Director of Communications | Thacher School

Thacher School is one of the most selective and highly regarded boarding schools in the nation. Founded in 1889 by Sherman Day Thacher, the School serves academically talented students from 24 states and 9 countries in a rigorous college preparatory experience. Fifty-one percent of students identify as people of color. The faculty and students live and work closely together on a 427-acre campus nestled in the foothills of the Los Padres National Forest in Ojai, California (85 miles north of Los Angeles). Honor, fairness, kindness, and truth are the cornerstones of School life. Together, the school community commits to the belief that demands in the academic classroom, when combined with those of mountains and horses, of sports and the arts, produce independent minds, strong bodies, and powerful character. The School enrolls 260 students, has an operating budget of $25 million, and an endowment of $170 million.

Director of Communications:

The Thacher School seeks an innovative, experienced, and highly engaged director of communications. This full-time position reports to the head of school and works closely with the School’s senior leadership team--especially the director of enrollment and planning and the director of development. The director of communications directly supervises a full-time digital marketing coordinator and a part time campus photographer/videographer while also managing all relevant vendor relationships.

As the only administrator responsible for School communications across all constituents, the director needs to be a skilled and passionate brand ambassador who can add value to the highly functioning marketing efforts of all departments. The director needs to combine a strong, proactive strategic approach with the managerial and execution skills to ensure all print, website, social media and digital content is delivered on strategy and on time. The director also needs to be a skilled writer who can initiate and add value to key communications from the head and the leadership team.

Major Functions and Responsibilities:

• Serve as the lead institutional storyteller and brand ambassador, by ensuring all marketing and communications materials reflect the ethos, mission and strategic initiatives of the school.
• Using print, electronic messaging, websites, social media, photography/videography, programs, and media relations to tell compelling stories that explain the School's benefits in a tangible way to its stakeholders.
• Develop and implement various means of communication to ensure prospective and current parents, alumni, faculty/staff, and friends of the School receive regular, timely, and up-to-date information while partnering with admissions and development offices to achieve these objectives
• Produce polished written pieces with a quick turnaround and extraordinary editing ability
• Support other members of the School community in developing and distributing their content relative to our mission and values including the academic leadership team members, dorm heads, the horse program among other programmatic departments
• Handle and advise crisis communications as needed
• Provide marketing support and advice for the head of school, the administrative team, and the Board of Trustees and represent the School's communications and marketing agenda to others
• Manage the performance of communications and marketing department staff and the associated budgets for the department
• Maintain the School's brand and visual identity by leading graphic/signage initiatives.

For a complete position description, visit https://www.carneysandoe.com/assets/Thacher-DoMarComm-Final.pdf

Interested candidates contact: Jonathan Ball, Managing Associate, Carney Sandoe & Associates at jball@carneysandoe.com. All inquiries and nominations are kept confidential.