Served Senior Communications Roles with Gov. Napolitano, University of Arizona

Communications executive Paul G. Allvin has returned to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America in the newly created position of vice president of marketing and communications. He will lead the Foundation’s national marketing, communications, advertising, issues management and branding initiatives.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation was recently rated in Harris Interactive’s annual EquiTrend® brand equity study among the top-10 nonprofit organizations in trust, brand equity and charities people are most likely to donate to in the future. David Williams, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America president and chief executive officer, said Allvin’s leadership skills and past experience with the Foundation will be invaluable to continuing its growth as a leading children’s charity.

“I believe our branding and communications efforts are going to become even more challenging and important as we become more of a global organization,” Williams said. “I also believe the opportunities presented to us will continue to increase. Paul’s addition to the communications team will accelerate the good work already being done and take us to a new level of prominence.”

From 1996-2002, Allvin had served as director of communications for the Make-A-Wish Foundation national office and communications manager for the Alaska, Montana, Northern Idaho and Washington chapter, based in Seattle.

He returns to the Foundation after five years at the University of Arizona as associate vice president of communications. Allvin led a variety of communications initiatives at the UA, including its prominent role in NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander Mission and conversion of the university’s news bureau into UANews, a blog-style digital news service offering readers original news and aggregated content about the UA from media outlets worldwide. The UA is the first major university in the nation to structure its communications function as a digital news aggregation service.

Allvin also spent two years (2002-04) as deputy director and director of communications for Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. He was the governor’s senior communications advisor and chief speechwriter, and directed a bilingual team that coordinated the major communications events of 38 state agencies.

About the Make-A-Wish Foundation: The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Founded in 1980 when a group of caring volunteers helped a young boy fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, the Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 65 chapters in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and nearly 25,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants a wish every 40 minutes and has granted more than 188,000 wishes in the United States since its inception. For more information about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit wish.org and discover how you can share the power of a wish^® .