Barbara O. Brown ’82

Barbara Brown sought a Jesuit college education, because she appreciated how the Jesuits “incorporated faith in everything they taught.”

She received her bachelor’s degree in communications from John Carroll and is grateful to her professors for showing her how to “practically apply” her education. As a student intern at the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, Ms. Brown witnessed the power of communications and the positive effect it could have on economic development. At the same time, the Chicago native fell in love with Cleveland, which she saw as a place where you could “make a contribution and see some of the contribution you make.”

To that end, and after several successful years in corporate communications, marketing, and advertising, Ms. Brown co-founded BrownFlynn Communications in 1996 with Margaret Flynn. BrownFlynn has evolved into an award-winning corporate responsibility and sustainability consulting and communications firm, focused on helping companies examine their impact on society. As chief client officer, Ms. Brown counsels and assists clients in tailoring their community involvement to their core competencies, ethical values and business objectives.

Similarly, Ms. Brown and Ms. Flynn emphasize community involvement at BrownFlynn and ask associates to be involved in their respective communities. Every five years, the firm undertakes a project to benefit an organization in need. The BrownFlynn Book Club, for instance, put 500 new curriculum-based books in the neediest schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Ms. Brown remains actively involved at John Carroll as past vice chair and current member of the Entrepreneurs Association, where she sponsors students for membership in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

For her commitment to making Northeast Ohio a better place to live and her enduring involvement at the University, the John Carroll Alumni Association is pleased to award Barbara O. Brown our 2008 Alumni Medal.