B. Jay is the retired deputy managing director of the Washington, D.C., office of APCO Worldwide, a global public affairs and strategic communications consultancy. His blog “The Screaming Moderate,” delves into politics, language, retirement, and a host of related topics. Over and above the political roles mentioned below, he was also the Director of Communications for Yale University.
He and his wife Chris Black are the authors of “Mac Baldrige: The Cowboy in Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet.” Chris, also a Northeastern News alum, has had an outstanding career, not only as a print (Boston Globe) and broadcast journalist (CNN), but also as an author and ghost writer of many intriguing books.
In his own words, B. Jay says, “During my co-op interview at my hometown newspaper the executive editor was losing interest when came his last question: ‘I don’t suppose you can type, do ya?’ Thanks to a high school typing class I was able to say ‘Yes, I can!’ He looked up, smiled and said, ‘You’re hired.’ Turns out, interns take a lot of dictation over the phone, and typing was important.
“Turns out, too, that co-op job was the first step on a 10-year newspaper career leading to being asked to serve as a staff person on two political campaigns, leading to top jobs at the U.S. Department of Commerce, leading to working at the White House as deputy press secretary for two presidents, leading to the Republican National Committee as communications head for four chairmen. All of this incredible experience finally led to a leadership role with the second largest independently owned PR firm in the United States, headquartered in Washington, D.C.
“Thank you, Northeastern, and thank you my typing teacher.”
(B. Jay Cooper is a 1973 graduate of Northeastern University with a degree in Liberal Arts.)