For Mrs. Angela Piercy, a more than decade-long career with GIS Marketing and Communications (GIS) was recently capped by her confirmation as the unit’s Chief Information Officer.
Having acted in that capacity since December 2007, her appointment has been made retroactive to September last year. Mrs. Piercy’s current goal is to convince government to shift the GIS approach from purely tactical to the more strategic: “Government’s information needs continue to change and as much as is financially possible, we must stay ahead of communication trends,” Mrs. Piercy explained.
She also places a high premium on professionalism, focusing on such key performance indicators as timeliness, quality, creativity and foresight. “GIS is a fast-paced, multi-discipline communications agency. We provide government ministries and departments with public relations and marketing services, including communications strategies, visual and electronic media communications, crisis communications, and press conference organisation and facilitation.
“This means we have to be able to produce superior work against tight deadlines – a difficult challenge that the staff must meet consistently. And they do,” Mrs. Piercy said.
She began her GIS career in December 1998 as an information officer and was promoted to Manager of Information and Public Affairs in January 2006. In that position, she supervised the development of branding, marketing and public communications strategies. Her assignment as Acting Chief Information Officer followed the retirement of the-then Chief Information Officer, Patricia Ebanks.
“Pat was dedicated to public service,” Mrs. Piercy said. “She also was instrumental in providing significant opportunities for me to improve as a communicator – especially through on-the-job training and educational pursuits.”
Mrs. Piercy has a master’s in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; and a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York. She has more than 20 years’ media experience, including extended periods as a journalist and newspaper editor, both in the US and locally.
