Alison Risso

Alison Risso has extensive experience in communications and marketing. Alison is currently serving as the Association Director of Communications at the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington. In this role, they lead the Communications Department and is responsible for implementing communication strategies and handling media relations. Prior to this, they worked at Out Teach for ten years, where they served as the Marketing and Communications Senior Director. Here, they oversaw all aspects of the organization's communications and marketing, including branding, sales materials, website redesigns, design, thought leadership, public relations, events, fundraising campaigns, and social media.

Before joining Out Teach, Alison held the position of Director of Marketing and Communications at Out Teach (formerly REAL School Gardens). Additionally, they worked as the Director of Communications at Mightycause (formerly Razoo). Prior to that, they worked at KaBOOM! as the Communications Director. In this role, they led the communications department and coordinated various projects, media training, crisis communications, promotional campaigns, and attained national and trade coverage for the organization. Alison also worked at Discovery Communications as a Communications Manager, where they developed media-relations campaigns and turned media spotlights on passion projects to drive ratings and build brands. Alison began their career as an intern at National Geographic. Throughout their career, they have demonstrated a strong aptitude for communication strategy and execution, media relations, branding, and event planning.

Alison Risso attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Journalism from Indiana University Bloomington, where they studied from 1991 to 1994.