VP, Public Affairs

About the role

The VP of Public Affairs provides strategic leadership in developing and executing long-term corporate communications and stakeholder engagement strategies that align with enterprise business objectives and industry trends. This role drives strategic execution across complex political and social environments through external stakeholder relationship management, policy landscape analysis, and thought leadership positioning—requiring deep expertise in local political dynamics, competitive positioning, and multi-stakeholder alignment.

Location: Jackson, Mississippi (onsite) | Travel: 25%–50% | FLSA: Exempt | Relocation: Level I | Union: Non-bargaining unit | Openings: 1 | Req ID: 125241

Responsibilities

• Strategically design and drive the coordination and management of anticipated issues in the regulatory and governmental arenas, using a cross-functional organization and matrix leadership influence.
• Drive proactive coordination for the use of regulatory affairs, governmental affairs, communications, consultants, third parties, and allies (advocates) to achieve strategic outcomes.
• Lead the design and implementation of long-range campaign strategies aligned with business plans and enterprise-wide strategic outcomes.
• Identify, prioritize, and drive coordination of current and future issues facing the OpCo in jurisdictional communities, regulatory, and legislative arenas.
• Identify and monitor, and proactively address special interest group issues in communities, varying customer relationships, regulatory, and legislative arenas.
• Develop and implement strategies to improve public opinion, reputational capital, and influential relationships.
• Drive a coordinated and focused effort on PSC and legislative issues by executing short- and long-term legislative strategies.
• Effectively utilize varying communication strategies and resources to manage public perception and response to adverse public opinion.
• Develop and manage grassroots organizations of employees, retirees, and allies to proactively address company issues.
• Lead strategic pursuit of initiatives including low-income programs, grants and contributions, employee volunteer programs, event coordination, social responsibility programs (The Power to Care), and retiree programs for the OpCo.
• Identify and manage coordination of volunteer opportunities for all business unit employees through community, board, and association participation to develop employees and promote Entergy's presence and commitment to the communities served.
• Strategic Planning & Execution: Develop and execute enterprise public affairs strategy aligned with 3–5 year corporate objectives and industry benchmarks; conduct environmental scanning to identify emerging trends, competitive positioning opportunities, and stakeholder sentiment shifts; translate external insights into strategic recommendations for executive leadership.
• Long-Term Campaign Leadership: Lead multi-year strategic communications campaigns focused on energy transition, operational excellence, community trust, etc.; establish campaign objectives, success metrics, and accountability measures; track progress against KPIs; manage campaign evolution based on stakeholder feedback and market dynamics.
• External Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain relationships with key external stakeholders: community leaders, media, industry peers, academic institutions, policy influencers; design and execute stakeholder engagement strategies that drive alignment around corporate initiatives; gather and synthesize stakeholder feedback into strategic insights for leadership; manage engagement strategies of the EML Advisory Board.
• Local Political & Regulatory Expertise: Monitor local political environment, electoral dynamics, and regulatory trends across service territories; brief executive leadership on political risks, opportunities, and implications for corporate strategy; develop positioning and engagement strategies that account for local political dynamics.
• Cross-Functional Alignment & Execution: Collaborate with corporate strategy, regulatory affairs, legal, HR, and operations to ensure integrated messaging and stakeholder approach; resolve conflicts between functional perspectives; drive consensus around strategic direction; ensure consistency of corporate positioning across all external communications.
• Team Leadership & Capability Building: Lead and develop public affairs team; establish processes and capabilities aligned with strategic priorities; mentor team on strategic thinking,