Brian McNeal

Managed drug awareness campaign and ensured the public was informed about the DEA Detroit Field Division's activities and priorities in 14 media markets, covering 7 percent of the U.S. population. Using a variety of communication tools including radio/tv/print media interviews, capability demonstrations, press releases, community events, in-school presentations, forwarded the DEA One Pill Can Kill campaign, an initiative campaign aimed at raising public awareness of a significant nationwide surge in counterfeit pills resulting in more than $800,000 in ad-value over the course of four years.

• Developed compelling content for social media channels, driving increased engagement from followers.
• Pitched stories to media organizations.
• Managed routine and crisis communications with media and members of public.
• Trained spokespersons within DEA Detroit to effectively communicate to media organizations and community stakeholders.
• Increased public awareness of programs and initiatives through targeted marketing campaigns i.e. One Pill Can Kill;
• Improved media relations, cultivating partnerships with local press outlets.

Visual information supervisor for the Joint Planning Support Element, which provides ready, tailored, rapidly deployable public affairs professionals with expertise to accelerate the formation and increase the effectiveness of a joint task force headquarters during emerging operations. In addition to my duties as chief petty officer for up to 12 junior mass communication specialist ensuring their training and readiness to support joint missions, served as first-line supervisor for 9-person Army/Navy team of visual information professionals during NATO Operation Sabre Strike in 2018 providing more than 500 photographs and more than 3 hours of b-roll of joint capabilities; visual information lead for Sabre Guardian 2019 providing training for partner nation public affairs specialists; member of five-person visual information team deployed to southern Africa documenting humanitarian efforts following a tropical cyclone.

Primarily responsible for supervising a team of five in the creation of photographic, video and feature story content for agency's forward-facing website and social media pages in order to enhance the public's understanding and appreciation of the agency's initiatives and goals. During my tenure, TSA experienced an increase of video views from 100/month to more than 3500/month, and has been recognized for innovation in social media outreach.

• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure consistent messaging across all platforms and channels.
• Mentored junior public affairs specialists in their professional development while fostering a supportive team environment.
• Managed media inquiries, resulting in increased positive news coverage for the organization.
• Produced and distributed videos and other content for digital use.

Joint Task Force-National Capital Region is comprised of service members from all branches of the United States Armed Forces, to include Reserve and National Guard components, responsible for military support to ceremonies and civil authorities for the inaugural period. I served as a liaison between local and national media and the Department of Defense responsible for pitching stories, supervising interviews and media events, providing talking points, and forwarding the DoD's narrative. My team provided the DoD with more than $6 million in ad value throughout the inaugural period.