Heather Vaughn

Built and led the enterprise internal communications function for a global, majority-remote workforce through one of the most sustained periods of organizational transformation in Viasat's history. Designed the operating model, governance, and leadership enablement systems that kept a distributed, matrixed workforce aligned during multiple M&A transactions, reorganization cycles, and high change fatigue. Reported to the chief people officer and chief marketing officer at different points, and served on the HR leadership team as a strategic adviser to the C-suite.

• CEO communications and town hall cadence: Rebuilt CEO visibility following organizational disruption through a trust restoration strategy centered on increased town hall and all-hands cadence, CEO storytelling, and employee recognition. The strategy helped recover 50 eNPS points over approximately one year after a 100+ point post-event drop, measured via pulse analytics.
• Global M&A integration: Designed and executed the internal communications strategy for Viasat's largest acquisition, integrating an approximately 8,000-employee, 26-country, majority-remote global workforce while navigating labor-sensitive and legally complex requirements.
• Governance and standards: Established enterprise communication standards, governance, and prioritization frameworks across the intranet, newsletters, town halls, and video.
• Editorial calendar and cascade: Built the enterprise editorial calendar and communication cascade, including a quarterly senior leadership forum that aligned top leaders before communications deployed companywide.
• Budget and AI-enabled communications: Owned the IC functional budget and built AI-enabled workflows for content generation, research, sentiment analysis, and audience segmentation.
• Leadership enablement: Created leader toolkits and an enablement framework that equipped managers and senior leaders to deliver transformation communications with clarity and consistency.
• Team leadership: Built and led a fully remote global communications team spanning employer brand oversight, executive messaging, crisis management, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and employee engagement.
• Measurement: Defined success metrics tied to alignment, adoption, and leadership effectiveness, then used the data to refine strategy and execution.

• Supported employee communications for Xbox's Gaming for Everyone initiative and launched an inclusive design website for employees, industry partners, and game developers.
• Managed the enterprise newsletter, SharePoint, internal social channels, and digital content strategy.
• Supported Microsoft Healthcare Industry team communications, including monthly newsletters and external blog content.

• Led communications strategy for major transformation initiatives at a large mission-driven health system.
• Delivered crisis communications during a large-scale nursing strike, managing labor-sensitive, legally complex messaging under significant time pressure.
• Led DEI and workforce development communications.

• Built enterprise communications infrastructure and governance for a 66,000-person workforce spanning retail, call centers, and field operations.
• Designed and launched a cross-organizational communications partner program connecting central and embedded communicators. Grew participation from 70% to 85% in three months.
• Built knowledge-sharing and prioritization infrastructure that reduced message duplication and increased cross-functional alignment.

• Supervised 5+ media relations and public relations client accounts across healthcare, finance, and technology.
• Led development of the agency's strategic three-year business plan, including objectives, metrics, risk assessment, and implementation timeline.

• Developed and executed internal communications strategy across a 10,000+ employee community health system.
• Owned executive communications, crisis response, and strategic planning as a trusted adviser to senior leaders.

• Wrote and edited five concurrent employee and physician newsletters.
• Directed and produced chief operating officer videocasts and other executive-level video content.

• Served as lead editor of the Microsoft News Agenda, the weekly newsletter distributed to all Microsoft employees globally.
• Supported top-level executive communications across the account.
• Served on the crisis communications team for Microsoft accounts and supported media and analyst relations that required close internal and external message alignment.