Senior Policy Fellow
Geoffrey Baum‘s career spans education, journalism and public service.
Together with Geoffrey Cowan, he helped launch the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy in 2007. He now serves as Executive Director for Michelson Philanthropies, which includes the Michelson Medical Research Foundation, Michelson 20MM Foundation, Michelson Found Animals Foundation, and the Michelson Center for Public Policy. From 2017 to 2020, he served as Director of Media Relations for the Milken Institute.
A former C-SPAN executive producer, he has also worked for Public Radio’s Marketplace and ABC News. He served as Assistant Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism from 2001-08 and as Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Public Relations at Claremont McKenna College. He took on an additional assignment in 2012 to serve as interim assistant vice president for marketing and public relations at USC’s Keck School of Medicine and Keck Medical Center.
From 2010 to 2017, Baum also served as director of communications and public affairs for The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands.
As an advocate for public higher education, he served for twelve years on the California Community Colleges board of governors, including two terms as president, where he has twice been appointed by the Governor of California and unanimously confirmed by the California State Senate. He served as a governing board member of Pasadena City College from 2001 to 2013, including two terms as president. He is a former board member and president of the Pasadena Community Access Corporation, the city-chartered agency that manages the city’s public access cable television station.
He holds an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from USC and a B.A. in Economics and Literature from Claremont McKenna College. He lives in Pasadena with his wife, Lisa, and daughter, Amy.
Contact Baum at commlead@usc.edu.