Susan Dixen joins Land Use Strategies after eight years in the communications and policy shops of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. She has extensive experience in public policy and communications at the federal, state, and local levels, starting her career in Washington as a U.S. senator’s aide, corresponding on legislative issues ranging from small business to housing to domestic spending.
Since then, she’s been the research director for a national non-profit advocacy group, training people to form coalitions and speak up for what they believe. She directed communications for a state political party during the Bush-Gore campaign in 2000, and served as chief of staff for a county commissioner in Jefferson County, Ky., where she served on a comprehensive land use planning panel for Louisville and its surroundings.
Susan also ventured into the private sector, establishing a marketing and media relations unit for a nationwide benefits consulting firm based in Louisville, and handling media for an indie film company which had three acclaimed submissions to the Sundance Film Festival.
Susan has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and communication from Central College in Iowa. Her continued education includes a grant writing workshop at the University of Louisville’s Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods, a “Street-Smart” principled negotiating seminar at UofL, a political consultants outreach conference at Harvard, and PIO training at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in DC.
Message development, coalition building, rapid response, and opposition research are among her strengths.Not one to shy from controversy, Susan aims to help people do the right thing for people and the planet.
