Michael Byrne applies his editorial skills in much the same way a clutch shooter plies his trade on the basketball court. He can score from inside or outside and, if the clock is running down, you want the ball in his hands.
Michael literally grew up in newspaper journalism, and has survived the paper cuts and the ink-stained products of his youth to emerge as a player in the digital age, crafting compelling messages for Tricom’s clients.
Michael was a working journalist even in high school, recruited by the editor of his hometown paper, the Henderson (Ky.) Gleaner, as a reporter and then as sports editor. Watching the industry evolve from linotype and handset headlines to offset paste-up to front-end systems and pagination, Michael never imagined that newspapers might be headed to the ashbin of history.
After 20 years as a writer and editor at newspapers in Kentucky, Florida and Virginia, Michael moved to Washington and turned to advocacy. Now, as senior vice president at Tricom, he serves as the primary writer and editor for labor and education projects, developing messages for white paper studies, speeches and op-ed articles for clients, as well as TV and radio scripts, newsletters and direct mail material.
Michael's passage from "hack" to "flack" came in 1989, when he was named editor of the AFL-CIO News. He later served as director of the labor federation’s publications before leaving in 1997 to become the executive vice president and director of public affairs for the Washington-based PR firm of Fingerhut, Powers & Associates (FP&A).
At FP&A, Michael directed the production of five union magazines while leading the editorial team in developing press releases, speeches, newspaper articles and radio, TV and print ads. He brings a creative flair to all writing projects and his steady editing hand keeps Tricom material on message, and consistently and concisely on target.
Michael, who joined Tricom in 2006, is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served as a Chinese and Vietnamese linguist during the Vietnam War. He has a B.A. in Independent Learning: The Analysis of Contemporary Events, and an M.A. in Journalism, both from Indiana University.
He is married to Terry Byrne, a copy editor at USA TODAY, and is the father of five children and the grandfather of three. He coached two daughters for eight years in a neighborhood basketball league, where he served as girls' commissioner for two years. He always preached defense and the importance of beating your opponents down the court. “Never let up.” Those are words he lives by in his professional career as well.
