Tonita Cheatham

Tonita Cheatham is the executive director of communications and community relations for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL). In her role, she leads the development and execution of strategies for internal and external communications covering corporate reputation, crisis communication, policy, and public and media relations. She is responsible for managing efforts to improve community health and health equity across the state through BCBSIL’s community engagement work, Blue Door Neighborhood Center locations, volunteerism, health education and outreach, mobile Care Van programs, and community investments.

In her prior role, Tonita held key leadership roles in marketing, communications, and community engagement at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), a nationally-ranked academic healthcare system. During her tenure at DMC, her marketing and branding strategies generated more than 100 million dollars in revenue for the system and comparatively, 300 million in Ad Value Equivalency (AVE) in earned media activations.

Tonita has served on several nonprofit boards including the Neighborhood Service Organization, American Heart Association, and March of Dimes. Tonita supports professional organizations including the American Heart Association and the Black Public Relations Society of America, and numerous other social and civic organizations. She is the recipient of many awards including Crain’s Detroit Business notable woman in Marketing and Communication, the American Heart Association Community Service Award, the US Marine Corps Award for Community Service, the US Army Medical Commander Award for Community Service Excellence, and Michigan Chronicle’s Woman of Excellence.

Originally from Chicago, Tonita earned a BA in English from Tougaloo College (HBCU) and a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Roosevelt University. She is a graduate of Leadership Detroit, a community leadership program for executives in southeast Michigan led by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce.