Melissa Levy Email & Phone Number

Saint Paul, Mn, Us

Minneapolis, Minnesota, Us

• Head of internal communications for clean energy leader with 5 million electric and natural gas customers in eight states. Team shapes enterprise and executive messaging for functions such as human resources, facilities, finance, legal/compliance, security and technology. Cultivates employer brand and fosters employee engagement via community impact communications, including the Xcel Energy Foundation, volunteerism and annual giving campaign.• Champion a holistic approach to external and internal content to build awareness and connection to priority business strategies. Sunset a legacy print magazine for reimagined digital channels (corporate blog, intranet), extending brand storytelling reach to a broader audience.• Drive major organizational change communications, including hybrid work strategy; safety culture approach; and leadership transitions including the company’s first CEO succession in a decade. Communications point for COVID-19 integrated response team that shifted many in a 25,000-person workforce to work-from-home and set new health-and-safety protocols to protect essential onsite staff. Recognized with five companywide I Deliver awards for pandemic response and other business transformations.

Atlanta, Georgia, Us

• Content lead for sports-focused restaurant chain with nearly 1,300 locations in 10 countries – refining messages by channel and ensuring consistency in quality, business impact, brand narrative, voice and tone.• Developed ownable content to amplify marquee sports sponsorships, such as the NCAA Final Four and Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl. Extended company's first-ever Super Bowl advertising – and game’s historic overtime – by directing social media engagement that generated 125 million impressions and harnessed longtime fan buzz for the brand’s mysterious tie to exciting sports moments.• Oversaw the B-Dubs TV out-of-home network; program manager was a direct report. Partnered with the Minnesota Vikings to produce the “Buffalo Wild Wings Huddle” show for national in-store broadcast.• Managed agencies and approved all website marketing copy and hierarchy. Worked with paid media team on content integrations. Collaborated on SEO and user experience testing, including a full website relaunch.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, Us

• Increased companywide awareness and demand for content, introducing a new strategic vision, capabilities, process and branding for the iconic Betty Crocker Kitchens.• Partnered with brands to rethink content strategy, evolving traditional recipes into more shareable, visual food ideas. Team’s Old El Paso work sparked the “Start Somewhere Fresh” ad campaign and was cited as a marketing organization best practice.• Created the Taste Talks speaker series to host culinary thought leaders to share their inspirations and insights – encouraging marketers to connect food trends with business opportunities.• Joined General Mills in brand public relations, serving as primary media contact for Pillsbury and the Meals division (Hamburger Helper, Old El Paso, Progresso). Brought a PR discipline to the Kitchens, establishing spokesperson request criteria and case-study tours for national media and bloggers.• Member of Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest planning team, managing creative assets and a food-trends event for media. Digital photo editor for three contests.

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

• Led the Sherwin-Williams paint stores consumer and trade PR teams, overseeing multichannel programs including a color-trends collaboration with fashion designer Cynthia Rowley. Supported the brand’s entry into social media and introduction of a color-selection app.• Point for MasterBrand Cabinets’ ease-of-use sponsorship with the Arthritis Foundation, developing media tours; kitchen-and-bath designer training; and consumer content.• Chair of retail practice, supporting business development and counseling brands such as Petco, Maytag and grocer SUPERVALU. Co-chaired client advisory team to improve agency service. Managed staff and budgets.• Teams won two national Gold SABRE awards; a national Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil; and several state PRSA honors. Left briefly in 2010 for Group Director role at a boutique PR agency; work there to launch a small business marketing lab for financial services firm Deluxe Corp. was cited as Industry Campaign of the Year by the Minnesota PRSA.

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

• Covered Target, Best Buy, Mall of America and several national specialty retailers for Upper Midwest’s largest newspaper; launched weekly “What’s in Store” trends column. Prior to retail beat, tracked general business topics, including commercial real estate, food companies, sports business and front-page news such as airline labor issues and the Minnesota tobacco trial.• Two-time winner of Page One Awards from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists.• Additional business journalism experience: The (Eugene) Register-Guard, the second-largest newspaper in Oregon and a two-time Best in Business honoree by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers during tenure, and the Orange County Business Journal in Southern California.