TOM SQUITIERI

After 34 years as an awarded-winning journalist, Tom Squitieri joined the public relations and communications world and turned his talents into capturing client ideas and crafting them into prose that is smart, creative, unique, seductive and compelling, to say what the clients want to say and connect them to those the clients seek.

Tom’s passion to use communication, writing and training to give structure and voice to the important work and thoughts of others comes from being a superb policy writer with an uncanny knack for rendering complex ideas into simple compelling text; those skills have resulted in three Overseas Press Club Awards and three White House Correspondent Association awards as a journalist and, in less than two years in the public relations arena, a winner of a 2007 Communicator Award of Distinction.

In addition, Tom was invited to create and then teach a unique college course that combines journalism, public affairs, ethics, philosophy, current affairs and war zone survival skills into a practical application to broaden thinking and day-to-day success. That course – called “Your 15 Minutes: Fame or Shame” at Washington and Jefferson College – teaches students how to ask questions that cannot be dodged, answers that are detailed and on-point, the ability to think on one’s feet and use all of one’s senses. It also teaches the merits of when to be silent and how to write creatively and clearly.

As a media advisor and strategist, Tom engages with his clients to create focused and intelligent strategies and messages that support successful media campaigns. He excels at constructing and implementing pro-active campaigns, as well as taking charge and direction during crisis communication challenges to deliver compelling and convincing positioning for clients and moving the debate from defensive to offensive. He also developed and launched a media training and executive communications program while at a Washington, D.C. public affairs agency.

Working independently through his firm, TS Navigations LLC, has given Tom the opportunity to customize and concentrate on helping select individuals and organizations find their voice, sharpen their message and present their points pitch perfect.

As part of his reporting experience Tom spent 16 years as a correspondent for USA Today, covering military, defense, and intelligence issues; foreign affairs; the White House and Congress, crime, political scandals, and national politics. He has reported from the Pentagon, the White House, and around the world, spending significant time in the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, Central America, Southeast Asia, Africa Great Lakes region, Central Asia and the Middle East, including Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

Tom knows firsthand how journalists work, what they want, and the games they play. In addition to his media counsel, Tom’s award-winning writing help clients communicate with maximum credibility and impact through best-of-class op-eds, feature articles, white papers, speeches, advertising copy, and direct mail. His years of investigative reporting in Washington, D.C., have also given him an expert’s perspective on national and international politics.

As a journalist, Tom has proven his ability to accurately analyze developing issues both domestically and abroad. For example, Tom reported on the threat of radical Islamic terrorists trained in Afghanistan six years before the attacks on September 11, 2001. Beyond reporting, though, Tom has also used his experience and knowledge to take action. While covering the war in Afghanistan, he organized a system to transport both people and supplies between Uzbekistan and hostile Afghan territory.

Tom has also been the Washington-based correspondent for Boston Herald, Boston Business Magazine, Lowell (Mass.) Sun, and Thomson Newspapers. He got his start as a reporter at the Pittsburgh-area Valley News Dispatch.

He has also been on all seven continents and is at home anywhere in the world.