Jacqueline Conrad named VP for communications and marketing

Skidmore College has announced that Jacqueline Conrad will become Skidmore’s new vice president for communications and marketing.

Conrad will join Skidmore on July 5, continuing her highly successful 30-year career in the private and nonprofit sectors, including 18 years leading her own communications firm and the last nine years at Cambridge College in Boston, where she is currently vice president of communications and public relations.

Conrad’s appointment follows a national search that attracted an array of exceptional candidates from across the country. 

“I am thrilled to welcome Jacqui Conrad to Skidmore and into this critical leadership role,” President Marc Conner said. “From her leadership in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at Cambridge College and elsewhere to her impactful work in every realm of higher education outreach and communications, Jacqui is precisely the strategist and entrepreneurial thinker Skidmore needs to lead our talented Communications and Marketing team. She impressed all of us involved in this search with her experience, her poise, her creativity, and her commitment to being part of a caring and committed community. I am delighted to welcome such a strong colleague, and I look forward with great anticipation to the creativity, marketing expertise, and passion for positive change she brings to Skidmore.”

Conrad’s work across her career has earned her a strong reputation for entrepreneurial leadership, savvy marketing, social impact, and engagement with and support for diverse communities. At Cambridge College, her many notable contributions have included leading a college reconception and rebranding, and serving as a key member of President Deborah Jackson’s transformative leadership team, including co-founding (with Jackson) Cambridge College’s Racial, Equity, and Social Justice Initiative to develop an intentional and strategic response to systemic racism and inequities. 

“Jacqui Conrad brings insightful views on DEI work and an exceptional level of integrity and trustworthiness to this role, characteristics highly valued at Skidmore,” said Timothy Harper, associate professor of business and management, who served on the search committee. “We are fortunate to have her joining our community.”

Before joining Cambridge College, Conrad led her own communications firm, delaCruz Communications in Boston, from 1996 to 2014, working on strategic communications, branding, and marketing with a host of nonprofit, educational, social justice, and corporate clients. Conrad holds a bachelor’s degree from Suffolk University and earned a M.S. in communications management from Simmons College.

“I am thrilled to join the Skidmore community to help usher in the next phase of growth and innovation under President Conner’s leadership. Skidmore’s commitment to building a community of inclusive excellence, trust, and acceptance is evidenced through its Racial Justice Initiative, which is one of its highest institutional priorities and deeply aligns with my passion for DEI,” said Conrad.

The search was led by Conner, who chaired a committee that included Harper, Katie Mastriano ’24, Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid Mary Lou Bates, and Student Accounts Coordinator Patti Heritage. Kate Grimes in the Office of the President supported the search. The committee was assisted by Steve Leo, managing director of Storbeck Search, an executive search firm that specializes in leadership hiring for colleges and universities and is part of the Diversified Search Group.