MUMBAI: Viacom Inc. has announced that Julia Phelps has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Communications & Culture. In the newly created role, Phelps will serve on the company’s senior executive team and lead corporate communications, corporate marketing and culture. Most recently, Phelps led communications for the company’s international business, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN).

She will continue to report to Viacom president and CEO Bob Bakish.

“Julia has been an indispensable partner for me in developing and articulating Viacom’s strategy, while keeping us true to our values and responsive to our employees,” said Bakish. “It is absolutely critical that both our external stakeholders and our people understand and embrace our new vision for Viacom, and Julia’s insight, empathy and forward thinking make her uniquely suited to this task.”

In her role, Phelps will oversee Viacom’s Corporate Communications, Corporate Marketing, Corporate Responsibility and Special Events teams, as well as its internal creative agency, Catalyst. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President of Communications at Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), where she led VIMN’s internal and external communications efforts for Viacom’s international brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Channel, VH1, COLORS and Channel 5. Previously, Phelps served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for VIMN and as VP of Corporate Communications for Viacom.

Phelps joined Viacom in 2005 from New York-based agency DeVries Public Relations. A native of Canada, she earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and an M.S. in Strategic Communications from Columbia University.