Janelle Panebianco

Senior Director, External Communications, Papa John's International

Atlanta

A passionate brand storyteller with fifteen years of industry experience, Janelle has lead impactful PR and marketing campaigns for the world’s best known consumer brands. Currently, as the Senior Director of External Communications for Papa John’s International, she leads communication to the brand’s external stakeholders, product and brand PR; corporate news and media relations; corporate reputation and issues management; and strategic communications campaigns.

Prior to Papa John’s Janelle was a Vice President at global agency, Weber Shandwick. Her clients included iconic consumer brands like Diet Coke, Dasani, M&M’s and Absolut. She also led multi-cultural communications work for McDonald’s, TRESemme (Unilever) and Ben’s Original (Mars Foods). She is most proud of her work last year with Mars on the name change of Uncle Ben’s to Ben’s Original, which included global research with key stakeholder groups, unveiling of a new brand purpose and a series of brand actions including community investments and outreach.

Prior to Weber Shandwick, Janelle spent 10 years at agencies in both New York and Atlanta. Her client portfolio included The Home Depot, Johnson & Johnson and Walgreens, as well as several fashion and luxury brands. She is also a diversity, equity and inclusion champion, having served as lead of DEI for Weber Shandwick’s Atlanta office as well as its black employee resource group, NOIR.

A New York native, Janelle moved to Atlanta with her husband five years ago. She is a mother of two young boys and loves to spend her free time perusing décor boutiques to feed her passion for home design.