Director, Corporate Communications

Rosemont, Illinois, United States (in-office Tuesday through Thursday; visa sponsorship and relocation are not available for this position)

People. Planet. Community.

Dairy’s journey starts on the farm, and the road we travel demonstrates our unwavering commitment to sustainable nutrition, as our farmers provide lasting and meaningful nourishment to people, the planet and our communities, both urban and rural.

We are a nonprofit organization located in the greater Chicagoland area and we're always looking for talented people to join our team who share the passion and motivation to promote the goodness of dairy.

Position Summary

The Director, Corporate Communications leads the development and execution of enterprise communications that position Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy (IC), and the broader U.S. dairy industry as trusted leaders and essential partners in a modern food system. This role spans corporate reputation, U.S. dairy positioning, and business-to-business (B2B) communications, ensuring cohesive storytelling, disciplined channel strategy, and streamlined activation across the enterprise.

This individual is accountable for engaging priority stakeholders across the dairy value chain, allied industries, trade media, and opinion leaders with timely, compelling, and data-informed narratives. The role partners closely across functions—including marketing, sustainability, nutrition affairs, farmer relations, innovation, strategic intelligence, and industry affairs, as well as with partner organizations (e.g., USDEC, Newtrient, MilkPEP, NMPF, GDP, IDFA) and agencies to deliver consistent, high-quality communications that advance enterprise reputation priorities and reinforce U.S. dairy’s value to farmers, customers, and society.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Communications & Strategy

• Develop and activate an annual corporate communications plan aligned to enterprise reputation priorities, U.S. dairy positioning, and organizational objectives.
• Lead enterprise-wide story mining to identify, shape, and elevate narratives that demonstrate dairy’s leadership, progress, and innovation, grounded in farmer impact and industry outcomes.
• Serve as a central integrator across Corporate Communications, Innovation Center communications, and enterprise B2B efforts, ensuring clarity of roles, alignment of messaging, and efficiency in execution.
• Provide strategic counsel on positioning, narrative risk, and reputational implications across priority issues and initiatives.

Content & Channel Leadership

• Oversee development, refresh, and amplification of core enterprise and B2B communications assets.
• Ensure core materials clearly articulate the “who, what, why, and results” of U.S. dairy’s work in a contemporary, credible, and visually compelling way.
• Translate complex technical, scientific, or multi-stakeholder topics into relevant, actionable communications for priority audiences.
• Lead Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy communications strategy, including LinkedIn channel direction and management, content governance, year-end reports, and alignment with broader enterprise narratives.
• Guide the creation and deployment of playbooks, toolkits, and messaging resources that enable consistent activation across internal teams and industry partners, in partnership with Enterprise Operations.

Media & Thought Leadership

• Develop and execute a trade and B2B media strategy that integrates earned, owned, and paid channels to elevate U.S. dairy, DMI, and the Innovation Center as leaders in sustainability, health & wellness, and innovation.
• Identify and secure platforms for executives, subject-matter experts, and board leaders to engage priority audiences through thought leadership, speaking opportunities, and strategic partnerships.
• Integrate flagship initiatives and high-value organizational IP into enterprise storytelling to increase visibility, relevance, and participation across key stakeholders.

Stakeholder & Industry Engagement

• Partner with farmer relations, dairy community outreach, and customer-facing teams to ensure alignment between corporate, B2B, and farmer communications strategies.
• Support high-profile enterprise meetings, events, and industry moments with messaging, narrative framing, and communications activation.
• Collaborate with partner organizations to ensure coordinated, complementary communications that strengthen the overall U.S. dairy voice.

Team & Resource Management

• Manage agency partners to deliver best-in-class strategy, creative, and media outcomes.
• Oversee communications budgets with a focus on impact, efficiency, and enterprise value.

New Hire Salary Range -- $100,000-$135,000 annually. This is a salary range that DMI believes, at the time of this posting, that it might be willing to pay for the posted job in the location specified.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, journalism, public relations, or a related field.
• At least 7 years of progressive communications experience, including leadership roles within corporate and/or B2B environments.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing integrated communications strategies for complex, multi-stakeholder organizations.
• Strong understanding of food, agriculture, sustainability, and/or CPG sectors; dairy industry experience a plus.
• Exceptional written, visual, and verbal storytelling skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear narratives.
• Experience managing multiple high-profile initiatives simultaneously.
• Proven success managing agencies, budgets, and measurable communications outcomes.

Key Competencies

• Enterprise mindset with the initiative and judgment to support a high-impact corporate communications function.
• Strategic thinker with strong business acumen and the ability to connect communications to organizational outcomes.
• Trusted relationship-builder who earns credibility across senior leaders, partners, and diverse stakeholders.
• Results-oriented, with a focus on clarity, alignment, and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and navigating a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.
• Provides clear, principled counsel, grounded in what is best for dairy farmers and the broader dairy community.

Benefits

We know that in order to meet our goal of growing dairy demand, we need the best people. We offer competitive compensation and generous benefits to help our employees balance their work and personal lives. Our office is conveniently located, taking less than 10 minutes to walk from CTA's Blue Line Rosemont station. We offer regular and chocolate milk on tap.

Our comprehensive health and welfare plans offer medical, dental, vision, paid parental leave, life, short-term and long-term disability and flexible spending accounts (health care, dependent care, transit and parking). Our 401k provides up to a 10% match and includes a Roth account. DMI reserves the right to change or end its benefits plans or programs at any time.

ABOUT DAIRY MANAGEMENT INC.

Dairy Management Inc.™ (DMI) is funded by America’s nearly 28,000 dairy farmers, as well as dairy importers. Created to help increase sales and demand for dairy products, DMI and its related organizations work to increase demand for dairy through research, education and innovation, and to maintain confidence in dairy foods, farms and businesses. DMI manages National Dairy Council and the American Dairy Association, and founded the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. DMI works with state and regional promotion organizations to implement these programs across the country.

Dairy Management Inc.™ is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We regret it is not possible to communicate with candidates except those who most closely match our requirements. Thank you.