Kent Landers

Kent Landers, APR, is Vice President – Corporate Communications for Hilton. He is based at the company’s global headquarters in McLean, VA and leads efforts to strengthen and protect Hilton’s global reputation, including overseeing financial, development and enterprise communications, issues and crisis management, and global media relations.

Before joining Hilton in 2022, Kent worked for more than a decade in roles of increasing responsibility for The Coca-Cola Company, including Vice President – Public Policy and Government Relations; Vice President – U.S. West Region Public Affairs and Communications; and Vice President – External Communications for Coca-Cola North America, based in Atlanta; Vice President – Public Affairs and Communications for Coca-Cola Japan, based in Tokyo; and Group Director – Corporate Media Relations, based in Atlanta.

During his Coke career, Kent led key public affairs and communications campaigns for the company including standing up the first-ever combined public policy and federal government relations team for Coca-Cola North America; overseeing all external communications for brand and strategic initiatives within the company’s $10+ billion North America retail business; leading teams to communicate major global strategic developments including the creation of the world’s two largest Coca-Cola bottlers by revenue, the appointment and media introduction of a new CEO, more than 20 quarterly earnings, and a number of global and domestic M&A transactions.

Before Coke, Kent served for nearly 13 years in key communications roles at Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, and prior to that as an account executive at Thompson & Baker Public Relations in Memphis, TN.

During his Delta career, Kent led planning for the announcement of the merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines in April 2008; served as one of the lead communicators responsible for the campaign to stop a hostile takeover by US Airways – “Keep Delta My Delta” – which was named PR Week’s 2007 Public Affairs Campaign of the Year; oversaw Delta’s external communications strategy for its emergence from Chapter 11 protection and re-listing on the New York Stock Exchange; and planned and executed Delta’s successful campaign to secure government rights to allow the launch of nonstop flights between Atlanta and Shanghai, China.