Director of Communications
Lucas Bernays Held has been director of communications since 2002. He leads a team responsible for developing integrated communication strategies that help advance the foundation’s effort to expand learning and enrichment opportunities by supporting and sharing effective ideas and practices. These strategies include partnerships, media underwriting, publications, Web marketing, media and conference presentations.
Previously, he was vice president for public affairs at Barnard College, Columbia University, from 1998-2002, where he helped raise the college’s profile and led the crafting of the college’s first strategic plan. He was director of college relations at Connecticut College, and an editor at The Middletown Press of Connecticut. He regularly makes presentations on strategic communications, has published articles on strategic communications, music and art criticism, and contributed the lead essay in the international exhibition catalogue for In a Field of Poppies by artist Richard Harden. He is the recipient of awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the University and College Designers Association, and Admissions Marketing Report. He earned a certificate in marketing management from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in English from Haverford College. He is a graduate of The Commonwealth School.