Jennifer Schleman, MPS, APR

Senior Vice President, Communications & Governance  |  jschleman@nhcouncil.org

Jennifer Schleman’s path to the National Health Council began in Dayton, OH, where she saw firsthand what it means to watch loved one’s struggle with chronic health conditions. Several of Schleman’s close family members developed complications ranging from blood clots to diabetes.

It was these experiences in her youth that poised Schleman to grow into a passionate advocate for patients across countless communities that have and continue to be marginalized by the health care system.

Schleman joined the NHC in December 2016 and is the Senior Vice President, Communications & Governance. She oversees all the NHC’s marketing, communications, and public relations activities while also serving as the steward of the organization’s brand. She also leads the NHC’s governance activities by providing strategic direction and counsel to the CEO in the management and execution of the NHC’s governance requirements.

Prior to joining the NHC, Schleman was the Senior Associate Director of Media Relations for the American Hospital Association, where she focused on quality of care and physician issues. Schleman has also worked in a variety of communication roles for the International Food Information Council and for public relations firms based in Washington, DC and Cincinnati.

Through these formative experiences, Schleman has complied more than 25 years of professional experience and leadership skills. Schleman also prides herself on continually developing and improving communications approaches to advance the NHC’s mission, program strategies, and values.

For Schleman, one of the key elements in that mission is to shine a light on the reality of inequities that continue to persist for millions of Americans who struggle to maintain consistent and comprehensive health care coverage.

While some of those issues were exposed on a larger scale by the COVID-19 pandemic, Schleman continues to look at ways of confronting the many unjust coverage gaps that still exist in the system.

This has also been the driving motivation behind several of Schleman’s proudest accomplishments with the NHC, namely her role in helping to defend and enhance the Affordable Care Act from being repealed on several occasions.

Schleman earned a master’s in strategic public relations from The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and is a cum laude graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She earned her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in 2007. Schleman has volunteered for PRSA on the national and local levels and is a past board member of PRSA’s National Capital Chapter in Washington, DC.