Derrick Plummer

Derrick Plummer

Derrick Plummer of Atlanta Georgia, is married to Anita Wheeler. He is Vice President at Edelman , formerly inGreater Atlanta Area, Public Relations and Communications, now in Washington DC. He is originally from Maryland.

Education

Derrick Plummer holds a B.A. in Political Science from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and a Masters of Business Administration from Howard University.

Career

Derrick Plummer has more than 10 years of experience as a strategic communicator specializing in reputation and political communications, public affairs, stakeholder engagement and media relations.

Prior to joining Edelman, Plummer served as an assistant communications director for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union International (UFCW) providing strategic council on issues related to labor disputes in the retail sector. He has served as press secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the first term of the Obama Administration, where he and his team oversaw the agency’s press and media outreach, including the historic $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement agreement.

His political work includes serving on the Kerry/Edwards 2004 presidential campaign, as a regional press secretary and director of African American media affairs for the Democratic National Committee, and as communications director for Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI).

In high-pressure, fast-paced work environments, Derrick excels and has been lauded by his colleagues and supervisors for his strategic thinking, leadership style and ability to get projects and initiatives done efficiently and effectively.

Plummer has been CMO Advisory Board Member at Atlanta Area Council Boy Scouts of America, Assistant Communications Director atUFCW, Press Secretary at HUD.

Politics

In 2005, after working on Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign, Plummer came to Capitol Hill to intern for Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).

Soon thereafter he went to work for Sheila Jackson Lee, where he lasted five months. Then Moore’s office.

Making Change at Walmart

If Walmart really wants to improve its public image, says Derrick Plummer, a spokesman for the organization Making Change at Walmart, it could start with a simple step, one that’s admittedly more expensive than a few million bucks on an ad campaign: pay workers more. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union claims that the company’s workers make less than $9 an hour, on average—a number Lundberg won’t confirm—and that half of the company’s workers bring home less than $22,400 a year, putting them below the federal poverty line.