Individuals
TeamsBring your questions to this rapid-fire session featuring veteran communication leaders who have forged ways to break down silos between internal and external communications in their organizations and day-to-day work. You’ll gain a clear understanding of the importance of integrated communication and discover new ideas for partnering with your comms colleagues to ensure consistency of message and strategy across all stakeholder groups — both inside and out.
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Bradley Akubuiro
Partner
Bully Pulpit Interactive
Bradley Akubuiro is a Partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive (BPI) where he focuses on corporate reputation, executive communications, and high-visibility crisis management and media relations efforts. He also provides equity, diversity, and inclusion counsel to clients.
Previously, Bradley was the Chief Spokesperson and Head of Global Media Relations for The Boeing Company, the largest aerospace manufacturer in the world. In this role, he was responsible for leading Boeing’s team of media relations, media research, and media intelligence professionals enterprise-wide in their efforts to advance and protect the company’s interests around the globe. Akubuiro provided leadership and counsel through the company’s response to COVID-19, the national conversation around race, and several news-making challenges and milestones in its effort to return the previously grounded 737 MAX to commercial service. He was a founding member of Boeing’s enterprise-wide Racial Equity Task Force.
Prior to joining Boeing, Bradley served as Global Director, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs for United Technologies Corporation (UTC) where he led the corporate media relations and public affairs functions for the $77B Fortune 50 company around the world. In an earlier role, he was deputy communications leader for the global military jet engines business at Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies.
In 2022, Bradley was named 40 Under 40 by both PRWeek and Crain's Chicago Business. He currently serves on the board of directors for Rethink Media and for The 19th News – a fast-growing newsroom reporting at the intersection of gender, politics, and policy. He is a former member of the board of trustees for the DC Central Kitchen and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford.
Alexis Gilbert
Senior Director, Global Brand and Communications
Dawn Foods
Alexis Gilbert is a strategic communicator who partners with senior leadership and global teams to align communications with business strategy and objectives. She leads executive meetings and events, develops talking points for executive interviews and speaking engagements, and coaches executives and subject matter experts for media appearances. Alexis also leads the development and execution of executive visibility and thought leadership strategies.
In her role as a leader of corporate communications at Dawn Foods, Alexis works cross-functionally to gain stakeholder support for key brand initiatives and leads the team responsible for ensuring consistent communication internally and externally. She manages the creation and approval of all corporate press and public relations, serving as the company spokesperson as needed. Alexis ensures that all communications and related activities exemplify a clarity of commitment to the company’s values, people, customers, and strategy.
Dawn Foods is a member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.
Heidi P.T. Upton
Vice President
Porter Novelli
Heidi P.T. Upton joined Porter Novelli in April 2022 and leads employee engagement communications for healthcare companies of various size. Some of her client work includes communications support for global talent management and learning, employee value proposition, executive thought leadership, transformations and change management communications.
Upton brings over two decades of in-house communications experience at a variety of companies spanning financial services, luxury retail, consumer packaged goods, fin-tech and medical devices.
Upton is a true connector and a strong believer that transparent communication builds trust and without trust, relationships can't grow. She has not only created and managed strategic global corporate and HR employee communication campaigns for a variety of companies, but she has also developed programs to re-articulate and strengthen company culture through storytelling; produced major engagement events; launched digital communications channels, recognition and wellness platforms; established multi-channel measurement dashboards to gauge effectiveness; and most recently tied corporate purpose to benefits, wellbeing, philanthropic and inclusion & diversity initiatives.
