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After more than a year of looking, the University of Utah has hired a new brander-in-chief for a post that has been elevated to the presidential Cabinet.
William Warren, who will move to Utah from New York City, comes with broad experience in government and corporate communications, serving until recently as a vice president for CA Technologies, one of the world's largest software providers.
Warren's arrival at the U. next week coincides with turnover in the school's senior leadership and its admission to the Pac-12, one of the nation's premier athletic conferences. The post, formerly held by Mark Woodland, now reports to the president, which is held on an interim basis by A. Lorris Betz.
"That's a recognition of the fact that the university has been piling up some impressive wins," Warren said. "Its achievements are well ahead of its profile nationally; there is so much to work with."
Warren, whose title is chief marketing and communications officer, assumes university-relations duties now filled by the U.'s chief fundraiser, Fred Esplin, vice president for institutional advancement. Warren also will lead media relations and will be paid an annual salary of $250,000.
"We wanted someone with a strong marketing background specifically, and with public relations and media experience," Esplin said. "The move to the Pac-12 is one part of the larger metamorphosis the university is going through. Look at how far it has come in the last decade in terms of research, greater reliance of private funding, tech transfer, recruiting the best students in the state and nationally. You don't do this without being sophisticated in your marketing."
Warren was a contributor to The New York Times while working on a master's degree at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. He was a key speech writer for New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the mid-1990s, and later worked for MCI Communications, ARCO and Coca-Cola, before joining CA Technologies in 2003.
"Bill Warren brings to the university valuable strategic expertise and experience with nationally recognized firms at an important time in our history," said a news release quoting Betz, formerly the U.'s vice president for health sciences. "We are very fortunate to be able to attract somebody with his skills."
Warren also was a graduate fellow at Rice University, specializing in recent American history with a strong interest in political speech writing. His career switch from the corporate to the academic world reflects an interest in education.
"Education, particularly public education, is the bedrock of U.S. competitiveness. It has seen us through several economic transformations. The economy is no longer based on natural resources, but on our brainpower and our ability to innovate," Warren said.
His wife, Patricia Rohrer, has taught philosophy at Barnard College and City University of New York, but she is not planning to seek a faculty appointment at the U. The couple have two school-age sons, Simon and Jaspar.