Tracy Cullen

Tracy Cullen was recruited to SME in 2022 as the first senior director of strategic communications and brand management, leading the development of impactful communications, media, public relations and brand management strategies aligned with SME’s individual business units and overall strategic plan. Cullen joined SME from NEMA (the National Electrical Manufacturers Association) where she served for six years as assistant vice president, communications and brand management. Cullen was hired at NEMA as a change agent to form the first fully integrated communications and marketing department in the association's history, directing corporate communications, membership marketing and meeting planning teams, as well as leading NEMA through a repositioning campaign that included brand modernization, infrastructure reconstruction and material redesign. As the in-house strategist for 56 product sections, she led many sector-specific initiatives, including advocacy outreach, stakeholder engagement and consumer education campaigns. Prior to NEMA, Cullen led global marketing and communications initiatives for PLASTICS (the Plastics Industry Association), rising to senior vice president. There, she led the association through a name change, dues restructuring and rebranding initiative. Cullen developed multimillion-dollar event marketing campaigns for NPE, one of the largest global trade shows, spanning one million square feet and attracting 65,000 attendees, which fueled gate revenue of $1M. She also managed aggressive advocacy campaigns to fight material and product bans. While at PLASTICS, her team became the first industry group to successfully reverse a blanket material ban by Walmart, and she partnered with Edelman Public Relations to fight proposed plastic bag bans at state and local levels. Cullen also managed the plastic industry partnership with Walt Disney Corp. in a $7M multiyear consumer education campaign about the benefits of plastics.

She holds a bachelor's degree in speech communication from George Mason University where she graduated cum laude, as well as earned a professional certificate in digital media management from Georgetown University. Cullen maintains a professional certification in association management from the American Society of Association Executives and is an active member in the National Press Club and Washington Women in Public Relations.