Julie Hail Flory is vice chancellor for marketing and communications at Washington University in St. Louis. In this role, she leads the work of University Marketing & Communications, which defines, elevates and protects WashU’s brand and reputation as a world-renowned academic and research institution. Julie and her team are responsible for university-level communications in brand strategy and marketing, creative services, digital, media relations, multimedia, social media, strategic initiatives, university news and the publication of the WashU’s award-winning alumni magazine, Washington. As a member of the chancellor’s executive cabinet, Julie provides strategic counsel to university leadership and serves as the primary crisis communications, issues management and executive communications strategist.  

Julie joined WashU in 2014 as assistant vice chancellor for campus communications, and then as associate vice chancellor for university communications. She was promoted to the vice chancellor role in 2021 after having served in the interim role since January 2020, including through the COVID-19 pandemic. WashU highlights have included leading communications around the 2016 presidential debate, the inauguration of Chancellor Andrew D. Martin in 2019, and the launch of the university’s new 10-year strategic plan, Here and Next, in 2022.  

Before coming to WashU, Julie spent 13 years at the University of Notre Dame in a number of communications roles, ultimately serving as director of public relations. Before beginning her career in public relations, she worked as a television news reporter in Colorado, Idaho and Indiana. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from San José State University and her master’s degree in American Culture Studies from Washington University, and has completed marketing strategy and strategic leadership programs at Cornell University and the University of Michigan.