Errol Cockfield

Senior Vice President of Communications
MSNBC
@errolcockfield

Errol Cockfield is senior vice president of communications at MSNBC, where he is responsible for setting the communications and media strategy and partnering with editorial and business leads at the network. He also serves as lead spokesperson.

A journalist by training, Errol draws from extensive experience in the areas of media, politics and communications consulting, having led the New York crisis management team for Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations agency. He also served as press secretary to two New York governors. Errol is also a media trainer, executive coach and has run crisis simulations for C-Suite teams.

Prior to MSNBC, Errol oversaw a mix of public affairs and crisis management engagements as a SVP in Edelman NY’s Corporate & Public Affairs division. He steered clients, including Fortune 500 companies, through a range of crises related to product and food recalls, special situations, labor relations and regulatory changes. His sector experience has crossed education, food, tech, cosmetics, the arts and non-profits.

Errol was press secretary to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his successor David Paterson during one of the most tumultuous political and fiscal crises in the state’s history. He was also chief of staff and communications director to the Democratic leader of the NY State Senate. He also helped lead communications for the state’s chief economic development agency.

Drawing from deep media and political contacts, Errol has overseen issue campaigns and built key alliances for top government officials. Errol spent a dozen years as a reporter for the LA Times, the Hartford Courant and Newsday where he was the Statehouse Bureau Chief. He is a graduate of Stony Brook University and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Ziedah, and their two children.