Vice President for Communications and Marketing

Smith College, one of the nation’s preeminent liberal arts colleges, seeks a collaborative, innovative, and strategic leader to serve as its vice president for communications and marketing (VP). This is an exceptional opportunity to join Smith at a pivotal time in its history. 

Reporting directly to Smith’s 12^th president, Sarah Willie-LeBreton, the VP will provide strategic and operational leadership for an integrated communications and messaging platform. The VP will join Smith at an inflection point as it nears the conclusion of a strategic planning initiative, in a moment of opportunity for Smith to be a leader in shaping the future of higher education. 

For 150 years, Smith College has educated women of promise for lives of distinction and purpose. A college of and for the world, Smith links the power of the liberal arts to excellence in research and scholarship and develops leaders to address society’s challenges who are globally engaged. Today, the college has 2,500 undergraduate students, 300 graduate students, nearly 300 faculty, and over 53,000 alumnae across the country and around the world.

This is an exciting time for a high-performing, strategic leader to join President Willie-LeBreton early in her presidency, serving on her leadership team and as a trusted partner across the college. In this moment of new vision and priorities, the VP will drive a comprehensive communications and positioning plan that results in a state-of-the-art operation in a rapidly changing field, that amplifies the college’s visibility, strengthens its narrative, and inspires both institutional pride and deeper engagement from external audiences. To that end, the VP will develop and implement a robust communications program that clearly defines college-wide priorities and messages and, simultaneously, influences communications efforts across academic and administrative units through collaboration and partnership. 

The ideal candidate will be a strategic, collaborative, and creative leader with at least 10 years of success leading communications and reputation programs. The next VP will have experience creating a compelling overarching message platform for an institution with distinctive messages and channels for a wide variety of audiences; experience in developing ambitious goals, engaging others in conception and refinement, and then implementing successfully; a leadership style that motivates staff and generates enthusiasm and innovation; a track record of leading real-time crisis communications as well as a sophisticated approach to issues management; and high levels of intellectual curiosity, integrity, credibility, and drive. The successful candidate will have a deep passion for the mission of women’s education and be committed to active engagement with the campus and local communities. A bachelor’s degree is required.

Compensation will be competitive and commensurate with experience. 

Jack Gorman and Elizabeth Neustaedter are leading this search with Lisa Clayton.

Smith College is an EO/AA/Vet/Disability Employer. Women, underrepresented racial groups, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.