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Photo of Hilary Rosen

Hilary Rosen

Board of Trustees

Political Analyst, CNN and Partner, SKDKnickerbocker

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    Trustee, Howard University Board of Trustees

Biography

Ms. Hilary Rosen, a member since 2019, is vice chair of SKDK and one of the country’s most-respected communications strategists, bringing decades of experience to high-profile clients and causes at the intersection of media, business and politics. Since joining SKDK in 2010, Ms. Rosen has specialized in developing and managing large-scale public affairs, issue advocacy and reputation management solutions for corporate and non-profit clients. SKDK has been recognized by the influential Holmes Report as North America Public Affairs Agency of the Year for four of the past five years, as well as being named its Global Public Affairs Agency of the Year. Ms. Rosen is also relied upon by clients for her expertise in crisis communications and has steered SKDK to win the Crisis Communications Agency of the Year as well.Prior to joining SKDK, Ms. Rosen served as chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), where she helped drive the music industry’s transition to a digital marketplace and spearhead support for fair compensation and artist rights against censorship. When she left RIAA after 16 years in 2003, she helped to launch the Washington, D.C. bureau of the Huffingpost.com and served as its political director and editor-at-large. In her work as a consultant, she also helped to develop intellectual property, diversity and communications policies for multiple media, tech and entertainment clients.Ms. Rosen’s work is equally driven by her lifelong dedication to social and political activism.In 2018, she co-founded the Times Up Legal Defense Fund, a first of its kind organization created to assist survivors of workplace sexual assault and harassment. So far, TUDLF has helped over 5,000 survivors get connected to legal and PR support. She is a founder of Rock the Vote and Rap the Vote, organizations established in 1991 to increase voter education and turnout among young people and people of color.In the 2020 Presidential Campaign, she spearheaded a successful effort with other women leaders on behalf of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris though the campaigns #WeHaveHerBack to push back on the racist and sexual stereotypes characterizing a national female candidate in the media and #VoteForHer to promote her candidacy as a trusted and experienced leader for President-elect Joe Biden and America.Ms. Rosen has also long been recognized as one of the nation’s leading advocates for LGBTQ equality. She led the successful campaign against the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex-marriage and then helped to create the “Respect for Marriage Coalition” supporting the victorious legal cases at the Supreme Court. She formerly served as chair of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group.She appears regularly on CNN as a political analyst and has written opinion pieces for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter and many other publications.Ms. Rosen previously worked as chief of staff for Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, as an assistant to New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne, and has been an advisor to dozens of elected officials over the years. She started her career at Liz Robbins Associates.She is regularly featured on power lists in a variety of sectors, including Entertainment Weekly’s Annual Power List, The Hollywood Reporter’s Power 50 Women, The Washington Post’s Power 20 and National Journal’s Power Women in Washington.Ms. Rosen currently serves on the Governing Board of Times Up Now, The Center for American Progress Action Fund and LPAC. She is also the founder and board member of Business Forward. She is a graduate of George Washington University and lives in Washington, DC and is the proud mom of twins.

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