Steve Soltis

Education: B.S., North Texas State University; M.A., Mary Washington College

Steve Soltis came to Darden in 2018 as a co-founder of the Darden Leadership Communication Council with Professor June West. He teaches a range of communication courses across the residential MBA, executive MBA and executive education areas.

In 2017, he founded MAS Strategic Communication, a company that provides executive and organizational communication services, including speech and editorial writing, speech coaching, executive visibility programming and internal and external communication strategy, planning and execution.

Under Soltis' leadership, MAS has grown its client base to include such iconic brands and institutions as Turner, McDonald's, Inspire Brands, Corteva Agriscience, YUM! Brands, MUFG Bank, Coca-Cola, Kimberly Clark, Regions Bank, Glaxo Smith Kline, The U.S. Army Judge Advocate's Corps, and UPS.

From 2006 to 2017, Soltis led CEO and executive communication at The Coca-Cola Company where he also grained additional responsibilities for leading employee communication. In those roles, he served as the lead executive communication strategist for Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent, and was responsible for his external speeches, town halls, videos, press briefings, correspondence and external and internal appearances. In addition, Soltis was responsible for orchestrating the company's C-suite executive visibility efforts and for formulating its employee communication strategies and execution.

Prior to joining Coca-Cola in 2006, Soltis led executive communication efforts for 10 years at UPS, the world's largest transportation company. In that role, he was instrumental in developing the company's executive visibility programming and supporting three successive CEOs. During that time, Soltis was also responsible for helping develop that company's B2B customer thought leadership conference, Longitudes.

Soltis' corporate career began in 1994 as an executive speechwriter for MCI in Atlanta. In addition, he was part of the founding editorial team at Washington Flyer Magazine, a joint venture with the Metropolitan Washington DC Airports Authority. Soltis was also part of the founding editorial team at the Austin Chronicle in the early 1980s, and later worked for The Global Network which published newsletters and reports for futurist and author John Naisbitt in Washington, D.C. He began his career in journalism working for the Plano (Texas) Daily Star Courier. 

Soltis graduated from North Texas State University in 1986 and received a Master's Degree from Mary Washington College in 1992. He is the author of two guidebooks, published by the Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch and The Boston Globe Company, respectively. In 2010, Soltis received PR News Corporate Speechwriter of the Year Award, and is the recipient of several public relations, marketing and executive communication honors, including a PRSA Silver Anvil Award for B2B Marketing. Soltis is also the founder of Mississippi State University New Narrative Conference and Festival and the Legends of Grayson Old Time Music Celebration in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.

Soltis and his wife Stacy split time between metro Atlanta, Charlottesville, and rural Grayson County, Virginia.