Nicole Hockley chose to transform unspeakable grief and anguish into action after her youngest son, Dylan, was murdered in his first-grade classroom during the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. As the co-founder and CEO of the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation (SHPF), Nicole works every day to protect children from violence. SHPF is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and empowering youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Under Nicole’s leadership, the research-driven Know the Signs violence prevention programs were created and are available to schools at no cost. More than 23 million have participated in these life-saving programs in 24,000+ schools and youth organizations nationwide. As a result, countless acts of violence have been averted — including at least 16 planned school attacks — saving precious lives and helping youth get much-needed mental health support.
Nicole is a leading voice on school safety and gun violence prevention. She is a sought-after keynote speaker and commenter. Her opinion editorials have been published by Newsweek, CNN, USA Today, and InStyle, and her commentary has been featured in CNN, MSNBC, Newsy, ABC, CBS, and NBC news coverage, among countless other media outlets. Driven by Nicole’s extensive background in strategic marketing, Sandy Hook Promise is rapidly becoming a household name. The award-winning and provocative PSA campaigns she helped co-create with BBDO New York have amassed hundreds of millions of views worldwide, including “Evan” which generated two billion impressions and 10 coveted Cannes Lions Awards, “Back-to-School Essentials,” and “Teenage Dream” which both earned prestigious Emmy Awards for Best Commercial in 2019, and 2021, respectively.
In 2024, Nicole was appointed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal School Safety Clearinghouse External Advisory Board as a Representative Member. Nicole received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Trinity College in 2023, for her humanitarian and philanthropic contributions to society and Doctor of Laws degree from Fairfield University in 2022. In December of 2022, Nicole joined as a member of John Hopkins University’s Implementation Working Group for the National ERPO Resource Center. In late 2023, Nicole became a member of the Violence Project Advisory Board. In 2016, she was recognized by People magazine as one of 25 Women Changing the World. But her favorite recognition is for being the best Mom she can to her surviving son, Jake.
Nicole’s solemn “promise” to honor her son and the other 25 lives taken on December 14, 2012 with action has never wavered. She continues to spread awareness that violence is preventable when you “know the signs.”