01
Decision
Clarify what has been decided, what remains open, and what cannot be promised.
The operating model
Communication starts before the message.
The message is only one point in a larger system. Alignment survives when the organization can carry a decision through six connected stages.
Decision → Governance → Behavior → Cascade → Listening → Adjust
02
Governance
Define ownership, decision rights, timing, and how commitments will be tracked.
03
Behavior
Translate leadership intent into what people must understand, do, or change.
04
Cascade
Prepare leaders and managers with context, boundaries, likely questions, and escalation paths.
05
Listening
Read clarity, confidence, participation, sentiment, and silence as evidence.
06
Adjust
Use what the organization is showing you to refine the next decision and action.
Selected work
What alignment looks like under pressure.
Rebuilding credibility while transformation continued
- Situation
- Employee trust dropped more than 100 points after a major organizational event.
- What Heather led
- A stronger CEO and all-hands cadence, direct storytelling, employee recognition, and continuous pulse measurement.
- Evidence
- 50 eNPS points recovered over approximately one year.
Communicating an 8,000-employee integration
- Situation
- Viasat's largest acquisition brought together employees across 26 countries.
- What Heather led
- Internal communications strategy, manager enablement, executive cadence, governance, and feedback systems.
- Evidence
- One communication architecture supported multiple years of integration and change.
Building the function behind the messages
- Situation
- A distributed organization needed an IC function capable of carrying sustained change.
- What Heather led
- The operating model, governance, intranet, executive communications, budget, and a global communications team.
- Evidence
- Fragmented infrastructure became a durable enterprise capability.
Leadership scope
Built inside the business, not outside the room.
At Viasat, I reported to a chief people officer and a chief marketing officer at different points. I held a standing seat on the human resources leadership team and participated in decisions that shaped talent, transformation, and the employee experience. Internal communications was not brought in after the decision to package the message. It helped leaders understand how the decision would land, what the organization needed to carry it, and how leadership alignment could survive execution.
View full experience- Owned the IC budget and enterprise strategy
- Built and led a fully remote global communications team
- Oversaw employer brand for four years
- Supported crisis, DEI, social impact, and engagement
- Built governance for T-Mobile's 66,000-person workforce
- Began in media, analyst, and crisis communications
Independent practitioner IP
Judgment encoded into tools.
I have turned recurring communications problems, methods, and operating systems into practical tools that make parts of my judgment tangible. They demonstrate how I diagnose and structure the work; they do not replace context, leadership decisions, or the people carrying them.
From leaders and colleagues
Trusted when the message is difficult and the stakes are real.
“I've had the pleasure of working with Heather as both her manager and peer, and what sets her apart is her ability to translate complex, often sensitive business decisions into communications that were clear, honest, and human. Whether she was supporting a major organizational change, a leadership transition, or a company-wide initiative, Heather is driven to strike the right tone, calm and direct when it mattered most, and always with the employee's perspective front and center.”
“Heather is a very knowledgeable and skilled communications professional who is able to digest the business climate and strategy to shape key messages that move the needle.”
“Heather is an exceptional professional who can hit the ground running on a new business, build great client relationships and collaborate successfully with colleagues. Her ability to drive results across multiple programs simultaneously makes her an asset to any team.”
What I am looking for
A senior internal communications mandate with something real to build.
I am exploring Director, Senior Director, Head, and Vice President internal communications roles with enterprise scope. I will also consider select principal, staff manager, or senior manager opportunities when the mandate matches the level of the work.
Based in North San Diego County. Open to remote roles and hybrid opportunities across the San Diego to Irvine corridor.