About Andrew Schwartz

Since 1995, I've been helping organizations communicate their most important ideas to external and internal audiences. My clients' own words testify to the value I bring, but in brief they appreciate my ability to ask probing questions, listen respectfully to their answers, and then synthesize their complex ideas into effective written communications. They also value my personal, client-focused approach: I meet deadlines and answer my own phone.

Before turning my attention to strategic communications, I spent fifteen years alternately managing a business, co-leading a public school restructuring effort, and teaching writing at UC Berkeley Extension. At the same time, I wrote fiction, essays, and feature articles, with my work appearing in publications that range from literary journals (New England Review and Columbia) to big city newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle). I consciously draw on all of that experience in my strategic communications work; I also draw on the hands-on training I received from Timothy B. Peters (a former vice-president for communications at JP Morgan and now an independent writer of annual reports and other corporate materials) and Ted Michel (a former director of investor relations at Levi Strauss).

Education

Goddard College - MFA, Creative Writing (June 1987)
University of California, Berkeley - BA, English (June 1980)