During a 36-year communications career at some of the world’s most admired corporations, Angela Buonocore led award-winning advertising and PR campaigns, launched new brands and built existing ones, created philanthropic efforts, served as the senior communications strategist on initial public offerings and spinoffs, and identified and developed some of the top communications talent in the industry.
After graduating from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising in 1978, she joined General Electric where she spent five years in communications roles in product divisions in Auburn, N.Y. and Salem, Va. In 1983, she was recruited by IBM’s Personal Computer business unit, then headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, where she served as a media relations representative, followed by an assignment as advertising manager.
She then took a communications role in IBM’s U.S. headquarters in Purchase, N.Y., first running employee communications, and then leading a PR team. In preparation for assuming an executive post, she served as understudy to the General Manager of all communications in the U.S., who had a team of more than 700 employees involved in every aspect of corporate communications. She was then named director of communications programs, where she led industry conferences, recognition events, speechwriting and a publications joint venture with The New York Times.
In 1994, she joined PepsiCo as head of employee communications for Pepsi-Cola North America in Somers, N.Y. She was tapped to lead all the communications for the company’s spinoff of its bottling operations in 1999, and was subsequently named Vice President of Communications for the newly formed Pepsi Bottling Group.
In 2007, she was named Vice President of Communications for ITT Corporation, leading a global team of communications professionals for this industrial conglomerate, and was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer in May 2008. During her tenure in this role, she designed and launched ITT Watermark, a corporate social responsibility program linked to the global water business. This effort engaged employees through volunteerism centered on providing safe water, sanitation, and hygiene education, as well as emergency response efforts in the aftermath of crises, all in water-challenged areas of the globe. The program was taken to the Xylem business after its spinoff from ITT and was honored by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy in 2012 with the Excellence Award in Corporate Philanthropy, a top honor in global corporate citizenship.
In 2011, ITT spun off its defense and water businesses, and Buonocore led the communication efforts associated with positioning the new companies to the media and employees, and the creation of two new corporate brands, Xylem and Exelis. After the transaction was completed in October 2011, she became SVP and Chief Communications Officer for Xylem. She retired from that post in December 2014. During her tenure as a communications executive, Buonocore was a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, where she served on the board, and the Wisemen, both organizations of communications leaders.
In 2010, she was named by the National Organization for Women’s founding New York City chapter as a Woman of Power and Influence. She was also named to the UF College of Journalism and Communications Hall of Fame in 2007. She was the founding chair and is a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council of the College, charged with philanthropic leadership and increasing recognition among key constituencies of the College’s leading-edge programs, outstanding faculty and top-ranked students.