Assistant Vice President, External Communications
Unum

Natalie Godwin, APR is Assistant Vice President, External Communications at Unum.

Currently, she’s working in public relations but has spent just as much time in front of the cameras and producing television news.

She started her career in Greenville, North Carolina as a television reporter and has worked at stations in Los Angeles, Tampa and Washington, DC.

Natalie started her public relations career at NASA.  Robots exploring the Red Planet isn’t new.  She implemented strategic communications plans for Mars missions and space shuttle launches along with supporting minority affairs, education and technology applications at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

After NASA, she headed to Detroit to make the cars the stars. Working for General Motors, Natalie directed media relations for all of the company’s automotive brands including auto shows, new product launches and community events. She was a member of the crisis team during GM’s historic automotive bailout and bankruptcy.

Natalie spent several years tracking the latest e-commerce trends and consumer buying behaviors for global logistics leader, UPS. For her work managing media relations during the busy holiday shipping season she earned 2 PRSA Phoenix Awards & 2 IABC Golden Flame Awards.

She moved into hospitality to launch Hilton’s corporate social responsibility strategy: Travel with Purpose. She directed the global integrated communications campaign sharing the company’s bold vision to reduce its environmental footprint in half to help protect the planet, and double its social impact to drive positive change in communities by 2030. Her team also managed social media, innovation, global growth and workplace culture.

She’s an Institute Fellow with the Executive Leadership Council, serves on the board for The Skills Center, Inc. and a proud supporter and former scholarship recipient of the LAGRANT Foundation.

Natalie has a master’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.