Michele Landa Riggio

Michele Landa Riggio is a senior adviser for PEN America. She is a brand strategy and integrated communications veteran with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and corporate sectors. Prior to joining PEN America, she spent four years as CEO of the brand strategy consultancy MLR Communications, advancing infant and legacy brands in the nonprofit, academia, start-up, technology, and healthcare spaces. Before that, Riggio spent 14 years at Girl Scouts of the USA leading the organization’s public relations and corporate communications efforts. During her tenure, she spearheaded the organization’s centennial and created the ToGetHerThere campaign to advance gender equity. Earlier, she worked in consumer lifestyles and travel practices for public relations and marketing agencies, Ketchum and Weber Shandwick, where she managed accounts for clients, including The Bahamas, Amtrak, Royal Caribbean, Frito-Lay, Gevalia, Medscape.com, Visa, and Philips Lighting. She is the founder of INSPIREflies, for which she collaborates with start-up and small business CEOs to spotlight and help advance female entrepreneurship. Riggio graduated with a BA from the State University of New York-Binghamton with a dual concentration in Literature/Rhetoric and Spanish. She completed art and culinary course work in Aix-en-Provence, France, and London, England.