As editorial director in the Strategic Communications & External Affairs department, Mark is responsible for the messaging, voice, and content of NORC’s corporate communications, in particular our website, annual reports, and newsletters. In this role, he collaborates with research departments and his Strategic Communications colleagues to identify compelling stories about NORC’s projects and people. He also works with project teams on shaping the messaging and content of project deliverables.
Mark partnered with other senior members of the Strategic Communications team and an outside brand consultant to develop NORC’s current tagline, “Research you can trust,” and brand messaging guide. He also played a key role in shaping the navigation and content strategy for NORC’s website and continues to lead NORC’s story curation process and manage NORC’s stable of trusted freelance writers. In addition, Mark serves as a writing resource and coach, organizing and sometimes leading trainings and workshops on writing and presentation skills. He also helps NORC’s business developers refine win themes.
Prior to joining NORC, Mark ran his own business, Mark Sheehy Creative, for several years, providing writing and communication strategy services to nonprofit organizations, mostly in the education sector. In addition to writing for NORC, his work included brand positioning language for Swarthmore College, campaign messaging and collateral for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, ad concepts for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, video for the Northwestern University School of Professional Studies, web strategy for the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and web copy for Cornell Tech, among other projects.
Before launching his business, Mark was a creative director at mStoner and an associate creative director at Lipman Hearne. His clients included the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the College of William & Mary, Brown University, Northeastern University School of Law, and the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration (now the Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice).
