Sandra Allen
Sandra Allen, director of Public Relations Studies in the Marketing Communications department at Columbia College Chicago, combines experience as an adjunct faculty member with professional experience and expertise.
With more than twenty years of experience, Allen has held executive-level positions in the aviation, airline, financial services and electric utility industries. She has practiced in both the public and private sector.
In 2002, Allen founded S. Allen Communications and has provided strategic communications advice and counsel to retail and business-to-business clients, including Perot Systems, Inc.
In the public sector, Allen served as the key executive leading public and media relations at the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, DC, where she was the Agency's communications liaison with the White House and members of Congress. Additionally, Allen worked directly with the Vice President and his staff to develop a communications program related to the Administration's initiative to realign the FAA to more closely resemble a private corporation.
As the chief spokesperson for the FAA, she orchestrated crisis communications, and directed media relations during five major airline accidents. When Mike Wallace (Sixty Minutes), Ted Koppel (Nightline), Sam Donaldson, and Brian Ross all "came calling" upon the FAA for participation in various television newsmagazines, Allen devised media strategy, trained operational executives for on-camera appearances, and handled the interview.
In her most recent private-sector experience, Allen was the highest-ranking female executive, and member of a sixteen-member management committee reporting directly to the Chairman and CEO of Associates First Capital, the nation's largest publicly traded financial services corporation with more than $100 billion in assets. She led corporate communications, including media and investor relations-related communications. Allen's know-how includes designing and implementing internal communications programs that align change management concepts with business objectives to transform corporate cultures.
At Associates, Allen also developed and orchestrated strategic communications -- with focus on transition and integration communications programs -- in seven major acquisitions during 24 months. Avco Finance ($3 billion) was the largest acquisition.
Allen's expertise includes developing communications strategy and appropriate messages to support a branding strategy creating a consistent image and identity across corporate lines of business. She also has powered marketing communications to support the introduction of products and services.
She earned a MBA at Pepperdine University. Her Master's degree is from University of Texas at Dallas. She has lectured before graduate students on communications-related topics at Chicago's Northwestern University and at the American University in Washington, DC. Her teaching experience includes stints at Harold Washington College, one of Chicago's city colleges.
Accredited by PRSA, Allen was awarded the Silver Anvil, the highest award presented to public relations professionals, for a marketing communications program commemorating the thirty-fifth anniversary of Budget Rent-a-Car, America's third largest rental car company.
Allen also has authored business-related articles that have been published in national trade and communications publications.