Rhonda Peterson

Associate

Northwest Native, Writer, Team Player

Rhonda still follows a piece of wisdom she learned in Girl Scouts: Leave your campsite better than you found it. She has spent more than 25 years developing communications and programs that help change lives for the better.

After graduate school, Rhonda honed her analytical skills as a litigation paralegal for a large Chicago law firm. She combined this experience with her writing skill into editorial and communications director positions at the American Bar Association.

A strong interest in the environment led Rhonda to join the staff of Friends of the Chicago River as membership director, where she helped launch marketing and promotional strategies that drew in new members, donors and volunteers.

Rhonda has used her skills in writing and aptitude for complex, technical issues in a variety of roles, including Public Involvement Specialist at RUST Environment & Infrastructure for large environmental cleanup projects, where she also gained valuable experience in risk communication.

After 18 years away, Rhonda was drawn back to the Northwest’s beauty in 1994. She joined Cedar River Group as Communications Director for the Resource Center of the Hanford Health Information Network. She put her outreach and risk communication experience to work in managing communications on radiation science and health concerns reaching 40,000 households of people exposed to Hanford radiation.

Since 2000, Rhonda has worked on a broad variety of Cedar River Group projects, including early childhood education, poverty reduction, environmental education and transportation. Her work frequently involves communications and public involvement strategy, program planning, social marketing, small group facilitation, and writing for diverse media.

Rhonda earned a BA in English from Fairhaven College/Western Washington University, an MA in Comparative Literature from State University of New York at Binghamton, and a Certificate in Public Participation from the International Association for Public Participation. She lives on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill, and likes to spend time with books, music, Tai Chi, running and gatherings of friends.