Jonathan Owens

I lead communications for SEANC, a 50,000-member statewide association, while building production web applications that solve member, legislative, and operational problems.

I design and deploy AI-built tools using Claude, including a counter-dashboard that reframed statewide coverage of job vacancies as a pay issue during budget negotiations. I also led SEANC's CMS migration from Craft to WordPress without vendor support and created member-facing platforms for advocacy, board governance, retiree engagement, events, and district meetings.

As SEANC's primary spokesperson, I manage statewide media relationships, rapid-response messaging, story placement, and crisis communications. I led communications through a $500,000 embezzlement investigation and host and produce the weekly SEANC View podcast, now with more than 105 episodes and 10,000 downloads.

Before SEANC, I ran daily newsroom operations at The Sanford Herald, writing news, columns, features, editorials, and sports while earning 34 individual NC Press Association awards. I bring journalism, editorial judgment, and practical AI fluency directly into communications work.