Nneka Chiazor To Lead Public Affairs Council

The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) named Nneka Chiazor as their President and successor to Doug Pinkham after his 27 year tenure leading the organization. Michael Patino led the search for Patino Associates.

Before joining PAC, Chiazor was the Market Vice President at Cox Communications, leading the fourth largest geographic market for the business. She brings with her over two decades of shaping and driving public affairs and communications strategies. At Cox, Chiazor led a multimillion-dollar operation with over 1,200 employees representing one of the company’s top five markets, fostering a culture to drive positive business outcomes and excellence. Prior to being promoted in this business leadership role, she also served as Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at the company. Before joining Cox, Chiazor spent 14 years at Verizon Communications, where she held several leadership roles, including Vice President of Public Policy. Chiazor was a member of the Council’s Board of Directors from 2018 to 2023.

As President, Chiazor is personally committed to leading the transformation of Council, building on the best of its heritage while simultaneously transforming the organization to deliver exceptional programming for a growing global membership,

The Public Affairs Council is the leading international association for public affairs professionals. Both nonpartisan and nonpolitical, our mission is to advance the field of public affairs and to provide members with the executive education and expertise they need to succeed while maintaining the highest ethical standards. 

The Council has a long and distinguished history. Since its founding in 1954, the Council has helped create the public affairs function. In the 1960s and 1970s, as expectations grew for companies to be more engaged in society, the Council was instrumental in developing the fields of grassroots advocacy, issues management, consumer affairs, and global public affairs. The Council also helped turn the function of “community relations” into a more comprehensive discipline called “corporate social responsibility” and professionalized the practice of Political Action Committee (PAC) management.