VP Communications & Public Affairs

Chicago, IL (On-site)

$230K/yr – $290K/yrSenior Level15+ years expFull time

Posted 2 months ago

Top 1% of applicants do these two things.

The other 99% submit and hope. You're about to do something different.

Job Summary

Own and protect TAG\'s external affairs narrative across earned media, crisis, social care, and public policy to shape perception and trust while preparing executives for high-stakes engagement.

  • Own enterprise external affairs with a unified narrative across media, policy, and community engagement.
  • Prepare executives for high-stakes media and policy engagements with rigorous, commercially grounded counsel.
  • Build crisis readiness and real-time engagement programs that protect reputation and support patient experience.

Job Description

Responsibilities
  • Own TAG's enterprise external affairs strategy end-to-end - earned media, crisis, social care, community engagement and public affairs with a single, cohesive narrative at the center.
  • Serve as the primary reputational steward for TAG and its portfolio brands, proactively shaping how the organization is perceived by media, consumers, policymakers and communities.
  • Partner with the SVP, Head of Communications to align external affairs execution with enterprise narrative and brand strategy.
  • Advise executive leadership with clear, commercially-grounded counsel on reputational risk, emerging issues and external opportunity not just communication tactics.
  • Drive a proactive earned media program that positions TAG and its portfolio brands - Aspen Dental, ClearChoice, WellNow, Chapter and Lovet as authoritative voices in their respective categories, unified by a common narrative of accessible, high-quality care — across national, regional, trade and digital media.
  • Build and protect executive visibility for TAG's senior leadership, with a focus on thought leadership that advances the brand's commercial and reputational agenda.
  • Ensure enterprise messaging, brand narratives and executive communications are consistent, credible and differentiated across all external channels.
  • Counsel and prepare executives for high-stakes media, public and policy engagements with rigor and specificity.
  • Own TAG's crisis and issues management function - serving as the operational lead during any incident with reputational, legal, or consumer impact, with a mandate to contain, respond and resolve with speed.
  • Engineer crisis readiness as infrastructure: playbooks, escalation protocols, scenario planning and executive preparation that are tested and current - not built reactively.
Requirements
  • 15+ years of experience in external affairs, corporate communications, public relations, or reputation management, with demonstrated senior-level leadership.
  • Proven experience leading crisis and issues management in complex, high-visibility environments.
  • Strong media relations expertise, including executive positioning and national media engagement.
Preferred
  • Experience overseeing social care or real-time engagement functions strongly preferred.
  • Experience in healthcare, consumer services, retail, or regulated industries strongly preferred.
  • Demonstrated senior-level leadership in external affairs, corporate communications, public relations, or reputation management.
Benefits
  • A generous benefits package that includes paid time off, health, dental, vision, and 401(k) savings plan with match
The Aspen Group logo

The Aspen Group

3.2 Glassdoor

When we launched Aspen Dental, we set out to break down the barriers that made it hard for patients to keep up with their dental health — affordability, transparency, and access. We knew the key to better patient care started with the provider, so we changed how the dental business worked. We built new relationships, expertise, and tools to help dentists run their businesses more effectively and better care for their patients. Fast forward, and over 25 years later, we’ve launched more than 1000 Aspen Dental locations—by doing so, we are proud to say we have changed access to dental care nationwide. But there’s more work to do. Healthier, happier smiles were just our beginning.We come together to launch TAG – The Aspen Group, and we are officially expanding beyond dental to embrace a new vision. As we transform Aspen Dental, Chapter, ClearChoice, WellNow, and Lovet into one family, we’re setting out to achieve one simple goal together: to bring better healthcare to more people - because we believe in a future where health and wellness is accessible for all. While our vision now is broader, how we achieve it remains the same. The best care starts with the provider, and TAG exists to power them so they can meet patients where they are, no matter their specialty, and deliver better care. Because we know that at the end of the day, better healthcare is simple — empower the provider and their teams and the rest will follow.United as one group, we’re not just breaking down barriers, today we’re breaking through. We’re challenging the status quo. Together we can prove healthcare can be better for both providers and patients. Together we can bring better healthcare to more people.

Founded in 1998
Chicago, Illinois, USA
934 employees (112 in marketing)
43% recommend to a friend
50% CEO approval

Traffic Signals

Monthly Visitors
32.3K
Traffic Source Mix
Search
41.1%
Direct
44.5%
Referral
12.1%
Social
1.1%
Paid
1.1%

Headcount Trend

Current headcount: ~934

Marketing Team

Marketing Team Size
83 (9% of company)
Median Career Experience
13 years
Median Tenure
3.3 years
Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
6

Recent News