IRENE ETZKORN

Chief Clarity Officer

Irene is the intern who just wouldn’t leave.

While studying at Carnegie-Mellon University for her MA in professional writing, she attended a lecture by Alan Siegel. Awestruck by the reality that a visionary had created a company to simplify complicated information, she immediately applied for a summer internship that has lasted for 35 years.

Irene’s official job title is Chief Clarity Officer. She is one of the nation's leading experts on writing in plain language and simplifying customer experiences. No surprise that she loves to read, write and speak—so we have her authoring books and delivering speeches, when she isn’t overseeing major Clarity of Experience assignments for our clients.

She views it as fate that her college employment was as a tax examiner for the IRS, where she had dreamed of clarifying tax forms and instructions. Little did she know she would go on to simplify communications for the IRS, the SEC, and all sorts of other acronym orgs.

Irene developed the first investor-oriented account statement on Wall Street and the first simplified hospital bill. She has led simplification assignments of massive scale for health care, telecommunications, insurance and utilities. If you want to absorb some of the wisdom of this 35-year intern, that’s simple: follow her on Twitter at @Irene_Etzkorn.

Irene’s hidden talent:

Irene has worked directly with Alan Siegel longer than any other person on Earth.

And lived to talk about it.