Senior Director of Marketing & Communications

Position Summary and Key Responsibilities

The Senior Director provides strategic and cultural leadership that anchors the department’s success. This role ensures the department functions as a collaborative, forward-looking partner — not a service center — and that all marketing and communications work advance the university’s broader goals. This role bridges strategy and execution — guiding the vision, building alignment, and ensuring that every message and campaign reflects the university’s mission, values, and aspirations.

• Lead and operationalize the department’s transformation toward a more strategic, proactive, and collaborative model.
• Oversee the development and stewardship of McKendree’s unified messaging framework.
• Serve as senior marketing and communications advisor to the President, Cabinet, and other university leadership.
• Advance the university’s reputation through integrated marketing, storytelling, media engagement, and institutional branding.
• Manage external vendor and agency partnerships in support of the strategic communications priorities for the University.
• Collaborate across all university divisions to ensure that every communication effort aligns with shared priorities.
• Manage team operations, performance, and professional growth while fostering a culture of trust, accountability, and shared purpose.
• Lead and coordinate crisis communications and issues management, ensuring the university responds with transparency, empathy, and accuracy.
• Execute a newly created, innovative and comprehensive university-wide marketing, communication, and branding plan, consistent with strategic goals, plans, and aspirations of the university.
• Take an engaged approach to coaching, mentoring, and guiding the communications and marketing team to increase the capabilities and effectiveness of this group, including setting clear performance management objectives, and evaluation of the department’s structure.
• Report on key metrics for marketing campaigns.
• Serves as spokesperson for the university or identifies appropriate spokesperson(s).
• Serves as a member of the President’s Leadership Council.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, public relations, or marketing with at least five years of work-related experience in marketing, communications, public and/or media relations, or related field.
• Advanced knowledge of marketing strategy, excellent written and verbal communication abilities, design and production expertise, and successful oversight of marketing and media activities.
• Experience evaluating marketing campaigns for results and communicating about them to leadership.
• Demonstrated experience utilizing data to derive insight in developing marketing and communication strategy and evaluating performance.
• Demonstrated ability to build rapport, collaborate, and partner with senior University leaders and other managers.
• Strong writing, editing, project management, content generation, and supervisory skills needed.
• Able to prioritize complex and competing communications needs and make prompt and informed decisions about best communications practices and messaging.