Ready to Meet the Full Range of Client Needs

We partner with leaders who need perspective, additional bandwidth, and confidential support during moments of transition, growth, or heightened visibility. We do not replace internal communications teams — we strengthen them, bringing focus, expertise, and actionable guidance at the moment it counts.  

As a small, nimble firm, we move quickly from conversation to collaboration. We do not rely on retainers or rigid project fees; clients engage us for the work they need — whether strategic planning, executive writing, media counsel, communications audits, or interim leadership support.

Our work often includes confidential counsel to presidents and boards, messaging support during leadership transitions, development of institutional narratives and campaign communications, and writing or editorial leadership for signature publications, speeches, and public thought leadership.

We are ready to step in when urgency requires it — during a crisis, a critical announcement, or a leadership gap — and equally comfortable helping institutions think proactively about how they tell their story over time.

Hi, I’m Anne.

I’ve spent my career helping colleges, universities, nonprofits, and their leaders communicate — especially when the stakes are high.

That might mean launching a capital campaign, introducing a new president, or planning every detail of a donor visit. It could be explaining why a faculty breakthrough matters — and why it matters differently to a prospective student than it does to corporate or community partners. Communications is rarely one-size-fits-all.

Why This Work Matters to Me

I love this work. And I especially love doing it for people and institutions with a public service mindset — those who make us a better, kinder, smarter, and more generous society.

A Practical Philosophy About Communications

My philosophy about communications is simple.

Give people a reason to pay attention. Once you have their attention, respect it.

Respect their time. Don’t make the speech too long or the copy too dense. Don’t assume people actually read the message just because you sent it. 

Worry about the little things — the email subject line, the date and time the message lands, the caption under the photo. Those little things are often where attention is captured or lost. 

Great communication isn’t just the brochure you leave on the table or the post on a website or social platform (though those things matter). It’s about whether someone learned something, reconsidered a position, trusted you a little more. It’s about whether they decide to apply, make a gift, show up, or lean in.  

Communications Lives in Moments

• It’s the video that changes how someone thinks about an issue or an institution.

• It’s the speech that reveals a side of the president no one was expecting.

• It’s the strategic choice to pick up the phone—sometimes many times—rather than sending one more email.

• It’s the piece of mail that actually gets opened—or laughed at—or saved.

• It’s the student speaker so well prepared that someone in the back of the room quietly decides to make an estate gift.

• It’s the board meeting trustees remember because it reminded them why the mission matters—not just what the metrics say.

Those are the moments I work toward.

Experience That Shapes the Work

Before founding Anne Botteri Strategic Communications, I spent nearly three decades in senior leadership roles at public and private institutions — large and small — including:

• Vice President for Marketing and Communications, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

• Associate Vice President for Communications and Donor Relations, University of Central Florida Foundation

• Chief Communications Officer, Saint Anselm College

I’ve built teams, launched reputation-defining initiatives, helped complete major campaigns, and advised presidents, boards, and senior leadership teams. Earlier in my career, I served as Chief of Staff at a federal agency and helped launch one of higher education’s most visible civic engagement initiatives: the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Across every role, the common thread has been helping leaders articulate what matters at the right moment, in ways that earn trust.

Curiosity Is Key

I remain endlessly curious.

Every engagement teaches me something new about an issue, a community, or a challenge. Many clients invite me into unfamiliar territory — and that’s a good thing. It forces me to ask better questions and translate what I learn for others. It humbles me, inspires me, and makes me want to get it right for every client.

If you’re wrestling with a communications or marketing challenge, navigating a moment of change, or simply want a thoughtful, candid conversation, I welcome it.

Feel free to reach out. I’m always happy to talk.

Anne's collaborators include some who have full-time jobs and some who have their own consultancies as well, but with different skill sets and expertise than Anne. If they are on the list below, we’ve worked together on multiple projects and we’d love to show you what we can do working together.

An independent graphic designer based in Asheville, North Carolina, Rose was formerly graphics manager and designer at The University of Iowa Foundation in Iowa City for more than 15 years. She did her graduate work in design at California State University at Fullerton after receiving her BFA in photography from California College of Arts and Crafts. Rose has served on the board of the UCDA and has been a faculty member for the nationally known CASE/UCDA Design Institute and the CASE Summer Institute in Communications. She is also the recipient of CASE’s Steuben Apple Award for outstanding teaching.

Victoria Harnish has focused her career on helping educational institutions create strategic integrated marketing campaigns, with a concentration on advancement communications and strategic event planning for campaigns. For more than 20 years, she has provided creative direction, project management and editorial support to independent schools and universities. She has held positions at Phillips Academy (director of campaign communications), UMass Lowell (executive director of donor relations), Saint Anselm College (communications manager at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics), and Groton School (alumni and development publications manager). A trained writer and editor, Victoria has a bachelor of science in broadcast journalism and a master of science in mass communication — both from Boston University.  

John Himmer is the company’s part-time production assistant as he completes his degree in Political Science at Southern New Hampshire University. John hopes to be involved in local politics after graduating and to make an impact in the Central Florida community. He believes that while larger scale legislation and action receive the headlines and the public’s attention, local politics provides for the most direct impact on people’s lives. When not working, he enjoys reading, writing and general nerdery. 

Kelly Pratt is a writer and storyteller with 18 years of experience in communications and marketing. She started her career as a journalist covering city hall politics, Latino affairs, and the environment for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. When she ventured into the nonprofit sector, her deadline-driven work ethic and eye for detail set her up for leadership roles at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where she guided communications, oversaw student enrollment marketing, led advancement initiatives, and helped scientists convey their research to prospective students and the media. Following her experience in higher education, she became a copy chief for Teach For America, helping research and create moving written, visual and audio stories about educational equity for the nonprofit’s digital magazine. A graduate of the University of Florida, Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She is a second-generation Latina and is fluent in Spanish.

Deepika Ross is owner, creative director and illustrator at Chronicles of a Dixit, a New York-based, woman-owned, illustration and design agency founded in 2015. Deepika loves to juxtapose illustration and edgy design with conceptual thinking and has a passion for launching, rejuvenating, and propelling corporate and educational campaigns.

Prior to founding her own company, Deepika worked for some of the biggest agencies and publication companies in the world. She started her career at Leo Burnett in India, then moved to illustrating and designing at Condé Nast publications in New York City. She’s worked for a number of prestigious agencies in New York, including Grey, Ogilvy, McCann, and FCB, along with being a published illustrator for the New Yorker and New York Times.

Peter Soutullo is a graphic designer with a passion for brutally handsome design that makes a lasting impact. With 30 years’ experience, he has worked with clients across a wide range of industries, including entertainment, business, hospitality, nonprofit, publishing and more. His areas of expertise include branding, logo design, print design, publication design and digital design.

Zack Thomas has more than 10 years of experience in higher education fundraising organizations in areas including copywriting for print and web, publications editing, mass email, and website design and editing. An expert in Blackbaud NetCommunity and Blackbaud Internet Solutions content management systems and mass email applications, Zack also has wide-ranging expertise in other CMS and email platforms. Prior to his career in higher education, Zack edited several outdoors publications. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Whitman College and an MFA with an emphasis in creative nonfiction from the University of Arkansas.