Meet your communication experts
Our Team
PRESIDENT, CEO
Darci E. McConnell
Darci E. McConnell, president and CEO of McConnell Communications, Inc., has 34 years of experience in communications strategy, crisis management, media relations, relationship building, marketing, advertising and political consulting. McConnell spent 14 years as a reporter for newspaper outlets across the state as well as in Washington, DC. In 2022, she served as the communications director for the Reproductive Freedom for All’s successful Proposal 3 campaign. In addition, McConnell has led more than two dozen successful political campaigns at the local, county, state, and national level. She has served as an adjunct journalism professor at Wayne State University and as past president of the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. Her executive education includes completion of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, a New Media Boot Camp offered by the National Organizing Institute for community organizers and Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Small Businesses - Detroit. Her personal passion is mentoring and making a difference in the lives of young people.
COPY EDITOR, MEDIA TRAINER
Alex Cruden
Alex Cruden does editing, proofing, media training and copywriting for McConnell Communications. A Detroit Free Press journalist and manager for more than 35 years, Cruden has led more than 170 seminars and training sessions for editors, writers, and managers across the country. Currently he is an adjunct instructor in journalism for Wayne State University, a contract editor for the University of Michigan and a freelance editor of nonfiction and fiction books. Cruden is also a charter member of the American Copy Editors Society.