Patrick Gibbons Joins Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory as Chief Communications Officer

Patrick Gibbons has joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., as chief communications officer. In that role, he will lead organization-wide communications efforts to help support and drive APL’s business goals. Gibbons will manage the Laboratory’s communications and branding strategy and oversee the Lab’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs, which manages employee communications, media relations and social media programs.

Gibbons has more than 30 years of progressively responsible experience leading internal, external, and corporate communications strategy for large, complex organizations. Before joining APL, he served as vice president for public relations and corporate communications at RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C., one of the world’s leading independent nonprofit research and development organizations.

From 2001 to 2004 he was communications director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality; before that, from 1989 to 2001, he held a number of senior communications positions as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, including director of media relations for Marine Corps headquarters at the Pentagon.

A Detroit-area native, Gibbons earned an M.A. in communication from the University of Oklahoma and a B.S. in public relations from the University of Florida.