Vice President for University Communications and Chief Marketing Officer

Vice President for University Communications and Chief Marketing Officer

Central Michigan University (CMU) invites applications and nominations for the position of Vice President for University Communications and Chief Marketing Officer. Reporting directly to the university president, the vice president is responsible for developing and maintaining excellent outreach and relationships with internal and external constituents. This includes oversight and management of the campus’ full service communications and marketing team; encompassing integrated marketing, public and media relations, branding design, licensing and trademarks, video, photography, executive and internal communications, and social media strategy. The vice president is also responsible for significantly increasing visibility and enhancing understanding and support of its mission, vision and academic programs both internally and externally.

Duties and Responsibilities: Serves as a member of the university’s executive team and maintains a strong working relationship with the president and key senior leaders; serves as the chief spokesperson for the university; develops evidence-based strategic communications and marketing programs focused on enhancing CMU’s visibility and name, and highlighting accomplishments of CMU locally, nationally and internationally; responsible for the development and implementation of the overall university marketing, branding and communication strategies, including social media; enhances the university’s reputation and increases the visibility and understanding of its mission, vision and academic programs among external and internal constituents; leads CMU’s branding strategy and manages associated marketing and communications; develops effective internal communications that cultivate awareness of key university issues and builds an open, transparent and collaborative culture across the campus community; provides advice and counsel to campus leadership on effective communication strategies; educates internal constituents about marketing, branding and communications to increase understanding of the role they play in creating and enhancing CMU’s brand; develops, proposes and implements policies, procedures and organization to drive the communications strategies and enable the growth and development of the department; advances the university’s commitment to diversity and inclusion; leads a diverse department, including directors who provide community and marketing support for the various colleges and other operating units; develops planning documents for the department within the guidelines of the university; ensures that the material developed by the department is accurate, ethical and meets the marketing and communication goals of the university; develops and manages the department budget; maintains a strong working relationship with local, regional and state news media and other external constituents; provides strategic oversight and development support for key materials (i.e., speeches, testimony and position papers) for the president and key administrators; assists the undergraduate and graduate admissions offices and the academic colleges with their messaging needs; partners on division and departmental recruitment and yield communication to support the achievement of their long-term goals; reviews and assesses digital media and social media platforms, which have been and continue to be critical to building national and global brand recognition and continued enrollment success; assists in and ensures the adaptation and execution of the university’s overall branding strategy to these media to further support the university’s long-term strategic enrollment needs; responsible for all promotional materials produced and distributed by the university; responsible for visual imagery and the role it plays in the marketplace; serves on the university crisis management team, leading the university’s crisis communications and issue management.

Supervision Exercised: Supervisors are expected to support the Leadership Standards of Central Michigan University and foster a culture that inspires excellence. The Leadership Standards define how we lead and treat others in our teams. As leaders, it is our responsibility to seek input from our teams to continuously improve leadership abilities and demonstration of the standards. Additionally, it is our responsibility to encourage and support the growth and development of those whom we lead. At CMU, we encourage employees to grow both personally and professionally, and thus advance CMU’s culture of excellence.

Required Qualifications include: Bachelor's degree, preferably in marketing, public relations or communication; increasingly responsible experience in marketing, branding and/or communication; demonstrated success in marketing, public relations, planning and implementing major external and internal communication plans for large organizations with complex issues; demonstrated success and expertise in social media; successful experience as a spokesperson to the media and ability to represent the university to the media; demonstrated ability to successfully lead, motivate and manage professional staff; demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion; proven record of collaborative leadership skills and ability to build positive relationships; ability to work collaboratively as a member of the executive leadership team; team player who is highly motivated, a self-starter, and a dedicated professional; effective verbal and written communication skills; effective organizational skills; demonstrated positive interpersonal skills; and, demonstrated ability to work on multiple tasks on deadline while directing a team of communications and marketing professionals toward clearly defined outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications include: Master’s degree; experience working in a higher education environment; and, proven ability as a marketing strategist with a record of success in branding and positioning.

Nomination and Application Process:  Applications and nominations are now being accepted. For best consideration, please submit application materials before September 3, 2019. Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc. is assisting Central Michigan University in this search. Initial screening of the applications and nominations will continue until an appointment is made. Individuals who wish to nominate a candidate should submit a brief letter of nomination including contact information for the nominee. Application materials should include a letter addressing how your experiences match the position requirements, curriculum vitae or resume and five references. Submission of documents as PDF attachments is strongly encouraged.

Inquiries, nominations and application materials should be directed to:

Betty Turner Asher, Vice President & Partner

Susanne Griffin, Vice President & Managing Director

Ann Bailey, Senior Executive Search Consultant

Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc.

42 Business Centre Drive, Suite 206

Miramar Beach, Florida 32550

Phone: 850-650-2277 / Fax: 850-650-2272

Email: bettyasher@greenwoodsearch.com

Email: susannegriffin@greenwoodsearch.com

Email: annbailey@greenwoodsearch.com

CMU, an AA/EO institution, strongly and actively strives to increase diversity and provide equal opportunity within its community. CMU does not discriminate against persons based on age, color, disability, ethnicity, familial status, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, height, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, race, religion, sex, sex-based stereotypes, sexual orientation, transgender status, veteran status or weight (see http://www.cmich.edu/ocrie).