Director of Public Relations

Position Summary:

Advance The Morton Arboretum’s mission by developing and implementing earned and shared media strategies. Heighten the reputation of the Arboretum as a leading center of tree expertise, science, conservation, and education. Grow awareness and participation with a diversity of audiences through effective public relations, communications, and social media strategies.

Essential Functions:

• Develop integrated earned and shared media plans to advance organizational reputation, awareness, and participation with a diversity of audiences. 
• Generate outbound mission-aligned story ideas, write and edit content, pitch stories to local, national, and international media outlets, and report on results. 
• Collaborate with colleagues throughout the Marketing and Guest Experience department to create integrated plans and ensure aligned communications. 
• Serve as the primary media contact and spokesperson for the Arboretum. 
• Build and foster effective working relationships with the media. 
• Secure media coverage for the Arboretum across a wide variety of platforms and media types, including both English and Spanish-language outlets.
• Provide media training and targeted message development for staff spokespeople. 
• Ensure spokesperson preparation and guidance is provided by the Public Relations team for all interviews. 
• Develop communications that advance the Arboretum as a leading center of tree expertise, emphasizing work in science and conservation, plant collections, and education. 
• Distill complex topics for target audiences. 
• Collaborate with Arboretum teams to surface stories that underscore the Arboretum’s mission. 
• Oversee the Arboretum’s social media platforms and content strategy, and drive continued innovation and experimentation in reaching new audiences. 
• Position Arboretum thought leadership and craft institutional messages for internal and external use. 
• Guide editorial strategies and contribute to a variety of types of writing including press releases, social media content, op-eds and executive communications, fact sheets, and messaging documents. 
• Support the development of internal and executive communications, working with the vice president of marketing and guest experience. 
• Manage crisis communications and collaborate with the vice president of marketing and guest experience on crisis preparedness. 
• Update and distribute the Crisis Communications Plan to internal contacts annually. 
• Contribute as a member of the Emergency Operations Team. 
• Report comprehensively on earned and shared media metrics, providing consolidated reports and dashboards. 
• Share insights with management, team members, and contribute to the formation of quarterly reports to the Board of Trustees. 
• Manage the annual Public Relations budget. 
• Demonstrate alignment with the Arboretum’s employee core values to be inclusive, take ownership, work together, keep learning, and make the Arboretum exceptional. 
• Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Serve in a supervisory capacity of one or more employees, providing leadership guidance and communicating the organization's goals. This includes: Hiring, training, coaching and developing team members, by providing recognition and feedback, and evaluating performance 
• Ensuring that team members adhere to the Arboretum’s policies and procedures, and maintaining a safe and compliant work environment 
• Building and maintaining positive working relationships with team members, colleagues, and other partners to foster a collaborative and supportive work environment

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, public relations, English, Spanish, communications, or related field required. 8+ years of relevant professional experience required. Ability to work with diverse audiences required. Bilingual English-Spanish fluency preferred. Requires excellent writing, grammar, and speaking skills. Supervisory or management experience required. Demonstrated experience in media relations, social media management, message development, and related measurement required. Experience in a science-based organization working to translate complex topics to the public strongly preferred. Chicago area media relations experience preferred. SEO experience beneficial. Proficiency with Google applications beneficial.

Success Factors:

Earnest appreciation for the mission and work of an arboretum. Proactive, hands-on professional with a collaborative style and strong service mentality. Strong communication, presentation, and leadership skills with the ability to motivate a team and drive multiple initiatives simultaneously. Ability to translate complex topics into clear communications. Positive attitude and strong work ethic. Open to input and a lifelong learner.