Vice President Adrienne Nazon

Adrienne Nazon is the vice president of External Relations and Communications for the University of Illinois System. In this role, she and her team work across the three-university system to support, amplify and advance the work being done to build, broaden and protect the University of Illinois System's brand and reputation, advance its priorities, and foster broad-based understanding, engagement, support, advocacy, and investment.

Strengthening connections and building mutually beneficial partnerships with the U of I System's many stakeholders are core functions for External Relations in areas ranging from strategic communications, marketing, public affairs, and advocacy to local, state, and federal government relations.

Before joining the U of I System, Nazon was the vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer at The Ohio State University, a position she served in beginning in 2015. She oversaw all marketing and communications efforts for a land-grant, Research 1 university, which enrolls more than 60,000 students and has five campuses across the state. She was instrumental in building a modern marketing organization and guiding multiple stakeholders through a large-scale re-branding effort to ensure a more strategic and coordinated communications platform. Nazon also was a trusted advisor and subject-matter expert, providing guidance and direction across the enterprise on the development of marketing and communications strategies and plans.

Prior to working at OSU, Nazon served as the executive director of marketing at the University Chicago's Booth School of Business. In this role, she built an integrated global marketing and communications organization for one of the most competitive business schools in the world.

Before entering the higher education arena, she spent two and half decades leading marketing efforts in support of major brands. Her background includes B2B and B2C marketing and marketing business information management at both publicly and privately held companies, ranging from a start-up to several Fortune 500 companies (United Distillers & Vintners/Diageo, Quaker Oats/Pepsi, and Kraft Foods). In addition to marketing, she has held leadership roles in information technology, engineering, sales, and consulting.

Nazon holds a bachelor of science in computer system engineering from Howard University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.