Patrick R. Riccards is education communications and social marketing  With more than 15 years of strategic communications experience, Riccards has been at the heart of major education reform and national school improvement efforts for the past decade.  His work as a senior advisor to the National Reading Panel, his leadership in high school reform efforts, and his nationally recognized Eduflack blog have led many to name him one of the top education communications and advocacy strategists in the nation.

In 2009, PRWeek named Riccards one of its 40 Under 40, the first time in the honor's history that a communicator from the education sector was recognized.  PRWeek called him "an authority on education communications at all levels," acknowledging his work on NCLB, STEM, high school improvement, and reading instruction, in particular.

In late 2007, Riccards founded Exemplar Strategic Communications, a consulting company that partners with organizations to develop proven-effective strategic planning, public affairs, and advocacy communications solutions.  By informing audiences and driving them to action, Exemplar provides its partners with the results-based communications efforts needed to achieve their goals.

Riccards is also one of the leading voices for social media in education policy, authoring the blog Eduflack and managing its companion @Eduflack Twitter feeds, one of the leading education policy feeds on the medium.

Patrick has been recognized by PR News and PRWeek magazines as one of the top professionals in the field, and his integrated communications campaigns have been honored by the International Association of Business Communicators, Public Relations Society of America, and Philips Business Information, among others.  He is a contributing author of Why Kids Can't Read: Challenging the Status Quo in Education, published in 2006 by Rowman Littlefield Education.  A Virginia Press Association Award-winning columnist, his ghost-written work has appeared in more than 100 publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, and Education Week, among others.

He has led seminars and workshops on integrated communications, public engagement, and advocacy for a wide range of organizations, including ASCD, Delaware Governor's Cabinet, Heart of America Foundation, Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, International Reading Association, Knowledge Alliance, National Association of State Title I Directors, National Education Policy Center, National Governors Association, New Jersey School Boards Association, Pennsylvania Department of Education, U.S. Department of Education, and the Virginia P-16 Council.

Riccards is currently Vice Chairman of the Falls Church City (VA) School Board.