Bruce S. Trachtenberg,
who has more than 30 years experience in journalism,
business and foundation communications, and nonprofit
management, was named executive director of the Communications
Network in May 2006. During his career, he has worked as
a
general assignment and sports reporter; held
communications positions in the banking, forest
products, and technology industries; served in senior
management at two national grantmaking foundations; and
helped launch an online magazine.
Between 2000 and 2006, Trachtenberg had been associated
with the
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation,
most recently as a communications consultant, and for
five years before that as director of communications.
Trachtenberg played a key role in helping build
awareness of the foundation’s transition from a
grantmaker that worked across several program areas to
one that worked exclusively to help promising youth
organizations grow stronger and larger so they could
help young people living in low-income communities make
a successful transition to adulthood.
In 2000, Trachtenberg served as a senior producer for
Worth.com, a startup venture between Worth Interactive
and Worth magazine. Trachtenberg created and oversaw the
online publication’s philanthropy channel, which
provided news, articles and feature stories designed to
help wealthy individuals learn how to give their money
and time effectively to worthy causes.
Trachtenberg came to Worth.com from the then DeWitt
Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund and Lila Wallace-Reader’s
Digest Fund (now the Wallace Foundation), where he had
served since 1992 as their first director of
communications. Trachtenberg joined the foundations
during the period they grew from small, family
foundations to leading national grantmakers that focused
on youth, education, arts and culture.
From 1982 to 1992, Trachtenberg had been with the
Reader’s Digest Association, and while there held a
variety of communications posts for the publishing and
direct mail marketing company. In his last position as
Public Relations Director, Trachtenberg served on teams
that took the company public after nearly 75 years of
operations as a private enterprise and that launched
local language editions of Reader’s Digest magazine in
Russia and Hungary.
In earlier years, Trachtenberg was on the communications
staff for IBM, and before that worked for Louisiana
Pacific and First National Bank of Oregon.
He began his career as a general assignment and sports
reporter for The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon. He holds
a bachelor’s degree in history from Portland State
University.
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