INDIANAPOLIS: Paid-membership review service Angie's List has hired Debra DeCourcy as its first corporate communications VP.
DeCourcy, who started in the newly created role earlier this month, is reporting to the company’s founder and CMO Angie Hicks. She is overseeing a department of four people, but told PRWeek that Angie’s List is planning to expand the group.
One of her direct reports is Cheryl Reed, who has served as the company’s director of communications since 2007.
Reed has positioned the company from a media relations standpoint, but Angie’s List created the VP role because no one had previously evaluated its communications holistically, DeCourcy said.
DeCourcy’s responsibilities include telling the company’s story both internally and externally to customers, service providers, and consumers at large. In addition, she is tasked with putting processes in place for actions relative to communications, such as building an overarching strategy for the company.
DeCourcy will also communicate with Angie’s List staffers, another area on which the company did not previously focus.
"Angie’s List now has 2,500 employees, so it is not a little startup company anymore," DeCourcy added. "We continue to grow, and we realize there needs to be overall focus on that stakeholder group as well."
Most recently, DeCourcy served as executive communications director for brand engagement agency Northlich. She left the role in mid-September.
A representative from Northlich was not immediately available to comment on who has replaced DeCourcy.
Previously, she was VP and director of corporate communications for Fifth Third Bancorp for nearly eight years and has served as executive counselor at Dan Pinger PR.
