Education
MA, Auburn University
BA, Auburn University
About Me
A published writer for 30 years, Neal Reid serves as a senior editor in the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM) at Auburn University, his alma mater. A third-generation Auburn graduate, Reid teaches Newswriting and has spent more than 25 years working in the media relations and journalism fields.
As senior editor, Reid is tasked with national media strategy and pitching, writing and editing news and feature articles and collaborating with campus communications and marketing staff to promote the university, its students, faculty and staff. In addition, he covers university events, sets up media interviews and helps distribute press releases and advisories to state, regional and national media.
After graduating from Auburn, Reid worked as a media relations manager at the Ladies Professional Golf Association from 1998-2004. He went on to serve as editor of the ProRodeo Sports News magazine — the official publication for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association — from 2004-11, then ran a highly successful full-time freelance writing business from 2011-15.
Reid was chosen to work as an Olympic Information Service (OIS) sports reporter for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, spending nine weeks covering those global events with an elite team of journalists. He also worked for OIS as a sports reporter at the 2024 Paris Games, covering shooting, wrestling, boxing, canoe sprint, cycling and weightlifting.
Reid, an Opelika native, then served as media relations manager at Las Vegas Motor Speedway from 2015-20, working numerous NASCAR and NHRA events, before returning to the South. He has written for The Associated Press, USA Today, Newsday, ESPN.com, ESPNW.com, Colorado Springs Gazette, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Denver Post, Oakland Tribune and Colorado Springs Style magazine, among others.
Reid is a member of the East Alabama Chapter of the Public Relations Council of Alabama, serving as vice president of students as a member of the PRCA-EA Board. He and his wife, Carrie, live in north Montgomery.