Joy Howell

Managing Partner
Joy Howell has an outstanding track record of leveraging assets for her clients. As managing partner of Cambridge Strategic Partners, she delves below the obvious to reveal untapped potential, drive targeted marketing strategies, and effectively generate visibility in a challenging economy.

Ms. Howell's business acumen and seasoned expertise encompass public policy, media, and business strategy. Prior to founding CSP, she directed the Office of Public Affairs of the Federal Communications Commission, Washington, D.C. She served on the Chairman's senior management team, managed 70 employees, and conducted turn-around operations that reduced customer wait time from days to minutes. She served as one of the Communications Directors on the Gore Lieberman Presidential Campaign in 2000.

Previously, she was Communications Director to U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) who was then designated by Capitol Hill reporters as "the most nationally visible freshman senator in recent memory." As President of Howell Communications Group, Washington, D.C./Los Angeles, she represented over 100 Fortune 1000 corporations and their trade associations. She developed public policy strategies in the ‘80’s for General Motors, Subaru and Dart/Kraft Industries. In the ‘90’s she implemented marketing plans for companies such as AT&T, Aetna, Frito Lay and Pacific Gas and Electric.

Her firm has created winning coalitions, spearheaded mass media campaigns, developed investor relations program for Wall Street analysts, and achieved excellent national media coverage for her clients. She managed timely team response to nearly 40,000 media inquiries per year at the FCC. She conducted the first webcast of a U.S. Senate field hearing and directed the redesign of the FCC web site, designated by Brown University as a top government web site.

Her media initiatives have yielded Sunday public affairs program appearances, on-message press for World Cup 1994 soccer, and prominently featured opinion articles published in national newspapers. Key results include stopping a national bill in Congress that The Washington Post called "unstoppable," achieving landmark legislation in Connecticut, overturning a popular Pennsylvania governor's veto against all odds, and designing a bilingual marketing strategy for a company that secured a state contract. Recent clients include law firms representing consumers, financial services newsletters for investors, a trade association for financial newsletter publishers and alternative energy projects.

After completing her MBA at the University of Redlands, she studied public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and business at Harvard Business School. She earned a Master in Public Administration (MPA) with a focus on international business and policy, including telecommunications convergence, corporate strategy, international marketing, corporate governance, and change management. Studies in international business at Cambridge University, England, inspired her MBA thesis on the European Monetary Union. She has been an instructor and guest lecturer at the Kennedy School at Harvard, George Washington University, and the University of Texas.

A partial list of awards, honors and elected positions includes: Past Board Member, University of Texas at Austin, College of Communications; Chairman's Award, Federal Communications Commission, Outstanding Alumni Award, University of Redlands; Distinguished Service Award, Austin City Council; Executive Vice President, Student Government, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; President, Foggy Bottom Association