TITLE: Director, Public Relations & Communications  

STATUS: Full Time Exempt

LEVEL: Director

DIRECT SUPERVISOR: Vice President, Strategic Marketing, Communications & Publishing

SUPERVISORY POSITION

POSITION DESCRIPTION SUMMARY:

Lead, develop, and execute the ACR's public/media relations and public affairs strategy to build and protect the ACR's reputation; heighten its public profile among multiple audiences; and enhance its position as a key healthcare thought leader in rheumatology. This role also will oversee crisis and issues communications, media measurement, and monitoring.

Reporting directly to the Vice President, Strategic Marketing, Communications & Publishing, this mission-driven leader will serve as a spokesperson for the company and position executives and subject matter experts in external media and other public forums as appropriate. The director will partner closely with senior business leaders across the organization, communications and marketing team members, and functional leaders in government affairs to align the public relations strategy with the overall ACR mission and strategic direction.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

PUBLIC RELATIONS/COMMUNICATIONS

• Oversee all public relations projects and activities for the College that advance themission and strategic direction of the ACR.
  • Examples include ACR/ARP Awards campaign and Rheumatic Disease Awareness Month activities.
• Oversee public affairs efforts to position the ACR as a key thought leader in the healthcare policy arena in topics related to the Government Affairs team:
  • Provide strategic oversight to the ACR’s public affairs team. Manage strategies and tactics to impact the ACR’s legislative priorities, such as collateral development, Hill briefings, sponsored social media campaigns, opinion editorials, and letter-writing campaigns, that target a variety of stakeholders.
  • Oversee collaborative public relations efforts with other organizations.
  • Plan strategy and develop, implement, and evaluate PR campaigns to meet the mission of the ACR and increase public awareness of the unique expertise of rheumatologists.
• Work in tandem with stakeholders to capture and analyze department metrics. Develop appropriate strategies to collect and report information and use feedback to guide current and future PR and media efforts
• Working with Wiley writers and ACR staff, manage content and production for ACR@Work, the enewsletter for advocacy and select important topics to amplify in other ACR communications. Manage public statements and related releases.
• Oversee the management of sensitive PR issues and the ACR’s members and public commentary on those issues. Advise leadership on best practices in PR, crisis, and issue management.
• Identify and manage external vendors needed to carry out PR and media activities such as public relations firms, advertising agencies, freelance writers, etc.
• Serve as the primary liaison to the media requesting interviews with ACR leadership on topics such as legislative priorities, official position statements, clinical criteria and guidelines, educational activities, etc.
• Develop and maintain effective two-way relationships and strategic partnerships with external organizations whose influence is of special interest to the organization.
• Develop and launch an annual media relations strategy, which includes proactive media outreach and reactive media response tactics.
• Manage all media relations activities, including cultivating relationships with the press, writing press releases, responding to media inquiries, writing Op-Eds and Letters to theEditor, pitching stories to the media, etc.
• Conduct or arrange for media training for volunteers (or ACR spokespeople) and key staff as needed.
• Support the needs of ACR leaders, such as presidents, in their internal PR.
• Provide media relations counsel to ACR leadership and department heads.
• Oversee media relations activities for the ACR’s annual meeting and professional meetings: create and implement a media relations strategy for those specific efforts, develop media policies, manage the press registration process, organize and manage logistics for the newsroom; approve industry press releases that use the ACR’s name; and other related activities.

CONTENT/OTHER

• Collaborate with communications and marketing team members to support content and communications development needs of the organization.
• Advising on select ACR leader communications, such as developing the president’s lecture talking points.
• Supervise staff and vendor(s).
• Manage the annual budget and process invoices.
• Staff and serve as liaison for the Communications & Marketing Committee, including managing agendas, preparing presentation materials, interacting with the committee chair, and capturing minutes from meetings.
• Up to 10% of travel 

QUALIFICATIONS:

• BA/BS plus eight (8) years’ experience in communications, public relations, journalism, or related field, or MS/MA/MBA/JD with five (5) years’ experience in a related field, or more than twelve (12) years’ experience with no post-secondary degree.
• Excellent and persuasive communicator, capable of gaining the confidence and respect ofsenior leadership, media, and other internal and external stakeholders.
• Experienced and comfortable serving as an advisor to senior staff and volunteer leadership on a wide range of communications issues.
• Proven expertise of media relations and public relations strategies and tactics, and ability to develop and implement PR and media campaigns.
• Exceptional writing, editing, and proofreading skills, including the ability to translaterheumatology topics for a non-rheumatology audience.
• Strong working knowledge of AP Style.
• Ability to establish and maintain positive and productive working relationships with a variety of individuals, including the media, ACR members and volunteers, and staff; exercise judgment in handling responsibilities; and manage multiple projects.
• Strong public speaking skills.
• Supervisory and mentoring experience.
• Exceptional attention to detail.
• Experience in an association and healthcare communications environment is highly desirable.
• Able to shift priorities quickly and meet tight deadlines.
• Knowledge of a project management platform such as JIRA and Asana.
• Working knowledge of Meltwater, or other media monitoring tools.
• Professional proficiency with Microsoft Office programs including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word is required.
• Familiarity with virtual meeting software applications such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams or similar is required.

The ACR provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. The ACR complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities or conducts business.

This is not a contract. The description and duties as they relate to this position are subject to change as reasonable business necessity dictates. In the event of such changes, a new job description may be created.

About American College of Rheumatology

With nearly 8,500 physicians, health professionals, researchers, medical students, and scientists worldwide, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) is the home of the rheumatology community. The ACR is a values-based organization, and as such focuses on the cultural values of transparency, accountability, collaboration, community, inclusion, and innovation across all interactions within and across departments, with members and volunteers, and external organizations with whom we work. We believe culture, communication and collaboration leads to excellence and allows our employees to fully flourish.

Connections working at American College of Rheumatology