| Robert J. Griendling
Robert Griendling has nearly 40 years experience in communications, including corporate, government, non-profit, political and grassroots public relations, including 10 years as a broadcast producer and reporter. He founded Griendling Communications in 1989 in the Washington, DC area and now is located in the Tampa Bay area in Florida.
Shortly after the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1970, Griendling joined the Federal Aviation Administration where he served as a communications liaison on environmental matters between the administration and Congress.
Later, he moved into broadcasting as a producer of jazz programming and a journalist for radio stations in North Carolina, Alabama and Texas, where he was station manager for KERA-FM. He then moved to KTVT-TV where he managed news coverage as the Dallas bureau chief for the station.
In 1986, he joined Tracy-Locke Public Relations, where he was director of the firm's Business-to-Business Group. One of his first clients was Infomart, the business center that housed dozens of technology companies. While working on the account, he became familiar with the companies and their products and services. Given his aptitude (a test pegged him as a computer scientist or an engineer), Griendling discovered he was able to merged this aptitude with his education that required extensive writing and communications skills.
Moving to the nation's capital, he launched Griendling Communications. While growing the firm and expanding its capabilities, Griendling has been active in many civic pursuits, where he has enjoyed a reputation as an effective communicator and organizer of grassroots groups. He is past vice president of the Dallas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, chairing its ethics, program and communications committees. He has served as president of a civic association and served as a member of the Telecom Advisory Task Force of Fairfax County, Virginia. In recognition of his civic work, he was named the 2002 recipient of the Lord Fairfax award.
He was co-founder of RENEW, a 501(c)4 education advocacy group, and president of RENEW Virginia Schools, a political action committee.
Griendling contributes occasional political commentaries and op-ed columns to The Washington Post and other publications. He now writes a column for the Tampa Bay Times and a blog at bobgriendling.com.
He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
He lives with his wife, Karla Leavelle, in St. Petersburg, Fla.
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