Communications Director

Prior to joining NMSI, Rena Pederson was Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications for the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., serving as a senior speechwriter and communications manager. As part of those duties, Ms. Pederson also served on the editorial board of the Counter Terrorism Communications Center at the Department of State, organized an international media conference on attacks on the press, prepared Congressional testimony for Under Secretary Karen Hughes, and helped create the America Is book for distribution overseas.

She previously served as Vice President and Editorial Page Editor at The Dallas Morning News, supervising the staff and content of the opinion pages for 16 years.

Prior to joining The News, she was a reporter with United Press International (1970-72) and the Associated Press (1972). She also worked in the Washington bureau of the Houston Chronicle (1973).

Ms. Pederson graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of science in journalism in 1969. She also received a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York in 1970.

Ms. Pederson served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board for nine years was co-chair in 2003-2004. She is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and is a past president of the National Conference of Editorial Writers. She also is a member of the board of UT Press, the book publishing division of the University of Texas at Austin.

In 1992, she was among the finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing. Some of the other honors received by Ms. Pederson include the Texas State Teachers “School Bell Award,” Dallas Press Club Katie Award for feature writing and editorial writing, the Austin Headliners “Star Reporter of the Year” Award and editorial writing award, the UPI Editors award for editorial writing and the APME award for editorial writing.

In Dallas, she is a founding member of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations and has served on the board of The Crow Collection of Asian Art, the Dallas Museum of Natural History, SMU’s Tate Lecture Series, the Hart Global Leaders Forum, the Maguire Ethics Center and the Tower Center for Political Studies. She is a member of the Dallas Assembly, the Dallas Junior League and Highland Park United Methodist Church.

In 1987, Texas Monthly named Ms. Pederson as one of the most powerful women in Texas. She was recognized as one of the “pioneers for women” in Dallas in 1997 by the Women’s Issues Network. She was also honored at the 1998 “Mother of the Year” luncheon, which benefits Dallas Can Academy. In 2008, the YWCA of Dallas honored her with the “Centennial Award” as one of 100 women who had made difference in the history of Dallas in the past 100 years.