Leesburg, FL – Today, Brad Winnings, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder, announced the appointment of Craig Richardson as the new Executive Director of MadeInAmerica.org (MIA.org), a start-up non-profit organization. The group’s mission is to change consumer behavior about the need to buy American-made products, thereby increasing the number and quality of jobs and keeping more dollars in the United States. Richardson, a seasoned non-profit and policy professional with more than thirty-five years of management, communications, and fundraising experience, will serve as the first Executive Director of MIA.org.
“Don Buckner, the other co-founder of MIA.org, and I are passionate about the importance of educating consumers about the importance of keeping quality manufacturing jobs in the U.S., and we sought an individual who shared our vision and who also brought experience and expertise to the table,” Winnings said. “Craig Richardson fits the bill on all counts, a strong Patriot who has spent more than thirty years in the nation’s capital serving in various non-profit and communications roles.”
Previously, Richardson has served as President of the Energy & Environment Institute, the Executive Director of the American-Danish Business Council, a group he helped establish at the request of the Danish Embassy, The National Park and Recreation Foundation, and Leadership for America’s Future PAC (LEADPAC), a PAC founded by former Congressman Steve Largent. In addition, he has provided strategic communications and fundraising services to national political and policy clients.
He began his career in 1984, working for a U.S. Senate campaign in his native state of Massachusetts and then worked at a national campaign committee in Washington, D.C. for the 1986 Cycle. He returned to Boston in 1987 to work at a regional public relations and advertising agency. In 1990, he returned to Washington to serve as an Account Supervisor for a Weber Shandwick-owned national public relations firm.
In 1993, he started a research, communications, and fundraising business before co-founding Washington Strategies, where he worked for nearly ten years. During this period, his clients included national policy organizations, corporations, and political leaders such as former Majority Leader Tom DeLay and former Congressman Steve Largent.
In 1995, Richardson co-authored Red Tape in America, published by the Heritage Foundation. The book details excessive government regulation, its impact on the U.S. economy and its citizens.
In 2002, he sold his interest in Washington Strategies and joined DCI Associates, a national public affairs and grassroots firm, as Vice President. In November 2003, he founded Richardson Consulting, a business that provides strategic communications and non-profit management services, among other offerings.
“I am delighted to be joining such dedicated individuals to promote a critical cause at this time in our history,” said Richardson. “Americans are some of the most industrious and hardworking people in the world, and after experimenting with extensive outsourcing for nearly thirty years, recent events have made it clear that we need to keep more of our products and more of our quality jobs in the United States.”
MadeInAmerica.org (MIA.org) is a 501 (c) (3) organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Working with for-profit partners and with select coalition partners, trade associations, and advocacy groups, MIA.org plans to drive a 3-5% shift in consumer behavior in the next five years in part by asking people to take a pledge to keep their dollars here wherever possible. Stimulating demand for American-made products by educating U.S. consumers about the importance of buying American-made products will result in well-paying manufacturing jobs and dollars remaining in the U.S.
