An Invite-Only Virtual Event for Senior Higher Education Marketers
2020 will be remembered for decades to come as a critical inflection point for higher education, where the fabric of our institutions was disrupted on every level, and where marketers and communicators were presented with new challenges at every turn.
The Senior Leader Experience at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education is an intentionally programmed time where top institution-level campus marketers can share challenges, exchange ideas and make connections to build a lasting support system.
Request Invitation
This limited space event is reserved for people who hold the most senior institution-level marketing role on their campus. If this describes you, click below to request an invitation.
Symposium Registration Required
There is no additional cost for attending the Senior Leader Experience, but you will need to register for the 2020 AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education.
Topics Covered
Uncertainty Around Institutional Operating Paths
Will the campus remain open? Are classes virtual? Can students stay in the residence halls? Marketers to be more flexible than ever as institutional plans continually shift.
Budget Reductions – Doing More with Less
As economic uncertainty prevails, and as institutions grapple with fluid enrollment targets, many marketers are facing budget reductions and staff layoffs.
The Perpetuation of Campus Silos
How do you remain connected when the physical connections and meetings we relied on in the past are no longer possible? How do you carve out new relationships to eliminate silos and become more efficient?
Macro Societal Challenges Manifesting on the Local Level
How do marketers and communicators work with leaders to thoughtfully respond to social justice causes and other pivotal societal issues that come with a heated election year while at the same time protecting freedom of speech?
Questions?
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the AMA Support Center team at customersupport@ama.org or (800) 262-1150.
AMA Event Policies
Day 1 | All Times CDT
Welcome & Introduction
We’ll kick of the 2020 Senior Leader Experience with an overview of our new virtual sessions and an introduction of our hosts for the program, as well as an introduction of our first session presenter.
Q&A Session with Michael J. Sorrell
Following Michael J. Sorrell’s Opening Keynote session.
Michael J. Sorrell
President, Paul Quinn College
The Integration Imperative
Marketing integration was ideal before. It’s imperative now. With the societal challenges arising from COVID-19, enrollment pressures, and a larger questioning of the value and cost of higher education, ensuring marketing communications is truly integrated is the only way to deliver results. This session will share key industry trend data on the make-up and distribution of staffing and resourcing as well as addressing different organizational models, centralized advertising strategies, managing external partners, content across silos, digital expertise, and creating buy-in with university leadership. You’ll hear from practitioners that have aligned their organizations and those that are working to do so.
Elizabeth Johnson
Chairman, SimpsonScarborough
Open Q&A with SimpsonScarborough
Elizabeth Johnson
Chairman, SimpsonScarborough
Day 2
Welcome & Overview of Kickstart Sessions
Kickstart Sessions
Join your colleagues in a virtual breakout room with one of our Senior Leader Experience hosts to start an informal conversation on “The New Normal”
- COVID on campus
- Doing more with less
- Social/political upheaval
Kickstart Closing
Building Community in Times of Crisis Through Communications
2020 has been a year of unprecedented upheaval. As students, faculty and staff try to manage the significant impact of seemingly unceasing crises, a sense of community has never been more important. Successful execution of a communications strategy is critical to building and reinforcing community, especially in times of crisis. In this session, you will hear how DePaul University has leveraged internal communications to reinforce a sense of community during these challenging times.
Steve Stoute
Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff, DePaul University
Open Q&A with Presenter
Steve Stoute
Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff, DePaul University
Strategic Planning for Diversity: A Float in Times of Choppy Waters
As translators of institutional mission, value and market position, what roles can and should marketing leaders take in setting the agenda for diversity and inclusion initiatives as one way to create stability during turbulent times? During a study of 108 active higher education strategic plans covering a broad swath of institutional types, we chose 16 representing some of the most strategic tendencies. We suggest that the ways that the plans address diversity and inclusion reflect familiarity with details of campus life and a proactive stance that marketing leaders can harness to design effective plans and elicit support from stakeholders.
Aimee Hosemann
Writer and Researcher, RHB
Sam Waterson
President, RHB
Connor LaGrange
Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
Open Q&A with Panel
Aimee Hosemann
Writer and Researcher, RHB
Sam Waterson
President, RHB
Connor LaGrange
Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
Michael J. Sorrell
President, Paul Quinn CollegeRanked on Fortune’s 2018 list of the world’s greatest leaders, Michael Sorrell transformed struggling Paul Quinn College in Dallas into one of the most innovative colleges in America. An attorney and former White House staffer, Sorrell brought a bold new vision to Paul Quinn, focusing on academic rigor, experiential learning and entrepreneurship. He also pioneered what he named the “urban work college model,” based on Paul Quinn’s dramatic success. Inspiring, straight-talking, and with a compelling and hopeful story to tell, Sorrell received a standing ovation at SXSW Education for his dynamic delivery and groundbreaking approaches to reinventing the future of American higher education.
When Sorrell took the helm of Paul Quinn in 2007, enrollment had been declining for more than five years and the college was on the verge of being shut down. Today, it is considered a shining model of urban education and most years, has a waiting list. He bolstered admissions standards, stepped up recruitment, demolished abandoned campus buildings and turned the football field into an organic farm that feeds the neighborhood and the Dallas Cowboys.
Sorrell has received numerous awards and recognition for his civic and educational leadership. He is the only three-time recipient of the HBCU Male President of the Year award and was named one of America’s 10 Most Innovative College Presidents. He also received Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and PUSH/Excel’s Education Leadership Award, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and the A. Kenneth Pye Award for Excellence in Education from Duke University’s School of Law.
Elizabeth Johnson
Chairman, SimpsonScarboroughElizabeth Johnson founded SimpsonScarborough in 2006 with the vision of creating a higher ed marketing agency that puts research at the center of marketing strategies. Over the last 30 years, Elizabeth has helped more than 300 institutions research, develop, and implement plans to increase visibility, strengthen enrollment, raise money, and advance higher ed brands —from flagship universities and Ivy League institutions to small liberal arts colleges and regional state schools.
She is a staunch advocate for the role of CMO within higher ed and the need to integrate marketing across the enterprise for colleges and universities to thrive despite the many challenges facing the industry. Elizabeth is a trusted resource within the higher education marketing community, having presented more than 200 workshops and papers at a veritable alphabet soup of higher education-related conferences and symposia, and chairing the American Marketing Association’s Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education from 2007-2011.
Her work is fueled by an enduring belief that higher ed changes the world, and that US colleges and universities play an essential role in solving the world’s most pressing problems —like curing cancer, alleviating poverty, and ending systemic racism. Elizabeth is a proud alumnus of James Madison University where she earned her B.S. in Mathematics and Fordham University where she earned her M.B.A. with a concentration in Marketing.
Steve Stoute
Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff, DePaul UniversitySteve Stoute is vice president for strategic initiatives and chief of staff at DePaul University. In this role, he is the university president’s senior advisor, assists the president in all aspects of university administration and facilitates the execution of the university’s strategic plan. Stoute is an attorney and experienced leader in higher education. Stoute immigrated to the U.S. in 2000 to attend Seton Hall University, where he played soccer and graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration. Stoute has a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Aimee Hosemann
Writer and Researcher, RHBAimee Hosemann, Ph.D., is a writer and researcher at RHB. She is trained as an anthropologist and linguist and came to RHB after a faculty appointment at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Aimee engages in marketing research, anthropological discovery, campus visits and guest experience analysis as well as copywriting. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and her B.A. from Idaho State University. Aimee also held faculty positions at other large state universities and a small liberal arts college. Before becoming an academic, she was a journalist at newspapers in Idaho and Illinois.
Sam Waterson
President, RHBSam Waterson is president of RHB, bringing nearly two decades’ experience serving colleges and universities and other not-for-profit organizations. A 2001 journalism graduate of Franklin College, Sam has served as an account manager, account executive and corporate ethnographer, along the way amassing a depth and breadth of diverse experiences. He was named executive vice president and creative director in 2010 and president in 2019. Sam’s work on behalf of colleges and universities has won more than 50 national and regional awards and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education and on NPR. In 2018, Sam earned a certificate in digital marketing from Cornell University.
Connor LaGrange
Indiana University Lilly Family School of PhilanthropyConnor LaGrange is pursuing an Applied Philanthropic Studies M.A. from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. In 2020, he conducted data collection and analysis for RHB’s higher education strategic planning research. Connor has been involved in several research projects around the globe as a graduate intern with Influence|SG, a movement design studio, including the Movement of Movements for the Saïd Business School at Oxford University, the “Influencing Young Americans to Act” reports for Cause and Social Influence, and “The Corporate Social Mind: The Public’s Expectations of Companies to Address Social Issues” (both U.S. and German research reports). Connor has been extremely active as both an undergraduate and graduate student. He was the student speaker for IUPUI’s 50th commencement ceremony, the Outstanding Civic Engagement award recipient from the School of Liberal Arts, and a guest speaker for the school’s diversity and inclusion faculty training.