Company Profile

Company Description:

Reporting to the President as a member of senior management, the Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer is responsible for the strategic leadership of all aspects of the College’s communications with internal and external audiences. Serves as the official media spokesperson for the College. Responsible for the vision and oversight of media relations, marketing, web and social media presence, presidential communications, internal and external branding, and the development and production of publications. Performs a crucial, collaborative role ensuring communications are strategically leveraged to further the vision, mission, and goals of the College as new initiatives and projects are developed and launched.

The first initial review date is February 1st, 2022.

Duties and Responsibilities:

(This list is not exhaustive and may be supplemented as necessary)

• Manages the work of multiple marketing, communications, public relations, and other cross-functional teams. Guides, leads, reviews, verifies, observes, and manages the work of people reporting directly and indirectly to you. Performs needs analysis, arranges, coordinates, delivers, evaluates, and monitors staff development.

• Ensures accountability for the performance and results of communications and marketing campaigns. Directs the strategic planning, direction, and goal setting for the department and multiple subordinate functional areas.

• Prepares internal and external correspondence on behalf of the Office of the President for distribution to target audiences. Advises and assists executive leadership team on coordinating communications in critical and at times sensitive messaging to community members and various stakeholders.

• Coordinates communication between the College and executive leadership, employees, students, donors, elected officials, media and community members. Ensures all divisional leaders have consistent messaging and clarity on talking points in advance of any important executive messages being delivered to campus and stakeholder groups.

• Creates and pursues local, regional, and national public relations media strategies, each clearly defined with distinct approaches. Develops a rapport with members of media outlets for television, radio, digital publications, podcasts and other channel exposure.

• Develops, implements and continuously improve the College’s brand throughout all areas of the college. Identifies story ideas and shape key messages to generate positive coverage of the College.

• Provides leadership and oversight for all aspects of public affairs with an emphasis on media relations, brand position, public awareness and perception of the college. Identifies opportunities to leverage strategic executive communications in external public relations and social media messaging.

• Develops and implements an annual comprehensive communications plan, including processes to measure the effectiveness of communications strategies and activities. Proactively anticipates communication needs throughout each academic year and prepares executive messaging with appropriate voices.

• Expands social media accounts into mature, robust messaging platforms while growing engagement rates. Identifies new platforms to build and introduce to the College’s social media portfolio.

• Develops and maintains an integrated crisis response plan including communication templates and strategies, talking points, media statements, FAQs, internal updates, social media response plans. Responds to sensitive media relations situations and leads crisis management communication response teams as needed.

• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Required Minimum Qualifications:

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree

• Eight years of experience in marketing, public relations, media relations or production, communications, or related experience

• Four years of managerial experience

This job description is intended to be generic in nature and describe the essential functions of the job.  It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities. The essential duties, functions and responsibilities, and overtime eligibility may vary based on the specific tasks assigned to the position.