Erika Glon’s Journey from Military services Protection Forces to Foremost CACI’s Comprehensive-Support Marketing and advertising Workforce
Signing up for the military designed Erika Glon recognize her probable as a chief. Today, she’s harnessing that assure as vice president of marketing for CACI, establishing strategic marketing and advertising and communications strategies that enable generate enterprise expansion and elevate model and mission recognition.
“Looking back again to high school, I certainly wouldn’t have regarded as myself a chief,” Glon advised WashingtonExec. “But immediately after going as a result of coaching in the armed service, I understood that I could definitely acquire on any undertaking that was specified to me, and I could guide other folks to do the very same. The military properly trained me to direct varied groups of several dimensions and backgrounds.”
Glon put in 13 decades with the Wisconsin Air National Guard, with seven of people several years remaining on lively-duty orders. She joined in 1999 as a college or university freshman. While she wasn’t completely positive what the guard was, she was drawn to the prospect to come to be a safety forces officer. Thinking about her drive to go into federal legislation enforcement, Glon made the decision to join, and sooner or later that desire grew much better.
“It started off as a ordinary weekend job in the guard, but immediately after about two yrs, my whole globe changed,” she says. “After 9/11, I was activated to work whole-time at my foundation.”
Glon’s foundation was an hour from her school campus, so she’d get the job done 12-hour evening shifts, get minimal sleep, travel back to university for classes and then push suitable back again to base. She did this for numerous several years.
On her 21st birthday, Glon was deployed overseas to Bahrain in guidance of Operation Noble Eagle. This is where she acquired a fantastic offer of her legislation enforcement and safety working experience.
Activities to Previous a Life time
Even though in Bahrain, Glon was tasked with law enforcement and safety at an air foundation. Initially, she hesitated to acquire a semester off from school and her good friends, “but it turned out to be one of the ideal encounters of my daily life,” she claims. “It allowed me to bond deeply with my teammates and discover the which means of true comradeship and leadership.”
Glon in no way returned to being a regular faculty scholar. She continued functioning total time at the Air Nationwide Guard foundation right up until she graduated, and immediately after graduation she traveled across the U.S. to other Air Power bases that required protection help.
“I would guard multimillion-greenback federal government sources these as aircraft,” Glon explains. “And I’d accomplish all the legislation enforcement duties on the base, this kind of as apprehensions, site visitors violations and domestic abuse responses.”
In 2005, Glon acquired an chance to get the job done in strategic communications and outreach for the Defense Department in Washington, D.C.
She labored at the Pentagon for two yrs as the chief of strategic communications for the Directorate of Strategic Designs and Programming. Even though there, she designed and communicated inner and external Air Power messages all through the Quadrennial Protection Evaluate, and managed dozens of occasions on Capitol Hill and nationwide. This is in which her really like of advertising and communications commenced.
Even though at the Pentagon, Glon concurrently attended education to gain her fee in protection forces. Immediately after earning her commission in 2007, she took on the duties of main an 80-particular person unit in the absence of her commander, and she recommended senior leaders on challenges relating to world-wide and national safety as the anti-terrorism pressure security officer.
Acquiring Her Enthusiasm
Just after her time at the Pentagon, Glon pursued her enthusiasm in marketing and advertising and occasion setting up with a tiny govt contractor. Then in 2009, she turned a speech author and specific gatherings planner for the commander of the Air Drive District of Washington at Joint Foundation Andrews in Maryland. She also commenced graduate university in 2010 for general public relations and company communications at Georgetown College.
In 2011, Glon launched her profession as a authorities civilian worker in the general public affairs office at AFDW as the media director, afterwards serving as the outreach director. At some point, she turned the deputy director of community affairs.
Regretably, in the course of this time, just after 13 several years in the guard, Glon obtained a professional medical retirement for a back injury she sustained early in her vocation. She was honorably discharged in 2013.
“And as an enlisted member, I learned the art of listening and teamwork,” she claims.
Staying an officer in safety forces taught Glon to make quick decisions underneath tension and to often be accountable for her steps as a leader.
“That all interprets extremely very well to my latest work,” she states.
Glon expended a overall of 7 decades at AFDW in advance of achieving an additional turning issue in her vocation: currently being selected to the Secretary of the Air Drive Education with Market software.
The fellowship makes it possible for govt personnel to work in industry for a year. Glon left her civilian Air Drive place and was assigned to Coca-Cola in Washington, D.C., in the authorities relations workplace.
“And which is exactly where I wholly fell in really like with industry and company promoting,” she claims. “I understood that I was able of executing, and seriously required to do, so much far more marketing and advertising and strategic communications than what I was capable to do in general public affairs for the federal government.”
Right following that year with Coca-Cola, Glon was hired by CACI as the director of promoting and communications. She has not looked again considering that.
“I adore staying fast paced and understanding that my get the job done is building a variation,” she says. “I knew that would transpire below with CACI.”
Glon was drawn to CACI because of the society of integrity and ethics, and for the possibility to function for a firm that supports the armed forces and nationwide safety, even although she was not in uniform any more.
And although her track record in safety and legislation enforcement doesn’t customarily direct by itself to a career in promoting and communications, Glon states the key values instilled in her throughout teaching have about into whatsoever she is carrying out.
“I learned that leadership is about active listening, currently being approachable and doing the job collaboratively,” she claims. “These values can translate to any career.”
Major CACI’s Promoting Team
CACI’s corporate communications group is ground zero for any incoming internet marketing, branding and strategic communications requests across the total business. As vice president of internet marketing, Glon sales opportunities a little complete-provider team of movement graphic artists, designers, writers, web builders, trade exhibit supervisors and a digital media strategist.
“We’re a really smaller workforce, but we’re very mighty and all people is an qualified at what they do,” she states. “And they’re extremely versatile and agile.”
The team’s designers generate personalized, interactive graphics and multimedia productions, which visually characterize the company’s brand name to its vital audiences. The complex workforce runs the company social media accounts and the company website.
Collectively, the crew develops strategic promoting and communications campaigns, and manages logistics and execution for CACI’s participation in all of its trade demonstrates nationwide. Requests for any of the earlier mentioned arrive in day by day, so the crew is regularly prepared and on its toes.
“We husband or wife on a day-to-day foundation with our talent acquisition group, our general public relations director, the staff communications group, our range and inclusion group, authorized, export regulate, you title it,” Glon claims. “We function with just about each individual spot of the business, driving the communications and coordinating the method in the course of the distinct teams.”
And with all these obligations, Glon states, the communications staff continues to be laser-centered on the company’s expansion and how to include to it.
In the past yr, it has made various strategic communications strategies enterprisewide, and hundreds of marketing belongings that have additional worth to the business by advertising advancement and producing rely on and consciousness among the crucial audiences.
“And they regularly fortify our brand name and core messages across all internet marketing platforms,” Glon claims.
Her team’s electronic campaigns and trade exhibit requests have greater significantly around the earlier calendar year. She does not see that slowing down at any time before long.
“I’m quite very pleased of all the advertising strategies, dozens of them, that the crew has executed, and the customized messaging and graphics that arrive with every single a single,” Glon claims.
And for the remainder of the calendar year, Glon and her team are making an staff advocacy method that will empower personnel to share significant news and engaging content. They’re also placing together an external marketing campaign to honor CACI’s legacy all through its 60th anniversary in July.
The Good results that Sticks with You
Glon and her crew have arrived at considerable milestones in the past pair of several years, like redesigning and launching the company’s site in 2020, which in the end gained a Stevie Award.
She’s most happy of her small and gifted crew in general.
“The men and women that I do the job with who set their heart and soul into every single job that they do, and the collaboration that we have with the various groups in just the firm, is actually a thing to be very pleased of,” she adds.
Along with the wins Glon has obtained at CACI, she’s immensely happy of symbolizing CACI as a corporate dancer in D.C.’s Dancing with the Stars gala.
“I was ready to do that for three many years and elevate about $230,000 for homeless veterans in Washington, D.C.,” she suggests.
The money elevated was donated to Procedure Renewed Hope Foundation, for which Glon sits on the board of advisers. And as a disabled veteran, encouraging veterans is very close to Glon’s heart.
“I was by no means a dancer, but it was an option that introduced alone to me,” she suggests. “And I’m extremely grateful for that, and grateful that I could give back again to homeless veterans.”
Much like what led to her experiences and successes during her eclectic profession, Glon advises other people to be open, just take possibilities and be unafraid to make bold career moves.
“Never end learning and never halt expanding,” she suggests. “Be open up to discovering something new every single working day- you under no circumstances know who you’re heading to master some thing from.” When someone enjoys their task the way Glon says she loves hers, work becomes pleasing and rewarding.
“Once you obtain that work that you love, just be you,” she suggests. “Life will throw you curveballs and points are likely to get complicated, but just take the large highway and retain your integrity, and you can not go completely wrong with that.”
Of training course, achievements does not occur without the need of guidance. Glon states she wouldn’t have been ready to do any of this without her loved ones — her husband and two children — and a passion for what CACI stands for.
“CACI is profoundly supportive of national stability, our persons and our prospects nationwide, and the function we do displays that,” she says.
