Stephen Dishart

Steve Dishart is the Executive Director of Blue Ocean Institute and the President of Dishart Communication and Crisis Management Consultants in New York.

Blue Ocean Institute uniquely works through science, art, and literature to inspire solutions and a deeper connection with nature. The organization shares reliable information that enlightens personal choices, instills hope, and helps restore living abundance in the ocean. Blue Ocean, founded by MacArthur fellow Dr. Carl Safina, is an independent 501-c-3 not-forprofit organization, and is affiliated with Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Dishart CCMC directs and executes strategic communications initiatives and offers expert media and crisis communications consulting to its clients. Dishart previously was a managing director of Communications and Human Resources for Zurich-based Swiss Re, a leading and diversified reinsurer with offices in more than 25 countries. Based in New York City, Dishart was head of Corporate Communications for Swiss Re Group in the Americas, Swiss Re’s largest market.

During his 10 years in the insurance industry, Dishart held leadership positions with several organizations, including the Insurance Information Institute where he served as Chairman of the Communications Committee. Dishart also managed Swiss Re’s relationship with The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Before joining Swiss Re in 2000, Dishart was director of Corporate Communications for Pittsburgh-based Mellon Bank, now BNY Mellon. He led communications globally and was responsible for the firm’s award-winning annual reports.

Dishart began his career as a broadcast journalist, serving as a news director, legislative reporter and public affairs program host for radio stations in Florida and West Virginia. He won a number of broadcast journalism awards for news reporting and was involved in network reporting of national news.

An accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, Dishart is a trustee of the Institute for Public Relations and is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society. Dishart serves as President of the Board of Trustees of ArtsWestchester, where he led a rebranding of the organization, and serves on the board of Green Chimneys Children’s Services. He is also active in other community, industry and volunteer organizations, including Bridges to Community, which builds homes in the poorest regions of Nicaragua.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dishart is a graduate of the International Executive Programme at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. He holds a master’s degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s from West Virginia University. He also earned certificates through additional studies with Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Dishart resides in Somers, NY with his wife Susan, an executive with Guiding Eyes for the Blind. His is the father of three grown children.

“The day you stop learning is the day you become obsolete.”
- U.E. Dishart