My CASE journey started shortly after I joined the University of Sheffield, U.K., as its first Director of Marketing and Communications, moving from a senior marketing role at BT (British Telecom). Somehow, thankfully, in my first few weeks I found my way to the CASE Europe Annual Conference in Hertfordshire, England, in September 2004. My fellow marketing and communications leaders at the conference took me under their collective wing, and I had found my professional home—literally and emotionally.
The education sector has always been a tough environment for marketing and communications professionals. CASE’s network of support helped me in every step of my career and kept me sane at times, too! The change from working for big, for-profit organisations like BT and Mars, Incorporated, to higher education was so much more difficult than I had anticipated. It challenged everything I thought about not just what you do but how you achieved results in a university.
Nearly 20 years later, I have the honour and privilege of leading as Vice President of the Membership, Marketing, and Communications team here at CASE and I am part of the Executive Leadership Team. My career in education has come full circle, and I am excited to think about how I can help shape and steward the future of CASE for advancement professionals.
The experience of being a CASE volunteer has given me a great insight into my new role. The team I lead is comprised of people who work on your membership throughout the year, communicate via all CASE’s channels, and publish CASE’s books and Currents, our award-winning flagship magazine.
Our team also creates and maintains the website, looks after the brand, and thinks about the future marketing opportunities for CASE either through new markets, new sectors, or new activities that our members want us to provide. Our MMC team works collaboratively from across the globe, in each of CASE’s offices in the U.K., Singapore, Mexico, and the U.S.
Now we are working on a commemorative publication for the 50th Anniversary of CASE in 2024. It has been fun to read what has happened over the last five decades and the strides we have made as an association.
Recently, I have been working very closely with market research that CASE commissioned in 2022 to see how we can develop and improve value for our members and the advancement sector in the coming years. We heard from more than 1,800 people from all over the globe about how they feel about what CASE does, and it is a treasure trove of insights for a new vice president like me—so thank you to anybody reading this who took the time to respond!
Working in advancement there is never a dull moment, so I love the variety of my role, the people I meet, and the opportunities we have. As I’m getting to know CASE better, I am in awe of how much we can achieve across the globe with a very hardworking staff, a strong vision, and the power of the members. CASE helped me so much in my early days—now, I am ready to return the favour.
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September - October 2023
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