P&G promotes Vanasse to global business unit VP

CINCINNATI: Procter & Gamble has promoted PR veteran Kelly Vanasse from director of external relations for its global beauty and grooming business to communications VP of global business units, effective November 1.

In the newly created role, Vanasse, who joined P&G in 2000, is reporting to Marc Pritchard, global marketing and brand building officer. More than 300 staffers around the world are reporting to Vanasse, including comms leaders of P&G's regional hubs in the US, as well as other countries.

Vanasse explained that the position was created to help P&G create a more “seamless” communications alignment among all of its businesses.

“As the opportunity to move into this role was presented to me, I was especially excited about the possibility of building our communications team's capabilities,” she said.

During her seven-year tenure as the global beauty and grooming business' external relations director, Vanasse said the communications efforts in other businesses, such as household care, were separate. The new role was created after the retirement of Hans Bender, P&G's VP of external relations for global household care.

Vanasse is working on communications across business units, she said. Pritchard is working to make the communications, marketing, consumer market knowledge, and design functions [work more seamlessly].

In addition to enhancing communications and social engagement capabilities, Vanasse will work on staffing to make sure that the “right people are in the right roles” for brand communications.

Prior to P&G, Vanasse served as the North American communication manager at Iams from 1995 to 2000. When Iams was acquired by P&G in 2000, she became a brand manager and then was promoted to associate director of global external relations for Iams in 2003.

In 2006, Vanasse was associate director of external relations for the grooming business, which included P&G's Gillette, Venus, and Braun brands. Two years later, she was promoted to director of external relations for Gillette before taking on her most recent position in 2009.