John Boit

John Boit has over 25 years of experience in the media as a daily newspaper journalist and foreign correspondent, as an international media development expert and as a strategic communications advisor. He has served as a trusted communications consultant to US government agencies, foreign countries, trade associations, special interest groups and nonprofits around the world. His work has taken him to more than 40 countries. As a Senior Founding Partner of the public relations firm Melwood Global, John has worked on an impressive list of communications projects. His portfolio has included working with the US Agency for International Development across dozens of countries through the US Global Development Lab; assisting governments with understanding US and foreign media relations; designing and launching national communications plans; and running communications for international NGOs when major crises have hit their staff overseas. He also volunteers his expertise to emerging musicians for social change through Music To Life, a nonprofit organization founded by Noel Paul Stookey of the Grammy-award winning trio “Peter, Paul & Mary.” A graduate of Harvard University, John started his career as a photographer on a horseback expedition through Mongolia and Siberia, where he circumnavigated Lake Baikal, the largest body of fresh water in the world. He later worked as a foreign correspondent and photographer from where his work was published in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The International Herald-Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Christian Science Monitor, among others. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.