Vice President Of Public Affairs (Hybrid)

Salary: $125,000.00-$140,000.00 
About Us:
Our team enjoys summer hours, competitive health benefits, professional development opportunities and additional perks throughout the year. Morreale is transitioning to a custom office in Rosemont, IL, Summer 2024. The office is within walking distance to shopping, dining and special events with free parking and transportation from the CTA Blue Line. While we will continue to offer a flexible work schedule, we are only considering candidates who are enthusiastic about being in the office to collaborate with their colleagues 2-3 days per week.
Morreale Communications is an award-winning woman-owned public relations firm with a specialty focus in the areas of Transportation, Infrastructure & Mobility, Health & Wellness, Energy & Utilities and Public Affairs. 

Position Overview: 
This is an amazing opportunity to join a leading woman-owned public relations firm in the newly created role of Vice President of Public Affairs. This person will lead a team of thinkers, strategists and creators to develop communications strategies that have a big picture perspective with a detailed and targeted approach to achieving measurable client success.   

The successful candidate has a deep understanding of the legislative and political landscape in Illinois (nationally is a bonus) in addition to local, regional, and national media and public policy. They have hands-on experience working in/with the Illinois State Legislature or Chicago City Council and must be plugged into current events and ongoing policy discissions at the state and local level.  

This person must be able to quickly assess a situation, taking into account current events, political cycles, policy trends, media landscape and other external factors to quickly assess a client problem or opportunity and translate that into clearly set goals and objectives to realize a favorable project outcome. This person is a thinker and a doer and loves the adrenaline rush of thinking on the fly and working closely with high level executives to offer strategic council in times of crisis, change and opportunity. Agency experience is preferred but not required.  

Job Responsibilities:  

People Experience 

• Partner with the CEO and executive team to drive the firm’s overall strategy forward, with a focus on developing a people strategy that ensures talent growth and building a high-performing, collaborative culture. 
• Serve as an ambassador for the firm’s core values which include accountability, diversity, excellence, integrity, and collaboration. 
• Hold regular meetings with staff to resolve challenges, present possible solutions, and provide ongoing training to ensure team consistently performs above standard. 

Client Services 

• Client facing leader who is a strong communicator, accessible, informed and deliberate in their council.  
• Must develop strategies that are grounded in clear goals and expectations with consistent tracking of measurable results and project outcomes.  
• Possess a strong understanding and deep experience in integrated communications including earned media, content development, creative and design, paid media, stakeholder engagement, social media, event planning and more. 
• Maintain and remain informed on local, regional and national news, public policy and industry buzz to inform strategy development and client counsel.  
• Lead project teams to develop, present or coordinate earned media campaigns, press conferences, spokesperson training, government affairs strategy, crisis communications and more. 
• Serve as trusted client advisor, providing strategic counsel to senior level executives. 
• Operate at a 30,000-ft level and then dive into the grittiest of details, to ensure Morreale is heading in the right direction and delivering a holistic, end-to-end solution for Client opportunities and challenges.  
• Bring forward-thinking ideas and solutions to elevate each project while ensuring best practices by establishing clear goals and objectives, meeting deliverables, and exceeding overall client expectations.  
• Build relationships with clients and colleagues at all levels, while managing multiple teams and programs.  
• Maintain relationships with media, government, and industry officials to promote client initiatives in the press. 
• Develop, manages and remain accountable for client and project budgets. 

Staff Planning and Integration  

• Provide resource management oversight in the areas of utilization, projections and forecasting to ensure project budgets are being managed and maximized and employees have a predictable workload that meets or exceeds individual target utilization. 
• Expertly lead, train, mentor, and manage teams and individuals across multiple projects. 
• Diligently manage the health of the Firm by meeting billability targets for themselves and their team. 
• Oversee resource projections for their team to ensure appropriate staffing levels to help achieve business and revenue goals. 

Business Growth 

• Drive client proposals, idea contribution, research, and proposal process; identify and support strategic partnerships in target areas for growth to win work and support business strategy goals.  
• Drive new business growth within targeted sectors and participate in new business strategies and planning with a focus on emerging industries and financial services.  
• Build capacity within our existing client network to drive account growth via cross-sell opportunities. 

Job Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree in communication, public relations, marketing, or related field 
• 10+ years professional experience in the areas of communications, media and/or government  
• Experience in people management, mentorship and development  
• Leadership experience with a history of providing successful strategic counsel to internal and client senior level executives 
• Expert knowledge of Illinois policy, legislative strategy and impact on diverse communities across the state  
• Deep understanding of media and the ability to leverage an active network within the Illinois media landscape as it applies to our client objectives 
• Ability to communicate highly technical materials in digestible terms for public consumption  
• Strong multi-tasking skills with the ability to track multiple tasks and projects simultaneously  
• Ability to lead multiple teams with dynamic, complex or multi-layered campaign deliverables  
• In-depth experience engaging stakeholders, building coalitions, and managing communications needs of government or nonprofit agencies 
• Must have reliable transportation and the ability to travel to the Morreale office or client events as needed 
• Must have the ability to work onsite in a hybrid setting, requiring 3 days per week, in office  

Benefits:  

• Competitive medical, dental, vision and life insurance benefits 
• 401k program with safe harbor contribution 
• Profit Sharing
• Paid Time Off 
• Paid Maternity Leave 
• Remote and flexible schedule options 

Commitment to Morreale Core Values   

View our Core Values video here!  

Our core values represent the beliefs, philosophies and principles that define who we are and how we do business. We are looking for a candidate who demonstrates commitment and character to upholding the Morreale Core Values in all they do.   

• Accountability: Own it and honor our commitment to others.   
• Diversity: Embrace diverse perspectives and foster a culture of inclusion.   
• Excellence: Think big. Be bold and make every action count.   
• Integrity: Be honest, respectful and trustworthy. Always do the right thing.   
• Collaboration: Stronger together. Elevate each other’s unique abilities to build on our collective strength.   

About Morreale Communications:  

Founded in 2006, Morreale Communications has grown to become a leading strategic communications agency working at the intersection of business, media, policy and people. Driven by the desire to empower our clients by elevating their voices during times of change, crisis and opportunity, Morreale offers an integrated suite of solutions. Core capabilities include strategic message development, stakeholder engagement, branding and creative strategy, digital & social communications, diversity & inclusion, policy strategy and media relations. Morreale is a certified WBE/WBENC agency bringing unrivaled experience from a wide range of backgrounds to provide deep insights and counsel to our clients.   

Morreale Communications is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  

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