Chief Marketing Officer Announcement

August 23, 2018 | 9 a.m.

Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce that Michael Vedders has been appointed as our Chief Marketing Officer effective September 10, 2018. In his new role, Michael will report directly to me and will serve on Cabinet.

Michael is a testament to a Bethel liberal arts education. Four days after graduating from Bethel with a bachelor’s degree in education, Michael began working in the Bethel ITS office, serving students’ computer needs, while also pursuing an M.A. in organizational leadership. He then began overseeing Bethel’s learning management system and website. In this role, Michael led a team of developers from ITS and a creative team from marketing in rebranding Bethel’s website to become one of our key messaging and recruiting tools. Building on this project, Michael later led the university branding project. For the last three years, Michael has served as the Director of Marketing, bringing his technical and creative expertise to position Bethel’s marketing for the 21st century.

When I met with the Board of Trustees Compensation Committee, I shared with them the many strong qualities and talents Michael will bring to the role including: credibility across campus; knowledge of our market audiences and the differences among them; data-driven decision making; understanding of what successful schools do to drive enrollment; and an acute awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of our current brand image, including what we need to do to improve and strengthen our brand.

Michael and I will host two listening sessions on Thursday, August 30, from 9-10 a.m. in BC468 and Tuesday, September 4, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in ANC 205/206. During these sessions you’ll have the opportunity to hear Michael’s vision and goals for marketing and communications. The sessions will also provide an opportunity for you to share feedback and ideas with Michael about our marketing efforts.

Please join me in congratulating Michael on his new role.

Serving together,

Jay Barnes