Mike Truppa

Vice President

mtruppa@valeriedenney.com

Experience is knowing whether to hold a press conference or a prayer vigil ... and when to hold neither. Experience is knowing whom to call at a newspaper city room or TV assignment desk ... and when not to call. Experience is understanding who actually makes key decisions at major institutions and public agencies ... as opposed to whose names are listed on the letterhead.

Mike Truppa is experienced. Second in command at Valerie Denney Communications, he has been a newspaper reporter, an advocate for an environmental group, and a spokesman for a large government agency. He is circumspect in his approach, but not hesitant to press the advantage when it comes to fighting the good fight. Indeed, Mike’s métier is thinking through strategies and tactics that make for successful, sustained campaigns involving high-profile public issues.

At VDC, for instance, he has helped the Service Employees International Union(SEIU) keep the heat on “nonprofit” hospitals that enjoy huge public subsidies yet provide minimal charitable care to the uninsured. He was at the union’s strategic table, counseling when or whether to fill a bus with protesters or file an objection with the state board that regulates hospitals, when or whether to offer an olive branch or an ultimatum. Same goes for Mike’s ongoing work with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) the group spars with the big utilities, challenges rate increases, and promotes energy conservation.

Before coming to VDC, Mike directed a major re-branding at the Chicago Housing Authority as CHA moves from warehousing the minority poor in isolated high-rises to co-developing mixed-income communities within the city’s mainstream.

Earlier still, Mike helped the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) organize a campaign to stop the Illinois tollway authority from adding yet another beltway, and indirectly, yet another ring of unplanned suburban sprawl.

His BA from Notre Dame and MSJ from Northwestern got him started, Mike acknowledges. “But after a while, in this business, you need to develop an intuition about what’s going to work and what isn’t.”