About Marianne Allison
Marianne Allison is the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) at Waggener Edstrom, responsible for key PR methodologies and processes — including its flagship Innovation CommunicationsSM framework. She is responsible for formalizing the agency’s intellectual property (IP) strategy and for promoting ideas and innovation through business, cultural and educational initiatives. In addition to exploring the nuances of communicating about innovation, she is an avid student of the nature of business innovation itself.

Marianne’s background is technology PR, she brings 25 years of professional PR experience to Waggener Edstrom. Prior to her current role, she led the agency’s Microsoft account for five years including corporate, product and consumer accounts.

Before joining Waggener Edstrom, Marianne worked in tech communications in Silicon Valley. She has been a guest lecturer at Stanford University, the University of Washington Business School and the University of California, Berkeley, and has spoken at numerous conferences and panels.

Marianne has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from Oberlin College and a master’s degree (minus the thesis) in mass communications and journalism from San Jose State University.

About Innovation Conversations
This blog is a conversation about innovation. Perhaps the world doesn’t need an innovation blog, so here’s how mine will be a bit different—because I want it to be especially about how it plays out in strategic communications and the stories innovators have to tell. On this blog, I’ll talk about why innovation matters, different types of innovation--with a bias toward social innovation—that is, innovation for social impact--why innovation makes for great storytelling, and HOW to tell innovation stories. I’ll reflect on how good communications can help drive innovation and bad communications can stymie or stall it. I’ll talk about both Waggener Edstrom’s own innovations and those of others, and how innovation is looked at differently around the world. I’ll talk about innovations we love, and where innovation is sorely NEEDED. And, I’ll talk about what issues you raise. Once in a while I’ll digress, just because I can.