I-Comm Week - Speaker Bio

Jocelyn K. Allen
Vice President - Communications
OnStar

Jocelyn K. Allen was named vice president of communications for OnStar January 1, 2007. She is responsible for communicating the strategic direction of the brand to all internal and external audiences. She also serves as a member of the OnStar Senior Leadership Board.

Prior to her current assignment with OnStar, Allen was manager of broadcast media relations for General Motors. In this role, she was responsible for handling all broadcast requests (television, radio, internet) regarding executive interviews, product exposure, and corporate initiatives.

Before that, Allen was the external communications manager for GM’s philanthropic, community relations and diversity activities. She was responsible for developing and implementing the strategic communication of GM’s philanthropic efforts and community relations to the media. Allen worked with such organizations as the NAACP, the Coalition on Temporary Shelter, the Rosa Parks Foundation, and many other civic and volunteer organizations to ensure that their community efforts were publicized.

Allen began her career as a freelance production assistant working on films, commercials, and music videos. As a natural progression, she moved on to television, to work as a stage manager for the local NBC affiliate, WDIV. After four years there, she began her corporate communications career as a GM internal communications manager responsible for the selection and training of internal communications professionals in North America. Allen was also the stage-manager of the Detroit segment of the CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade for seven years. In July 2001, she was chosen to be the stage manager for the Detroit 300 concerts featuring Stevie Wonder, Tim Allen, and Della Reese.

Allen is a member of the International Association of Business Communications (IABC), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the Automotive Press Association (APA), and the Directors Guild of America (DGA). She currently serves on the American Heart Association – Southeastern Michigan Chapter Go Red for Women Executive Leadership Committee., the 2008 American Red Cross – Southeastern Michigan Chapter Hero Awards Dinner Host Committee, and the host committee for the 2008 PRSA International Conference.

In 2002, Allen founded an organization, Divas4Life. Divas4Life is a not-for-profit program dedicated to fostering determined, inspired, victorious, adventurous (DIVA) young women, ages 8-18, through the instruction of life-sustaining skills. In 2004, Allen received the Multicultural Humanitarian Award from the Alan Miller Foundation and the National Diversity Opportunity Council for her work in the community.

A native of Detroit, Allen attended Benedictine High School. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1991 and will receive her master’s degree in Organizational Communications and Public Relations from Wayne State University in the spring. She is the single mother of a 15 year old son Michael.

Jocelyn K. Allen