VP Corporate Communications

Boardwalk•Houston, TX

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Vice President, Corporate Communications provides strategic leadership and direction for enterprise communications, ensuring employees and external stakeholders receive clear, consistent messaging that supports the company’s strategy, growth, culture, and reputation. In a fast-paced, high-growth midstream energy environment, this role serves as a trusted advisor to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team and partners with business leaders and functions across the organization to align communications with organizational priorities. The Vice President leads enterprise, executive, internal, and external communications, including media relations, reputation management, corporate storytelling, employee engagement, crisis response, and change communications. The position also provides strategic oversight of corporate brand positioning and communications channels, and leads a team of six communications professionals. The role is based in Boardwalk’s Houston, Texas office.

Requirements

20+ years of progressive communications leadership experience, including senior leadership responsibility in corporate communications, internal communications, public relations, executive communications, media relations, crisis communications, organizational change, or reputation management.
Proven experience advising CEOs, Executive Leadership Teams, senior leaders, and Boards on complex, high-visibility communications matters.
Deep expertise in executive communications, enterprise storytelling, crisis communications, media relations, organizational change, digital communications, corporate reputation, and stakeholder engagement.
Demonstrated success supporting rapid growth, acquisitions, major capital projects, leadership transitions, and enterprise transformation initiatives.
Strong writing, editing, messaging, presentation, and storytelling skills, including the ability to simplify complex topics.
Proven ability to lead communications teams, manage priorities, develop talent, oversee budgets and agencies, and build effective operating models.
Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, Business, English, or a related field.
Ability to exercise integrity, discretion, sound judgment, executive presence, and an enterprise perspective.
Ability to build trusted cross-functional relationships, influence outcomes, navigate ambiguity and sensitive issues, and lead with agility.

Nice To Haves

Executive leadership experience in energy, midstream, industrial, infrastructure, asset-intensive, or another highly regulated industry is strongly preferred.
Master’s degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute an enterprise communications strategy aligned with business objectives, growth priorities, culture, and reputation.
Advise the CEO, Executive Leadership Team, and senior leaders on communications opportunities, risks, stakeholder impacts, and message strategies.
Translate complex business, operational, regulatory, legislative, organizational, and reputational topics into clear communications for diverse audiences.
Establish enterprise communications priorities, standards, processes, governance, and channel strategies.
Lead executive communications, including CEO messaging, Board presentations, speeches, town halls, talking points, strategic announcements, and enterprise messages.
Strengthen leadership visibility and credibility through clear, authentic, timely messaging aligned with company priorities.
Anticipate communications needs related to major business initiatives, acquisitions, capital projects, leadership transitions, organizational changes, employee matters, and external developments.
Partner with Human Resources, Legal, Operations, Commercial, Finance, Regulatory, Sustainability, Government & External Affairs, and other functions to align messaging and stakeholder engagement.
Direct internal communications that connect employees to company strategy, priorities, culture, safety, operating expectations, growth, and organizational change.
Develop communications plans for enterprise initiatives, acquisitions, capital projects, leadership transitions, engagement programs, and culture-building efforts.
Improve employee communications channels and use feedback, metrics, and employee insights to improve communications effectiveness.
Lead external communications, media relations, reputation management, thought leadership, digital communications, and corporate storytelling.
Develop external positioning that reflects the company’s role as a midstream energy infrastructure provider, and prepare messaging and response strategies for media inquiries and stakeholder, community, industry, and reputational matters.
Coordinate messaging with Government & External Affairs on regulatory, legislative, permitting, community, industry, and stakeholder initiatives.
Provide strategic oversight of corporate brand positioning, identity, and reputation across communications.
Lead communications planning and execution for crises, emergency response, operational incidents, business continuity events, reputational matters, and sensitive employee or stakeholder issues.
Develop and maintain crisis communications protocols, message templates, approval pathways, and readiness plans with Operations, Safety and Enterprise Resilience, Legal, and other leaders.
Advise leaders during change, ambiguity, heightened stakeholder attention, or reputational sensitivity; conduct post-event reviews and continuous improvement efforts.
Lead a high-performing team of six communications professionals, setting roles, responsibilities, standards, ownership, and accountability.
Establish operating rhythms, prioritization processes, and performance measures for the communications team.
Manage communications resources, budgets, digital channels, brand standards, tools, vendors, and external agency relationships.
Foster proactive planning, business partnership, disciplined execution, urgency, continuous improvement, and professional growth.