VP, Cross Initiative Marketing and Strategic Events

Central Indiana Corporate Partnership • Indianapolis, IN

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Vice President of Cross-Initiative Marketing & Strategic Events will serve as CICP’s senior leader for setting overall strategic direction for connecting, coordinating, and amplifying the marketing and communications of CICP’s full portfolio of branded initiatives and lines of business. This role exists to make sure the collective impact of CICP’s initiatives is understood, felt, and communicated as more than the sum of its parts — surfacing shared priorities, common threads, and standout initiative work, and translating them into a compelling, coordinated narrative about what CICP and its initiatives are accomplishing for Indiana.

Equally important, the VP will build and steward the cross-initiative operational infrastructure — the shared processes, standards, workflows, and governance frameworks — that enable CICP’s distributed communications and initiative teams to work with greater consistency, efficiency, and collective impact. The VP establishes priorities, decision frameworks, and performance expectations across this area and makes resource and strategic trade-offs within defined authority. The role will also direct strategic event execution, including the Indiana Life Sciences Speaker Series and other high-visibility convenings, and will retain flexibility to support community relations and external partnership efforts as opportunities arise.

This position is ideally suited to a leader with deep experience driving cross-functional strategy, operations, and process coordination — someone who has successfully built and led functional systems across complex, multi-stakeholder organizations, and who has a natural instinct for finding and elevating the most compelling stories within a decentralized set of teams. The ideal candidate knows how to set direction, establish shared operating frameworks, and lead effectively across organizational lines where influence matters as much as authority. They are also a strong people manager and coach who builds team capability and creates a culture of operational excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, business, public affairs, or a related field; advanced degree a plus.
• 10+ years of experience and demonstrated success leading cross-functional strategy, operations, and process development across a complex, multi-unit, or matrixed organization; experience in a communications or marketing function is helpful but not required.
• Deep experience designing and leading cross-functional operations within a matrixed organization — including building shared governance structures, coordination processes, and operational frameworks that enable distributed teams across departments or lines of business to work with strategic alignment and operational consistency.
• Demonstrated ability to identify and elevate compelling stories and impact narratives from across a decentralized set of teams or business units, translating disparate work into a coherent, shared vision.
• Proven experience leading, developing, and coaching direct reports — with a demonstrated commitment to building team talent, providing meaningful feedback, and supporting individuals’ professional growth and performance.
• Strong event planning and execution experience, ideally with high-profile or executive-level events.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills, with experience in community relations, partnership development, or stakeholder engagement.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to influence without direct authority.
• Comfort operating in a dynamic, evolving organizational environment with multiple stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree a plus.
• Experience in a communications or marketing function is helpful but not required.

Responsibilities

• Set overall strategic direction for and lead a cross-initiative messaging and impact strategy, establishing shared priorities and measures of success across CICP’s portfolio. Identify the shared threads, standout accomplishments, and highest-value stories across CICP’s diverse lines of business and branded initiatives, and shape them into a coherent, compelling account of collective impact and vision.
• Design and implement cross-initiative processes, templates, and standards — creating the shared operating system through which CICP’s distributed communications professionals plan, coordinate, and elevate initiative work with greater consistency and quality.
• Establish and maintain shared infrastructure — including toolsets, workflows, and content calendars — that reduces duplication, improves cross-initiative coordination, and raises the overall quality and efficiency of storytelling and messaging efforts across the organization.
• Provide strategic oversight of CICP’s own communications function, ensuring initiative work is consistently represented with accuracy and impact.
• Lead the cross-functional coordination of messaging and communications operations across CICP’s initiatives and lines of business — establishing clear decision rights and processes, shared priorities, and structured touchpoints that drive alignment, reduce fragmentation, and ensure that efforts across the organization are mutually reinforcing.
• Convene and facilitate a cross-functional working group of communications professionals across CICP’s branded initiatives — building the operating cadence, shared governance, decision-making and escalation paths, and collaborative norms that enable a decentralized communications team to function with the coherence of a unified function.
• Partner proactively with leaders and staff across CICP’s initiatives — including life sciences, workforce, and civic engagement portfolios, to surface shared priorities and resolve cross-initiative dependencies. Determine where coordinated messaging across organizational lines will add the greatest value and identify opportunities to lift up initiative work and amplify impact through integrated strategy and execution.
• Serve as the strategic and operational anchor for the broader CICP communications network — providing guidance, shared frameworks, and cross-functional process expertise that raise the quality and coherence of work across the organization while preserving each initiative’s distinct expertise and voice.
• Own the strategy, planning, and execution of CICP’s signature strategic events, including the Indiana Life Sciences Speaker Series.
• Develop scalable event playbooks and frameworks that can be applied to future strategic events as they arise.
• Coordinate logistics, sponsor/partner relations, speaker management, and promotional strategy for each event.
• Build and lead a high-performing communications and initiative-engagement team, setting direction, establishing performance expectations, and creating a culture of accountability, creativity, talent development, and continuous improvement.
• Actively coach and mentor direct reports, investing in their professional growth and skills development — strengthening capability through regular feedback, stretch opportunities, and supporting for long-term career advancement within the organization.
• Set resource priorities and make capacity and resource allocation decisions to ensure sustainable delivery of high-quality work across concurrent projects and initiatives.
• Support CICP leadership in cultivating and maintaining relationships with community stakeholders, civic partners, and external organizations.
• Represent CICP at community and partner events as needed.
• Identify opportunities for strategic partnerships that advance CICP’s mission and the visibility of its initiatives.
• Other duties, as assigned

Benefits

• 100% of your healthcare and dental premiums are paid for individual and family.
• Pre-tax & Roth 401(k) Retirement Plan with generous match - 5% contributed by the employer regardless of employee contribution and up to an additional 5% employee voluntary contribution eligible to be matched by the employer.
• Company paid group life benefits as well as company paid short-term and long-term disability insurance.
• Opportunities for continuous learning, professional development and career advancement.
• New office location and facilities at 16 Tech Innovation District with hybrid flexibility.
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) including 17 holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive