As I’ve continued reviewing marketing and communications organizational charts, I’ve benefitted from this work overlapping with the conclusion of our latest strategic planning research. (I’m pleased that this strategic planning research, first launched in 2020, is continuing now as a collaboration between  SIG (Strata Information Group)  and  Navigate Gray .) I’m now at 75 org charts and still accepting more, so please feel free to share yours (and thank you for feeding my or

A case for shifting from structural fixes to system-level design in marketing and communications. In higher education, we love an organizational chart. It helps us visualize structure, authority and responsibility. When coordination begins to fray or other challenges surface, it’s often the first place we look—even when the issues run deeper than reporting lines. If something isn’t working, the instinct is familiar: Maybe the structure needs to change. If only it were that si

A few weeks ago, I began a new  Navigate Gray  research project: a sector-wide look at how higher ed marketing and communications organizations are structured today. I've already received more than 50 organizational charts. Thanks to those who’ve already shared theirs. If you’re willing to contribute, please send your org chart to  rob.zinkan@navigategray.com . The irony of studying org charts I recognize the irony in focusing on org charts. A fundamental principle of my orga

We’re back in National Harbor for the  American Marketing Association  Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. The last time AMA Higher Ed was here was just three years ago, though it somehow feels like much longer. That 2022 conference marked an inflection point: a moment of reunion and renewed purpose as we found ourselves in community again after the pandemic pause. This year feels like another kind of inflection point, one where our collective work to advance the