Crystal Canney of The Knight Canney Group joins UNE as Director of Communications and Marketing

After an extensive search, The University of New England has signed a contract with The Knight Canney Group to employ the services of Crystal Canney as the new Director of Communications and Marketing.

Canney is a national award winning broadcast journalist with more than two decades of media experience. She was recognized nationally by the Annie E. Casey Foundation for her work on poverty and children, accepted a National Headliner Award for reporting on poor housing conditions for the mentally ill and received an Emmy nomination for her efforts reporting on the Baxter School for the Deaf.

Prior to joining UNE, Canney served as Communications Director to Maine Governor and former Congressman John Baldacci, Associate Commissioner of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, and was recruited as a Communications Director to Senator Angus King whom she represented on an international level, including a fact-finding trip to refugee camps in the Middle East.

In 2009, Canney established Canney Communications, a public relations firm specializing in campaigns and elections, industry organizations and public-private partnerships. After she successfully established her company as a leader in grassroots and campaign strategy, Canney merged Canney Communications, LLC with Knight Vision International, LLC to form the Knight Canney Group in 2014.

Vice President of Communications and Marketing Anouar Majid says, “Crystal will bring tremendous media experience to help promote UNE regionally, nationally and internationally. I have no doubt that she will be an invaluable asset to UNE.”