Director College

Sally Baker

** ******* ****, *******, ***** *****

207-***-**** I *******@*****.***

Summary

Stakeholder relations professional and chief of staff with two decades'

experience shaping leadership and institutional reputations. Extremely

strong communicator of institutional goals and achievements with extensive

experience crafting strategic messages and plans.

Areas of Expertise

. Crafting leadership voice

. Board relations and communication

. Strategic communications planning

. Translating complex concepts and messages for a wide variety of

audiences

. Crisis communications management

. Team-building for effective messaging

. Building constituents' pride of affiliation with organizations

. Leading multifaceted communications projects

. Strategic management of negative publicity

Professional Experience

Colby College, Waterville, ME 2002-present

Vice President and Secretary of the Corporation

Serve as principal governance officer and member of president's cabinet;

and am an officer of the college and its board of trustees. Manage board

meetings and content and board retreats. Serve as board's liaison to

campus/off-campus constituencies. Counsel president, board, and senior

administrators on communications and interactions with campus and wider

community. Lead college's strategic communications and marketing efforts.

. Craft a leadership voice for the college based on president's and

board's distinctive styles and agenda, using speeches, announcements,

position documents, and opinion pieces. Serve as president's principal

advisor and writer. Write all communications from the board to the

college community.

. Define and write the college's principal marketing messages; lead all

ongoing strategic communications based on those messages.

. Supervise the process through which the college's web and social media

messaging are designed and continually enhanced to further the core

messaging of the college. Conceived and currently lead social media

strategy development based on market research among key customers,

including prospective students and their families, alumni, faculty,

and staff.

. By taking responsibility for all aspects of the communications stream,

protect and enhance Colby's reputation at moments of crisis. Recent

examples include a racially charged story that "went viral" and was

managed with a strict eye on Colby's core values.

. Managed college's successful decennial accreditation, served on all

committees, and wrote 400-page self-study; compiled all materials

needed by accreditation team; wrote president's responses to the

team's and accrediting body's reports.

. Manage all aspects of the Overseer Visiting Committee program, in

which all academic and administrative departments are examined by

outside evaluators. Redesigned process; now staffing committees six

months earlier than ever before; ensure that committees receive

materials and are given an opportunity to meet in conference calls

prior to campus arrival.

. Initiated regular survey of trustees on behalf of the Executive

Committee. Recommended changes in board function based on surveys:

changed meeting structure to allow for more strategic conversation and

less "reporting out"; designed ways to provide appropriate information

for individual trustees' and particular issues' needs and created a

website for trustees.

Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 2001-2002

Associate Vice President for Communications

Reported to interim president; principal adviser on communications to her

and the members of her cabinet. Left when recruited back by Colby.

. Reorganized communications office to embed communicators for

development and admissions offices, the primary users of publication

and design services. This insured clarity of message across

constituencies

. Developed a systematic, centralized approach to crisis communications.

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 1998-2001

Director of Communications, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Associate Director of News and Public Affairs

Recruited to be the first-ever Communications Director for the Faculty of

Arts and Sciences (FAS), Harvard's largest unit, with 10,000 students and

1,000 faculty members. Simultaneously served as New and Public Affairs

Associate Director, bridging FAS and central administration communications.

. Created a web presence for FAS managed by communications professionals

rather than web-technology professionals, resulting in a functional

yet attractive site whose messages went beyond basic information to

reinforce the FAS image.

. Created an electronic news search and distribution system for the

entire university, replacing an outdated and ineffective system of

paper clipping distribution and allowing university leaders to be

alerted to stories of critical importance almost instantaneously. For

top university leaders, this meant being apprised of stories in time

to be fully briefed before their work days began and not surprised by

calls and emails from key and critical constituents.

. Worked with the Dean of FAS and Dean of Harvard College to build trust

in the communications function, given long-term suspicion that news

and public affairs professionals were more interested in press than in

careful handling of stories. Rewarded with the confidence of both

deans and access to confidential information that markedly assisted in

improving FAS's reputation among off-campus constituencies.

. Managed several potentially negative stories to positive conclusions,

including stories about "Nazi-looted art," Native American remains and

artifacts, and faculty unhappiness with administrative decisions. Also

pushed back against media's perceived anti-Harvard bias in positive

stories, including a story about a quadriplegic who graduated from

Harvard despite extraordinarily daunting physical challenges.

Colby College, Waterville, ME 1990-1998

Director of Communications (1992-1998)

Managing Editor (1990-1992)

Assistant Director for Sports Information (1989-1990)

Rose in three years from the most junior member of department to its leader

by crafting a vision for communications at the college.

. Managed complete renovation of the college magazine and created a must-

read publication for all college constituencies.

. Wrote and implemented a highly successful strategic communications

plan based on the core mission and messages of the college.

. Brought unprecedented outside media attention to the college by using

all available technologies, including brand-new digital media.

Additional Professional Experience

Author, Running Tide (the autobiography of Olympic marathoner Joan Benoit

Samuelson)

Managing Editor, Africa News Service, Durham, NC

Promotions Assistant, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, CA

Freelance Writer and Editor

Education

A.B., History, Concentration in East African Studies, Duke University

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