Reebok International Denise Kaigler — Head of Global Corporate Communications and Corporate Citizenship, Reebok and Corporate Communications U.S., adi- das Group Denise Kaigler is the head of global corporate communications and corporate citizenship for Reebok International Ltd. and corporate communications in the United States for the adidas Group, the parent company of Reebok. Ms. Kaigler also serves as the chief company spokesperson and the communica- tions strategist for the president and CEO of Reebok. In April 2007, she assumed the additional responsibility of heading the company's first-ever global corporate citizenship function, expanding upon the brand's long-standing com- mitment to human rights. In addition to her Reebok brand responsibilities, Ms. Kaigler also supports the corporate communications programs and initiatives in the U.S. for the adidas Group. Prior to her current role, Ms. Kaigler was Reebok's senior vice president of corporate relations and chief communications officer. Before coming to Reebok in 1991, Ms. Kaigler served as director of communi- cations for Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. Before entering the public relations field in 1989, she was a journalist, reporting for WLTZ-TV (NBC affiliate) in Columbus, Ga. and WHDH-TV (NBC affiliate) in Boston, Mass. Ms. Kaigler is an active participant in several professional organizations, including the Arthur W. Page Society, PR Seminar, the Public Relations Society of America and the Boston Association of Black Communicators. She has received several honors for her professional accomplishments and dedication to community service. In March 2004, she was honored as one of the 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business by The Network Journal mag- azine. In January 2005, she was selected as one of the six Women to Watch in 2005 by Boston Women's Business magazine. Also in 2005, Denise received the Exceptional Women in Business award from Boston radio station Magic 106.7, the Academy of Women Achievers award from the YWCA, the Mary Eliza Mahoney award from the Dimock Community Health Center, and the Alumni Achievement award from Emerson College. In 2006, Denise was named to Profiles in Diversity Journal's list of Women Worth Watching in 2006. She also delivered the 2006 commencement address at Western New England College, where she received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Ms. Kaigler graduated from Emerson College in Boston in 1985, where she majored in journalism. She currently resides in Massachusetts with her husband, a Boston attorney, and their two children. Q&A with Denise Kaigler What is your role within your company? I oversee global brand public relations for the Reebok brand, so that entails overseeing the PR programs and initiatives that impact our product and marketing programs, so working with a team to market our new products and marketing programs in the media. I manage the global communications on the Reebok corporate level and support Paul Harrington, the president and CEO of Reebok, on his communications initiatives. I travel with Paul around the world doing press interviews and launch events when we sign new athletes and new entertainers; we do the initial announcement, then Paul and I travel to wherever in the world that event is. On the Reebok corporate level, I oversee internal communications and any press outreach that con- nects with any of our administrative functions like human resources, real estate and facilities, human rights, those types of CAREER 8 LIBRARY © 2007 Vault, Inc. View from the Top: Advice from Top Minority Executives Reebok International things that are non-brand related. And then the third part of my role is corporate communications U.S. for the adidas Group, so I support all the communications efforts on behalf of the group that happen in the U.S. What are some steps that you took to get to the position that you are in now? Remaining consistent, steady, and most of all, just being very definitive about what I wanted to do. I was focused on one thing, and that was simply to be the best communications practitioner I could be. Reebok isn’t so much my career; communications is my career, and I have always stayed focused in some shape or form on communications, and that’s pretty much what’s helped to define my success. When you came into the position, were you given all of these responsibili- ties at once, or was it more gradual? Prior to the acquisition, I had been responsible for all internal communications and the Reebok corporate area. Also, the team worked with all the administrative-type functions—HR, finance, human rights. After the acquisition, what was added to that role was the brand PR piece which I had been responsible for a few years ago, and strengthening the corporate communica- tions function. So they centralized all communications and PR under one function, which was me. Rather than have the peo- ple in Germany start to fly over to the U.S. more—because with the Reebok acquisition it meant that they wanted and needed to be in the U.S. more—they felt that the management of the U.S. for corporate communications for the group was best han- dled by someone already in the U.S., and because I had a great deal of experience doing it, they added that to the area of my responsibility as well. How did you choose the field of communications? I majored in broadcast journalism in college, and I started off as a television news reporter in Georgia. I had dreams of being the White House correspondent flying on Air Force One and standing on the lawn of the White House, but when I was at Channel 7 and currently the NBC affiliate here in Boston, I realized that I was not going to achieve these lofty goals I had in my head as a student, and I don’t think I had what it took to achieve some of those goals. I also did not feel like having a career as a reporter because they call the reporter the “rolling stone” and there’s a reason for that—being a reporter isn’t very con- ducive to having a very stable family life, because you’re moving from market to market to market, wherever the next big opportunity is, and I’m very much a family-oriented person. I like having a career and a family, and having a career in jour- nalism I did not think was going to do that for me, so I decided to take those skills that I had acquired and some of those rela- tionships that I had established, and it was a natural transition to move from the reporting side over to the PR side. Quite a few people have actually made that kind of jump, so it’s actually worked well. I do believe I was meant to do this. What are some things that you learned on the job and not in the classroom? Mostly everything, with the exception of the three “R’s”—reading, writing and arithmetic. I think the biggest thing I learned in school was how to take care of myself, how to let things roll off my back—I was an independent student; I financed my own college education, which was really hard, and I worked multiple jobs while I was in school, and that really thickened my skin. It really prepared me for some of the challenges I’ve encountered in the real world. What kind of jobs did you have while you were in college? I worked at Filene’s in the coat department that turns into the swimsuit department in the spring. I worked as the front desk receptionist at the Boston Phoenix. I worked for a company called InCom, International Compensation, and I was a recep- tionist there. I also had part-time on-campus jobs at Emerson—I worked in the dean’s office and did some clerical support work there. It was all hard, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. In fact, I’m so focused about making sure that my husband and I adequately prepare for the college expenses for my kids so they don’t have to do that. Visit the Vault Diversity Channel for diversity program profiles of 100s of top employers, insider advice CAREER 9 from executives about workplace diversity and more. Go to www.vault.com/diversity LIBRARY View from the Top: Advice from Top Minority Executives Reebok International I was fortunate that I got through it and had some success in my career, but it would have been a lot nicer to not have to go through some of that. Although, I wonder if I had everything handed to me on a silver platter if I would be where I am. I did not sleep a lot; I would come home from my classes or a job late, like 10 or 11 o’clock at night, and still had two or three hours of homework or studying or a project to do and then had to get up at six, 7 o’clock the next morning. I also interned through- out all of this because I had learned early on the importance of internships, so even while I was working part-time and going to school, I interned at WRKO Radio, WILD Radio and a local television station. I think my mother is the one who helped me realize it could be done. She raised three kids alone and she worked multiple jobs. I don’t think I appreciated what she did for us until I was in the situation of putting myself through school and working sever- al jobs.