Sean Gibbons

Sean Gibbons (@SeanGibbons_) is the CEO of The Communications Network, which connects, gathers, and informs leaders working in communications for good in order to advance the missions and impact of foundations and nonprofits. The Network is guided by its core values of community, learning, and leadership. It is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion — and driven by a deep desire to improve lives.

​​Sean has presented his work on the power and potential of smart, strategic communications at the World Economic Forum, Stanford University’s Nonprofit Management Institute, The Prince’s Roundtable on Philanthropy, and ComNet, The Communications Network’s annual conference. He has produced and contributed to several thought leadership series devoted to advancing the field of communications for good, including Making Ideas Move, The Case for Communications, and Picture This (with Frameworks Institute) in Stanford Social Innovation Review and Looking Ahead: The Future of Communications for Good in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. H​​is writing and commentary​ have been featured in The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC News, ​The Chronicle of Philanthropy, ​Stanford Social Innovation Review, Change Agent, & the BBC.​ ​

Prior to joining The Communications Network, Sean served as Vice President for Communications and Senior Fellow at Third Way, a public policy think tank in Washington. D.C.​ ​Previously, he served as Director of Media Strategy at the Center for American Progress, which The New Yorker called, “perhaps the most important institution in Democratic politics.” At CAP, he created the organization’s innovative online video department and many of its social media platforms.

Before his career in public policy, Gibbons was an award-winning producer at CNN. Recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his role in the network’s live coverage of the September 11th attacks, he served as the Washington producer for a number of network programs including Newsnight, American Morning and Anderson Cooper 360. Earlier, he held leadership roles at CNN Financial News, overseeing Washington coverage for CNN’s flagship financial news program, Moneyline​. ​He started his journalism career at ABC News.

An honors graduate of Colby College, he was a Hansard Scholar at the London School of Economics, a student at Centro Bilingue in Cuernavaca, Mexico; and has done executive classwork on leadership and strategy at The Center for Creative Leadership and Harvard University’s Kennedy School.