Bradley Akubuiro Recognized as PR News PR Rising Star, 30 and Under

Even at 26, Pratt & Whitney's own Bradley Akubuiro is making his mark as a professional communicator.

In December, Akubuiro was recognized nationally as one of the top corporate public relations professionals "30 and under" by PR News, a professional organization that serves the communications and marketing community at corporations, agencies and nonprofits. The PR News awards program showcases the best communications initiatives of the year and salutes outstanding performance by individuals.

Since joining Pratt & Whitney in 2014, Akubuiro has been a key contributor to the Military Engines communications team, developing and leading inventive campaigns, crisis responses and initiatives to promote the military business, including the high-profile F135 program, both internally to employees and externally to win public and legislative support.

"Bradley really is like a Swiss Army Knife when it comes to communications," said Matthew Bates, Akubuiro's supervisor and head of Military Engines communications. "He can carve out easily understandable messages from the most difficult of issues. He really has the right tools to get the job done. We are very fortunate to have him at Pratt & Whitney."

Of his many projects, Akubuiro cites a video he helped produce as the one he's most proud of this year. The video, which helped drive attention toward initial operational capability (IOC) of the F-35 Lightning II with the U.S. Marine Corps by telling the story of Pratt & Whitney employee Jason Bohager, shines a light on the people who make P&W's products possible.

"To see just how respected Jason is on that base, and to understand how critical the folks at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma view him to be was eye-opening for me," Akubuiro said. "We always talk about Pratt & Whitney's dependable engines, but the unsung heroes have always been, and will always be, Pratt & Whitney's dependable people."

Before working for Pratt & Whitney, Akubuiro was a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he led change management and strategic communications initiatives for federal health sector clients such as the National Institutes of Health, the Office of the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System, and others. Promoted twice in two years, he achieved associate or managing consultant rank at age 24, placing him amongst the youngest at that level in the 26,000-employee organization. In between studies and following graduation from Northwestern University, Bradley worked with the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. in Chicago, and later served as a consultant to the government of the Republic of Liberia following years of civil war, helping to foster good governance practices in the nation.

Dr. George Korn, an associate professor at Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication and a former communications director to Rev. Jackson, met Akubuiro in Chicago several years ago while working for the reverend. "He first joined us while just a student," said Korn, who attended the award event which was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. "Right away, what was impressive about Bradley was that he picked up on situations. He just has the ability to be so intuitive about politics, and how to message properly in almost any situation."

Also striking were Akubuiro's ethics. "His integrity is something else that impressed me immediately," Korn said. "Bradley is someone who I would trust implicitly with any serious job I had. He's a great human being and a consummate professional. He is going to go far in this field."

Also at the event was Capt. Dean Coppola, former director of Recruitment and Marketing for the Office of the Surgeon General, currently a director at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. "As a consultant, Bradley was one of our most dependable assets and came through for us in many different ways," he said. "One of the most impressive was when he crafted and sold one of our more out-of-the-box marketing ideas during a pitch to leadership in the Office of the Surgeon General."

Coppola, a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service, got to know Akubuiro even better as they continued to work together again later on during a project with the National Institutes of Health. "He is truly a professional and handles himself in a way that I'm very impressed with," he said.

"I owe everything to my colleagues, parents and support network because any success I've had is as a result of the opportunities that they gave me," Akubuiro said. "This award is really for those who've believed in me over the years, and my intention is to pay it forward so that others can have the type of chances that were given to me."

Click here to read the write up by PR News and to see the other award recipients.