Nonprofit Banner Neighborhoods Names Bill Atkinson Vice President of Its Board of Directors
BALTIMORE, MD – Oct. 25, 2023 – Banner Neighborhoods, one of the oldest nonprofits serving the residents of East and Southeast Baltimore communities, has named Bill Atkinson
Vice President of its board of directors.
Atkinson, who is President of Atkinson Strategic Communication, a Baltimore-based public relations and strategic communications company, will help Banner market the organization and connect with media and corporate executives.
“For more than 41 years, Banner has been making a difference on the East side of Baltimore with its programs focused on sports for students, workforce development and providing free maintenance services to elderly residents so they can remain in their homes and age in place,” Atkinson said. “I am honored to have been named Vice President and am committed to leveraging my experience and networks to further the organization’s mission of fostering a thriving community and supporting residents.”
Robin Truiett-Theodorson, Banner’s Executive Director, said Atkinson has been an engaged board member since joining the organization in 2018 and advocate for Banner initiatives.
“He has helped raise money supporting our initiatives and programs and has introduced us to corporations that support our mission,” Truiett-Theodorson said. “As we continue to grow, we will rely on his connections and ability to tell our story.”
Prior to starting his own firm, Atkinson was a partner in 212 Communications, which he joined in June 2015, where he focused on strategic and crisis communications, media relations and grassroots strategies. Before that he was a senior vice president at global public relations agency Weber Shandwick. At Weber’s Baltimore office Atkinson specialized in strategic and crisis communications as well as reputation management. Clients included Constellation Energy, Honeywell, General Motors, Bank of America, Promontory Financial Group, and 1st Mariner Bank.
Before becoming a public relations practitioner in 2005, Atkinson was a business columnist and financial reporter at the Baltimore Sun where he wrote a twice-weekly column that tracked the personal dimensions of top executives of Maryland corporations.
He was also the newspaper’s economics correspondent and covered the banking industry, stock market, mutual funds, brokerage houses, investment banking and white-collar crime. A series of stories on Allfirst Bank was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. Atkinson also appeared on CNBC’s American Greed, ABC News’ podcast, “Have you seen this man?” and a Hulu documentary by the same name.
In addition to serving on Banner’s board, Atkinson was named to the board of directors of Prospect Hill Cemetery in Towson in 2023. He was also a director of Junior Achievement of Central Maryland and of Stocks in the Future, which provides middle school students the chance to see real world finance.