Citigroup promotes Jennifer Lowney to global comms head

Citigroup has promoted Jennifer Lowney to global head of communications, effective August 8, executives at the company said this week. 

Citi EVP for global public affairs Ed Skyler, to whom Lowney reports, said the role is “essentially” the job he had when he joined Citi in 2010. Over time, he added, a lot of the responsibilities shifted to Lowney. 

“[Lowney] has done a tremendous job joining the firm, and she’s more than prepared to take on these additional responsibilities, “ he said. 

Lowney joined Citi from Brunswick Group in 2014 to serve as head of corporate comms. In February, Kara Findlay assumed that position. 

In 2020, Lowney’s role expanded to include comms for the global consumer banking team, the institutional clients group group, the internal comms team and the social media unit. In her new role, she will oversee all of Citi’s comms, including regional efforts.

Lowney was a member of PRWeek’s Hall of Femme class in 2020.

Also starting on Monday, August 8, Citi’s realty services, resource and location strategy and net zero operations will become part of the global public affairs team. Chris Hayward, Citi’s head of change management, will continue to manage the absorbed functions. 

“The work they do closely compliments the objectives of our colleague and client services and [environmental, social and governance] teams so I see them seamlessly blending into [global public affairs],” Skyler said in an internal memo seen by PRWeek.  

Skyler cited the transition as the catalyst behind Lowney’s promotion. 

“With new groups joining our team, it is also critical that we assess our structure and make sure we are operating as effectively as we can, given the range of stakeholders we serve and the urgency with which many of the issues we manage materialize,” he said. 

Since Citi’s global public affairs department was formed in 2010, the team has grown to encompass functions including comms, government relations, marketing, ESG, community reinvestment act (CRA) compliance and colleague and client services. 

Citi also has appointed Lloyd Brown as chief CRA officer and Gawain Patterson as director of strategic initiatives. Patterson succeeds Josh Moskowitz, after the latter moved over to work at Citi’s impact fund department. 

In the US, Citi’s primary PR agencies are Gladstone Place Partners and FGS Global.