Search to fill Communications post underway

The search for the next senior vice president of communications is underway, as a search committee, in conjunction with the executive search firm Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates, has begun the process of contacting and hearing from interested candidates, according to Associate Vice President of Communications Bill Burger.

Burger said that the committee hopes to fill the position, which was vacated in June by Andrew Gully, by the end of this academic year. Gully left the Brandeis Office of Communications to become senior vice president, worldwide director of communications for Sotheby’s. Burger, in conjunction with the Office of the President, has assumed Gully’s duties in the interim.

The search committee was formed over the summer and is made up of 13 administrators, faculty members, and one student, Alex Thomson ’15. Senior Advisor to the Provost and Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women’s Studies Anita Hill (Heller) and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff to the President David Bunis ’83 serve as co-chairs of the committee.

In the following month or two, the committee faces the task of reviewing the final profiles composed by Storbeck/Pimentel and narrowing the field to about eight to 12 applicants, three or four of which will be invited to campus for further interviews, according to Burger.

A profile that was composed by Storbeck/Pimentel describes the duties of the senior vice president for communications as overseeing 16 full-time employees as well as consultants, student employees and other part-time workers. In addition to producing the Brandeis Magazine and the website BrandeisNOW, the office manages the official University website and is “responsible for branding and marketing,” including traditional media communications and social media outreach.

At last Thursday’s faculty meeting, University President Frederick Lawrence also emphasized that the role would shift more towards marketing and branding of the University.

The Communications Office currently has a budget of $1.8 million, according to the profile. Salary for the post is listed as “open and competitive.”

—Tate Herbert