Omoiye Kinney
Communications Director
DBHIDS

Omoiye Kinney is the Communications Director at the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS). Kinney is responsible for managing and overseeing all DBHIDS communications-related activities including: developing and executing strategic communication plans; advising the commissioner and executive-level staff regarding communications strategies; and ensuring communications activities are consistent, and reflect the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Prior to joining DBHIDS in 2019, Kinney was a long-tenured executive with the YMCA, serving as the Vice President of Marketing & Communications for YMCA of Greater Houston and the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, and as National Brand Strategist & Senior Marketing Director for YMCA of the USA at the national headquarters In Chicago. In these roles, Kinney provided strategic leadership in all areas of marketing, brand positioning, communications, social media strategies, public relations, and the development of innovative membership engagement strategies. She also served as an inspirational catalyst exerting influence throughout the organization, and was key to communications, evaluation, and implementation of strategic programs delivered to more than 2,700 local Y’s across the country.

Kinney has also held marketing communications positions in the private sector and nonprofit arena. She was the PR & Marketing Manager for Tasty Baking Company, and the Director of Public Relations for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. In this capacity, Kinney was the primary media spokesperson for the organization, and was involved in several national and international disaster relief communications efforts including the response to 9/11 and the American Red Cross Measles Eradication Project in Ghana in 2002.

A native Philadelphian, Kinney holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Temple University
and a master’s degree in human services from Springfield College in Springfield, Mass. Kinney is also an adjunct professor at Springfield College.