Tricia Kenney

Tricia Kenney is an award-winning communications, marketing and strategy executive who serves as Chief Communications, Marketing and Brand Strategy Officer at Truth Initiative, the nation’s largest nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empowering quitting for all.

Kenney leads Truth Initiative’s Brand, Communications and Marketing Expertise Center, overseeing the organization’s brand and enterprise strategy and all aspects of its integrated marketing and communications efforts, including advertising, public affairs, earned media, executive communications, digital and social media, content, and creative functions. She is responsible for shaping how Truth Initiative brings its mission and impact to life across audiences and advancing the organization’s award-winning public education and behavior-change efforts. As a member of the senior leadership team, she also plays a central role in defining and communicating Truth Initiative’s strategic direction as the organization works to protect decades of progress in tobacco control and empower lives free from addiction.

Before joining Truth Initiative full-time in 2016, Kenney served as a consultant to the organization, leading earned media strategy for the 2014 relaunch of the iconic truth® tobacco prevention campaign. Since joining the organization, she has helped strengthen Truth Initiative’s position as a nationally recognized public health leader, elevating its social science, research, policy expertise, cessation programs and thought leadership while advancing the visibility and impact of its award-winning truth brand and EX Program campaigns.

Kenney previously served as Chief Communications Officer for Publicis Kaplan Thaler, then New York’s fifth-largest advertising agency. As a member of the original leadership team at the Kaplan Thaler Group, she helped transform the start-up into a billion-dollar agency serving high-profile clients including Aflac, Citibank, General Motors, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Wendy’s. Her experience at the intersection of advertising, brand building, reputation, media and corporate strategy informs her integrated approach to creating ideas and narratives that move audiences and drive meaningful action. 

Communications and marketing programs led by Kenney have received numerous awards for creativity, excellence and effectiveness, including Cannes Lions, Clios, Effies, SABRE Awards, Silver Anvils and Webby Awards. She was named PRWeek’s 2023 Outstanding In-House Professional and has been recognized as a member of the PRWeek Health Influencer 30, an annual list of the most influential leaders in health communications.

Kenney is a past board member of New York Women in Communications. She is also deeply committed to her community and supports local organizations and initiatives focused on education, food security and health equity.