Clark University President David Fithian has announced the appointment of Jill D. Friedman as Clark’s vice president of marketing and communications, effective Sept. 15. As a key member of President Fithian’s leadership team, Friedman will oversee Clark’s marketing and branding efforts and shape communications strategies that will expand and amplify the University’s standing as a premier academic and research institution.
“I am delighted to welcome Jill to Clark University,” President Fithian said. “Her deep experience and impressive accomplishments across her career reflect her abilities as an innovative and impactful leader. Jill appreciates all that Clark already has achieved, and I am excited by the leadership she will bring to building on Clark’s compelling story in ways that connect and inspire a wide range of audiences and advance our educational mission.”
Friedman most recently served eight years as vice chancellor for public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis, where she introduced leading-edge communications and marketing efforts, enhancing the university’s global reputation and deepening awareness of its academic and research prowess. She cultivated an award-winning team with responsibility for media relations, issue and crisis communications, social media, digital and integrated marketing, multimedia storytelling, and internal communications.
Prior to joining Washington University, Friedman was senior vice president and partner at Fleishman-Hillard (FH), a global public relations firm headquartered in St. Louis. During her years at FH, Friedman helped to build the firm’s branding practice and directed major strategic communications, marketing, and reputation programs on behalf of some of FH’s largest clients. She had previously worked as a senior staff member to Governor Mel Carnahan of Missouri, serving as the governor’s deputy chief of staff, policy director and chief liaison to the White House and Congress. In her various roles, Friedman managed major policy initiatives, including implementing an urban economic development and historic preservation program, and was instrumental in successfully coordinating disaster-recovery efforts following catastrophic floods in Missouri. Prior to her time with the governor, Friedman worked for U.S. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, both in his Vermont district office and as a professional staff member on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Friedman earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Vermont and her MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University.
Friedman’s appointment follows a national search supported by Heyman Associates, an executive search firm specializing in marketing, communications, and public affairs leadership. Friedman will succeed Pete Mackey, Ph.D., president of Mackey Strategies, who has been serving as Clark’s interim VP since March 2019.
