Mary Dieter

From 2004 Telescope newsletter

Mary Dieter started a new job in January as director of policy and communications at the Indianapolis Private Industry Council Inc., the Workforce Investment Board for Marion County, Ind. Sadly, her former job as press secretary and communications director for Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon was cut short when O'Bannon died last September. Mary is married to Tim McClure, director of the State Ethics Commission and a law student.


Mary's resume ...

I have spent 30 years in communications, excelling in a wide range of positions and displaying a broad array of talents. I have considerable experience as a public spokesperson, a writer; an editor; a columnist; and a communications director.

Public communication experience

Office of the Governor of Indiana

Press secretary to Governor Frank O’Bannon, May 2001-September 2003
Director of communications, October 2002-September 2003
Senior adviser to Governor Joe Kernan, September-December 2003

· I was responsible for virtually every word – written or spoken – that emanated from the office of Governor Frank O’Bannon.
· I drove and delivered the message, overseeing the administration’s entire communications effort and message development and successfully advancing the governor’s causes and issues.
· I created a multi-pronged communications plan to promote Energize Indiana, a comprehensive economic development initiative, and built a team of professionals to implement it. With no money to promote the plan, my team executed a wide-ranging earned-media campaign, including news conferences, editorial board visits, op eds and weekly newsletters.
· I developed and directed the post-session communications plan to educate those who could benefit from Energize Indiana, including a series of 12 regional forums. I created the content of a compact disk provided to thousands of attendees, outlining what Energize Indiana could do for Hoosier businesses and communities.
· I played a key communications and policy role in securing the 2002 passage of one of the most comprehensive tax-and-budget legislative initiatives even undertaken in Indiana.
· I played a key communications and policy role in helping the General Assembly and the public understand the budget crisis that befell Indiana and the O’Bannon administration’s response to it.
· I advised Governor O’Bannon, his senior staff members and agency heads on communications and media matters and on policy issues.
· I wrote several of Governor O’Bannon’s major addresses:
o his 2003 State of the State address;
o his December 2002 speech to kick off the Energize Indiana campaign;
o his November 2001 televised address to explain the budget crisis; and
o his keynote speech for Energize Indiana forums.
· During my time as communications director, I edited all other speeches that Governor O’Bannon gave.
· I was the principal voice of the O’Bannon administration. In addition to working with reporters who regularly covered the Statehouse and others from around Indiana, I have been interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, Reuters news service, Bloomberg news service and CBS national radio.
· I wrote hundreds of news releases.
· I directly supervised a team of three professionals (a deputy press secretary and two deputy communications directors), an administrative assistant, a governor’s fellow and, in summer 2003, an intern.
· I oversaw the work of and consulted with public information officers in more than 70 state agencies.
· In September 2003, I was the administration’s public face after Governor O’Bannon’s stroke and death. I managed all communications and issued 22 news releases in two weeks to ensure the public was informed in this time of crisis.
· After Governor O’Bannon’s death, I assisted Governor Kernan as he organized his administration.

Indianapolis Private Industry Council Inc., Indianapolis, IN

Director of policy and communications, January 2004-present

· I edit virtually every document that emanates from the IPIC office, from major studies to special reports to grant applications to important letters.
· I write numerous documents, including news releases, op ed pieces, Web content, program brochures, video content and public presentations, speeches and remarks for the president/CEO. I also prepare PowerPoint presentations for the president’s use.
· I handle media relations and coordinate all design and graphic work.
· I recently oversaw creation of a strategic plan.

Eli Lilly and Co., Indianapolis, IN

Senior associate, internal communications, June 2000-April 2001

· I was editor of Focus, a 40,000-circulation global magazine for Lilly employees and retirees. I planned, wrote, edited, helped design and oversaw production and distribution of the quarterly publication.
· I also wrote for and served as backup editor for LLYNEWS, the daily newsletter for Lilly employees, and edited various other publications and documents.

Senior associate, public policy, planning and development, January 1999-May 2000

· I prepared public-policy analyses and supported several members of senior management and the 13 managers of public affairs who lobbied state legislatures.
· I prepared a monthly briefing memo to assist Chairman Sidney Taurel at meetings of the national trade association. This effort included the coherent and persuasive writing of policies and the intensive editing of submissions made by company experts who contributed to the briefing memo.


Experience in writing/reporting/commentary

The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY

Indianapolis bureau chief, January 1987-November 1998

· I provided intensive coverage of the Indiana legislative process and politics, writing more than 200 stories a year.
· I wrote an incisive weekly political column for more than 10 years. For several years, it was reprinted in the Indianapolis Business Journal.
· For the last two years, I worked as an enterprise reporter, reporting and writing in-depth stories about a wide variety of issues.



Southern Indiana bureau chief and reporter, January 1981-December 1986

· I was the newspaper’s roving reporter in Southern Indiana, reporting on 17 counties and covering a wide array of topics ranging from serious crime stories to thoughtful political analyses to sprightly personality features.
· It was during this time that I tackled the difficult issues of the Marble Hill nuclear power plant, producing hundreds of stories and a series adopted as a primary reference by the commission appointed by Governor Robert D. Orr that ultimately recommended shutting the plant down.
· During a sabbatical from my daily duties, I was temporarily assigned to the newspaper’s weekly magazine, when I wrote magazine-length pieces about such varied topics as a man who died twice; the patroness of New Harmony; two extraordinarily popular disc jockeys; the cocaine trade in Southern Indiana; lifeline helicopters; and a teenager who shot his father and stepmother to death.

Shelbyville, Ky., bureau chief, July 1979-December 1980

· I covered 21 counties in North Central Kentucky.
· I traveled most of 1980 with candidates for Kentucky lieutenant governor and covered the harrowing story of four teenagers being trampled to death at a Cincinnati rock concert.


Education

· I recently was accepted into the master’s degree journalism program at Ball State University.
· I was graduated at age 20 from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
· During college, I wrote for the college newspaper and freelanced for the local newspaper.
· I started working a week after graduation at a small suburban Chicago daily chain and later worked at the daily newspaper in Rockford, Ill.


Some things you should know about me

As a reporter, I frequently was invited to serve as an analyst of political and legislative affairs for public and commercial television stations. I served on the panel of questioners during numerous political debates. For several years, I was a regular panelist on the local PBS show “Indiana Week in Review.”

I have been a guest lecturer at Ball State University, Butler University, DePauw University, Indiana University, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and Purdue University, in addition to countless organizations.

I had the privilege to discuss press freedom, responsibility and ethics before two delegations of Parliament members and journalists from Ukraine and a multinational delegation with representatives from Ethiopia, Ghana, the Republic of Seychelles, Namibia and the Philippines.

I have written a memoir of my last two weeks as Governor O’Bannon’s press secretary and a police-genre novel. I am collecting information for a grammar guide for journalism and public relations students and am working with a colleague on a compendium of crime in Indiana.
I was president of the Indianapolis Press Club in 1998, a member of its board of directors for four years and winner of its Larry Conrad Renaissance Award in 1997.