I have extensive experience leading executive communications to deliver impactful results. In various roles and as part of a director’s office team, I regularly advised, engaged, and collaborated with senior leaders – including executive directors – to deliver impactful communications. This work effectively drove storytelling, advocacy, content strategy, public relations, partnerships, resource mobilization, two-way communications, engagements at events, and the achievement of organizational priorities. Moreover, I managed the delivery of prominent executive communications to enhance the voice, presence, and positioning of senior leaders. This included global all staff messages, speeches and talking points, briefing notes, forewords, quotes, and other content for flagship publications, content for websites and partner platforms, newsletters, social media posts, presentations, audiovisual products, thought leadership articles, and interviews.
UNICEF
- Advice and collaboration: I was a key member of the Division of People and Culture’s Director’s Office as a Communications Specialist. In this role, I regularly advised the Director, Deputy Directors, and Divisional Management Team members on effective communications strategies, plans, content, and tools, and facilitated feedback, inputs, endorsements, and buy-in from them to achieve communications goals. I also reviewed, edited, and provided inputs to executive content including strategic and office management plans, reporting documents, budget proposals, annual reports, and briefing notes.
In addition, I was the communications liaison between my team and UNICEF’s Office of the Executive Director for communications that required HR inputs and collaboration. In this role, I shared feedback and advice on behalf of the Division of People and Culture’s Director’s Office, coordinated and edited Executive Director (ED) and the Deputy Executive Director for Management (DED Management) all staff messages, consolidated, edited, and shared HR inputs for ED updates and briefing notes, edited ED and DED Management talking points and speeches for events and missions, coordinated ED and DED Management engagements in town halls and other meetings, incorporated inputs from the ED and DED Management into strategies, plans, articles, messages, and publications, and collaborated with the Office of the Executive Director on articles, campaigns, and videos.
Moreover, I engaged UNICEF’s Global Management Team, comprising headquarters, regional, and country directors and senior leaders, by advising on, developing, drafting, editing, and disseminating targeted messages and content for this audience.
- Executive voice, presence, and positioning: I led the development and delivery of strategies, content, and products to enhance the voice, presence, and positioning of the Director and Deputy Directors of UNICEF’s Division of People and Culture, UNICEF’s Executive Director, and UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director for Management. This included managing internal executive communications such as all staff and global management team messages, intranet and newsletter content, presentations, talking points, and engagements at staff meetings, town halls, a global forum, and other events; managing external communications such as forewords and quotes for flagship publications, speeches, op-eds, content for corporate and partner platforms, and social media posts; and managing media relations such as, interviews and quotes and inputs for news articles.
- Other activities:
As part of the Division of People and Culture’s Director’s Office, I worked with stakeholders to develop a first-of-its-kind digital platform for senior leaders in the division to engage and share knowledge with each other.
I also coordinated communications for UNICEF’s Executive Board. This included editing speeches from the Executive Director, preparing HR presentations for targeted sessions, liaising with members of the Executive Board management team for feedback and inputs, and publishing Executive Board content on online platforms.
In addition, I developed and disseminated communications around senior leader initiatives such as learning initiatives, recruitment exercises, and campaigns.
UNOPS
- Advice and collaboration: I effectively advised and facilitated feedback, inputs, endorsements, and buy-in from senior leaders, including members of the Executive Director’s Office, program directors, and the Director of Communications. This was a crucial part of my work in developing and delivering impactful communications strategies, campaigns, all staff messages, articles, and content for partnership and resource mobilization activities, flagship publications, newsletters, internal and external web platforms, social media, and audiovisual products.
- Executive voice, presence, and positioning: I led the development and delivery of strategies, content, and products to enhance the voice, presence, and positioning of the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Directors, and other senior managers. This included managing internal executive communications such as all staff messages, intranet and newsletter content, and talking points for meetings; managing external communications such as forewords and quotes for flagship publications, speeches, content for corporate and partner platforms, and social media posts; and managing media relations such as media engagements, interviews, op-eds, and quotes for external media outlets.
- Other activities:
I also coordinated the writing, editing, design, quality assurance, and dissemination of UNOPS Executive Board documents and news stories.
For the UN City Copenhagen inauguration, I successfully coordinated a live town hall and Q&A event with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, involving hundreds of personnel from 10 UN organizations. I also liaised with press and co-organized a press conference with Ban Ki-moon and the former Prime Minister of Denmark, and Co-drafted speeches delivered by Ban Ki-moon and the former UNOPS Executive Director.
Additional Experience
At the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, I advised the Executive Director, Global Sanitation Fund Program Director, and other senior leaders on effective communications, partnership, and resource mobilization strategies, plans, content, and tools. Actively liaising with their teams, I regularly facilitated feedback, inputs, endorsements, and buy-in from them for a range of communications content and products. To enhance the executive voice, presence, and positioning of these leaders, I coordinated the production and dissemination of newsletter content featuring and quoting them, drafted and published executive forewords and statements for flagship publications, drafted their speeches and talking points, ensured that they were featured on corporate and partner platforms, developed and published social media posts from them, and coordinated media engagements, interviews, op-eds, and quotes for external media outlets.
Working for The Courier magazine managed by the GOPACom. communications agency, I engaged and advised an Editorial Board comprising European Commission and Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States executives. Specifically, I regularly prepared, shared, and presented project, marketing, and distribution updates, reports, results, and data and shared feedback and advice on effective strategies in Editorial Board meetings, to enable decision-making. I also shared strategic feedback and advice with GOPACom.’s management to enhance The Courier.
With the European Network on Debt and Development, I engaged and advised the Executive Director and senior leaders across a network of NGOs to develop and deliver effective advocacy and communications strategies, content, and products.
Working closely with senior leaders at the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States Secretariat, I supported successful protocol and press coverage for high-level inter-governmental meetings and cultural events involving the Secretary-General, other OACPS executives, and world leaders.
Okechukwu Umelo 