Individuals
TeamsIn our latest quarterly roundtable, Erin Mercer from Jackson spills the beans on how her internal comms team leveled up their upskilling game for 4,000 employees. She walks through an engaging, three-step journey you can apply to your own upskilling program and supportive comms: figuring out the destination, planning the trip, and then hitting reset when needed. Erin also highlights how Jackson rolled out a super practical “Understanding the Business” intranet series that made a big impact across the company. Tune in to see how your comms team can help bring the same energy to your L&D programs, while also helping your employees get ahead with business fluency and mentorship. You’ll also learn insights and solutions to the latest comms challenges posed by your peer attendees, who shared their latest roadblocks and secrets of success in the roundtable breakouts.
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Alyssa Smith
Director of Conferences
Ragan Communications
Alyssa Smith is a content creator, curator, and convention founder. Currently, she serves as director of conferences at Ragan Communications where she recruits speakers for the full array of events, including the signature CommsWeek and Future of Communications Conference.
Previously, she was the editorial director of an e-commerce startup, the founder of the New York-based special-effects event CONstruct, a senior editor at Time Inc. (now Dotdash Meredith) and the editor at Hearst Books. For the last two decades, she edited and written under multiple brands and on various platforms, including trade books, digital media, and newsstand products. In 2014, she founded the print Entertainment Weekly specials program, and produced nearly 100 issues over seven years, where she negotiated access to and interviewed high-profile talent... and spent a lot of her time on cover copy. She has written and edited for Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Cosmopolitan, People, Popular Mechanics, Country Living, the History Channel, LIFE magazine, Time, Veranda, House Beautiful, and many others.
Erin Mercer
Director, Enterprise Internal Communications
Jackson
Jackson is a member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.
Erin is a Director with Jackson’s Corporate Communications and Responsibility team, leading the Internal Communications function. Her team develops and implements integrated, strategic internal communications programs for Jackson employees designed to increase brand awareness, foster business acumen and drive alignment with the company’s strategic priorities and desired business outcomes.
Erin joined Jackson in 2018 as a Senior Communications Specialist before expanding her role and team to deliver greater organizational alignment and employee engagement as Manager, quickly elevating her role to Director, Internal Communications in 2022.
Erin has nearly 20 years of award-winning integrated communications and marketing experiences from roles across multiple industries in agency, corporate and non-profit environments.
Erin holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and public relations from Jackson State University, a master’s in mass communication from Middle Tennessee State University, and an MBA from Lipscomb University with a concentration in Leadership and Strategic Human Resources.
