Company Description

A new era is unfolding at the Haskayne School of Business, poised to be an internationally recognized centre of excellence for graduate and undergraduate business education, research, and community engagement. With recent investment and strategic focus, the school will continue to build on its reputation for developing ethical leaders and entrepreneurs across industries. The Haskayne School is well supported within its business community and wants to ensure that it continues to be an integral part of the city’s entrepreneurial spirit and growth.

The business school was founded at the University of Calgary in 1967, and was named in honour of Richard F. Haskayne, OC, AOE, FCA in 2002. The business school has approximately 3,000 full- and part-time students enrolled in Bachelor's, Master's, Doctorate, and Executive Education Programs, and stays connected with its 20,000 alumni in 60 countries worldwide.

Backed by the University of Calgary’s “Eyes High” campaign, which will ensure the University is one of the top five research universities in Canada by 2016, the business school is in good company.

The Haskayne School is looking for a Senior Director, Marketing and Community Relations to lead their marketing initiatives and share their unique message with the world.

To learn more about the organization, visit their website: http://haskayne.ucalgary.ca/

The Role

Working Relationships

This full-time role will:

• Report directly to the Dean;
• Lead a team of 10 – 12 across three departments (marketing, communications, and community relations); and,
• Support a team of program directors, faculty directors, and research centre directors.

The specific departments of oversight include:

1. Marketing - targeted primarily at recruitment of top local, national, and international business students and professors, this team is responsible for advertising, promotion, and website development aimed at positioning the school favourably among its primary competition, which are the leading business schools in Canada.
2. Communications - this team is responsible for translating the school’s intellectual capacity to reach our diverse audiences using public relations, profiling of professors and research findings, videoblogs, developing faculty speaking opportunities, etc.
3. Community Relations - As a faculty within the University of Calgary, the Haskayne School of Business has the distinct advantage of being the leading school in Canada’s most enterprising city. Hence, community outreach and close ties to the business community are of prime importance to the school’s growth and development. Community relations are enhanced through high quality touch points, such as speaker events, conferences, and other events/activities.

The Position

The position will set the communications, marketing, and community relations vision and strategic direction for the senior management team in the School, ensuring the Haskayne School’s reputation as a leading business school in Alberta and one of the top schools in Canada.

Working with internal customers and external stakeholders you will ensure that the Haskayne brand equates to excellence. The incumbent will work collaboratively with University Relations staff to ensure the communications strategies developed in the Haskayne School of Business help to advance the overall institutional efforts of the University of Calgary.

The position demands vision and leadership and a proven track record in transforming the strategic positioning of complex organizations. The Haskayne School of Business is a diverse school with approximately 10 centres and programs requiring marketing, communications, and community outreach expertise from the marketing and community relations team.

Candidate Success Factors

This leadership position is responsible for setting the vision and strategy for marketing, communications, and community outreach programs in order to advance the Haskayne School of Business brand.

This is a critical role in the university’s continued success and growth and is supported by the Dean and senior leadership team. This role will be measured by achieving the following success factors:

Senior Leadership / Management

• Providing vision, strategic direction, and leadership;
• Creating and executing a successful marketing strategy which elevates the Haskayne brand and positions it as a leading business school in Canada;
• Leading and developing a team of 10 – 12, ensuring key people attraction and retention;
• Ensuring continuous development, training, and mentoring for the team;
• Creating a culture of accountability, thoughtful planning, and results orientation;
• Providing appropriate allocation of financial and people resources to ensure objectives align with the direction of the Haskayne School of Business and the University of Calgary; and,
• Developing and implementing marketing, communications, and community relations budgets for all programs and centres that are multi-faceted and strategic.

Strategic Planning / Projects

• Designing and engaging the portfolio of tools available through marketing, communications (internal and external), and community outreach to position the Haskayne School of Business as one of the top Business schools in the country;
• Ensuring best of class use of social media, and other interactive technology to engage potential student and faculty recruits; and,
• Engaging key stakeholders to participate in school activities and contribute to the success of the Haskayne School of Business.

Marketing/Communications / Relationships

• Directing the community relations team to manage outreach activities, including conferences, special events, guest speakers, workshops, seminars, and social events targeted to engage leaders and members of the local, national, and international business communities;
• Ensuring communications alignment and leadership across the Hakayne School of Business to engage departments in the pride and profile of the business school;
• Supporting internal communications, in conjunction with the HR team in the Hakayne School of Business, to foster a high performance work culture across the school;
• Supporting development communications and alumni communications;
• Managing the team to achieve strategic faculty communication objectives, in support of the university mission, Academic Plan, and other initiatives;
• Managing the team to lead and implement a broad range of campaigns, publications, community events, and other communication tools toward a positive image and reputation for the faculty and the University of Calgary;
• Developing productive relationships with the faculty leadership team, academics and students;
• Leading branding and positioning protocols for the marketing efforts of the faculty;
• Overseeing the marketing and community relations team’s management of relationships with outside communications contractors, freelancers, and design providers;
• Providing effective communications advice and support to faculty members; and,
• Working professionally and collaboratively with other campus communicators, including members of the External Relations team.

Location

• Calgary, Alberta

Experience

Given the critical role this individual will play in the University’s continued growth and success, it is essential that the successful candidate possess the following education, experience, and personal characteristics:

Education

• A Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline.

Experience

• 15 years of progressive experience in marketing and communications, specifically around strategic planning and implementation;
• 5 to 10 years of senior management experience with demonstrated leadership strengths in creating and implementing communications and marketing strategies, projects, initiatives, community outreach, conference and event management, publications, and in building stakeholder partnerships and consensus;
• Proven track record in advancing a brand;
• Communications, marketing, and community relations experience in a large complex organization, involving multiple stakeholders;
• Proven track record of innovative and best practice communications tools and techniques;
• Experienced with social media tools and strategies;
• Proven ability to clearly communicate vision and strategies and ignite passion in that vision;
• Demonstrated excellence in leading a team and effectively initiating and executing large-scale projects and communications or marketing campaigns aimed at various audiences;
• Proven leadership experience – the ability to attract, retain, and inspire a team to high performance;
• Knowledge and understanding of post-secondary educational issues is an asset;
• Media relations experience and community liaison experience;
• Marketing experience with particular emphasis on brand development, maintenance and promotion;
• Background working on multiple projects with multiple internal stakeholders and working collaboratively across an organization; and,
• Demonstrated ability to work with staff at all levels, to work under pressure and deadlines, and to handle numerous priorities at once.

Personal Characteristics

• Someone who is results driven and a naturally creates a high performance culture;
• Someone who is innovative and big picture oriented, yet can ensure the details are being attended to;
• Someone who is exhilarated by a challenge;
• Someone who is charismatic, and who inspires and influences others easily;
• An “urgency to execute” attitude is essential;
• Someone who creates an environment that is nimble and quick and able to react to change;
• Demonstrates initiative and is motivated to ensure continuous improvement of process and delivery;
• Someone who shares information in an effective and collaborative manner;
• Demonstrated ability to work with initiative and creativity when managing multiple projects at once;
• Someone who is naturally curious and continuously learning and exploring leading edge research;
• Ability to achieve positive outcomes by encouraging, supporting, coaching, developing and mentoring others;
• Ability to demonstrate respect, dignity and integrity in interpersonal relationships and to demonstrate positive personal coping and wellness strategies; and,
• Ability to function effectively in team situations both within and across departments and other organizations to achieve optimal collective results.

Attractions

• The opportunity to truly transform the School’s brand;
• The opportunity to work in a highly complex environment, with lofty goals and challenges;
• The opportunity to work for an organization that is truly supported by its business community;
• The opportunity to work for an organization that has all of the components and support required to become the country’s leading business school; and,
• The opportunity to be part of a transformational journey.

Additional Information

• The salary range for this role is $138,500 to $171,000; and,
• The University of Calgary provides an extensive benefit package, which may be viewed here.