NWRA Adds Two to Communications Staff to Bolster Effort

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) has added two communications persons to strengthen the association’s media, public relations and marketing effort.

The Washington-based NWRA named Christopher Doherty vice president of communications and Jessica Mayorga senior director of communications and marketing, according to a news release.

Doherty and Mayorga will join Communication Manager Craig Branson to form the new three-person team that will revamp the association’s communications with a strong and tactical strategy for increasing member engagement and enhance NWRA’s voice as the national central outlet of all things waste and recycling. They also will support NWRA chapters throughout the United States by using communications to expand regional messaging and enhance advocacy efforts.

The new team will focus on the NWRA’s messaging priorities and work closely with members to amplify the voice of the industry and bring new innovation to its digital media and event publicity capabilities.

“With the hiring of two top-notch communicators, Jessica and Chris, we can deploy their resources in some areas where we are going to benefit government affairs,” says Sharon Kneiss, NWRA president and CEO, in an interview with Waste360.

“We have developed a new strategy on communications. Focusing on themes has been successful for us. We started with ‘Slow Down to Get Around.’ Since then, two states have passed legislation.

“The next effort is to focus on the cost of recycling and recycling right. And we’re looking forward to that. We’re at the crossroads for recycling and we’re emphasizing the challenges and the benefits.

 “We also have some strong communicators within companies in the industry. We think collaboration with them is going to lead to a lot of success in that area.”

Doherty has more than 25 years of corporate communications leadership experience. Most recently he led communications and investor relations at Pendrell Corp. Previously, he has held communications leadership positions with Sprint Nextel and AT&T Wireless Services. Doherty holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington College and a certificate in executive leadership from Georgetown University.

“NWRA has a bold agenda at the federal, state and local level that in some form or another impacts every resident and business in our country,” Doherty said. “We are looking forward to bringing fresh focus and awareness to these issues for the association and on behalf of our members nationwide.”

Mayorga has more than 15 years of marketing, communications and brand-management experience, most recently serving as senior director of marketing and outreach for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) in Washington. Before joining NCLR, Mayorga was director of communications/spokeswoman for the city of New Haven, Conn.  She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and graduate degrees from Harvard University and Walden University.

"We have a dynamic team that is well-positioned to amplify the voice of our industry creating greater awareness around our priorities ranging from safety to education to image and beyond,” Mayorga said. “This is an exciting time for the association and I am thrilled to be a part of telling our story."

David Bodamer, Waste360 executive director, content & user engagement, contributed to this story.