Influential Women profiles Meredith Coburn, driving organizational clarity, culture, and connection in change.
Chicago, Illinois — Meredith Coburn is a communications leader, strategist, and trusted advisor with more than 14 years of experience helping organizations navigate change, strengthen culture, and align employees around business priorities. Her expertise spans executive communications, internal communications, change management, and organizational strategy, with a career dedicated to translating complex business objectives into clear, compelling narratives that inspire action and foster organizational alignment.
Most recently, Meredith served as Executive & Internal Communications Manager at Delta Dental of California, where she partnered closely with senior leadership to shape enterprise-wide communications strategies, elevate leadership messaging, and strengthen employee engagement during periods of significant transformation. Acting as a strategic counselor to executives, she played a critical role in connecting people strategy to business strategy, ensuring employees had the clarity, context, and confidence needed to navigate change and contribute meaningfully to organizational success.
In this role, Meredith helped design and execute communications approaches that supported enterprise priorities while reinforcing a cohesive organizational culture. She worked across functions to ensure messaging consistency, strengthened leadership visibility, and advanced initiatives aimed at improving employee understanding and engagement during times of operational and strategic evolution. Her work reflected a deep belief that effective communication is not only about information-sharing, but about building trust, alignment, and shared purpose across an organization.
Before joining Delta Dental, Meredith spent more than six years at Edelman, where she advised clients across a range of industries on corporate communications, employee engagement, and reputation-building initiatives. At Edelman, she developed and executed strategies designed to help organizations strengthen internal alignment, elevate leadership narratives, and enhance stakeholder trust in increasingly complex business environments. Her work consistently focused on helping organizations communicate with authenticity and clarity, particularly during periods of change and transformation.
Meredith began her career at JPMorgan Chase, where she built a strong foundation in corporate communications and stakeholder engagement within the commercial banking sector. This early experience provided her with a deep understanding of large-scale organizational dynamics, regulated environments, and the importance of precise, consistent messaging across diverse stakeholder groups.
Throughout her career, Meredith has been recognized for her ability to build trusted relationships, influence across functions, and lead with both empathy and strategic rigor. She is known for her ability to bridge leadership vision with employee experience, ensuring that communication strategies not only inform but also inspire action. Her approach is grounded in the belief that communications plays a critical role in shaping organizational culture and enabling business performance.
Meredith is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. A lifelong learner, she is particularly interested in the intersection of communications, leadership, and emerging technologies, including the growing role of artificial intelligence in shaping the future of employee engagement and organizational storytelling. She views this evolving landscape as an opportunity for communicators to strengthen their strategic impact while preserving the human elements of empathy, trust, and authenticity.
Reflecting on her career, Meredith attributes her success to curiosity, courage, and a commitment to lifting others along the way. She believes growth begins with asking questions and remaining open to new perspectives. Curiosity, she notes, expands thinking, challenges assumptions, and creates opportunities to learn from people with different backgrounds and experiences.
She has also consistently leaned into experiences that stretch her comfort zone, whether leading cross-functional initiatives, advocating for colleagues, or speaking up for greater inclusivity. Through these experiences, Meredith has learned that leadership is not defined by having all the answers, but by showing up consistently, remaining open to learning, and having the courage to contribute even in uncertain or complex environments.
Relationships have also played a central role in Meredith’s approach to leadership and career development. She views a professional network not as a competitive scoreboard, but as an ecosystem built on mutual support and shared success. In her experience, the strongest professional relationships are formed through trust, generosity, and a willingness to create opportunities for others.
For Meredith, one of the most fulfilling aspects of leadership is lifting others. She believes influence becomes more powerful when it is shared rather than concentrated, and she has found that investing in the success of others ultimately amplifies collective impact. This philosophy has guided her approach to mentorship, collaboration, and team leadership throughout her career.
A mentor once shared with Meredith that when professionals openly share their lessons learned—alongside their successes—they create opportunities for others to connect, learn, and see themselves in similar experiences. This perspective has remained a guiding principle in her leadership philosophy. While accomplishments and milestones are important, she recognizes that some of the most meaningful lessons emerge from challenges, setbacks, and unexpected outcomes.
Meredith believes that vulnerability plays a key role in building trust. By sharing challenges honestly and reflecting on lessons learned, leaders create environments where others feel more confident navigating their own journeys. She emphasizes that growth is rarely linear, and that mistakes do not define a person’s potential or long-term trajectory. Instead, she views openness and reflection as essential components of authentic leadership.
This belief has shaped the kind of leader Meredith strives to be—one who transforms individual experiences into shared learning and collective progress. She is committed to fostering environments where transparency, learning, and growth are actively encouraged.
For young women entering the communications field, Meredith offers guidance centered on curiosity, voice, and perspective. She encourages early-career professionals to remember that success is not a zero-sum game. In her view, there is room for everyone to grow, contribute, and thrive, and strong teams are built on diverse perspectives and complementary strengths.
She emphasizes the importance of balancing self-advocacy with support for others. Celebrating colleagues’ successes, helping teammates grow, and actively contributing to a collaborative culture are, in her experience, just as important as ensuring one’s own contributions are visible and valued. She encourages young professionals to speak up, ask questions, and trust in the value of their perspectives.
Meredith also highlights that confidence is not rooted in having all the answers, but in a willingness to engage, learn, and contribute meaningfully. She believes that professional growth comes from embracing new experiences, seeking feedback, and remaining open to continuous development.
Within her field, Meredith sees a significant opportunity to redefine the role of communications within organizations. Historically viewed as a function focused on distributing information, communications is increasingly recognized as a strategic discipline that enables trust-building, alignment, and effective change management.
At the same time, she acknowledges the challenges organizations face in today’s rapidly evolving environment. Employees are navigating unprecedented levels of change driven by technological advancement, shifting workplace expectations, and broader economic uncertainty. In this context, employees are seeking not only information, but also clarity, transparency, and meaningful connection.
The rise of artificial intelligence adds further complexity to this landscape. While AI offers opportunities to enhance efficiency and personalize communications at scale, Meredith believes it also underscores the continued importance of human-centered skills such as empathy, judgment, trust, and authentic storytelling.
She believes organizations that will thrive in this environment are those that leverage technology to enhance human connection rather than replace it. Communications leaders, she notes, have a unique opportunity to guide this evolution by fostering clarity, strengthening relationships, and building cultures where employees feel informed, valued, and empowered.
Trust and inclusivity remain central values in Meredith’s work and life. She views trust as the foundation of all meaningful relationships and organizational success. When individuals feel trusted and empowered, they are more likely to innovate, collaborate, and support one another. Inclusivity, she adds, ensures that diverse perspectives are not only present but actively valued in decision-making processes.
More broadly, Meredith is passionate about the idea that leadership is becoming increasingly relational rather than hierarchical. She envisions a future where influence is defined less by titles and organizational structures and more by the ability to build trust, create opportunities, and elevate others.
She believes that the true measure of leadership lies not only in personal achievement, but also in the opportunities created, the people supported, and the communities strengthened along the way. At this stage of her career, Meredith is focused on continuous learning, meaningful contribution, and helping others grow alongside her.
Outside of her professional work, Meredith enjoys reading, spending time outdoors, and exploring creative pursuits, including modeling and on-camera work. She is also a passionate advocate for mentorship and believes that leadership is ultimately defined by the opportunities we create for others to learn, grow, and succeed.
Learn More about Meredith Coburn:
Through her Influential Women profile: https://influentialwomen.com/connect/Meredith-Coburn
Influential Women
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