Policy in Practice: Communications, Policy & Politics

When Dean Jill Rockwell introduced the alumni communications panel at Batten Hour, she emphasized that the success of any idea depends on whether it is “heard, understood, and ultimately supported.” The discussion that followed underscored that point, as three Batten alumni, representing roles across public service, corporate communications, and advocacy, offered insights into how strategic communication can advance organizational goals and strengthen public trust. 

Hannah Gavin (MPP ’20) 

For Hannah Gavin, a Senior Communications Strategist at West End Strategy Team, communications are the connective tissue between advocacy and impact. She works with nonprofit and humanitarian clients, helping them “choose the tactics that help our message fall in the right ears.” When a client serving unaccompanied child migrants lost two-thirds of its federal funding, her team mobilized a press strategy that restored support through year’s end. “The win isn’t placing the op-ed in the Washington Post,” she said, “it’s the action that is inspired by it afterwards.” 

Jacquelyn Katzen (MPP ’17) 

Jacquelyn Katzen, now a Senior Manager at Evergreen Strategy Group, first learned crisis communication by accident. “I came in with very little experience,” she recalled of her time in the Virginia governor’s office, “and was told by my boss that I would be running his communications.” Since then, she’s helped clients, from climate nonprofits to foundations, translate complex ideas into plain English. Her philosophy is “you want to know what their goal is. You want to know what their audience is.” That clarity, she said, turns dense policy into stories people understand and act on. 

Victoria Edwards (BA/MPP ’14) 

Victoria Edwards, who is based in New York, oversees corporate communications for Bloomingdale’s. Her work blends heritage and reinvention: “We are a business that sells stuff that people don’t need,” she said, “so it’s our job to make people believe in the organization and our strategy.” For Edwards, communication is cyclical, bringing people into the story, keeping them invested, and proving the strategy works. “Sometimes you only have one shot,” she said, “so you have to be really focused on what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.” 

Across agencies and corporate worlds, each panelist traced success back to the same foundation: knowing your audience, crafting messages with purpose, and treating communication as a tool for trust and change. Whether leading crisis responses, shaping public narratives, or guiding internal culture, they demonstrated that effective communication is not a soft skill but a strategic one. In policy and beyond, their careers showed that storytelling isn’t decoration, rather it’s the framework through which ideas gain traction, inspire action, and create lasting impact.