Francis Diaz Kennedy

Highly strategic and detail oriented, Francis brings an ideal blend of big-picture insight and laser focus on deadlines, deliverables and budget to her work as deputy chief strategist at Marketing for Change.

Francis has overseen the design and implementation of dozens of fast-paced behavior change campaigns for nonprofit, foundation and government clients. She has helped the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Behavioral Health increase residents’ trust in and engagement with the 988 mental health helpline (leading to a 33% increase in contacts over the first year), helped Americares plan and implement a campaign to increase vaccine confidence among workers at free and charitable clinics across the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico, and worked with the American Academy of Pediatrics to attain community partner consensus around plain language messaging to encourage healthy childhood weight. 

An experienced qualitative researcher, Francis is adept at applying the Behavioral Determinants Framework to uncover actionable insights that power effective behavior change campaigns. She has developed campaigns that helped low-literacy mothers adopt new oral health behaviors for their young children; increased conversations between parents and teens about safe behaviors around railroad tracks; and helped the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services explore more effective ways to communicate poor health plan performance to Medicare enrollees. 

Francis is a trained ToP Facilitator and leads collaborative behavioral design workshops with clients and stakeholders. She holds a bachelor of science degree in Public Relations.