Chrissie
McHenry

Chrissie McHenry is a managing principal in Raben's Strategic Communications practice, joining the firm after holding senior positions at corporate, nonprofit, and media organizations. She brings a journalist’s eye to her work, coupled with robust experience supporting the communications efforts of hundreds of community development organizations.

Chrissie was previously the senior vice president of public relations at NeighborWorks America, a national housing and community development organization chartered by Congress that leads a network of almost 250 independent, local nonprofits nationwide. Chrissie provided strategic communications counsel to the NeighborWorks CEO and to colleagues in four regional offices. She also provided high-level communications support to the leadership of network organizations around crisis communications and reputation management, nonprofit governance, and overall visibility, including politically sensitive stakeholder and funder messaging and outreach.

Prior to joining NeighborWorks, Chrissie was director of communications, community, and corporate responsibility for Fannie Mae, working extensively in crisis communications, reputational risk, community relations, and managing diversity communications for the company. Throughout the foreclosure crisis of the late 2000s, Chrissie worked to help homeowners facing foreclosure and the communities where they lived weather the financial storm of the Great Recession.

For much of her career, Chrissie was a broadcast journalist covering politics for several leading news organizations, including as the senior producer of Washington Week with Gwen Ifill on PBS and in various roles with CBS News, ABC News Nightline, and PBS’s NewsHour.

Chrissie sits on the boards of Fairwinds — Nantucket's Behavioral Health Center, the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club, and the Global Electronics Council. She splits her time between Washington, D.C., and New England. In her spare time, Chrissie enjoys needlepoint and plans to eventually walk the Appalachian Trail (despite the skepticism of her three children). She holds a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in Political Science and French.