Sr Mgr, External Communications & Brand - Westchester, IL

Position Overview

Follett Higher Education is a leading educational service provider and omnichannel retailer providing students, faculty and staff, parents, and fans the course materials, learning tools and retail services needed to successfully support the collegiate journey. Follett Higher Education supports over 6 million students through its 1,100 physical and 1,750 eCommerce campus stores across North America.

The Senior Manager of External Communications & Brand leads corporate communications, media relations, and brand presence for Follett Higher Education. This role serves as the internal hub for press releases, media outreach, and executive visibility while stewarding our brand across Follett.com, corporate social media, and other key touchpoints. The Senior Manager cultivates relationships with national, local, and trade media; designs an executive thought leadership program; and ensures consistent, high-quality storytelling and visual identity across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Media Relations & Issues Management: Proactively pitch and secure coverage; write and distribute press releases for new business, renewals, partnerships; build and maintain reporter/editor relationships; monitor media/social.
• Brand Management & Events/Sponsorships/Awards: Own how Follett shows up on Follett.com and corporate social; ensure consistency of voice, tone, and visual identity; drive PR for campus store openings and sponsorship activations; research and manage corporate and leadership award submissions.
• Executive Thought Leadership & Measurement: Build and run an EC thought leadership program (speaking, bylines, interviews, LinkedIn presence); coach leaders on messaging; track coverage, share of voice, and sentiment; use insights to optimize strategy and report ROI.
• Handle crisis communications and develop rapid response playbooks in partnership with EC and legal.
• Execute special projects as assigned.

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
• 5-7 years of experience in public/media relations/crisis communications.
• Proven media placements (national/trade/local).
• Executive thought leadership programs, crisis/issues support, and brand governance.
• Strong MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel skills.
• Ability to resolve complex problems and take action independently.
• Strong negotiation and communication skills.
• Occasional evenings/weekends for launches, events, and crisis comms or rapid-response needs.
• Typical office environment; extended computer use; ability to communicate clearly and lift up to 25 lbs occasionally.