Where It All Began: The Moderna Mindsets

My work with Moderna began in 2021 with an internal communications project. The company had gone from small startup to global enterprise virtually overnight, and its leaders were laser focused on sustaining its culture as it grew. From a series of conversations about what allowed Moderna to create the Covid-19 vaccine at an unprecedented speed in the first place came the Moderna Mindsets, a set of 12 cultural principles that codify what makes Moderna unique. I worked with the Brand + Communications and HR teams at Moderna to design and deploy a multi-phased internal communications program that teaches the Mindsets to every Moderna employee. My team positioned Tracey Franklin, the company’s CHRO, as the spokesperson for the Mindsets and successfully garnered media coverage in top tier publications such as Forbes and Fortune.

From Supporting the CHRO to the Entire Executive Committee

Fast forward to a year later, and Moderna decided that the results for their CHRO were so powerful that they wanted to invest resources in building thought leadership platforms for the entire C-suite. I worked with my client at Moderna to develop a scope of work focused on launching this executive visibility initiative. My team’s remit spanned media, awards, speaking engagements, and social. We leveraged each executive’s areas of expertise and personal passions to create multichannel, 360-degrees plans. We amplified their unique contributions to the industry while simultaneously pivoting the corporate narrative beyond Covid-19. By helping Moderna show up in unexpected ways and in unexpected places, my team re-focused the industry, media, and investor community on Moderna’s “second act,” highlighting the company’s robust pipeline of mRNA medicines in various stages of development.

Celebrating Moderna’s Second Act on Stages Across the Country

Our team was deeply invested in Moderna’s success, and we celebrated each and every one of the many wins from this program, including numerous speaking engagements that we secured for the company’s executives:

• CEO Stephane Bancel’s earned speaking engagements at CES 2023 and Fast Company Innovation Festival 2023

• Chief Brand Officer Kate Cronin’s “Changemakers” panel at SXSW 2023

• Chief Legal Officer + President of the Moderna Charitable Foundation Shannon Thyme Klinger’s fireside chats on the Health Equity Impact Stage at HLTH 2022 and HLTH 2023

• CIO Brad Miller’s participation in an earned panel on drug discovery at HLTH 2023