Jessica McWade is President of McWade Group, Inc. She is a deeply experienced leader, thinker, communicator, and facilitator across the higher education, not-for-profit, corporate, and small business sectors. For two decades, she has advised scores of organizations and institutions in leadership and team development, strategic planning, communications, messaging, market research, and public affairs with McWade Group and as Executive Vice President of Maguire Associates.
She was previously Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Communications for Raytheon, where she served on the company’s Global Executive Leadership Team. She was also Director, Corporate Communications for Textron and Director, Corporate Affairs for BankBoston, having graduated from the Loan Officer Development Program there and serving as an international lender. She was also Deputy Press Secretary to the Mayor of Boston and a photographer for the Governor of Massachusetts.
Jessica is past president of the World Affairs Council of Boston, member of The Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on many boards. She is currently Chairman of SEA Education Association. Jessica was appointed a Fellow to the Salzburg Seminar (Austria), served as a British-American Fellow (Northern Ireland), and is an alumna of the LEADBoston Program. She is also a Commander (Retired) in the U.S. Naval Reserve, serving for 15 years and having undertaken assignments around the world, from the Soviet Union, Norway, and the Arctic to NATO headquarters in Brussels and the U.S. Embassy in Rome.
Jessica earned an Ed.D. in leadership and organizational development from George Washington University. Her dissertation focused on how college and university presidents form institutional vision. She also holds degrees from Harvard University’s Kennedy School (MPA-2), New York University’s Stern School (MBA, PPG Industries Fellow) and Boston University’s College of Communication (BS). She earned certification as an Action Learning Coach through the World Institute of Action Learning. She also studied at the Stockholm School of Economics. Jessica also attended the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, University of Wisconsin Writers’ Institute, and the Shakespeare program at St. John’s College in Santa Fe.
Jessica loves to learn and to teach. She’s traveled to 50 countries and believes that world travel is the best possible education. She is a photographer, blogger, (This Moment @ www.jessicamcwade.com) and frequent speaker and columnist. She published her first book in 2017, This Moment: Reflections on Leading, Learning, Laughing and Living, which is available on Amazon.com.