Executive & External Communications Strategist

The Role We are looking for an Executive and External Communications Strategist to join our Corporate Communications team in Rockville, Maryland. You will be responsible for raising the visibility and positive awareness of the Choice umbrella brand and our strategic initiatives, will act as the key liaison and senior communications advisor to our executive team, including our CEO and our President and COO. In this role, you will set, champion and drive the strategy and develop and execute measurable campaigns. In addition to the high level communications work you will lead, you will also play a central role in Investor Relations and Crisis and Issues Management.   You will be a leader in our business with an expectation to be able to diplomatically manage key internal stakeholders, work with an established communications team and outside agencies. This is an opportunity for someone who is very comfortable giving feedback, perspective and opinions to very senior executives and guiding communications strategy – someone looking to take on a true leadership role, while also being comfortable rolling up her/his sleeves in the work.   The Team The Communications team at Choice Hotels is creative and cutting-edge. We draw from our company’s heritage as the nation’s first hotel chain – tracing our roots back to 1939.  From a small chain of roadside hotels to one of the world's largest hotel franchisors, today our company is built on a proud history of industry firsts and innovations. This legacy of innovation carries over to our approach to corporate communications – which is fully integrated and 360 - and is part of the reason the practice is so highly regarded and respected at our company. Our work goes beyond traditional PR and we collaborate internally to incorporate digital, social, brand and marketing into a truly integrated function. We’re looking for a smart, creative, motivated and thoughtful leader to join us.   What you will do… ·         Demonstrate leadership in providing smart, strategic counsel to executive leadership ·         Oversee a wide range of proactive and reactive media outreach strategy, planning and execution, leading staff and outside agencies and working with internal stakeholders ·         Develop and manage the execution of 360  (earned, paid, owned and shared) campaigns for executive team ·         Provide executive-level writing (speeches, white papers, bylines/op-eds) for the CEO, our President and COO, and other senior executives ·         Showcase a command of both digital and traditional communication practices and strategies ·         Act as a liaison between Choice, external analysts and investors ·         Act as the go-to senior lead for all corporate issues / crisis ·         Direct measurement and qualitative and quantitative analysis of Choice’s communications efforts ·         Lead and mentor team members to build a culture of high performance   Who you will be… ·         10+ years of broad-based, progressive experience developing and executing successful communications strategies in a corporate or agency environment ·         Minimum of five years specific leadership experience, including setting strategic communications strategy and direction and providing counsel to executive teams ·         Experience managing large programs and campaigns from start to finish ·         Keen understanding of social/digital and emerging channels strategy ·         Very strong writer ·         High level of diplomacy and executive presence – need to be comfortable with senior leadership and with making vey senior (and, sometimes, very serious) decisions ·         Ability to push the envelope and think outside of the box