1 day ago
Vice President for External Relations
Iowa State University
Ames, IA (Unknown)Full time
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Vice President for External Relations
Ames, IA (Unknown)
Salary Not AvailableSenior Level10+ years expFull time
Posted 1 day ago
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Job Summary
Owns stakeholder engagement and political navigation to advance university priorities, building networks, instilling trust, and guiding strategic communications.
- Develop executive-level relationships with government and community partners
- Advance policy objectives through advocacy and strategic communications
Job Description
Responsibilities
- Demonstrate Interpersonal Savvy – Builds and sustains positive, productive relationships with constituencies and effectively engages stakeholders at all levels, including elected officials, Board of Regents members and staff, community leaders, industry partners, and university leadership.
- Build Networks – Establishes and leverages broad internal and external networks to align and advance institutional priorities, cultivate partnerships, and enhance the university's visibility and impact.
- Balance Stakeholders – Skillfully navigates competing priorities and perspectives while fostering alignment among university, governmental, community, and industry partners.
- Instill Trust – Demonstrates integrity, credibility, and transparency, earning the confidence of the President, senior leaders, governing bodies, and external stakeholders.
- Communicate Effectively – Crafts and delivers clear, compelling, and audience-centered communications that influence, inform, and inspire action across a variety of constituencies.
- Demonstrate Political Savvy – Understands and effectively navigates complex political, governmental, institutional, and community environments while advancing the university's strategic objectives .
Requirements
- Master's degree and 10 years of related experience.
- Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. on an ongoing basis without sponsorship. Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position.
Preferred
- Demonstrated success developing, sustaining, and leveraging executive-level relationships with government officials, governing boards, industry leaders, community stakeholders, peer institutions, and external partners, resulting in partnerships, policy outcomes, funding opportunities, or enhanced institutional visibility.
- Experience advising presidents, executives, or senior leaders on public policy, government relations, communications, stakeholder engagement, and reputation management, including examples of recommendations that informed decisions, reduced risk, or advanced strategic priorities.
- Demonstrated success developing and executing advocacy strategies aligned with institutional priorities, including influencing outcomes in complex or politically sensitive environments through policy engagement, issue resolution, coalition-building, relationship management, and advancement of measurable policy, funding, partnership, or strategic outcomes.
- Exceptional interpersonal, communication, and relationship-management skills, demonstrated by successfully engaging with a variety of internal and external constituencies, resolving competing stakeholder needs, and building sustained trust across multiple audiences.
- Experience leading teams or cross-functional initiatives that achieved defined goals, improved processes, strengthened collaboration, or delivered measurable outcomes across organizational boundaries.
- Proven success developing and implementing integrated branding, marketing, public relations, communications, and visibility strategies that strengthen organizational reputation and stakeholder engagement.
Benefits
- comprehensive health and work-life benefits, including medical and dental, as well as:
- Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
- Generous vacation, holiday, and sick time and leave plans
- Paid parental leave
- Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
- Life insurance and long-term disability
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Various voluntary benefits and discounts
- Employee Assistance Program
- Wellbeing program
Iowa State University
4.3 Glassdoor
Iowa State University is the nation's most student-centered public research university.
Ames, Iowa, USA
13K employees (509 in marketing)
85% recommend to a friend
86% CEO approval
Traffic Signals
Monthly Visitors
3.9M
Monthly Google Ads Budget
$69.6K
Traffic Source Mix
Search
42.4%
Direct
47.5%
Referral
8.2%
Social
0.7%
Paid
1.1%
Headcount Trend
Current headcount: ~12.6K
Marketing Team
Marketing Team Size
329 (3% of company)
Median Career Experience
13 years
Median Tenure
9.1 years
Marketing Roles Posted (Last 30 Days)
2
People
Marketing Leadership
Meredith Ponder Hanisch, MPA
Director of Communications and Marketing for Campus Life
At the company for 11 years 8 months
Amanda Ouverson
Assistant Director of Digital Marketing
At the company for 20 years 6 months
Erica Fischer
Director of Enrollment Marketing
At the company for 25 years 8 months
Clay Paciorek
Assistant Director of Marketing
At the company for 10 years 8 months
Funding
Total Funding
$5.5M
Last Raise
$1M
Grant, 2 years ago
Funding History
- Aug 2024Grant • $1M
- Mar 2024Grant
- Feb 2024Grant