Vice President, Community Engagement & Risk Communications – FEMA CERC

About Ogilvy

Ogilvy was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy. David created a culture that deeply respects and cares about its people and clients. Our mission is to inspire people and brands to make an impact and we are committed to attracting, growing, and retaining the best talent in the industry.

About the Role

Ogilvy is looking for a highly driven, passionate Vice President with a background in community engagement and/or risk communications. This role will primarily support our continued work with FEMA, with whom Ogilvy has a long-standing client relationship. Our current work centers around the Community Engagement and Risk Communication (CERC) contract, which focuses on growing awareness of, and resilience towards natural disasters in American communities. As the nation continues to come to terms with the long-term effects of climate change, this work is increasingly important.

This is an exciting opportunity to work with a federal agency and a large, dynamic team encompassing a network of behavior change, disaster resilience, risk communications, emergency management, community outreach, partnership building, community planning, and engineering experts. This unique program functions on national, regional, and community levels to engage a broad array of national and local stakeholders around the issues of natural disaster mitigation, climate change adaptation, and capacity building to empower communities to drive resilience.

This full-time position works collaboratively with colleagues in Washington, D.C., and 10 regional offices nationwide to accomplish significant results in the areas of raising understanding of local vulnerabilities and driving action to strengthen them. Stakeholder audiences include Federal officials, State and local officials, community planners, emergency managers, professional groups, businesses, and local residents.

What You'll Do

• Providing expertise in the coordination of strategic communications plans and content related to community resilience;
• Researching, developing, and managing existing and new partnerships with influencers; consumer, non-profit, and business organizations; professional organizations;
• Building capacity of internal and external audiences through trainings, tools development, workshops and more;
• Planning and executing public events flawlessly, to include all aspects of logistical planning and coordination;
• Overseeing and preparing a variety of written materials including communication plans, partnership agreements, outreach tools and materials, and reports;
• Managing relationships with regional partners and assisting with the development of tailored programs involving campaign assets and promotional extensions;
• Supporting outreach operations of a large FEMA account;
• Coordinating and strategizing with the Washington, DC-based leadership team and FEMA Regional offices on floodplain mapping and community resilience projects;
• Researching and supporting planning and collaboration with Creative and Digital teams in the development of creative assets, which may include video, social media, interactive tools, and digital promotions;
• Facilitating disaster communications support, as needed, to national and regional response teams.

What You'll Need

• 10 years of experience in strategic communications, including developing and managing relationships, preferably in an agency setting and for a government client.
• 3 years of supervisory experience.
• Superior client service and client relationship skills.
• Proactive, problem solver, team player.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with a broad spectrum of audiences from Federal, State, and local officials to thought leaders, business leaders, and local residents.
• Experience working on community planning, climate adaptation, engineering, flooding or other natural hazard issues is preferred.
• Familiarity with or interest in equity-centered approaches to community engagement and program delivery.
• Proven ability to manage staff across multiple projects efficiently and effectively.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with teams across the nation is essential.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills are essential.
• Willingness to travel and work on client site.

• Demonstrated capability to get things done on budget and on time; established sense of business & financial acumen.

• Ability to work with and manage sub-contractors and vendor relationships.

• An understanding of the dynamics and workings of the agency's process as it relates to the client's business; Demonstrable knowledge of client and agency operations and working knowledge of Ogilvy's capabilities.

• Professional competency in written and oral Spanish a plus.

How We'll Support You

Ogilvy celebrates its people. Fully. Enthusiastically. Unhesitatingly. We'll empower you with the tools you'll need to succeed. We'll give you the autonomy to seek out new paths and better ways of doing things. We'll support you with colleagues who are experts in their disciplines, drawn from across the Ogilvy network. And we'll provide opportunities for you to do work of which you'll be proud, with people you'll be proud to call your teammates.