Robert Vanasse

Founder

Bob Vanasse is the founder of Stove Boat Communications.  He is a recognized innovator in political content with experience in television, internet, radio, and print who twice obtained Capitol Hill and White House accreditation for emerging news organizations.

He oversaw Stove Boat’s creation of Saving Seafood, and its development into the nation’s leading daily information source for domestic seafood harvesters and processors.  Bob has also overseen the development of industry coalitions and numerous media campaigns producing successful results including policy changes at the highest levels of the United States government including the White House and Cabinet, as well as at the state and local levels.

Prior to creating Stove Boat Communications, Bob oversaw the development of a multilingual digital communications strategy in English, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and Russian for CENTCOM, the Unified Combatant Command of the U.S. Department of Defense with responsibility for the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia including Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bob led the original online component of a national unity campaign created by the Deputy Prime Minister (currently Prime Minister) of a major southeast Asian nation calling for the cabinet, government agencies, and civil servants to more strongly emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance.

At the personal request of the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he oversaw the creation of an educational web site on the arts and culture of Pakistan as part of a cultural diplomacy initiative launched by First Lady Laura Bush.

Based on previous success in election return reporting, he was hired by the White House to build an online system that delivered up-to-the-minute election information and results to the President and Vice President of the United States, cabinet members and top advisors on Election Night 2004.

He produced and hosted “Cooking for Julia”; an award-winning WETA “Viewer Favorite” documentary that tells the behind the scenes story of a dinner honoring Julia Child on her 90th birthday and in celebration of her kitchen opening as a Smithsonian exhibit.

As Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Voter.com, he created the organization’s news division. Within six months of the site’s launch, Voter.com was ranked America’s best political information web site by Forbes and Business Week, and “among the best” by the Wall Street Journal.

As Manager of Political and Interactive Content, Bob created the news opinion areas of AOL attracting over a million visitors per month. He served as Capitol Hill correspondent during the Clinton impeachment crisis, negotiating access enabling AOL’s scoop as the first organization to post the Starr Report.  He was commended by the British Embassy for AOL’s coverage of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and developed an automated system that delivered 150,000 condolence messages to Buckingham Palace. He negotiated access to, and produced the first-ever internet coverage of the State of the Union, including a live event with the Speaker of the House.

During the early days of the internet, he contributed significantly to the implementation of online technologies in Congress and developed the plan for the House Republican Conference website, later selected “Best Leadership Web site” by The Washington Post.

In partnership with Sun Microsystems and Real Networks, he co-produced the first online broadcast of a live music event. Webcast from the legendary Don Hill’s nightclub in Greenwich Village, it was hosted by Deborah Harry of “Blondie.”

In the early 1990s, Bob served as industry spokesperson for 70 northeastern U.S. firms employing 32,000 people with a $600 million payroll. He promoted industry products in Europe, Canada and Mexico including a 1992 New England Christmas promotion at Harrods in London.

Bob began his career as a research associate with the management consulting firm of Temple, Barker and Sloane. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, and studied political theory and international affairs at Georgetown University and as a graduate exchange student at Brasenose and Templeton Colleges, Oxford.