Vice President of Integrated Communication Strategy, External Affairs
Vice President of Integrated Communication Strategy, External Affairs
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Job Description
Position Summary
Boston University is seeking an experienced and visionary leader to serve as Vice President of Integrated Communication Strategy. Reporting directly to the Senior Vice President of University Relations this individual will play a pivotal role in driving a bold transformation of BUs communications strategy. Acting as a strategic second-in-command the Vice President will lead the collaborative integration of marketing and communications activities across the university. This work will be done in partnership with other senior leaders who report to the senior vice president and who lead the divisions functional areas including marketing and creative services editorial government and community relations federal relations public relations and social media and executive communications.
This role is ideally suited for a seasoned executive who thrives in complexity excels at leading large-scale organizational change and inspires cross-functional teams toward innovation cohesion and strategic impact.
About Boston University
Boston Universitys origins trace back to 1839 when a Methodist theological school was established in Vermont; the university was chartered under its current name by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869.
Notably the charter stated that every department of the new university was open to all on an equal footing regardless of sex race or (except for the School of Theology) religion. BU was the first American university to award a PhD to a woman and the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Bar was a law school alumna.
Today BU is a top-tier research university with a global footprint. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities the university is home to 17 schools and colleges (plus the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences) as well as more than 130 research centers and institutes across all disciplines. BU offers over 300 programs of study and its 4490 instructional and research faculty issued nearly 7700 publications in 2023. The university received $579.5 million in research awards in Fiscal Year 2024 and its research expenditures totaled $559 million during the same period.
The student body is highly diverse and comprises over 17000 undergraduate and 18000 graduate students. Roughly 20 percent of the undergraduate student body comes from outside the US and over 10000 graduate and undergraduate students represent over 140 countries.
The university is spread across three campuses in Boston: the sprawling Charles River Campus; the Boston University Medical Campus; and the Fenway Campus which is largely October 2024 the City of Boston approved the Charles River Campus Institutional Master Plan (IMP) enabling the university to advance three major projects on the Charles River Campus including upgrades to undergraduate residential housing construction of a new School of Global Studies and renovation of the Mugar Memorial Library.
In 2019 the university completed its first-ever highly successful comprehensive capital campaign. Prior to 2005 the university had done very little to connect with its over 400000 living alumni and motivate them to provide financial support. Concerted outreach to BUs alumni during the campaignand significant recent major gifts to the universityjustify optimism that philanthropic contributions will continue on a significant upward trajectory.
In Fiscal Year 2024 BUs operating expenses were $2.5 billion while operating revenues were $2.6 billion; the universitys net assets grew 5.4 percent to $5.96 billion; and the endowment increased by $387 million and now exceeds $3.5 billion. More information may be found in the 2024 Annual Report.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as deputy leader for the External Affairs division supporting strategic execution across all major functions.
- Convene and align multifunctional communications and marketing teams to a unified strategic vision.
- Facilitate and support a comprehensive reorganization embedding new priorities and modern best practices.
- Cultivate collaboration between internal teams and external partners fostering a culture of cohesion service and agility.
- Mentor and partner with school and unit communicators to support and integrate communications and marketing practices across the campus.
- Partner with university leadership on budgetary planning and resource reallocation in support of the communications transformation.
- Represent the communications division in executive-level initiatives across the university.
- Interface with a variety of university leaders to provide strategic expertise and ensure External Affairs teams are cohesively deployed to help leverage and amplify opportunities and mitigate risks across campus.
Required Skills
Required Qualifications
- At least 10 years of senior-level experience leading strategic communications or marketing in a complex institution or organization
- Demonstrated success in managing organizational change restructuring teams and integrating strategic functions
- Exceptional leadership and interpersonal skills with the ability to motivate and align diverse teams
- Strong background in talent development and operational strategy
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills
- Excellent communications and language skills
Desired Traits
- Strategic thinker and integrator able to translate vision into action
- Skilled collaborator and influencer across disciplines and leadership levels
- Adaptable leader with experience in high-pressure mission-driven environments
- Deep commitment to higher education and institutional mission
Compensation and Logistics
- Compensation for this executive leadership position will be commensurate with experience.
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color natural or protective hairstyle religion sex age national origin physical or mental disability sexual orientation gender identity genetic information military service pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition or because of marital parental or veteran status. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.
Employment Type
Full-Time
