Joseph Donzelli, APR, APIO
Director of Public Relations
joe.donzelli@langd.org
407-287-8917

Joe Donzelli, APR, APIO is the Director, Public Relations for the Lake Apopka Natural Gas District.

In this role, he is responsible for organizing, managing and directing the activities, program functions, and workforce of the public relations department. This includes overseeing, planning and coordinating all public facing communications and engagement events as well as leading the District’s media relations program and coordinating media outreach, crafting news releases and helping cultivate earned-media opportunities. He is also responsible for crisis communication planning and execution, including message development, rapid response and serving as the District’s Public Information Officer (PIO) when applicable.

 Donzelli brings more than 30 years of experience in the communications field to the District. Prior to this role, he was the Public Information Officer for the Town of Pembroke Park where he oversaw the daily communication efforts for both the Town and its Police Department. He was also the Senior Director, Communications for Broward College – where he is also an alumnus. Other past communication roles include:

•  Associate Director and Senior Writer, Public Relations at Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU), where he worked directly with faculty and researchers to publicize their achievements. He was also the main crisis communications / public information officer for the university. 
• Director of Communications and Printing Services for the School District of Lee County, Florida (Fort Myers,) which is the ninth-largest public school system in the state and 40th largest in America.
• Communications Specialist with the School District of Broward County, Florida (Fort Lauderdale) where he co-led the internal and external communication efforts for the nation’s sixth-largest public school system.
• An assistant reporter for the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper, where he covered K-12 education and freelanced for the Sports Department whenever he could.

Donzelli has extensive experience serving as the main spokesperson for media interaction, including crisis communication. He has received numerous certifications in the area of crisis and emergency communications, preparedness, information management, resource management and incident command from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He earned the FEMA basic and advanced Public Information Officer certification as well as earning his Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the Accreditation in Public Information Officer (APIO) from the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

Donzelli earned his associate degree in communications from Broward (Community) College and his bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida Atlantic University (where he wrote for FAU’s student newspaper). He is also a proud graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.