Adam Farina, Chief Communications Officer
Adam Farina is the Chief Communications Officer for Harvard Kennedy School, where he leads a team responsible for elevating the insights of HKS scholars and students, telling the stories that demonstrate HKS’ global impact, and advancing the school’s mission of improving public policy and developing tomorrow’s leaders.
Before coming to Harvard, Farina was appointed by President Biden as assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs—where he led communications, marketing, and government relations for the nation’s largest health system and second largest cabinet agency. At VA, Farina managed a team of hundreds of communicators nationwide and served as the principal communications advisor to then-VA Secretary Denis McDonough. During his tenure, he managed the largest marketing campaign in VA history, which led directly to millions of Veterans signing up for VA health care and benefits. Farina also led an effort to rebrand VA, focusing on telling Veteran stories and amplifying the tangible impact that VA has on their lives—a project that helped bring Veteran trust scores to a record high.
In his career, Farina has also served as the chief speechwriter for VA, advised Congressional candidates on media and messaging, written speeches for presidential campaigns, and worked as a speechwriter and lead communicator for Congressman Seth Moulton. Immediately before joining the VA in 2021, Adam led federal and executive communications for Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group. In these roles, Farina contributed to the advancement of federal policies such as the first federal gun safety bill to become law in nearly 30 years and creation of the National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Farina’s work has also been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Time Magazine, USA today, and other outlets nationwide.
Farina is a graduate of Babson College. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he now lives nearby with his wife Charlene, their young son Slater, and their dog, Jack.