Neill McG. Coleman joined The Rockefeller Foundation in August 2012. As vice president, global communications, Neill led the Foundation’s communications team in New York, Bangkok, and Nairobi. The team developed a communications strategy that deployed the Foundation’s influence—its brand, reputation, knowledge, networks, and convening power—as a direct tool to achieve impact. Neill sat on the Executive Team and oversaw a multi-million dollar grant-making portfolio focused on leveraging the Foundation’s influence to build greater resilience and more inclusive economies.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Neill served as chief external affairs officer at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he helped communicate the Obama Administration’s response to the housing crisis. Before assuming the leadership of HUD’s Office of Public Affairs in 2009, Neill served as assistant commissioner for communications at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and as director of communications for the New York League of Conservation Voters. He also managed North American communications for the global architecture firm RMJM.
Neill is a native of Glasgow, Scotland and has a M.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford. He serves on the board of the Stonewall Community Foundation, the only public foundation focused on the needs of New York’s LGBTQ community.
Nov 25 2015 Blog Post The Great Thanksgiving Listen With American Thanksgiving here, we at The Rockefeller Foundation are grateful for many things: brilliant and hardworking colleagues, the opportunity to work alongside visionary grantees and partners, and the people whose innovation and resilience inspire us and challenge us every day to work towards even greater impact. All year long, we work to tell the […]
Mar 01 2015 Blog Post Telling and Spreading Stories That Fuel Change In September 2014, a remarkable group of individuals convened at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy to discuss how to help those in the social impact sector use the full power of storytelling and infuse memorable, mind-changing stories into their work. The room was filled with thought-provoking journalists, accomplished documentarians, digital strategists who challenge traditional story construction, practitioners working with organizations every day, a leading […]
Mar 25 2014 Blog Post Take One for Social Impact Yesterday, The Rockefeller Foundation was pleased to host a dynamic group of film makers and funders gathered by the Sundance Institute to engage on the topic of film and social impact. Two storms—and two corresponding Rockefeller Foundation impact grants—provide insight into why we hosted the discussion. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, […]
Jan 22 2014 Blog Post Video: Why Mayor de Blasio Should Make Resilience a Priority York City’s new mayor needs to make resilience a top priority. “Part of the formula for improving the lives of the most vulnerable among us is to build these resilient capacities for us in the city, but it’s also a tremendous job creator if you’re talking about resilient infrastructure, if you’re talking about diversifying our […]
Jun 24 2013 Blog Post Resilience Begins at Home Family, neighborhood and community are vital components of responding to shocks and stresses and bouncing back stronger. The importance of such community resilience is shown in the results of a major survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research (AP-NORC). The poll explored the resilience of people and neighborhoods directly affected by […]