Rob Shepardson

As one of the founders of SS+K, Rob has spent over 25 years working in the field of public affairs, advertising and marketing. He led SS+K’s assignment for the Obama for America campaign, serving on the paid media team with a particular focus on youth marketing. He has led the firm’s work for Let’s Move!, the First Lady’s anti-childhood obesity campaign, and Joining Forces, her initiative to encourage Americans to help military families; the rebranding of the Democratic National Committee; the campaign to educate Americans about the benefits of President Obama’s historic healthcare reforms; and the youth-focused advocacy campaign to support the President’s energy reform legislation. He has recently worked on behalf of the AFL-CIO, the College Board, General Electric, General Motors, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Subway, and the US Department of Education.

In addition, he has led the firm’s work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft, HBO, Anheuser-Busch, ENOUGH! [The Campaign to End Mass Atrocities and Genocide], and the Association of Schools of Public Health. Past clients include Dell Computer, American Express, DATA and the ONE Campaign [Bono’s advocacy organizations], various UN agencies including the establishment of the UN Millennium Development Goals campaign, Time Warner, the New York Jets, Share our Strength, Bread for the World, and MTV Networks, among others.

Earlier in his career, Rob worked at the Sawyer Miller Group, where he advised corporate clients, several presidents [Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador + Panama], presidential candidates and political parties [Hungary]. During that time he helped secure U.S. support for Colombian President César Gaviria’s dismantling of the Medellín drug cartel.

Rob is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a board member of Business Forward, a new membership organization of Fortune 100 companies and entrepreneurs nationwide who support the goals of the Obama administration’s competitiveness agenda. He is also a board member of the Center for International Private Enterprise, one of the four institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy. CIPE strengthens democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform. He is on board of Hip Hop Public Health, an innovative and proven in-school program that educates grade-school children about nutrition and exercise through hip hop. He is a member of the New York advisory board of the Enterprise Community Partners, a leading provider of development capital and expertise to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities.

Rob taught at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he developed and taught a graduate-level course on health issue advocacy. He currently is on the advisory board of the Center for Health Communication at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Rob has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in government and biology from Franklin and Marshall College, where he was an All-American quarterback.