Rebecca Lowell Edwards is leaving as the IOC's strategic communications director after less than 18 months in the position ©IOC

International Olympic Committee (IOC) strategic communications director Rebecca Lowell Edwards is leaving her role after less than 18 months,

Edwards has held the position at the IOC since June 2017. 

The American is due to leave her role at the end of November, SportsBusiness Daily reported. 

Edwards claimed she was returning to the United States for family reasons.  

Edwards had taken on the newly-created role at the IOC after joining them from GE Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of the American multinational conglomerate corporation General Electric, where she served as chief communications officer.

Rebecca Lowell Edwards had been appointed as the IOC strategic communications director to return to the US ©IOC
Rebecca Lowell Edwards had been appointed as the IOC strategic communications director to return to the US ©IOC

She had relocated with her husband and two children to Lausanne from London to take up the role.

A former journalist, Edwards began her career working for Dow Jones News Service before she was promoted to a reporting job at the Wall Street Journal.

She received a master’s degree in business administration before becoming a marketing executive at the newspaper.

Edwards went on to work at New York City public relations firm Ruder Finn, where she rose to the position of group senior vice-president.

When announcing her appointment in April 2017, the IOC had claimed she "brings to the role extensive experience in corporate communications, as well as in media and the non-profit sector".