Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications

PeopleAdmin, Inc.; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Morehouse College seeks a bold, entrepreneurial leader for strategic marketing and communications. This executive will join a new leadership era, reporting to the President and guiding brand storytelling across channels to elevate the College’s profile and impact.

The VPSMC will oversee a 10-member team, shape messaging platforms, and partner with executives to advance institutional priorities in a rapidly evolving landscape. An in-person role on campus.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 10+ years leading enterprise-wide strategic marketing and communications.
• Experience developing marketing plans on regional and national scales.

Responsibilities

• Craft and lead a bold, unified marketing and communications strategy.
• Serve as strategic partner to the President and executive leadership.
• Oversee a team of 10 professionals across channels and platforms.
• Elevate institutional awareness and brand across internal and external audiences.

Skills

Marketing strategy

Brand management

Communications leadership

Crisis and issues management

Stakeholder engagement

Executive messaging

Team leadership

Digital communications

Media relations

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications

Position Information

Job Type

Job Type Non-Faculty

Position Title

Position Title Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications

Position Number

Position Number 090367

Department

Department Marketing and Communication

Location

Location Morehouse College - Atlanta, GA

Position Summary

Morehouse College seeks a bold, entrepreneurial, and collaborative marketing and communications professional to serve as its vice president for strategic marketing and communications.

Morehouse is the only institution of its kind in the world. Founded in 1867, the College is a private, residential, liberal arts institution with a legacy of excellence in education and leadership development. Today, Morehouse produces more Black male graduates each year than the nation’s top 40 liberal arts colleges combined and sends more Black men on to earn PhDs than any other institution. In 2025, F. DuBois Bowman, Ph.D., returned to his alma mater to serve as the 13th president of Morehouse. He is working with key advisors, trustees, and faculty to finalize a strategic plan that will frame the College’s priorities and directions for the next five years. Morehouse is also engaged in a $500 million campaign, Making Men of Consequence, that has already raised $373M and will conclude in June 2028.

The vice president for strategic marketing and communications (VPSMC) will join Morehouse in this moment of new leadership, new vision, and new resources. Reporting to Dr. Bowman and serving as a member of his strategy group, the VPSMC will capture, frame, and communicate the impact of Morehouse – past, present, and future – particularly the richness of its story and tradition of producing academically exceptional, morally grounded, and service-oriented leaders for a rapidly evolving world.

The VPSMC will conceive of a modern, forward-thinking marketing and communications strategy that brings Morehouse to life across every channel and touchpoint, celebrating the College’s unique role in higher education and the contributions of its students, faculty, and alumni to the wider world. The VPSMC will serve as a thought leader and strategic partner on marketing and communications for executives and faculty across Morehouse and will oversee a team of 10 committed staff. This executive will bring a comprehensive understanding of modern, integrated marketing, branding, and communications programs and tools; reputation, issues, and crisis management; and the role of owned, earned, and paid media. The successful candidate will have a strong track record of elevating awareness of an institution; crafting messaging platforms that engage and excite a wide variety of audiences; managing and motivating a committed team of professionals; innate curiosity and interest in others; and a collaborative orientation that welcomes colleagues and the wider community to partnership. Prior experience in higher education is not required, but it is strongly preferred. A Bachelor’s degree is required.

Isaacson, Miller has been retained to assist in this recruitment. All inquiries, nominations, and applications should be directed to the search firm as indicated at the end of this document.

MOREHOUSE COLLEGE : HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

For nearly 160 years, Morehouse College has been a beacon of academic excellence and leadership development. Founded with the mission to educate and empower Black men, Morehouse has a proud legacy of producing leaders who shape the world. The College has prioritized intellectual and character development with a goal of developing men with disciplined minds to lead lives of leadership and service.

Before it became Morehouse College, it was known as the Augusta Institute, founded in Augusta, Georgia, in 1868, two years after the Civil War concluded. It began in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, with the primary purpose of preparing Black men for ministry and teaching. In 1879, the Augusta Institute relocated to Atlanta, becoming Atlanta Baptist Seminary, then Atlanta Baptist College, before ultimately being named Morehouse College, in honor of Henry Lyman Morehouse, corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission and a prominent supporter of education for African Americans.

Under the leadership of Dr. John Hope, who became the College’s first African American president in 1906, the College shifted its focus toward a more rigorous academic curriculum, challenging the prevailing vocational education model advocated by Booker T. Washington. Dr. Hope’s transformative vision established Morehouse as a leading institution for Black male education, enabling its graduates to achieve success across various fields. The College attributes its early growth in enrollment and academic reputation to Dr. Hope’s leadership, followed by exemplary presidential leadership by Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays and others who elevated the institution and laid the foundation for the historic qualities underlying the present day Morehouse College.

The College has an active national alumni base and a distinguished reputation among its many stakeholders in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area and national constituencies. Today, its success in the education of Black men is unparalleled; alumni hold prominent positions in Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. Government, Hollywood studios, and fields and industries in all major sectors – leading the nation through private industry and public service.

As one of the most impactful institutions of higher education in the world, Morehouse has been recognized by the National Science Foundation as the leading institution for producing Black, male college graduates who earn doctorates in education, science, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. The College has also been recognized as the #1 producer of Rhodes Scholars among HBCUs and as a leader in producing Fulbright Scholars. Approaching 160 years of proud excellence, the College continues a long and unique history of delivering an exceptional educational experience that meets the intellectual, moral, and social needs of students representing 43 states and seven countries. Morehouse continues to be a distinguished institution dedicated to producing outstanding men and ethical leaders.

Leadership

Dr. F. DuBois Bowman, a 1992 graduate of Morehouse College, serves as the 13th president of the College. An internationally recognized expert in biostatistics and public health, his pioneering research has deepened understanding of neurological and mental health disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, depression, schizophrenia, and addiction, as well as the impact of environmental exposures on brain development in youth. Prior to returning to lead Morehouse, he served as dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health and held key leadership roles at Columbia University and Emory University. Dr. Bowman is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, vice president of the American Statistical Association, and past president of the Eastern North American Region of the International Biometric Society.

Strategic Plan

In advance of the upcoming 160th anniversary, Dr. Bowman is leading the Morehouse community in a strategic planning process. Dr. Bowman spent the first year of his presidency listening and gathering input from the community. As a result, the College identified five strategic themes: Academic Excellence; Student Flourishing; Future Morehouse; Institutional Effectiveness; and Strategic Resourcing.

Dr. Bowman published a 2025-2026 annual report for Morehouse that shares stories about the College, its students, faculty, alumni, and centers of excellence. It also provides more details about the strategic plan. That document may be found here.

VICE PRESIDENT FOR STRATEGIC MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

The Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications (VPSMC) is charged with elevating awareness and refining the brand of Morehouse College with multiple audiences, demonstrating its impact as well as the impact of Morehouse Men. Many of these audiences already have a strong impression of Morehouse, notably current students, faculty, staff, and alumni. It is the key task of the VPSMC to take those perspectives and craft an authentic, unifying narrative that respects the College’s history and traditions, recognizes its current excellence, and builds a shared commitment to its ambitions for the future. The VPSMC should craft a communications strategy that additionally provides compelling stories to external audiences, donors, external partners, academic peers, and national media.

Reporting to Dr. Bowman and serving as a key member of his strategy group, the VPSMC will work with College partners to design and implement a marketing, branding, and communications strategy that holistically frames and elevates Morehouse College in this period of momentum and push to the future.

COMPENSATION AND LOCATION

Competitive compensation will be offered commensurate with the level of administrative appointment of the selected candidate. This is an in-person position that requires full-time physical presence on the campus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Required Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree is required
• Experience in developing and executing marketing plans on regional and national scales

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• At least 10 years of experience leading, envisioning, and implementing enterprise-wide strategic marketing, branding, and communications programs across an enterprise with multiple constituencies and a wide variety of audiences (internal/external, local/state/national).
• Advanced knowledge of the strategies and industry best practices for all aspects of communications, marketing, positioning, and messaging, including sophisticated and creative use of brand content, social media, AI, CRM /analytics, and other forms of digital communications (paid, owned, and earned).
• Substantial experience evaluating the strengths of existing communications and marketing programs and identifying opportunities for improvement. An aptitude for using data and metrics in decision making and evaluating the success of programs and campaigns.
• Broad experience in strategic communications, crisis and issues management, media relations, public relations, perception management, and internal communications.
• Proven effectiveness in engaging and working directly with local, state, national, and international media on background and on the record.
• The ability to intuit the implicit dimensions of messages and messaging. Exceptional diplomacy, discretion, and judgment.
• Engaging and persuasive in written and oral communications, clearly able to serve as a professional and trusted representative of the College.
• Experience managing and inspiring executives, professionals, and programmatic staff in a complex organization, leading by influence, and establishing a robust institution-wide understanding of the importance of marketing and communications. The ability to encourage change and growth in people and programs. Persuasive, persistent, and determined.
• Collaborative and collegial orientation, skillful in engaging diverse stakeholders and building strong professional relationships. Demonstrated experience serving as a resource to others and obtaining their input, thereby being able to synthesize many ideas and produce work products that address a variety of goals and objectives.
• A strong commitment to the personal and professional development of staff; the ability to build, lead, mentor, motivate, and retain high-performing, diverse professional teams to create a robust and collaborative communications and marketing ecosystem.
• Sharp eye for operational efficiency and outstanding operational, planning, and resource management skills, including budget and cash flow understanding and proven success in optimizing resources.
• High degree of integrity, character, and emotional maturity, demonstrating respect for individuals at every level of an organization; humility, a sense of humor, and life balance.
• Deep, personal appreciation for Morehouse’s unique culture and history, particularly its mission as the nation’s only higher education institution exclusively focused on the education, development, and success of Black men.

Physical Demands

• Craft and champion a bold, unified communications and branding strategy – design an innovative, proactive plan that brings Morehouse and its accomplishments to life across every channel and touchpoint.
• Serve as a strategic advisor and collaborative partner to the President, Board of Trustees, campus leadership, and key constituents, shaping institutional positioning, leadership voice, and internal and external communications while building strong relationships across the College, including the Office of the Provost, Academic Affairs, Advancement, External Relations and Alumni Engagement, the MLK Chapel, Athletics, Admissions, and Student Life.
• Executive Communications – develop, lead, and establish a comprehensive Presidential communications strategy.
• Lead crisis and issues management – oversee crisis preparedness, set clear protocols, and deliver calm, decisive communications counsel and support