Wendy Frigeria, Strategic Communication Manager on Long Island,National Grid,

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Wendy Frigeria, Strategic Communication Manager on Long Island,National Grid,

Wendy Frigeria is the Strategic Communication Manager on Long Island at National Grid, one of the world’s largest providers of energy. She is responsible for day-to-day and long-term communications strategy.

Her primary role is providing up-to-the-minute information to the media about Long Island’s power supply, natural gas infrastructure, energy industry transition and numerous other energy issues. This includes enhancing and maintaining positive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and influencers.

Her other media responsibilities include presenting the company’s long-range plans for serving the energy needs of the Long Island region. Frigeria is the prime contact at the company during weather emergencies, power outages, and damage resulting from storms.

She is National Grid’s ‘go-to’ person for arranging interviews with the media and top executives and senior leadership. She is familiar with a wide range of energy industry topics and is able to explain the complexities of the industry to the media and the public.

During Superstorm Sandy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo designated National Grid as the lead company for all external communications regarding the storm.

Frigeria was immediately appointed to take the lead on media response, overseeing other media department employees, handling media inquiries and scheduling press conferences as needed. She worked around the clock performing crisis communications during the biggest weather emergency ever to hit Long Island.

Frigeria received the 40 Under 40 Award from Long Island Business News. She also received the Sapphire Award of Excellence in 2013 from National Grid.

Frigeria was an Associate Professor of Journalism at Farmingdale State College for 15 years. She was instrumental in starting the Journalism program at the four-year college with a curriculum she devised.

Early in her teaching career, she helped start a student newspaper at the college, which she supervised and edited. The paper had been defunct before Frigeria took over.

Frigeria received a Teaching Excellence Award from the college in both 2011 and 2017.

Before she joined National Grid, Frigeria worked as a Public Information Officer for the Suffolk County Health Department, the ninth-largest health department in the United States, providing doctors, directors, and other officials with the best methods for keeping the public informed during health emergencies.

She handled writing press material and creating a model for communications departments in other Suffolk County agencies.

Frigeria earned her Master of Science Degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She graduated from Hofstra University, double majoring in journalism and history.

Frigeria is proud to serve on the Guide Dog Foundation’s American VetDogs Board, which provides service dogs to enhance the independence and mobility of veterans. She serves on the Women’s Collaborative, a women’s business leadership group and is on the Steering Committee, hosting the Leading with Edge conference that over 500 women business leaders attend annually.

She also serves on the United Way’s Communications Board, which assists Long Islanders with health, education, and financial stability. She is a proud mother of twin toddlers and enjoys skiing and surfing.

One of the biggest challenges she has faced in the male-dominated energy industry is often being the only woman in the room at meetings and making sure her voice is heard. The utility industry tends to be male-dominated due to its strong engineering requirements.

As a result, the majority of meetings and interactions include mostly males. It can be a challenge to have her input accepted and heard.

Since her role is a non-technical one, it has proven to be a challenge for her contributions to be valued. She has worked hard and has been successful at proving herself as a trusted advisor.

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