Azell Cavaan is an award-winning journalist who earned her master’s degree from the
Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago, one of the nation’s
premiere journalism schools. She is the published author of thousands of articles that have
appeared in newspapers and magazines both nationally and internationally.
Cavaan’s wide-ranging experience in the media industry includes having held staff writing
positions for The Springfield Republican, the Boston Herald, the Boston South End News,
the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and London’s Legalease publications. In 1996, she covered
Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. as a correspondent for The Waterloo Courier. Cavaan’s
extensive career also includes working as a journalism professor and media advisor at
Northeastern University in Boston.
During her more than 20-year tenure as a journalist, Cavaan interviewed such well-known
individuals as President Bill Clinton, Spike Lee, Maya Angelou and many others. Yet, she
remains most moved by interviews she has conducted with ordinary people overcoming
extraordinary circumstances, or in her words, “true everyday heroes.”
In 2007, former Mayor Charles V. Ryan solicited Cavaan to the newly created position of
Communications Director for the City of Springfield. Proudly, she continued to hold that
position under the administration of the City’s current mayor, the Honorable Domenic J.
Sarno.
Following her City Hall experience, Cavaan single-handedly created the Office of
Communications for Springfield Public Schools, an organization with more than 4,000
employees and an annual operating budget of more than $500 million. Currently, she is the
Chief Communications Officer for Springfield Public Schools
In 2007, Governor Deval L. Patrick appointed Cavaan to the Massachusetts Commission on
the Status of Women. She is a former board member of the Dunbar Community Center,
Willie Ross School for the Deaf and Early Childhood Centers of Greater Springfield. She
currently serves on the Boards of Pope Francis Preparatory Academy, The Urban League
of Greater Springfield and the Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition. She also holds
memberships with the National Association of Black Journalists, the Society of Professional
Journalists and the National Schools Public Relations Association.