Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications Names New Executive Director

The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, Inc. has named Susan Geier its new executive director.

Geier has nearly two decades of marketing and communications experience working in the nonprofit, legal, marketing, and public health sectors and has a background as a journalist.

She succeeds Laura Simoes, who served in the role since January 2020.

“We hate to see Laura go but Susan will do a fine job building on the work and the brand,” said school president Joe McQuaid. The school’s office and classroom space are situated at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a part of St. Anselm College. The NHIOP and the Loeb School formed a strategic partnership last year. 

“Mrs. Loeb’s vision for the school was to improve communications between and among the people of New Hampshire and to be a champion of and resource for the First Amendment,” McQuaid said. “I know she would be happy that a newspaper veteran is going to be involved.”

Nackey S. Loeb, the late president and publisher of the Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News, founded the non-partisan, nonprofit school in Manchester in 1999. Her goal was to promote and defend the First Amendment and foster interest, integrity and excellence in journalism and other forms of communication. Most of the school’s offerings are free of charge and are taught by media and business professionals from around the state. Students of all ages, including many representatives of New Hampshire nonprofit organizations, have taken classes.

“I cannot think of a more important time for the school’s work,” Geier said. “I am grateful to Laura Simoes and all that she has done to further the mission of the Nackey S. Loeb School. I look forward to continuing that work with our board, donors, instructors, and students.”

Geier is the former communication director for AgeSpan, a human services organization in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Additionally, she has worked for Shaheen & Gordon, PA, Citizens Count, Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, and in public health communications roles.

She is a freelance consultant and writer, and an award-winning journalist for the Granite State News Collaborative and other New Hampshire-based publications. Geier is on the Board of Directors for Dismas Home of New Hampshire and was previously on the Board of Directors for Leadership Seacoast (class of 2016), where she served as Chair, and the Yankee Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.