Elizabeth Penniman ’85

Elizabeth Penniman

Vice President of Communications, American Red Cross

Elizabeth Penniman has served as the vice president of communications for the American Red Cross for nearly 8 years. In this position, she currently leads all external and internal communications at the nonprofit, managing a team of 35, and has consistently exceeded year-over-year metrics for social and traditional media volume, engagement and sentiment. She oversees crisis and reputation communications and shares the Red Cross story across multiple platforms to reach internal, local, national and global audiences. Under her leadership, the American Red Cross has led in reputation and trust rankings among other peer nonprofit organizations. Over the course of her career, Penniman has received several competitive creative and civil service awards, including the PRNews Awards for “Crisis Management” and “Non-Profit Team of the Year.” She is a USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences alum.