention to Youth, a multi-stakeholder program to activate culture makers to integrate HIV prevention messages in high-visibility media; ACTS (Assess, Consent, Test, Support): A Rapid, Reality-based System for HIV Counseling and Testing, with the Adolescent AIDS Program of Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY; and Shine the Light!/deepsouth, a social engagement project focusing attention on the neglected HIV/AIDS crisis in the rural South.
In her prior role at American Institutes for Research, Susan served as Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives, Communication and Social Marketing, to design, develop, and execute strategic communications initiatives addressing HIV/AIDS for federal government agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources Services Administration, among others. Susan's background also includes serving as President, CEO, and COO of several health communications organizations. Susan has a B.A. in History from Temple University. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) and NARAL Pro-Choice New York.
Susan is a convincing champion for the value of strategic communication as an essential element in effective design and implementation of thoughtful, bold, and impact-driven projects and initiatives. While she is currently focused on social impact work for ViiV Healthcare, Susan will be expanding the firm's capacity to provide full-service strategic communication and stakeholder engagement services for additional clients later this year.
Steven Lawrence has joined TCC Group aas a Senior Research Affiliate. He takes a mixed-methods approach to developing the knowledge needed by funders and nonprofits to make well-informed decisions. His current clients include Ariadne: European Funders for Social Change and Human Rights, Grantmakers in the Arts, and Helicon Collaborative.
Previously, Steven served as Director of Research for the Foundation Center, which serves as the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. In his more than 20 years at the Center, Steven led ground-breaking research on philanthropic support for priorities such as human rights, social justice, health policy, education reform, peace and security, and mission investing.
A prolific writer and frequent speaker, Steven has also served on the board of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, the national advisory council on methodology for Giving USA, and the research committee for Grantmakers in the Arts. He holds an M.A. in sociology from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in interpersonal communications from Cornell University.