Nicole Sikora Heschong

Current

• VP; Communications Manager II at Bank of America

Past

• Freelance Writer at Business North Carolina Magazine
• Freelance Writer at Today's Charlotte Woman magazine
• Freelance Writer at Marquee Publications

• Project Manager / Forum Administator (Volunteer) at Downtownjc.org
• Editor at Pace Communications
• HR Communication Consultant at Wachovia
• Executive Director at Southwestern Virginia Technology Council
• Senior Staff Writer at Business Journal of Tri-Cities TN/VA

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Education

• Bank of America Learning & Leadership Development
• East Tennessee State University
• Wachovia Learning & Leadership Development

• Agnes Scott College
• Science Hill High School

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2 more...

Recommended

10 people have recommended Nicole Sikora

Connections

212 connections

Industry

Public Relations and Communications

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Summary

15+ years experience in professional communications and publishing, including:
o Writing and editing
o Content planning for print, Web, broadcast,
conferences and speaking engagements
o Staff development and re-engineering processes
o Client management
o New business/product development

10 years experience participating in social media, including online forums, blogs, networking sites, messaging services and other social media platforms

6 years experience in social media forum moderation / community management

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Specialties:

** Organizational communication
** Community publishing
** Change and technology adoption
** Social media strategy, content/community development and moderation
** Business strategy and innovation
** Associate engagement
** Product, talent and brand development
** Building strategic alliances across community,
business, government and not-for-profits
**

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Experience

• VP; Communications Manager II

  Bank of America

  (Public Company; BAC; Banking industry)

  August 2006 — Present (3 years 4 months)

  Design communication and adoption plans for up to 8 major technology initiatives. Serve as relationship manager for 2 executives. Lead and/or contribute to multiple communication deliverables, many involving cross-functional or enterprise teams. Strong emphasis on eCommerce, mobile, deposits and customer channel technologies, as well as consumer business strategy.
  
  Previously served as Change Manager; then Communications Manager I with 2 direct reports and up to 4 executive relationship manager engagements. Strong emphasis on enterprise information technology, corporate staff technology, change management, associate engagement, collaborative tools and social networking.
  
  Key accomplishments:
  o Wrote, edited and produced dozens of internal Web articles, executive video scripts, event support materials and other strategic communications
  o Identified new technologies and approaches to solve communication challenges
  o Served as a "connector" - continuously networking and quickly identifying people, concepts and projects with unrecognized but critical dependencies across silos
  o Created foundational enterprise technology innovation wiki for Quality & Productivity team, to serve as archive of record for multiple innovation labs and enable corp comm to evangelize innovation across the enterprise
  o Ran on-site event support and script development for the Networking and Manager Effectiveness Academy II training programs, which both received more than 90% average satisfaction scores from attendees
  o Participated in Design for Six Sigma Green Belt project to boost internal Web 2.0 capabilities
  o Promoted optional Web 2.0 education series that achieved more than 35% participation rate among eligible associates
  o Wrote 24-part educational video series

• Freelance Writer

  Business North Carolina Magazine

  (Publishing industry)

  February 2005 — December 2007 (2 years 11 months)

  Writer, concentrated on advertorial business and industry profiles.

• Freelance Writer

  Today's Charlotte Woman magazine

  (Publishing industry)

  August 2002 — 2007 (5 years )

  Writer, concentrated on personality and business profiles.

• Freelance Writer

  Marquee Publications

  (Publishing industry)

  December 1999 — December 2007 (8 years 1 month)

  Formerly served as Editor, Special Projects Manager, Freelance Writer and Consultant. As a consultant, assisted with business development, product innovation, staff development and training. As a writer, concentrated on economic development/business stories, travel stories and personality profiles.
  
  Key accomplishments:
  o Oversaw end-to-end production of over a dozen issues and special publications
  o Supported market expansion to tri-state area
  o Trained two new editors since leaving editor's chair in 2002
  o Redesigned staffing model, and authored updated job descriptions for staff
  o Participated in career development for more than 20 freelance writers
  o Created and executed concept of first "special publications" with long shelf life to increase revenue
  o Created supporting documents used to secure investor in media company and a spin-off publication

• Project Manager / Forum Administator (Volunteer)

  Downtownjc.org

  (Online Media industry)

  April 2001 — July 2007 (6 years 4 months)

  Provided end-to-end project management, social media editing and leadership for Downtown Johnson City community Web site. (Downtownjc.org - still own domain and host static presence to preserve links. Primary community presence now hosted by http://www.jcdevelopment.org/)
  
  Key accomplishments:
  o Planned overall site structure
  o Designed functionality requirements for interactive pages
  o Acquired photography
  o Negotiated design resource donation and provided primary oversight on design management
  o Wrote page content
  o Compiled/maintained community calendar and links pages
  o Built consensus/sense of community ownership among individuals and multiple downtown volunteer organizations
  o Marketed site
  o Served as administrator and editor of site's open forum, which received 8,845 posts during its lifespan.

• Editor

  Pace Communications

  (Privately Held; Publishing industry)

  March 2005 — March 2006 (1 year 1 month)

  Editor for Teradata Magazine and Teradata Magazine Japan; assisted in new business development and freelance writing for Pace.
  
  Key accomplishments:
  o Managed 4 staff members and 12+ freelance writers on Teradata Magazine
  o Oversaw 4 issues of Teradata magazine from concept to delivery, reaching an executive and technical audience in 100 countries
  o Oversaw 2 issues of Teradata Magazine Japanese edition
  o Served as chief liaison to marketing and technical editors within Teradata
  o Attended major customer conferences in Salzburg, Austria and Orlando, Florida
  o Led redesign of editorial production processes for Teradata magazine
  o Assisted in 5 new business pitches for Pace, resulting in the acquisition of one major account worth more than $1 million annually
  o Researched/wrote 15-page special section on education, economic development, health care and recreation for U.S. Airways in-flight magazine

• HR Communication Consultant

  Wachovia

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; WB; Banking industry)

  October 2002 — July 2004 (1 year 10 months)

  Served as writer and strategic communications consultant for enterprise and localized HR initiatives, including mergers/acquisitions/divestitures, time & labor/labor law, diversity and leadership development & learning.
  
  Key accomplishments:
  o Independently created internal and staff communication plans supporting a small divestiture
  o Created initial communication plans supporting change to a new technology for employee time record keeping, including risk communications
  o Provided communications support for employee engagement and many other internal campaigns

• Executive Director

  Southwestern Virginia Technology Council

  (Civic & Social Organization industry)

  December 1999 — September 2002 (2 years 10 months)

  Advanced technology public policy and awareness as first - and, at the time, only - employee of this non-profit organization. Served a 13-county area (most of Rick Boucher's 9th Congressional District) in Southwestern Virginia as part of a 9-council network of similar organizations across the Commonwealth.
  
  Key accomplishments:
  o Raised operating funds
  o Managed Board of Directors routines & member activities
  o Served as community advocate and public speaker for tech companies, economic development and public access/education initiatives
  o Lobbied state legislature with peer councils
  o Contributed articles to Virginia Technology Alliance's magazine on behalf of Southwestern region
  o Designed, promoted and supported multiple regional technology education/advocacy/networking special events
  o Oversaw development of council's Web site, including "virtual office" chat functionality
  
  Assisted as co-founder of Northeast Tennessee Technology Council (a regional companion council) and served as board member. Participated in other super-regional technology awareness initiatives.

• Senior Staff Writer

  Business Journal of Tri-Cities TN/VA

  (Publishing industry)

  September 1997 — August 1999 (2 years )

  Writer for regional business magazine serving an 11-county area of Northeast Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. Specialized in technology and economic development. Participated in parent company's Web publishing and online community strategy teams.

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Education

• Bank of America Learning & Leadership Development

  certificates of completion , Corporate Training , 2006 — 2008

  Training to date includes basic people management courses, Design for Six Sigma; Customer Experience/Banking Center Experience; Analyzing the Market; Building Brand Equity; Communication Skills for Resolving Conflict; and three Change Management courses, including Change Adoption Bootcamp. Assisted in script development and on-site event support of Networking and Manager Effectiveness Academy II training programs, which both received more than 90% average satisfaction scores from attendees.

• East Tennessee State University

  MA , Professional Communications , 2001 — 2008

  All coursework completed with 3.973 GPA. Program capstone thesis not completed - degree not awarded.

• Wachovia Learning & Leadership Development

  certificates of completion , Corporate Training , 2002 — 2004

  Completed select training, including four Change Leadership courses, One-Day Diversity Training, Writing for the Web and Managing People/Manager Orientation. Served on content review team for other Wachovia learning courses in 2004, including Employee Relations in the Workplace and Managing People/Manager Orientation.

• Agnes Scott College

  BA , English and History , 1995 — 1997

  Graduated with honors. Previous coursework transferred from East Tennessee State University (Johnson City, Tenn.; double major in English and Mass Communications) and Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, Tenn; major in Mass Communications)

  Activities and Societies:

  Co-founder of Amnesty International Chapter.

• Science Hill High School

Additional Information

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Interests:

Social networking technology, international and domestic travel, community development, fashion/style/design, consumer magazines, photography, walking and hiking

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Groups:

o Volunteered as secretary of mayorally-initiated City of Johnson City Technology Task Force from 2001-2002. Led task force's Web redesign initiative subteam, creating multi-gen plan and drafting vendor requirements for both City and Chamber of Commerce site redesigns. Presented unanimously supported proposal for funding to City Council.

•    Next Gen Market Research (NGMR) The fastest growing Consumer Insights group
•    Agnes Scott College Alumnae
•    Wachovia Alumni
•    Agnes Scott College Alumnae & Students
•    SHHS Alumni
•    Agnes Scott College Network
•    Bank of America Employees & Alumni Network
•    twitter innovators Innovation & Creativity Network of Tweeters
•    Center for Future Banking
•    Information Technology Council Charlotte Chamber
•    Business North Carolina magazine
•    Twitter Tribe for Business
•    Return to Roots

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Honors:

o Published travel photography includes:
-- "Paris Sewer Museum" in Schmap Paris Guide, Fourth Edition (available by Web, iPhone, iPod Touch). Photo taken June 2007, published 2008.
-- "Stinky Tofu/Taipei" in Travel & Leisure magazine's Web article, "World's Strangest Street Food". Photo taken May 2007, published December 2007.

o Received 2nd place in 2002 James I. Brown Student Award for Excellence in Listening Research and Theory Development at the International Listening Association Convention for study entitled, “Recognition and Recall for Natural and Synthetic Speech Between the Sexes,” a study of voice recognition software, listening and recall

o Received 1997 Sara Wilson Glendinning Prize for journalistic achievement, Agnes Scott College's only journalism prize

Nicole Sikora Heschong’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch