Verizon Hires Josh Criscoe as Communications Chief
Former PayPal communications executive Josh Criscoe joins Verizon's restructured communications leadership team at the end of November 2026.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in People
Verizon has hired Josh Criscoe, who spent more than a decade at PayPal and most recently served as its vice president of corporate communications. Criscoe joins Verizon at the end of November 2026 and will report directly to Franz Paasche, who will lead the restructured communications teams.
Why it matters
The new leadership structure is designed to bring Verizon's communications teams closer together and create greater collaboration and synergies across the company. The move places a veteran of crisis, financial, and transformation communications into a central role within the company's reorganized communications function.
Criscoe spent more than a decade at PayPal, most recently as vice president of corporate communications, before joining Verizon at the end of November 2026. He will lead a team that includes Adria Tomaszewski, Sarah Heinz, and Aimee Knox as direct reports.
The players
Josh Criscoe
Criscoe is a communications executive with more than a decade of experience at PayPal and earlier crisis-communications work at Brunswick and APCO.
Franz Paasche
Paasche is PayPal's former corporate affairs chief who will lead Verizon's restructured communications teams and oversee Criscoe.
The details
At PayPal, Criscoe led crisis, financial, M&A, risk and transformation communications and developed strategies for brands including Venmo. He previously advised companies on reputation management and crisis communications at Brunswick and APCO.
Timeline
Verizon announced the hire on November 6, 2026.
Criscoe joins Verizon's communications leadership team at the end of November 2026.
People Moves
Criscoe's move from PayPal to Verizon follows a pattern of senior corporate communications talent from the fintech sector being recruited by large legacy telecom and technology companies seeking crisis and transformation expertise. The restructuring at Verizon mirrors efforts across large firms to consolidate communications functions under a single leader.
The restructuring centralizes Verizon's communications leadership under Paasche, which may change how the company manages public messaging across its divisions. Customers are unlikely to see immediate changes, as the move concerns internal team organization rather than products or pricing.
The takeaway
Organizational restructuring at large companies often signals a deliberate push toward more unified messaging, especially during periods of transformation. Watching how leadership appointments like this one shape a company's public communications can offer insight into its broader strategic direction.
Further reading
Explore more corporate leadership changes in the People section of our business coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Axios.
