Deric A. Gilliard retired in 2022, after 25 years as a federal communications lead working for political appointees in the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations.
Prior to his work as public affairs advisor to the HHS regional directors for the eight southeastern states, Gilliard served as the national communications director for Dr. King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Gilliard also worked in communications for two HBCUs and wrote for USA Today, Time, the Wichita Eagle-Beacon, and was an editor for the Atlanta Daily World. Gilliard is currently working as a consultant to develop a National Park Service monument to honor and memorialize the contributions of the 1961 Freedom Riders.
Trailblazing Journalist, Civil Rights Luminary, and Dynamic Speaker
The “A” Team, the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services Region IV Office of the Secretary, meets President Obama at Miami Dade College during the fall of 2016. Public Affairs Specialist April Washington, Executive Officer Natalia Cales, Regional Director Dr. Pamela Roshell and PAS Deric Gilliard, had the honor after coordinating enrollment of nearly 24% of the nation’s new enrollees into the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). The eight southeastern states they served included the most black and brown people, the highest levels of uninsured and the most health disparities.
He is a career communications professional adept at strategic planning and the execution of communication strategies that promote organizational messaging and branding. Key policy issues within his portfolio include the Affordable Care Act, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, SUDS, Medicaid expansion, healthcare access, COVID, D.E.I., and the CARES Act.
A public speaker, activist and historian, Gilliard spoke to troops at seven bases in Germany shortly before Desert Storm and served as the first keynote speaker at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, AL.
The son of military parents, Gilliard also served as the principal non-Muslim promoter of the Million Man March, covered the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children cases and worked with SCLC President Lowery to raise the issues of economic justice, voter empowerment, redistricting, and the burning of the black churches.
Gilliard authored his master’s thesis on Joseph Echols Lowery and the Resurrection of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He is the author of Living in the Shadows of a Legend: Unsung Heroes and ‘Sheroes’ who Marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Earning his B.A. in Journalism at the University of Kansas and his M.A. in African-American Studies at Georgia State University, Gilliard is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and the National Association of Black Journalists.
