Chief Communications Officer: Vice President for Global Marketing and Strategic Communications

Chief Communications Officer: Vice President for Global Marketing and Strategic Communications
Webster University


Position Number: S1176

Job Description Summary:
Reporting to the Chancellor, the Chief Communications Officer: Vice President for Global Marketing and Strategic Communications leads a unified University Communications unit that advances the university's global vision and mission. This unit coordinates all aspects of the university's strategic communications and global marketing, both externally and internally. As a member of the senior leadership team, the CCO is a strategic partner to the Chancellor and the President and collaborates with them and their teams, providing the leadership and vision to create an impactful comprehensive institutional communication plan, including campaigns that support enrollment and philanthropy goals and effective branding strategies that increase institutional impact and reputation. The CCO will coordinate crisis communications and work collaboratively with all institutional units to champion integrated, aligned multi-channel global marketing and strategic communications.

Webster University, founded in 1915 with its home campus based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, is the only Tier 1, private, nonprofit university with campus locations around the world including metropolitan, military, online and corporate, as well as American-style traditional campuses in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Our mission is bold, and appropriate for these times: Webster University, a worldwide institution, ensures high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence. Webster offers a comprehensive benefits package including tuition remission for full-time employees.

Minimum Qualifications

• A skilled and experienced professional with at least 5-7 years of broad communications experience, with experience in both internal and external communications roles and a record of implanting communications with documented impact and effectiveness. S/he will ideally have experience in a variety of traditional and new media in progressively more responsible and impactful roles.
• Knowledge of the higher education industry and current trends
• A persuasive communicator, with proficiency in communicating effectively with diverse audiences, through writing and speaking.
• Mature and proactive, with evidence of having worked a in a complex entity. If coming from the for-profit world, nonprofit, higher education consulting and/or board experience preferred.
• A collaborative and flexible style, with a strong service mentality and experience with creating incentives for coordinated, unified quality improvement initiatives. Needs to be seen as a team player who is committed to lifelong learning and working effectively across units and locations to energize all the institution’s constituencies.
• Demonstrated excellence in managing resources—time, finances, people—to accomplish ambitious goals.
• Strong analytical skills and experience interpreting a strategic vision into an operational model.
• A hands-on manager with integrity and a desire to work in a dynamic, mission-driven environment.
• Strong commitment to developing team members.
• Demonstrated commitment to the social sector with a passion for Webster’s vision, mission, and core values is essential.
• Excellent people skills, with experience collaborating in a multi-disciplinary, diverse, and dynamic team.
• Experience should include coordinating and unifying functions and staff within distributed environments.
• Demonstrated resourcefulness in setting priorities, proposing new ways of creating efficiencies, and guiding investment in people and systems.
• Proven effectiveness leading and mentoring professionals in all the strategic communications and marketing areas reporting to this position.

Preferred Qualifications


Essential Duties
Strategy

• Provides strategic recommendations to the Chancellor and President about the most effective and innovative strategies to unify institutional and unit communications to achieve institutional goals
• Through engagement with members of the university community and key communicators in the communities we serve, energizes and strengthens the university’s capacity for impactful story-telling and the partnerships that amplify key stories and themes
• Leads the use of market research and data-driven analysis to evaluate and improves the impact of institutional messaging to achieve institutional goals and foresee market trends in order to enhance and preserve Webster’s brand in a competitive higher education environment—locally, nationally, and internationally
• Leverages communications strategies, channels, and vehicles to expand the institution’s regard and impact with students, employees, alumni, friends, donors, and peers
• Develops and implements guidelines for the highest quality and effectiveness in institutional branding and all university communications
• Serves as principal communications advisor and support for executive communications with a strong focus on thought leadership
• Initiates and leads a comprehensive, integrated and aligned approach to strategic marketing and internal and external communication
• Effectively manages crisis communications and high-profile communications issues
• Anticipates and manage reputational risk
• Functions as university spokesperson as needed and appropriate

Strategic Marketing and Global Communications Management

• Manages the various means of promoting the university’s core messages through wide use of traditional and emerging media and strategies, including print, web, and new media
• Plans, creates, and coordinates with leadership partners the allocation of institutional resources for media relations; publications production; special events communications; design and photography; marketing and advertising; new media outlets; and Internet content, navigation, and visual appearance
• Leads collaborations with leadership partners that create and implement integrated marketing for purposes of student, faculty, and staff recruitment
• Coordinates public relations and institutional communications activities
• Provides coordination and support for interactions and relations with external media
• Collaborates with advancement team to implement effective communications with donors and alumni
• Collaborates with special events team in the development and implementation of institutional events to achieve event goals
• Oversees content and quality of all institutional publications
• Promotes and supports internal communications cohesion and effectiveness
• Provides coaching, mentoring, and professional development of communications staff at institutional and unit levels

Closing Date:
Open Until Filled: No

For full application instructions and position description, visit: https://webster.peopleadmin.com

Webster University is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to maintaining a culturally and academically diverse faculty and staff of the highest caliber. Accordingly, Webster University provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, age, protected veteran or disabled status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

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