Vice President for Communications and Marketing

Lafayette College currently celebrating its historic bicentennial is a highly selective private coeducational undergraduate college in Easton, Pennsylvania with strengths in the liberal arts and engineering. With a diverse student population of more than 2700 students, Lafayette College is dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education. Students are engaged in a transformative residential educational experience that bridges the liberal arts, engineering, and interdisciplinary study. The College fosters intellectual inquiry, artistic exploration, scholarship, and personal growth in a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive community. Lafayette students become critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and responsible citizens of the world.

The Vice President for Communications and Marketing (VP) will be a highly skilled and deeply experienced communications and marketing leader with a proven ability to identify and seize opportunities to elevate the Colleges profile and advance its mission while anticipating issues and threats to its brand reputation and outreach effectiveness. The VP will be adept at managing and mentoring an award-winning staff to maximize their contributions to the team and at setting and achieving key objectives that deepen the divisions contributions to the Colleges visibility and engagement with its on- and off-campus constituencies. The Vice President will be a leader of vision and integrity, a change agent of demonstrated expertise and conscientiousness, and will provide the creativity and energy to advance Lafayettes institutional strategy, admissions goals, fundraising initiatives, community standing, and crisis management capabilities.

Collaborating with the President and other leadership partners, the VP will sharpen and strengthen the Colleges overall brand, guide it through strategic marketing activities, and oversee consistent and authentic brand and messaging standards throughout the organization to foster prospective and current student and family connection, celebrate student, faculty, and staff achievements, foster alumni and donor engagement, and bring the College community together with a shared vision toward Lafayettes ambitious strategic goals.

Requirements for the Position

• An earned Bachelors degree in English, journalism, communications, marketing, or a related field, with preference for an advanced degree.
• Demonstrated success in higher education or higher education-cognate areas with deep knowledge of brand and performance marketing.
• At least 10 years of leadership experience and a career showing progressive responsibility and experience in higher education or transferrable skills that demonstrate a readiness to lead effectively in a higher education and shared governance environment.
• A deep and engaged presence on campus, with the expectation of relocating to the Easton, PA area.

Additional Information

• Additional information on the College and the search can be found at https://www.lafayette.edu
• To view the full leadership profile, please visit https://dsgco.com/search/22984-lafayette-college-vp-for-communications-and-marketing
• To express interest in this role, please submit a compelling cover letter and resume directly through our Talent Profile.
• If you wish to nominate a prospective candidate or have questions regarding this role, please direct them to LafayetteVPCM@dsgco.com. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.

Lafayette Colleges Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion (DEAI)

Lafayette College is committed to creating a diverse community, one that is inclusive and responsive, and is supportive of each and all of its faculty, students, and staff. All members of the College community share a responsibility for creating, maintaining, and developing a learning environment in which difference is valued, equity is sought, and inclusiveness is practiced. All Lafayette operations reflect the Colleges commitment to DEAI initiatives, and Lafayette welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds.