Andy Burness, MBA, is founder and president of Burness, a mission-driven global communications firm supporting nonprofits and the people they serve. The company has partnered with more than 600 nonprofit and governmental organizations over its 30 years. Mr. Burness and his colleagues showcase solutions to the problems that cause poverty, hunger, disease, and environmental degradation, often taking little-known ideas that can benefit humanity and developing strategies and tactics for taking these ideas to scale. His company has been named four times by Washington-area media as one of the best places to work in the region.
Mr. Burness is an Instructor on the faculty of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, teaching “Practical Strategies and Tactics for Influencing a Healthier World.” Since 2017, he has also taught a similar course as an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.
In 2014, Mr. Burness was selected as a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Resident Fellow, joining 15 other policymakers, nonprofit leaders, artists, and public advocates from around the world. He is currently an appointed member of the International Race and Health Experts Group, convened by the British National Health Service, to highlight solutions to entrenched racism in health systems the world over.