David Wylie

Strategic communications

I work at the intersection of strategy, reputation and storytelling.

At FortisBC, I develop and lead communications strategy for a province-wide major project, creating targeted customer communications and coordinating writers, designers and digital specialists from planning through execution.

My work includes:

• Communications strategy for major projects
• Customer and stakeholder communications
• Executive advice and leadership briefings
• Media relations and emergency response
• Editorial direction, digital content and creative production

I work closely with project teams, senior leaders, contractors, local governments and Community and Indigenous Relations colleagues to make sure communications are coordinated, useful and appropriate for the audiences they need to reach.

Issues, emergencies and media relations

Good communications matter most when circumstances get complicated.

I’ve supported communications during power outages, gas damage incidents and other fast-moving operational issues, preparing key messages, updating company leadership and responding directly to journalists.

Those situations demand speed, accuracy and judgment. Information changes quickly. Technical details need to become plain language. Customers need useful information. Reporters need answers. Leaders need a clear picture of both the issue and its communications implications.

My journalism background gives me a valuable perspective on that work.

I know what happens on the other side of the media request.

Journalism

Before advising organizations about the news, I spent years making it.

I’ve worked in journalism at the local, provincial and national levels, including leadership roles as:

News Director, Castanet Media
Managed editorial staff, newsroom priorities, content planning and social strategy.

Night Editor, The Daily Courier
Managed newsroom staff, edited stories, wrote editorials and helped shape the daily newspaper.

BC Editor, Postmedia News, Ottawa
Edited and distributed national wire coverage to major newspapers across Canada while also covering science and technology.

Managing Editor, The Daily Courier, Vernon Edition
Led the newsroom and its local coverage.

Okanagan Bureau Chief, The Vancouver Province
Covered the Interior of British Columbia for one of the province’s largest daily newspapers.

Over the years, my reporting and writing have appeared in publications across Canada.

Journalism taught me how to ask better questions, recognize the real story buried inside a mountain of information, work quickly without sacrificing accuracy and write for people rather than institutions.

I still use those skills every day.

Writing and publishing

Writing remains at the heart of what I do.

Through David Wylie Media + Communication, I’ve worked with clients on journalism, editing, publishing, digital content, SEO, email marketing, social media and media training.

I’ve written long-form magazine features, corporate communications, technical and science stories, news releases, web content and countless pieces that began with someone saying:

“This is complicated. Can you make it understandable?”

Yes. That’s one of my favourite assignments.

My magazine work has included cover stories and features for publications including Innovation, Boulevard, Thompson-Okanagan Trends and others.

I’m also the creator and publisher of the oz., an independent cannabis publication I launched in 2018 and continue to develop as a home for industry journalism, analysis and data-driven storytelling.

Leadership

I’ve spent much of my career bringing together people with very different specialties.

In newsrooms, that meant reporters, editors, photographers and designers.

In corporate communications, it means project managers, engineers, writers, designers, digital specialists, community relations professionals, contractors and executives.

I’m comfortable moving between those worlds.

I can talk strategy with leadership, work through details with subject-matter experts, edit a piece of copy, challenge an assumption, respond to a reporter and help a creative team turn an idea into something people will notice.

I believe good communications teams work best when strategy and creativity aren’t separate departments.

What I bring

More than two decades into this career, the things I’m best at have become pretty clear.

I make complex information understandable.
Technical language, dense documents and complicated projects don’t intimidate me. There’s almost always a clear story hiding in there.

I understand audiences.
My first question is rarely “What do we want to say?” It’s “What does this audience need to know?”

I know media from both sides.
I’ve been the journalist calling for answers and the spokesperson answering the phone.

I stay useful when things get busy.
Newsrooms, emergencies and billion-dollar projects have all taught me how to prioritize, make decisions and keep moving when the information isn’t perfect.

I connect strategy with execution.
I enjoy the big-picture thinking, but I also care about the sentence, headline, photograph, webpage or email that eventually lands in front of someone.

And after all these years, I still love finding the story.

Have a story or project in mind? Get in touch!