Stephens College seeks an entrepreneurial and effective marketing professional to provide vision, strategic analysis, and collaborative leadership in telling the College’s story to multiple audiences across all media channels.

We are looking for a VP who thrives in a culture comfortable with change but who can also share our deep commitment to the College’s historical mission; who understands that effective marketing is more science than art (but that it is the art that makes the science matter); and who is a leader ready to guide, inspire and work alongside of our dedicated marketing team to tell the Stephens story.

This is an exciting, competitive, and highly rewarding opportunity for the right candidate – one who values original thinking and new solutions, and who knows how to achieve and sustain measurable results. We are ready to invest in that leadership and expertise.

Responsibilities and Priorities:

The right candidate will bring at least five years’ experience and demonstrated success in strategic marketing, with a strong preference for experience in higher education strategic marketing, and will arrive on campus prepared to:

• Develop, execute, and evaluate an annual plan, including strategies, goals, objectives, and initiatives.

o Create an annual marketing calendar, including core programs, new initiatives, and innovative programs to increase enrollments and stakeholder engagement.

o Provide/produce consumer and market research/analytics to track outcomes and identify opportunities for increased traction and improved results.

o Balance effectively the value of digital marketing in targeting niche audiences and measuring performance with the powerful brand building and community impact of traditional media marketing.

• Identify, attract, hire, and support a talented team to create content, deliver results and support institutional growth and success.

• Support and contribute to the College’s energetic commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Develop and support brand coherence and consistency.

• Grow and expand the influence and reach of social media messaging.

• Work with the Vice President of Advancement and the Vice President of Enrollment Management to identify and create the messaging for key audiences: prospective students and alumnae/donors.

Education, Experience, and Skill Requirements (or Qualifications):

The successful candidate will have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or related field, Master’s degree preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to drive and execute successful marketing programs across all marketing channels.

• A track record of performance excellence meeting targets and objectives.

• Experience managing direct reports and managing through cross-functional teams.

• Ability to develop strategies and execute tactics.

• Hands-on and entrepreneurial style. Demonstrated willingness to become as involved as needed to drive results and foster like-minded senior managers with similar capabilities.

• Strong executive presence, including superior verbal and written communication skills, along with the ability to quickly establish rapport and credibility at all levels within the organization.

• Strong problem solving, critical thinking and analytical skills.

• Proven ability to take initiative, influence others, and achieve results.

• Highly organized.

• A positive attitude matched with perseverance to achieve desired results.

Stephens College:

Established in 1833, Stephens College is a comprehensive Master’s institution with a robust undergraduate women’s college preparing students for successful careers in business, communication, fashion design, education, creative writing, filmmaking and the health sciences (including a new nursing degree program jointly owned and operated by a local private healthcare system); a new co-ed Conservatory for the Performing Arts launching in August 2022; and thriving co-ed graduate programs in the health sciences (Physician Assistant, Counseling, Health Information Management), and the performing arts (MFA in Script and Television Writing located at the Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles).

Located in the heart of Columbia, Missouri – ranked as one of the top university towns in the nation and home to the University of Missouri – Stephens offers students all the social experiences and benefits of an SEC university town, in combination with all the personal and academic benefits of a small, individualized, student-focused private college on 50 historically beautiful and wooded acres in the center of the city. Rated in 2021 among the top colleges in the country by the Princeton Review, Stephens was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as #36 among all Midwestern regional universities and #3 in “social mobility” for its success in accepting, supporting, and graduating first-gen and disadvantaged students.

Stephens says yes first. As a result, it is the pet-friendliest campus in the nation; home to the first all-women’s competitive esports team; and the only college that requires every student to complete a non-credit Career and Professional Development curriculum of more than 20 learning experiences and assignments as a graduation requirement. Stephens operates its own pre-K/elementary lab school; its own professional summer theatre in Okoboji, Iowa; its own student-designed and operated campus store selling student-designed fashions and accessories; its own equestrian stables offering academic and recreational riding; and its own hybrid online graduate degree in script and television writing that meets for 10 days every semester at the Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit stephens.edu.