As director of External Communications and Community Relations, Christy Phillips-Brown oversees public relations, media relations, executive communications, crisis communications and community relations for Food Lion, one of the nation's largest grocers. In this role, she is responsible for developing and implementing proactive media relations programs, creating community relations that inspire customer loyalty and protecting the company's reputation through effective issues management.
Prior to joining the company in 2009, Phillips-Brown served as senior vice president and chief media strategist at Wachovia Corporation. She joined Wachovia's communications department as a vice president in 1999, and oversaw strategic external and internal communications for various business units, as well as led crisis communications and reputation management efforts for the company. Prior to joining Wachovia, she held positions of increasing responsibility in the communications department at Duke Engineering & Services.
Phillips-Brown received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications from Western Carolina University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Queens University. She is an accredited member (APR) of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and serves as President of PRSA Charlotte's Board of Directors and Charlotte chapter. In 2013, she was named to The Charlotte Business Journal's 40 under 40 business leaders in the Charlotte community, and in 2006 was named by PR News as one of the top 15 professionals in the industry to watch. In addition, Phillips-Brown serves on the board of directors of Delta Zeta Sorority as the National Vice President of Collegians, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and is a past board member of Charlotte Youth Ballet. She also served on the advisory council member for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte's Center for Global Public Relations.