Chief Engagement Officer (Chief Engagement, Communications & Marketing Officer)

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nThe Executive Leadership Council is the preeminent member organization for the development of diverse global leaders. Comprised of more than 800 current and former corporate CEOs, board members and senior executives at Fortune 1000 & Global 500 companies, entrepreneurs leading top-tier firms, and recognized thought leaders, we open channels of opportunity for the development of executives to positively impact business and communities. We are currently seeking a Chief Engagement Officer for Communications & Marketing to join the Communications & Marketing team in our Washington, DC office. Position Overview The Chief Engagement, Communications & Marketing Officer (CECMO) is a senior enterprise leader responsible for shaping, protecting, and amplifying the organization's reputation, relevance, and growth. As a member of the executive leadership team, the CECMO holds enterprise authority over brand, narrative, engagement, and strategic communications-serving as a trusted advisor to the CEO, senior leadership, and Board during moments of opportunity, transformation, and risk. The CECMO leads an integrated engagement, marketing, and communications strategy that advances the organization's mission, drives measurable growth, and strengthens long-term stakeholder trust. This role connects narrative to strategy, engagement to outcomes, and insight to decision-making-ensuring the organization speaks with clarity, credibility, and influence across all audiences and platforms. With accountability for organizational visibility, executive thought leadership, audience growth, and reputation management, the CECMO ensures the organization's voice reflects its leadership position, values, and ambitions in an increasingly complex global environment. ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS & KEY OUTCOMES Enterprise Strategy, Authority & Executive CounselServe as a core strategic advisor to the CEO and executive leadership on organizational positioning, narrative, and reputation.Hold enterprise authority over brand standards, external messaging, and strategic communications.Advise leadership and the Board on reputation, visibility, stakeholder perception, and external risk.Lead communications strategy during moments of organizational change, transformation, and inflection.Ensure alignment between organizational strategy, leadership priorities, and public narrative. Executive Visibility, Thought Leadership & InfluenceOwn and execute the executive communications strategy for the CEO, elevating thought leadership, visibility, and influence nationally and globally.Secure high-impact speaking engagements, media placements, convenings, and platforms aligned to strategic priorities.Oversee development of speeches, op-eds, presentations, talking points, and briefing materials for senior leaders.Position the organization as a respected thought leader and convener in leadership, equity, and global influence conversations. Brand, Narrative & Content StrategyDefine and steward a clear, compelling enterprise narrative that reflects mission, strategy, and impact.Ensure consistent brand expression across all channels, platforms, and stakeholder touchpoints.Oversee external communications, media relations, digital presence, and content strategy.Lead proactive and responsive communications, including issue management and rapid-response messaging.Elevate storytelling to strengthen emotional connection, credibility, and influence. Growth, Marketing & Revenue EnablementLead an integrated marketing and engagement strategy that drives measurable growth across programs, membership, philanthropy, sponsorships, and events.Partner with Development, Programs, and Membership leadership to support revenue generation, retention, and pipeline growth.Oversee digital marketing, CRM-driven communications, campaign strategy, and performance analytics.Ensure marketing investments are aligned to enterprise priorities and deliver clear ROI. Stakeholder, Member & Audience EngagementDesign and optimize end-to-end stakeholder and member journeys-from awareness to participation to advocacy.Strengthen engagement across a growing global community through targeted, culturally responsive strategies.Use audience insights and data to refine messaging, outreach, and experience design.Ensure consistency between the organization's brand promise and lived stakeholder experience. Internal Communications, Culture & Change LeadershipLead internal communications strategy that fosters alignment, clarity, and engagement across the organization.Support leadership messaging, change communications, and enterprise-wide initiatives.Shape and reinforce organizational culture, values, and leadership narrative in partnership with HR.Ensure internal experience reflects and reinforces the organization's external brand. Crisis, Risk & Reputation ManagementLead enterprise crisis communications planning, scenario development, and response.Serve as a key leader during reputational risk, coordinating messaging across leadership, legal, and operational teams.Monitor issues, sentiment, and external dynamics to proactively mitigate risk.Protect and strengthen trust with stakeholders during moments of heightened scrutiny. Strategic Partnerships & External RelationsCultivate strategic partnerships that enhance organizational visibility, influence, and impact.Lead communications and engagement strategies for collaborations, sponsorships, and external initiatives.Support global expansion by ensuring communications resonate across regions, cultures, and stakeholder groups. Data, Insights & Digital Ecosystem OwnershipOwn audience intelligence, engagement analytics, and brand health measurement.Translate insights into strategic recommendations for the CEO and executive leadership.Oversee the organization's marketing technology ecosystem, including CRM, automation, analytics, and digital platforms.Partner with IT and Operations to ensure integration, scalability, and data integrity. Team Leadership, Operations & Capability BuildingLead and develop a high-performing engagement, marketing, and communications function.Build future-ready capabilities across content, digital engagement, analytics, design, and marketing technology.Oversee departmental budgets, external partners, and resource allocation.Develop next-generation leaders and establish scalable systems, playbooks, and standards.Foster a culture of excellence, creativity, accountability, and continuous learning. General DutiesContribute to the achievement of established department goals and objectives and adhere to department policies, procedures, quality standards, and safety standards.Maintain current professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops, reviewing professional publications, establishing professional networks, and participating in professional associations.Ability to work in a fast-paced office environment, demonstrating a flexible approach with short deadlines.Promote a culture of high performance and continuous improvement that values learning and a commitment to quality improvement.Ability to maintain high project organization, multitask, and a focus on quality of results with attention to detail in a fast-paced environment. Create and manage a seamless information sharing workflow within the Communications & Marketing department and the overall organization. Perform other duties as needed. EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE & CREDENTIALSA Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, or another relevant academic discipline. Master's preferred. A minimum of 12-15 years of progressive leadership experience in communications, marketing, engagement, and/or brand strategy.A minimum of 5-7 years of progressive responsible experience in a strategic leadership role.Demonstrated experience leading a function, team, or complex portfolio of programs with a high degree of autonomy.Demonstratable experience with corporate relationship management is preferred.Experience advising senior executives and boards within complex organizations (corporate, nonprofit, global, or membership-based).Proven success elevating organizational and executive visibility on national or global platforms.Demonstrated leadership in integrated communications, growth marketing, and digital ecosystems.Experience managing high-stakes messaging, crisis communications, and reputational risk.Strong business acumen with proven experience in budget management and financial analysis.Proven ability to drive initiatives from concept through execution and deliver measurable results. KEY SUCCESS INDICATORSIncreased visibility, credibility, and influence of the CEO and organization.A strong, consistent enterprise brand aligned to strategy and values.Measurable growth in engagement, participation, and revenue-supporting outcomes.High-quality storytelling that deepens mission connection and trust.Clear internal alignment around strategy and priorities.A high-performing, future-ready engagement, marketing, and communications team. COMPETENCIES • Mission Alignment & Awareness: Has a passion for and commitment to opening channels of opportunity for the development of Black professionals to positively impact business and local communities; contributes to the organization by understanding and aligning actions with the organization's goals, core functions, and values. • Strategic Leadership & Execution: Uses vision to think beyond the immediate situation and explore multiple potential paths; ensures that organizational goals are met by executing, monitoring, and adhering to the organizational action plan; implements new initiatives or adapts existing department initiatives to better meet the needs of the organizational mission and vision; communicates departmental goals to ensure short- and medium-term goals are achieved; displays a 'can-do' attitude for achieving results and encourages others to work in a manner that will meet or exceed the desired objectives or results; demonstrates ability to adapt decision making style based on the situational circumstances. • Business Development Operations: Applies a strong understanding of the required reporting for different business development functions and for the organization's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); analyzes large amounts of data from multiple sources, including the organization's CRM data, to observe trends or strengths and weaknesses within the data set; develops research and analysis reports that follows the organization's data collection and maintenance policies; consistently follows the organization's data collection and maintenance policies, including completeness, currency, accuracy, and of a high quality. • Relationship Building: Develops and maintains internal and external trusting, professional relationships, including using listening and understanding to build rapport; recognizes the business concerns and perspectives of others and works in a manner that is mutually beneficial; consistently communicates and shares information with others; interacts effectively with people of diverse backgrounds; develops a reputation as a neutral, approachable professional within the department, business units and external contacts; establishes external networks with individuals who can be directly beneficial to the achievement of work-related goals. • Ethics & Integrity: Earns the trust and respect of others through a consistent commitment to integrity, honesty, and professionalism in all interactions. • Marketing Operations: Applies a strong understanding of the required reporting for different marketing functions and for the organization's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); analyzes large amounts of data from multiple sources, including the organization's CRM data, to observe trends or strengths and weaknesses within the data set; develops research and analysis reports that follows the organization's data collection and maintenance policies; consistently follows the organization's data collection and maintenance policies, including completeness, currency, accuracy, and of a high quality. • Campaign Planning & Execution: Assists in the development of product, service, or organizational content by editing and displaying it in an intriguing format; abides by the content generation guidelines and processes, including quality assurance standards; demonstrates a basic knowledge of the organization's current media mix, why certain mediums are utilized more frequently than others and which mediums are most effective for different consumers; supports the logistical planning for promotion teams to disseminate promotional items to the right individuals and on time; aggregates information pertinent to profitability analyses; recognizes the need for new products or new campaigns by supporting these changes; serves as the first point of contact for basic external agency queries regarding the organization's marketing initiatives; aggregates financial information on the cost per campaign. • Communications Knowledge: Practices effective communication based on approaches that demonstrate results; delivers relevant and targeted communication aligned with business and audience needs; uses primary and secondary research to inform communications plans; understands business functions in alignment with organizational priorities and audience needs and preferences; networks with internal and external stakeholders; understands the relationship between various communication channels and understands when and how to use a variety of channels; creates clear, consistent, creative, and compelling content. • Planning & Results Orientation: Organizes and executes work to meet organizational goals and objectives while meeting quality standards and following organizational processes; ensures individual performance does not negatively impact the performance of others; recommends additional resources that would improve effectiveness and helps others access required resources; identifies opportunities to improve work processes and efficiency; contributes to setting work priorities and direction; identifies in advance when intended results may not be achieved; takes initiative; is not satisfied with the status quo. • Teamwork & Collaboration: Works well cross functionally and with others on the team to achieve personal goals, team goals, and organizational goals; takes responsibility for individual actions in order to achieve consistent results; fosters team camaraderie, collaboration, and cohesion; understands the impact of one's actions on the ability of their team members to do their jobs; respects the differences other team members bring to the table by openly seeking others' opinions; makes suggestions to improve team engagement and effectiveness; supports implementation of team decisions; professionally gives and seeks feedback in order to achieve common goals. • Problem Solving & Decision-Making: Identifies problems and uses logical analysis to