PR Week features Bellisario College alumnus on '40 Under 40' list

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State alumnus Brendan McEvoy was named to PR Week’s 2025 "40 Under 40" list. He said that staying true to his principles while working for impactful, mission-focused companies has been key to his professional success.

McEvoy, a 2008 graduate from West Chester, Pennsylvania, had the glitz and glamor of Hollywood in mind when he was an advertising/public relations student in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. A formative internship with the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca changed his mind and his trajectory, he said.

“That experience really opened my eyes to the purpose-driven side of PR,” he said. “I had found work that genuinely aligns with my personal values — helping patients lead better lives.”

Today, McEvoy is the executive director of external communications at Amicus Therapeutics, a biotech company located in Princeton, New Jersey, a position he started in September 2025. Before joining Amicus, he held several leadership positions in communications, most recently at the company where he began his career as an intern, AstraZeneca, as head of corporate reputation and digital communications.

It was in that leadership position where he led the award-winning “What Science Can Do” campaign, which was designed to tell powerful stories about patient experiences with conditions like asthma, amyloidosis and cancer. In the series, moments and milestone are brought to life in a way that makes science accessible and relatable, he said.

“We wanted to make sure that when we did the storytelling, it didn’t look like typical pharmaceutical commercials. We wanted it to be different,” McEvoy said. “The campaign was all about creating human-first storytelling around the impact of science.”

The series generated 16 million views online, and its success was one of the main drivers of McEvoy’s inclusion on the "40 Under 40" list. For more than a decade, PR Week, a leading industry trade publication, has released the list of communicators to highlight “the next generation of leaders in public relations and communications.”

McEvoy said he was “pleased and excited to get the email” about being included.

“For me, being named to 40 Under 40 is more than an accolade, it’s a powerful affirmation from PR industry leaders that my work has made a difference," he said. "It’s also a challenge to raise the bar and create even greater impact in the years ahead."

In addition to his first internship, McEvoy recalled that Penn State and the practical lessons provided by the Bellisario College were instrumental in launching his career. He said he embraced the variety of perspectives from not only faculty members, but classmates too.

“Penn State opened my eyes to diversity, not only physical diversity, but diversity of thought, which came into play from an academic standpoint. I'd be in classes where people are bringing perspectives that are different than mine,” he said. “It obviously shows up socially, but it showed up in classroom interactions too.”

He credited two professors for encouraging him to see “how PR was showing up” in different real-world issues and events. McEvoy said associate emeritus professor Anne Major, then the PRSSA faculty adviser, advised students to look beyond the classroom.

“I remember we talked about the 1980s Tylenol crisis situation, which is obviously a textbook case,” he said. “Dr. Major encouraged us to look outside the academic lens, look out into the world and see the impact PR and communication were having.”

Interim Dean of the Bellisario College Denise Bortree had just started teaching when McEvoy was her student. She had worked in several communications roles before earning her doctorate, and McEvoy said her ability to translate corporate needs and issues to the classroom was particularly memorable.

“I think it's easy when you're sitting in a classroom to think, ‘OK, I have to learn this because I need it to graduate, but I'm never going to need to know this stuff,’” he said. “But I felt that there was a very intentional focus on taking what's in the textbook and bringing it to life through real world examples. That helped me understand the ways in which my major could be applied.”

Today, McEvoy said, he makes it a point to pass on that knowledge. He said mentorship and “giving back” have always been important parts of his career, including advocating for internships and maintaining a strong relationship with Penn State and the Bellisario College. His commitment to mentorship was referenced in his PR Week "40 Under 40" nomination.

“I love talking with students and with people early in their careers — actually any point in their careers,” he said. “Having had such great internship experiences, I’ve always been a big advocate for creating opportunities.”