Scott Widmeyer
Scott Widmeyer has a long-standing record in providing strategic counsel to scores of decision-makers, from presidents to governors to chief executive officers to union leaders. From working as a newspaper reporter in the 1970s to running major media operations for national campaigns, Widmeyer knows how to get results for his clients. His track record of successes in education, health care, politics, technology, trade and other major policy areas illustrate his impact as a “change agent” in things that matter most to America.
He founded Widmeyer Communications in 1988, building on a career in newspaper reporting and serving in major communications positions for five highly respected leaders — former President Jimmy Carter, former Vice President Walter Mondale, U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, the late Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro and the late American Federation of Teachers president Albert Shanker. In 2013, Widmeyer’s firm was acquired by Finn Partners, a full-service global communications agency regarded as one of the fastest growing in the world.
Scott is active in many civic and philanthropic causes from his base in New York and Washington, and he looks forward to becoming an active member of the Visiting Committee for the WVU College of Creative Arts and Media. Currently, Widmeyer co-chairs the Stubblefield Institute for Civil Political Communications and chairs the George Washington University’s National Council for the School of Media and Public Affairs. In addition, he is on the boards of the Leadership Academy, the Catskill Mountain Foundation, and St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church.
Widmeyer also is a Founder of The Overlook, a new digital media platform that launches this coming January and will serve six communities in New York’s Catskills region.
In May 2023, Widmeyer received an honorary doctorate degree from West Virginia University where he delivered the 2023 commencement address to the graduates of the WVU College of Media.
In 2007, he was named a David Rockefeller Fellow, a highly coveted one-year program of the New York City Partnership. Scott also chaired the capital campaign for West Virginia University’s College of Media and previously was chair of its Visiting Committee.
Scott also has played a key role with America’s leading LGBTQ organizations including the Victory Fund which he chaired in the mid 2000s as well as serving on the boards of GLAAD, AIDS PAC and the New York City LGBT Center.
From 2017 through 2020, Scott hosted a weekly public affairs radio show produced by Nantucket NPR and streamed on multiple media channels. His guests ranged from governors, member of Congress, top media, authors and union leaders. And, in 2016, he was the co-publisher of A Walk Around Nantucket, the first island resort-centric adult coloring book of its kind.
Widmeyer is a graduate of WVU where he has established two scholarship funds to benefit African-American and first-generation West Virginians seeking a degree in journalism. To date, more than 50 students have benefited from these scholarships, and in 2005, Widmeyer and his firm established the Widmeyer Communications Professorship in Public Relations, the first of its kind in the nation. Widmeyer has served as a Visiting Professor at the P. I. Reed School of Journalism and has been a guest lecturer at Brown University, the University of Maryland, and the Johns Hopkins University. In 2003, he received the University’s most prestigious award in journalism – The P. I. Reed Achievement Award. Widmeyer was inducted into the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 2009, and his firm received the 2012 Diversity Distinction in PR Awards from the Council of PR Firms.
In 2005, then West Virginia Governor Bob Wise bestowed upon Widmeyer the “Distinguished West Virginian Award,” the highest honor provided by the chief executive of the state, and in 2010 he was named to the PR News Hall of Fame.