Office Location
Lakeland Technology Building (at Polk State College), 3433 Winter Lake Road, Room 2420, Lakeland, FL 33803
Education
APR (Accreditation in Public Relations), Public Relations Society of America, 2008
M.S. in English, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2004
B.S. in Journalism, Radford University, 2001
About
As the director of marketing at Florida Poly, Laura Neff-Henderson, APR, is responsible for planning, development, and implementation of all university marketing strategies and marketing communications, both external and internal. She provides leadership in developing and coordinating the university’s public relations and marketing efforts to strengthen the brand and build community awareness and support for the university.
Before coming to Florida Poly, Neff-Henderson spent seven years at Virginia Tech where she is credited with building the university’s first internal communications program for the university’s 13,000 employees. In 2015, as the director of communications for the Division of Administrative Services at Virginia Tech she was tasked with building a communications program for 20+ departments in the division. In that role, she oversaw all communications and marketing for the division including air transportation, alternative transportation, business services, electric service, emergency management, environmental health and safety, equity and accessibility, facilities, fleet services, human resources, IT, mail services, parking and transportation, police, professional development, printing services, rescue squad, sustainability, university planning, and the vice president’s office and was a key member of the university’s crisis communications team.
During her time at Virginia Tech, Neff-Henderson also worked as an adjunct faculty member, teaching Media Writing in the Communications Department.
Prior to Virginia Tech, Neff-Henderson worked as the director of communications and public relations at North Cross School, in Roanoke, Virginia from 2006-10. She has also held public relations positions with The Blue Ridge Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Arlington Public Schools, and Petersburg Public Schools. Before beginning her public relations career in 2002, she worked as a newspaper reporter, designer, and copy editor for several years.
She has been actively involved with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) at the national and chapter levels since starting her public relations career. In 2011, after serving successive one-year terms as a director, secretary, treasurer, and vice-president of the Blue Ridge Chapter of PRSA, she was elected to serve as president of the 120+ member organization. Before relocating to Florida, she also served as the organization’s accreditation chair and outreach chair and was the professional advisor for the Virginia Tech chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America for several years. She has also held leadership positions with the Chesapeake Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (2003-06) and was a board member for the Girl Scouts Virginia Skyline Council from 2012-18.
Professional Activities
- Member, Public Relations Society of America, 2004-current
- Member, American Marketing Association, 2017-current