Senior Managing Director
Media Communications Practice, Hill & Knowlton
Vickee Adams joined Hill and Knowlton USA in October 2001 as Senior Managing Director of the Media Communications Practice. Her 18 year career in public relations placed her with two, now, three of the best public relations firms in the business. Her experience with a broad range of clients includes work in issues and crisis management, change management and leadership transitions, litigation and regulatory support, investor relations and new product introductions.
As head of the newly established Media Communications Practice, Adams will continue her legacy of excellent executive communications coaching and be responsible for broadening and expanding Hill and Knowlton's current media and presentation skills training. Media Communications will provide high-quality executive education courses to enhance the relationship between H&K and its clients and the relationship that H&K clients have with the media, analysts, employees, customers, competitors and other stakeholders. Essential courses like media training, presentation skills, spokesperson coaching, and leadership training courses will be available across the nation.
Prior History
Prior to joining Hill and Knowlton's U.S. Management team, Adams served as Director of Corporate Communications for Dow Jones & Company. Taking a lifetime opportunity, Vickee was a spokesperson for The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, Dow Jones Newswires and other business units of Dow Jones. She managed a global department of communications professionals and spearheaded proactive media relations' campaigns for the company's print and electronic publishing units. Her media relations responsibilities included responding to national, international, trade and business press about publishing, newsgathering and financial reporting. The group supervised the company intranet, the employee newsletter and the company Web site. Vickee remains on the board of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, an entity dedicated to advancing journalism education throughout the country.
In 1992 through 1999, Adams served as a member of the New York Management Committee and was a senior vice president at Ketchum Public Relations where she oversaw a team of international communications training specialists. She established, branded and marketed The Communications Training Center, building a global practice with billed fees of over $1million annually. Clients like, JP Morgan and JP Morgan Securities, Genentech, American Management Systems, Dow Chemical, Reebok and VISA U.S.A. propelled the group's expertise and set industry-wide performance standards for media training.
At Burson-Marsteller from 1983 to 1992, Vickee was vice president and manager of communications training and worked with crisis counselors on the second Tylenol incident, the Perrier incident and media and legislative initiatives for Philip Morris, U.S.A., Owens-Corning Fiberglass, Met Life, and Pfizer.
Additional client engagements have included Fidelity Investments, Andersen Consulting, DoubleClick, Merck, Oxford Health Plans, Met Life, Nickelodeon, The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and the PGA.
Throughout her career, Adams has served on several boards of directors. She is currently a Trustee of the WNYC Foundation, a board member of the Foundation for Women Executives in Public Relations, a board member of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and a member of the Advisory Board of Count-Me-In. Previously, she served as a board member of Granite Broadcasting Corporation and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Other Information
Mrs. Adams is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in English. In June 1998, she attended the Center for Creative Leadership in Boulder, CO.
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