Mary C. Foerster
Vice President
Business Support, Communications and Community Affairs
Integrated Defense Systems
Mary C. Foerster is vice president of Business Support, Communications and Community Affairs for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). In this role, she oversees all worldwide media relations, internal and executive communications, global corporate citizenship, public outreach, advertising and branding, and international communications for the $32.1 billion business.
Foerster joined Boeing in 1997 as director of public relations and advertising, where she led the advertising and public relations programs for Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA). In 1999, she was named director of international corporate communications and worked closely with Boeing leadership enterprise-wide to reach key audiences outside the U.S., including media, customers, business, financial, government and other opinion leaders, suppliers, shareholders and analysts. She also was responsible for improving internal communications with the growing number of Boeing employees located outside the U.S. She was appointed to her current position in July 2002.
Prior to joining Boeing, Foerster held senior management positions with the two leading global communications agencies, Burson-Marsteller in Europe and Hill & Knowlton in Washington, D.C. As chairman of Burson-Marsteller in Central Europe (1990-93), she established the company as a market leader in Central and Eastern Europe, recruiting more than 50 local professionals. She provided strategic communications counsel to Fortune 500 companies operating in the region, including Proctor & Gamble, AT&T, Ameritech, General Electric, British Gas, Eli Lilly and Ford Motor Company. She also advised governments on privatization and mass communications. She was appointed to the Burson-Marsteller Board of Directors in 1992.
As senior vice president, Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs Worldwide (1984-90), she was based in Washington, D.C. and represented the governments of Japan, Turkey, Denmark and Germany on a wide range of trade policy issues, and prepared heads of state and other senior leaders for encounters with U.S.-based media. She represented the Electronic Industries Association of Japan for seven years on issues surrounding the U.S.-Japan Semiconductor agreement. She also developed global positioning strategies for corporate clients in Asia, the U.S. and Europe.
Before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1983, she served as deputy director of commerce, City of Philadelphia, where she directed all international trade and investment programs and served on the boards of the Philadelphia Port Corporation and the city's industrial development authorities.
She is a graduate of Smith College, Northampton, Mass., and received her master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
She currently serves on the boards of Directors of the D.C. College Access Program and Vital Voices. She also has served on the Boards of The Civic Education Project, funded jointly by the Soros Foundation and Yale University and the Seattle International Children's Festival.
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