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Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Xavier University seeks an accomplished, strategic, and results-oriented Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (VP/CMO) to join the Executive Cabinet as a new senior leadership role reporting directly to the President. At a pivotal moment in the University’s strategic plan, the VP/CMO will lead a centralized Division of Marketing and Communications, assuming accountability for Xavier’s brad, reputation, marketing strategy, budget and talent. Working in close partnership with Strategic Enrollment Management, Advancement, Athletics, and leaders across the University, the VP/CMO will build a research-driven brand platform that articulates Xavier’s distinctive identity and the value of a Xavier education, while developing an in-house, agency-style marketing operation that unifies brand strategy and performance marketing to advance institutional priorities and drive enrollment, revenue, and growth. The successful candidate will bring proven executive leadership, a track record of connecting marketing investment to measurable results, and the ability to leverage market research, data analytics, emerging technologies, and artificial intelligence to inform strategy, optimize performance, and strengthen Xavier’s position and reputation.

Key Responsibilities

Institutional brand and strategy

To set Xavier's brand strategy and market position, grounded in its Jesuit Catholic mission, and ensure consistent use across colleges, units, and channels.
To lead the research and development of Xavier's brand platform, the visual and verbal statement of what Xavier stands for and why it is relevant to prospective students, families, alumni, and donors. Secure approval from the President and Board of Trustees.
To hold the University to that platform consistently, year over year, across colleges, programs, and channels.
To facilitate cabinet-level work on who Xavier is and how it competes, so that senior leaders work from a single brand in support of a shared set of institutional goals.
To advance the data-grounded case for brand investment, including optimizing the level and mix of investment.

Revenue partnership

To share accountability for undergraduate and graduate enrollment results with Strategic Enrollment Management. Specifically, to strategically strengthen the enrollment funnel from prospects and inquiries through to deposited students.
To support Advancement with campaigns and communications that enhance donor and alumni engagement and to support the work of measuring how these efforts contribute to achieving advancement goals.
To apply audience segmentation to define and reach the alumni, prospective students and families Xavier has prioritized.

Communications, reputation, and crisis readiness

To ensure media relations, executive and presidential communications, and internal communications align with the brand platform, working with a dedicated communications leader who manages day-to-day media relations.
To protect Xavier's reputation proactively, and maintain a tested plan for issues and crisis response.

Data intelligence, technology, and AI

To build a data-driven division with clear metrics, dashboards, and reporting to the President and cabinet.
To establish an ongoing brand perception research program (a brand tracker) covering prospective students, parents, current students, alumni, and donors, and use it to identify what most influences likelihood to enroll and to give.
To strengthen capabilities in source analytics and data science, in order to segment audiences. Use that capability to attribute results to marketing spend by channel, tracing marketing's contribution to all efforts.
To partner with Institutional Research and IT to integrate Xavier’s CRMs, web, media, and survey data into a single source of truth for reporting.
To bring research and data to brand and marketing decisions with deans, colleges, and units, so recommendations rest on evidence about Xavier's audiences.
To partner with IT and Institutional Research to establish privacy, access, and data-quality safeguards for audience research, integrated marketing data, and analytics, including appropriate handling of student, family, alumni, and donor information.
To apply AI and automation to marketing and communications work, partnering with IT on the technology stack, CRM, and data integration.
To engage AI across the team, with practical guidelines that address human review, accuracy, bias, protection of confidential information, and appropriate disclosure of AI use in marketing and communications.

Organization, talent, and budget

To build and strengthen the Division of Marketing and Communications, and its team, as a centrally funded, in-house agency that serves colleges and units as a strategic partner and earns adoption through expertise and data.
To develope a shared operating framework with Strategic Enrollment Management, Advancement, and Athletics that defines how embeded marketing and communications activities coordinate with the Division of Marketing and Communications, including campaign planning, brand standards, service priorities, and resolution of competing requests.
To manage the divisional budget and agency and vendor partnerships, ensuring rigorous oversight, accountability, and reporting on spend and performance results.

Qualifications

Required:

Master’s degree
10+ years of progressive leadership experience, including at least 5 years in an executive-level role as a CMO, VP of Marketing, VP of Communications, or comparable senior leader, with significant services as a vice president or cabinet-level leader overseeing a marketing and communications organization and serving as a member of the senior leadership team.
Commitment to advancing Xavier University's Jesuit Catholic mission through marketing, communications, and institutional leadership.
Deep understanding of how colleges and universities operate, including shared governance with faculty, academic program structures, and the enrollment and advancement cycles.
Demonstrated results tying marketing to revenue: enrollment, customer acquisition, fundraising, or comparable growth metrics.
Strong data orientation: sets measurable goals, reads performance data fluently, and makes budget decisions from evidence.
Experience commissioning and applying market and brand research (perception tracking, segmentation, and driver analysis) and leading analytics or data science staff or partners.
Applied experience with AI, marketing technology, and automation, demonstrated through concrete examples of their use. Candidates must also bring specific ideas for using these capabilities in a marketing organization.
Financial literacy sufficient to partner with a CFO, manage a budget, and discuss financial drivers and the balance sheet.
Experience in media relations, reputation management, and crisis communications.

Preferred

Experience at a mission-driven college or university, ideally a Catholic or Jesuit institution.
Experience leading a centralization or reorganization of a marketing function.
Experience building a brand platform from research and sustaining it across multiple years.
Experience building an in-house, agency-style marketing team that serves colleges and academic units.

To ensure consideration, qualified/interested applicants must submit a cover letter, resume and names and contact information of three professional references on Xavier University's website. Applications will be reviewed immediately and will be accepted until the position closes at the University’s discretion.

Xavier University is part of the 500-year-old Jesuit Catholic tradition of academic excellence in the liberal arts. Guided by our mission and values, we welcome and support members from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. We unreservedly commit to open and free inquiry, deliberately seek out multiple perspectives, and create a campus where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Our campus is located in the vibrant and thriving city of Cincinnati, which has an array of neighborhoods and activities to suit many interests.

Benefits - Applies Only To Full-time Positions

Xavier University offers a wide array of complementary and affordable benefit options to meet the financial, educational, health, and wellness needs of you and your family. Eligibility varies by position and employment class:

Comprehensive insurance plans including medical, dental, vision and prescription coverage.
Tax advantaged accounts including health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, and dependent care account.
Financial security via life and long-term disability insurance, accident and illness insurance, and retirement savings plans.
Generous paid time off work options including vacation, sick leave and holidays.
Tuition remission for employees and their eligible dependents.

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Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)