User:Cwaan/Ed Dandridge

Ed Dandridge is a communications professional with over 20 years experience. He is currently Chief Communications Officer at The Nielsen Company.

Early Life and Education
Ed Dandridge was born on March 14, 1964 at Shaw Air Force Base South Carolina where his father was a Second Lieutenant. His mother was a teacher. After his brother was born in 1967, Ed’s father left the Air Force and joined the U.S. Diplomatic corps. Ed lived in NYC, Paris, Washington, DC and Athens. Ed graduated from Tufts University, cum laude, in 1986 and The University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1989.

Career
In 1989, Ed took and passed the New York State bar exam and began practicing law at the law firm of Loeb & Loeb in Manhattan. In 1993, Ed joined the Democratic political consulting firm, Sawyer Miller Group. Ed worked on public campaigns including the first World Trade Center Bombing, NYNEX brand launch, product launch of DirecTV, Showtime’s pay-per-view events and dozens of local and state candidates. In 1996, Ed became a principal at Sawyer Miller, which had been bought by Interpublic (IPG.)

The next year, Ed left Sawyer Miller to become Vice President of Communications and Policy Planning for ABC Television Network. Ed was the ABC’s senior communications exec with responsibility for programming, talent relations, public affairs, affiliates and sales.

In 2000, ABC relocated its management team to Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, California and Ed left the company. Ed formed BrandSphere Partners, a strategy consulting firm to political candidates, corporations and non-profits. BrandSphere advised political clients including DNC, DCCC, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Kerry/Edwards ’04 and Hillary Clinton for President ’08. BrandSphere’s corporate clients included Accenture, EcoMedia and Merrill Lynch. BrandSphere also worked for non-profits including Pew, Columbia University, NYC Dept of Education and New Leaders for New Schools.

At the end of the Clinton campaign in 2008, Ed joined the Nielsen Company as Chief Communications Officer. Nielsen has 35,000 employees in more than 100 companies. Ed is the company’s senior marketing communications executive, reporting to the Office of the CEO.

Personal Life
Ed is married to Dr. Karen Perkins, a psychologist. They met in college. They live in suburban New York with their two children.