UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Rachel A. Pell has been named Penn State’s vice president for Strategic Communications, effective immediately. Pell has served in the role on an interim basis since Oct. 29, 2022.
As vice president for Strategic Communications, Pell leads the University’s award-winning central communications division, which consists of University Public Relations, University Marketing, Campus and Community Events, and Licensing and Visual Identity Programs. She also serves on Penn State’s President’s Council, advising President Neeli Bendapudi and senior leaders on communications strategies for internal and external audiences and initiatives.
“Since I joined Penn State as president last year, Rachel has provided steady leadership and counsel, helping to align strategic communications with the University’s top priorities in a changing higher education landscape,” said Bendapudi. “Every day, Rachel brings strategic vision, professional expertise, tireless dedication and valued leadership to our efforts to continuously elevate Penn State’s brand and reputation; to recruit and highlight the accomplishments of the world’s best students, faculty and staff; and to celebrate the positive impact of Penn Staters from all corners of Pennsylvania and beyond. I am thrilled to have Rachel in this vital role.”
Previously, Pell served as associate vice president for Strategic Communications, a role she took in 2016.
“I am humbled and energized by the opportunity to lead strategic communications and marketing for one of the world’s premier public research universities, and I am honored to be able to do it alongside a team of talented professionals and wonderful colleagues in the Office of Strategic Communications and across Penn State,” Pell said. “I am passionate about partnering with leadership in our academic colleges, institutes, units and more than 20 campus locations to tell Penn State's story.”
An alumna of Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, Pell has more than 23 years of experience in higher education and healthcare communications. She has played a leadership role in Penn State’s Office of Strategic Communications for more than six years, where she has overseen internal communications, issues and crisis, social media, proactive media and research communications efforts.
“I am deeply committed to bringing diverse perspectives to the table, and to reflecting, celebrating and strengthening the diversity of our Penn State community in every aspect of Strategic Communications' work,” Pell said. “I look forward to building upon the tremendous brand that Penn State already is; and to continuing to elevate creative storytelling efforts that highlight the University’s unique attributes, enrich our students’ educational experiences, prioritize the cutting-edge research and scholarly contributions of our excellent faculty members, and underscore our collective impact on the commonwealth and the world.”
Working collaboratively with and engaging key stakeholders and constituencies University-wide, Pell has overseen communications strategies for key University initiatives, including food and housing insecurity, entrepreneurial initiatives, and more. She continues to work closely with fellow leaders at Penn State to demonstrate the University’s value to the commonwealth, both to Pennsylvania’s leaders and its citizens. In her role she also oversees the efforts of Strategic Communications’ Licensing and Visual Identity team, with a focus on identifying new opportunities to drive revenue in partnership with Penn State Finance and Business and Intercollegiate Athletics.
With a commitment to thought leadership and promoting communications excellence across the institution, Pell has led projects such as Perspective: Leaders at Penn State to showcase the unique expertise and experiences of University leadership. She collaborated to drive a multichannel storytelling approach to develop and highlight creative content for Penn State’s brand and impact campaign, and, in late 2021, her team launched a premier University-wide storytelling platform in Penn State News. A forthcoming focus will be on maximizing opportunities to build strong relationships with brand ambassadors and influencers, increasing collaboration with important contributors to the University’s storytelling efforts on its social media platforms and beyond.
Under Pell’s leadership, the University has codified a top-notch issues and crisis communications program that is agile and responsive to a wide range of issues that may face institutions of Penn State’s scale and scope. As a member of the University’s COVID-19 management team throughout the pandemic, Pell and her team developed “Mask Up or Pack Up,” a research-based community health campaign that received top national and global PR awards, as well as recognition from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her pandemic-era efforts also included in-depth collaboration with Campus and Community Events as the team worked to provide meaningful commencement experiences for thousands of Penn State graduates and their families in the face of unprecedented global challenges.
Prior to her time at Penn State, Pell served as senior vice president and group manager at Ketchum, a leading global communications agency in New York City, where she worked for more than 12 years. As a member of the leadership team at Ketchum, Pell led public relations and marketing communications campaigns for major national and international corporate clients in the pharmaceutical and nonprofit healthcare space, focused on reaching broad and diverse consumer audiences with critical health- and health-care-related messages. She directed multi-million-dollar budgets and was responsible for building existing and new business for the agency. Previously, she spent four years at the global public relations firm Weber Shandwick’s New York City headquarters.