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NCA Expands Advocacy And Communications Capability With Two New Hires

WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Confectioners Association has appointed two new staff members to new roles designed to bolster advocacy and communications activities. These new hires will expand the organization's capability to tell the confectionery industry's powerful narrative and highlight member companies' economic contributions with audiences ranging from members of Congress to consumer influencers and other key stakeholder groups. Lauren O'Toole Boland joins the Public Affairs and Communications t...

January 19, 2020 by Emily Jed

WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Confectioners Association has appointed two new staff members to new roles designed to bolster advocacy and communications activities. These new hires will expand the organization's capability to tell the confectionery industry's powerful narrative and highlight member companies' economic contributions with audiences ranging from members of Congress to consumer influencers and other key stakeholder groups.

Lauren O'Toole Boland joins the Public Affairs and Communications team at NCA as director of communications and will focus on strengthening the organizations' media engagement, strategic communications and advocacy efforts. Before joining NCA, she was a vice-president at Marathon Strategies and served on the communications team at the Association of Global Automakers. Additionally, Boland served as communications director for two members of Congress and gained experience on multiple successful congressional campaigns throughout the state of Ohio.

Courtney Hogan joins NCA's Policy and Regulatory Affairs team as manager of grassroots and public policy. In this role, she will focus on increasing engagement and participation of elected officials in NCA public policy initiatives and member company events and creating opportunities for policymakers to tour confectionery manufacturing facilities and participate in other on-the-ground opportunities. Prior to joining NCA, Hogan served as government affairs manager at the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council and worked in the office of Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08).

"NCA has built a strong reputation as a thought leader in the public affairs and advocacy space in and outside of Washington, and the addition of Lauren and Courtney to the team will only strengthen our capability," said NCA president and chief executive John Downs. "We're excited to add to our advocacy and communications capacity, which will help us tell our story to members of Congress and our stakeholder audiences and provide even more value to our member companies."

NCA's public affairs and advocacy program supports and promotes American manufacturers of chocolate candy, gum and mints, which directly employ nearly 54,000 people across the United States, with more than 550,000 jobs supported in related industries.