Brooks School

Director of Communications & Marketing

Deerfield Associates has been retained by Brooks School, located in North Andover, Massachusetts, to conduct a national search for a Director of Communications & Marketing.

The Position

Reporting to the Head of School, the Director of Communications and Marketing is Brooks School’s chief communications officer and a leader in institutional strategy. The director of communications and marketing will promote Brooks School to external and internal audiences in support of our mission. In collaboration with the senior leadership team and board of trustees, the director of communication and marketing will lead all of the school’s communication and marketing efforts. This will include the development and execution of plans focusing on media relations, community relations, internal and external publications, social media platforms, signage, and the school’s website.

The Director’s leadership enhances the regional, national, and international profile by working with campus partners to identify and communicate effectively with existing and new internal and external audiences. The Director’s work will focus especially on potential parent and student communities, reinforcing and broadening the appeal of Brooks School’s identity by articulating the Brooks School value proposition across multiple platforms; enhancing its competitiveness in the independent school market; and setting the tone and direction for marketing and communications in admissions, development, alumni relations, parent relations, and student engagement.

The Director manages internal and external communications, as well as community, media, and public relations and crisis communications. Under the Director’s leadership, the Office of Communications and Marketing develops targeted, accurate messaging disseminated online via email and the Brooks School website, through social media, and in print to meet Brooks School’s needs. The Director is responsible for keeping the school’s communications vehicles current and creating and implementing metrics for success. The Director also regularly seeks out and evaluates new ways to reach audiences.

Because accurate and efficient internal communications are essential to strengthen the community and ultimately the school’s value proposition, the Director will lead efforts to keep internal communications timely and up to date. The Director will be a valued partner and team member to the offices, committees and task forces that serve the faculty, staff and students. The Director will regularly be visible on campus and ensure a communications presence at key times, such as meetings for business, faculty meetings, alumni and parent events, opening days, and graduation.

The opportunity is available in July 2023. For more background on Brooks School, please visit: www.brooksschool.org

Essential Functions and Key Objectives

Works closely with the Head of School and school leaders to enhance the school’s appeal to a widening range of prospective families, faculty and staff, and alumni, parents, and friends
Responsible for the oversight of the scheduling and production of all school publications
Collaborate with the admission department in developing and executing marketing efforts to attract and retain high-quality students
Manage and direct communication professionals who create feature stories, an alumni magazine (three issues per year), electronic newsletters, website copy and other printed and online/electronic media materials
Manage PR, media relations and school advertising
Responsible for the ongoing management and occasional redesign of the school’s website
Develop, manage and evaluate internal communications as needed
Develop communication standards, guidelines, templates, and tools
Advise and collaborate with the head of school and board of trustees on effective media engagement techniques
While not required, there would be potential teaching, coaching, and student advising opportunities
Leads strategic institutional efforts to plan, execute, and evaluate marketing strategies, communications programs, and media relations to create and reinforce Brooks School’s distinctive identity as a global, boarding school, supporting the work of admission, development, college counseling and all school offices and divisions
Disseminate the school’s and the head’s key messages to various constituencies. Organizes and participates in the drafting of speeches, press communications and website postings, and presentation materials for the school leaders
Ensure that the Brooks School alumni magazine’s content and graphic identity are consistent with those of Brooks School as a whole and advance the school’s relationship with current families and alumni
Ensures alignment of the school’s messages and image across publications (online and paper), speeches and events. Writes/edits pieces for publication as necessary
Provides strategic direction for Brooks School’s social media strategy
Develops and implements a media relations strategy. Serves as the chief public relations officer and media relations officer for Brooks School, proactively supplying appropriate information to the media and responding to inquiries
Serves as Brooks School’s resident crisis communications expert and as the school’s liaison to crisis communications firms

Essential Functions and Key Objectives

Competencies:

The director will need to be a strategic thinker with a demonstrated ability to develop a long-term vision for the school in partnership with the senior leadership team
The director will need to understand drivers of choice and possess a deep understanding of prospective student and family needs, behaviors, and preferences in order to develop effective marketing campaigns and strategies
The director will need to be a data-driven decision maker with a demonstrated ability to leverage data and analytics in order to make informed decisions about the school’s communication and marketing plans
The director will need to be both creative and innovative; able to develop new approaches to connecting with prospective students, families, and potential donors
The director must have a solid understanding of digital marketing channels with a premium placed on social media platforms
The director must have a demonstrated ability and default inclination to collaborate with the admission and advancement offices in order to ensure cohesive and consistent messaging
The director must be a skilled writer – capable of executing on a variety of assignments intended for both the full breadth of the school constituency and particular audiences within that constituency
The director will need to be an effective manager of the communications and marketing team, which is currently two additional full-time employees
The director will need to be capable of managing a budget while advocating for budgetary needs that emerge on a year-to-year basis

Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree required, Master’s degree is preferred
10-15 years of increasingly responsible management experience in public relations, journalism, communications, marketing or related role with demonstrated experience and a successful track record in media relations
Experience working in an independent school and/or higher education is a plus.
Superior communication skills to express, orally and in writing, Brooks School’s mission, vision, and goals with clarity, passion, and persuasion.
Strong management skills, both strategic and operational, and a demonstrated ability to manage, mentor and motivate an effective team.
Visionary and strategic planning capabilities to be applied toward the development of an innovative marketing and communications program and the leadership necessary to ensure its successful implementation.
Demonstrated project management skills and understanding of digital media tools, integrated media campaigns, social media, video, and website design.
Highly proficient in use of technology: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power Point), Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.
Attention to detail combined with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks simultaneously in a deadline-driven environment.
A high degree of professionalism, sound judgment, awareness, and discretion while maintaining complete confidentiality.
Capable of building collaborative relationships and effectively navigating across a highly engaged school community.
Self-confidence, humility, integrity, warmth, and a flexible personal style combined with a sense of humor that will earn the respect and attention of the organization and community.

John Packard

Head of School

John R. Packard was appointed head of school in 2008. He was formerly dean of faculty at Brooks, a position he held since 2000. Previously, he was assistant director of admission and assistant dean of students.

Mr. Packard first came to Brooks in 1990 and has taught history for 15 years. He has also served as dorm master for 15 years and has coached soccer, ice hockey, baseball and lacrosse. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, where he captained the soccer team. He holds an M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University. Mr. Packard had his wife, Kim (Brooks class of 1987), have two children.

The School’s Benefits

Brooks School benefits includes medical, dental, a generous TIAA-CREF retirement plan, and substantial vacation time that coincides with the school calendar.

Mission & Values

At Brooks School, we seek to provide the most meaningful educational experience our students will have in their lives. Brooks School believes that realizing a mission aimed at providing the most meaningful educational experience its students will have in their lives requires intentional work to build and foster diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for all members of our predominantly residential school. As such, we seek a diverse candidate pool that includes those who are traditionally underrepresented and less familiar with boarding school life.

Travel

There may be occasional need to travel on behalf of the school, but this will not be a primary component of the position.

Employment

The school will make any offer of employment contingent upon a candidate being authorized to work in the United States, and successfully completing criminal offender record (CORI) and sexual offender record (SORI) background checks.

Anti-Racism Statement:

Brooks School strives to be an anti-racist school, understanding that this work is continuous and is central to our role as an educational institution. Racism and other forms of systemic oppression are deeply rooted in all institutional and societal structures: We condemn institutional racism and white supremacy in all forms, including those that exist at Brooks. As a community that values each member’s sense of belonging, our goal is to foster an inclusive environment in which everyone can live, work and learn free from prejudice, discrimination and marginalization. While we recognize that racism occurs both intentionally and unintentionally and is often a result of unconscious bias, we also know that its presence hinders our ability to provide the most meaningful educational experience our students will have in their lives. Therefore, at Brooks School we are united in the fight to identify, acknowledge and dismantle systems of oppression and inequality. In order to do this work effectively, we will draw on our foundation: strong community, core values, and commitment to care, support and growth of every member of the community.

EEO Statement

Brooks School does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, color, sexual orientation, disability or religion in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, employment policies, financial aid and loan programs, athletic programs and other school administered programs and activities.

Contact Information

To explore this superb career opportunity on a highly confidential basis please send your resume, letter of interest and a list of four (4) references, including contact information, (who will only be contacted by the search firm if mutual interest is determined) to:

Doug Cooney, Executive Search Consultant, DEERFIELD ASSOCIATES Executive Search, Inc.
572 Washington Street, Suite 15, Wellesley, MA 02482 Telephone: 781-237-2800.
Email: jobs@deerfieldassociates.com