“I worked with Randy Showstack for seven years at American Rivers, the nation’s principal river conservation organization. As American Rivers CEO, I was Randy’s direct supervisor for five of those years when he was Director of Communications.

“When Randy first arrived, American Rivers was a growing organization that had had only the most perfunctory public communications program. He dove right in and began to construct what turned out to be a national communications and media presence that became one of the most effective of any U.S. conservation organization. With his leadership we had regular TV network coverage, syndicated radio coverage, consistent coverage in major newspapers and wire services, other national print outlets and more. He supported feature stories, TV specials, urgent news updates, issue campaigns, and directly helped local organizations in joint efforts in their own media markets.

“As a journalist, Randy had critical insight into what aspects of our river-saving work would be of interest to reporters and the media. He was able to describe it in writing and verbally in ways that captured the essence of its significance to the public and our natural heritage. In addition to being highly intelligent and insightful in his efforts, he was and is a famously hard worker. He was fast, he was tirelessly active in outreach, he was a strong writer and he consistently followed up. Importantly, he approached other journalists with the aim of building lasting relationships with them when many other communications professionals were and are more transactional. This meant he got phone calls returned and his story “pitches” had much more willing audiences.

“Here are just a few of his successes:

“He made America’s annual 10 Most Endangered Rivers listing a national media saturation event. He wrote compelling stories about each listed river. He pitched the list directly to national outlets and organized the entire organization and local partner groups into a unified outreach team. He consistently secured coverage on all the major TV and Radio outlets, wire services and major newspapers. His relationship development approach with journalists meant that after a couple of years, they would call him to find out when the list would be published that year.

“Using his journalistic instincts, he saw how massive Mississippi River floods created an opportunity for the public to learn how dams and levees on rivers could make flooding worse. His communication efforts got the public and policy leaders to support new ways to manage flood waters and avoid development in flood-prone areas. The national profile he generated during the Great Flood of 1993 was a true phenomenon and led, among other things, to the repurposing of federal levee-building funds to actually relocate an entire town out of harm’s way.

“He made sure that American Rivers always had first-rate publications that were rich with narrative, visuals and supporting facts.

“I know that in his subsequent employment he has maintained the same insightful, energetic and hard-working approach to his work. I give Randy the strongest possible recommendation to anyone who is considering him for employment. In my many years working with thousands of professionals he rises to the very top. I am happy to discuss his qualifications.”