Founder and CEO, TTG + Partners

Tia T. Gordon is an accomplished communications professional who is recognized as an innovative leader, particularly in the areas of media relations, crisis management, diversity and inclusion, and strategic development. She is the founder and CEO of TTG+Partners, a full-service communications firm offering niche services including media relations, branding and messaging, social media and interactive marketing, and strategic communications consultation with special emphasis on diversity in higher education.

Prior to forming her firm, Gordon worked as the managing director of communications and marketing at the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP). She managed the organization’s public profile to target key stakeholders in the higher education community. Gordon’s other responsibilities included managing the dissemination efforts of all research and policy-focused publications and products, serving as a company spokesperson, directing all media relations activities, and managing the organization’s multiple brands. While working closely with IHEP Founder and Lumina Foundation for Education President/CEO Jamie P. Merisotis, Gordon directed the highly acclaimed rebranding campaign for IHEP to help firmly position the organization as one of the world’s premier research and policy think tanks concerned with postsecondary education policy development.

Before joining IHEP, Gordon provided communications consultation for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in which she was responsible for identifying strategic communications to help maintain the company’s reputation specifically with minorities, low- and moderate-income, and first-time buying consumers. Some of her tasks included promoting an eight-city tour featuring national celebrities and political leaders to help educate African Americans about the benefits of homeownership. Additionally, Gordon utilized her savvy media relations skills to help the company garner greater attention about these efforts in national media outlets.

Gordon previously worked as the first and only senior publicist of education initiatives for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the premier media source for American educators, students and parents. She managed the public relations activities of television educational programs aired by PBS as well as supervised the organization’s national educational initiatives, which were led in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education. While at PBS, Gordon spearheaded the communications efforts for a groundbreaking educational summit held with the Department of Education to examine the influence of media—television, video games, computers and the Internet—on children’s abilities to process and retain information in their preschool and early elementary years.

Gordon also served as the director of communications and diversity initiatives for the American Hotel & Lodging Association. In that position, she acted as the national spokesperson for the largest trade group representing the U.S. lodging industry—a multibillion business sector. Gordon was responsible for the development, management, and implementation of all public relations activities for the association and its philanthropic arm, the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation. Many of her other responsibilities included coordinating and managing press conferences and media relations outreach for nearly 20 annual events, including the hotel industry’s largest conferences, the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show and the Americas Lodging Investment Summit. Gordon also created and directed the industry’s historic national diversity initiative in which corporate leaders and executives at some of the world’s major hotel companies volunteered their skills and knowledge to help ensure equal hiring practices and ownership opportunities of ethnic minorities and females.

Earlier in her career, Gordon helped to leverage the marketplace position of several nationally recognized companies such as Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs Worldwide, Inc. and On Wheels, Inc. (parent company of African Americans On Wheels, Asians On Wheels, and Latinos On Wheels, publications geared toward automobile enthusiasts). These organizations continue to reap the benefits from her significant contributions to their communications programs.

Gordon is deeply committed and connected to the public relations industry. She has been affiliated with several professional organizations, including the Public Relations Society of America in which she served as a board member and chairperson (travel and tourism and diversity committees) for its Washington, D.C. chapter.

Gordon has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Columbia Union College and a Master of Arts in Public Communications from the American University. She also participated in post-graduate communications work at The George Washington University.