Joan E. Wainwright (AS ’82), a member of the Center for Political Communication Advisory Council since its founding in 2010, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from the University of Delaware in 1982 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Temple University. She has served on the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council since its inception in 2009.
Joan Wainwright and her husband, Jerome LeBlond (AS ’94), established the Theodore and Lillian Wainwright Scholarship in Political Communication to support undergraduate students with financial need who are minoring in political communication. The scholarship was first awarded in 2011.
She has been President of Channel and Customer Experience for TE Connectivity Ltd. (formerly Tyco Electronics) since January 2013. She joined TE Connectivity in June 2006 as Senior Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs and then as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications. In her current role, Joan leads a team of nearly 1,000 sales, customer care, pricing and marketing professionals who are focused on growing TE’s revenues, market share and relationships with approximately 300 distributors around the world. Today, revenues generated from distribution sales represent about 15 percent of total TE sales.
Before joining TE Connectivity, Joan served as Vice President of Public Affairs for Merck & Co. During the Clinton administration, she served as deputy commissioner of communications for the U.S. Social Security Administration. She has worked in the communications and public relations department at the University Health System of New Jersey, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Delaware, and Villanova University.
