Lawrence J. Parnell

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Lawrence J. Parnell

Associate Professor and Strategic Public Relations Program Director


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Lawrence (Larry) Parnell is an Associate Professor and Director of the award-winning Strategic Public Relations program at The Graduate School of Political Management.

Over a 30-year career, Parnell has held senior communications positions in consulting, on the client side and in politics. Most recently, he was Vice President and Group Leader of the Corporate Communications practice at Hill and Knowlton Canada. He came to Hill & Knowlton from Barrick Gold Corporation (Toronto) where he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations with responsibility for corporate, financial and internal communications. In New York, he served for four years as Director of Global Public Relations at Ernst & Young LLP. While at Ernst &Young he was named PR Professional of the Year (2003) by PR Week magazine.

Parnell's previous corporate experience includes senior positions at GTE Corporation, People's Bank of Connecticut, and The Stop & Shop Companies, Inc. His consulting experience includes senior roles at Ketchum Public Relations, Gavin Andersen & Co. Inc., and Manning Selvage & Lee.

Early in his career, Parnell served as a speechwriter for the Mayor of Atlanta, press aide for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign, public information officer for Massachusetts Department of Corrections, and speechwriter for the Attorney General of Massachusetts.

Parnell holds an MBA from the University of New Haven and a Bachelors degree in Journalism from Boston University. He is a frequent author and speaker on communications topics and a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). He is also a member of the prestigious Arthur Page Society.


  • Strategic Public Relations Principles & Practices
  • Capstone Research Project
     
  • Introduction to Strategic Public Relations: Digital, Global, and Socially Responsible Communication, with Janis Teruggi Page (SAGE, 2019)
  • M.B.A., University of New Haven
  • B.S., Journalism, Boston University