Junior Achievement of Central Maryland Inc., a non-profit organization educating young people to succeed in a changing economy, named public relations strategist and former Baltimore Sun columnist Bill Atkinson to its board of directors.

Atkinson is a Partner at 212 Communications, a Baltimore-based public relations, crisis and strategic communications firm. Prior to joining 212 in June 2015, Atkinson was Senior Vice President at global public relations agency Weber Shandwick where he specialized in strategic and crisis communications as well as reputation management.

“Bill’s experience in public relations, marketing and strategic communications will be invaluable as Junior Achievement grows and offers more programs for students in the Baltimore region that focus on entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy,” said Jennifer Bodensiek, President and CEO of Junior Achievement of Central Maryland.

Prior to becoming a public relations practitioner in 2005, Atkinson was a business columnist and financial reporter at the Baltimore Sun where he wrote a twice-weekly column that tracked the personal dimensions of top executives of Maryland corporations.

He was also the newspaper’s economics correspondent and covered the banking industry, stock market, mutual funds, brokerage houses, investment banking and white collar crime. A series of stories on Allfirst Bank was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism.

Atkinson was an editor at American Banker newspaper in Washington, D.C., and a reporter covering federal regulators and regional and community banking issues. He also worked as a reporter for the Washington Business Journal and for American City Business Journals newspapers in San Jose, Calif., Columbus, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wis.

Atkinson holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Saint Norbert College in DePere, Wis., and attended Marquette University.

About Junior Achievement of Central Maryland

Junior Achievement of Central Maryland is dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. Through a dedicated volunteer network, JACMD provides in school and after-school programs for 43,000 K-12 students, which focus on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. For more information, visit www.jamaryland.org