Will Jenkins

Will has more than fifteen years of communications and policy experience at the Obama White House, the Department of Health and Human Services, Congress, and international nonprofit organizations. As a person with a disability, he has dedicated many years to expanding health care and opportunity for everyone.

In the field of creative media, Will has trained or advised hundreds of media makers on politics and policymaking through the Sundance Institute, the South by Southwest Festival, the Tribeca Film Institute, Warner Bros., the Austin TV Festival, FRONTLINE, POV, MTV, and others. He was Policy Director for the Impact Film Festival at the 2012 Republican and Democratic National Conventions and also developed the American Film Institute’s first Political Bootcamp for Filmmakers in 2013. He helped create the Civic Leadership Stories Project in 2018.

During his time in government, Will worked on a wide range of issues, including criminal justice reform, mental health and addiction, immigration, the environment, healthcare, national security, and education. At the White House, he helped plan interviews and events with President Obama and senior officials and oversaw high profile projects and policy announcements. He created the White House Public Affairs Leadership Workshop, a five-month leadership development program for political appointees from federal agencies. As a legislative aide in Congress, he guided from introduction to enactment the first legislation to protect American military members from the health effects of toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also founded the Democratic Communicators Network, which for over a decade has organized training and mentoring for hundreds of political staffers in Congress and the Executive Branch.

While in the nonprofit sector, Will worked on restorative justice, conflict resolution, and community leadership initiatives. He developed and co-led an award-winning program that brought young leaders from around the world to towns and cities across the U.S. where they held workshops and forums with thousands of people about understanding and addressing injustice and conflict in their communities.

He has conceptualized and/or co-authored studies on media entertainment, democracy, and social issues including When Movies Go to Washington, Movies & Grassroots Community Engagement, Nonfiction Storytelling on Gun Violence, Can Hollywood Help Imagine a Future without Plastic, and Watching Out for Democracy. He has also co-authored peer-reviewed articles in The Public Sector Innovation Journal and Media, Culture & Society. He is a member of the New Leaders Council; a NEXUS Ambassador for Film, Media, and Story; and former board member of Working Films.