University of Virginia. Photo: Aaron Josephson; cropped by Ibn Battuta, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Virginia_Rotunda_2006.jpg)
University of Virginia. Photo: Aaron Josephson; cropped by Ibn Battuta, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:University_of_Virginia_Rotunda_2006.jpg)
Paul Burton Hicks is an American government-relations and public-relations executive who served as a Greenwich selectman, chief of staff to Representative Stewart B. McKinney, an executive at Ogilvy Public Relations and the NFL, and managing director of the Glover Park Group. Since 2025 he has been executive vice president for strategic communications and public policy at the Pga Tour.
Background
Hicks was born on December 5, 1956, in Aurora, Illinois, to Paul B. Hicks and Lucille Green Hicks. He later became associated with Greenwich, Connecticut, where he entered local public life and raised a family.
His early career connected congressional politics with corporate public affairs. That combination became a recurring feature of his professional work, which moved between elected local government, federal legislative staffing, corporate government relations, public-relations agencies, and communications leadership in professional sports.
Education
Hicks received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia in 1979. The university, founded in 1819 in Charlottesville, was established as a public institution emphasizing liberal education and civic leadership; during Hicks's student years it remained one of the major universities of the American South and Mid-Atlantic.
His education preceded a career that combined political organization, public policy, and communications. The degree provided the academic foundation for later work in congressional staffing, corporate affairs, and executive communications.
Hicks began his professional career in Washington, D.C., working for Republican Representative Stewart B. McKinney. He served as an administrative assistant from 1983 to 1984 and later became McKinney's chief of staff. The congressional office connected him with the legislative and constituent-service work of a U.S. House representative from Connecticut.
From 1984 to 1989, Hicks worked for United States Tobacco in Greenwich, Connecticut. He served first as manager of federal affairs, then as director of government relations, and later as director of public affairs. These roles placed him in the corporate government-relations field, where companies communicate with public officials and address legislative and regulatory matters.
Hicks was elected a selectman of Greenwich and served from 1987 to 1991. The Board of Selectmen is the executive body of Greenwich town government, responsible for coordinating important municipal affairs alongside the first selectman and other town institutions. His local office overlapped with his corporate public-affairs career.
By 2002, Hicks was managing director of Ogilvy Public Relations' New York office and became chief executive for the Americas. Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide was an international public-relations agency serving corporate and institutional clients; Hicks's advancement there reflected his movement from government affairs into senior communications management.
In 2010, Hicks joined the National Football League as executive vice president of communications and public affairs, later described as overseeing communications and government affairs. The NFL is the major professional American football league in the United States, and its communications leadership involves media relations, public policy, and the management of the league's public reputation. During his tenure, he was associated with the league's public-relations response during the 2011 labor dispute.
Hicks left the NFL in September 2015 to join the Glover Park Group as a managing director. The firm, founded in Washington, D.C., by former political and communications professionals, advises organizations on public affairs, strategic communications, and crisis management. He continued to contribute to NFL-related work through the firm.
On November 3, 2025, Hicks became executive vice president for strategic communications and public policy at the Pga Tour. The Pga Tour is the principal organization for men's professional golf in North America and uses its strategic-communications and public-policy functions to address media, institutional, governmental, and stakeholder issues. In this role, Hicks oversees communications strategy and public-policy and government-relations capabilities.
Achievements
Hicks was elected a selectman of Greenwich, Connecticut, and served from 1987 to 1991 while pursuing a career in corporate government relations.
As a senior National Football League communications executive, Hicks was associated with the league's public-relations effort during the 2011 labor dispute.
Religion
Hicks is a Roman Catholic. Roman Catholicism is the largest tradition within Christianity and is organized around the authority of the pope, the sacramental life of the Church, and a body of teaching developed through scripture, tradition, and ecclesiastical interpretation.
His documented religious affiliation is part of the personal and family context in which he lived in Connecticut, where Catholic parishes and institutions formed an established part of community life.
Politics
Hicks is a Republican whose public career began in congressional politics and municipal government before extending into corporate government relations and communications. He served as an aide and later chief of staff to Republican Representative Stewart B. McKinney and was elected a selectman of Greenwich, Connecticut.
The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. During Hicks's early political career, its Connecticut tradition included congressional service, local government, business-oriented policy, and engagement with federal economic and regulatory issues. His later work in government affairs placed him in the professional field through which corporations and major institutions communicate with public officials and participate in policy debates.
Membership
Hicks was a member of the Exchange Club, a civic organization whose local chapters traditionally promote community service, charitable activity, and support for public safety and youth programs.
Exchange Club
,
United States
Connections
Hicks married Caye Cavender on May 15, 1982, at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. They have two daughters, Mary Grace Hicks and Hope Charlotte Hicks.
His daughter Hope Hicks became a public-relations executive and political adviser who served as White House communications director during the first Trump administration. The family connection placed Hicks's public-affairs career in the same broader communications and political environment in which his daughter later worked.
Father:
Paul B. Hicks
Mother:
Lucille Green Hicks
Daughter:
Mary Grace Hicks
She has worked as an emergency medical technician.
Daughter:
Hope Charlotte Hicks
She is a public-relations executive and political adviser who served as White House communications director during the first Trump administration.
Wife:
Caye Cavender
She worked as a legislative aide to Representative Ed Jones of Tennessee.
Inside the Huddle: NFL VP Started as Greenwich Selectman
The article describes Hicks's career as a Greenwich selectman, congressional chief of staff, and NFL executive vice president responsible for communications and government affairs.
