Lessons in Higher Ed Leadership: The First Year with Tracey A. Reeves

The Ward Group had the privilege and honor of working with the historic and respected private liberal arts institution, Bates College, to identify and recruit its Vice President for Communications and Marketing. Following an impressive communications career at organizations like the Washington Post, Johns Hopkins, and Georgia Tech (and returning to her roots as a New England native), Tracey A. Reeves began in her new position as Vice President at Bates in August 2022. We recently sat down with Tracey to reflect on her first year, looking back on her assimilation process, the opportunities and challenges she has taken on, and lessons as a Black woman in a visible leadership role.

1. What were your top priorities for your first year at Bates? As you reflect back, would you do anything differently?

My foremost tasks were to engage in active listening and learning, establish relationships with both my team and senior staff colleagues, and embrace the role as a visible leader. I made it a point to step out of the office and connect with students, faculty, and staff on campus. I attended football, volleyball, and basketball games, as well as several lectures and theater performances. I even ventured into unfamiliar territory by observing a squash match – an entirely novel experience for me.

Immersing myself in the community was pivotal in helping me to develop an understanding of how I could build upon the groundwork laid by my predecessor, enhancing the Bates narrative and bolstering its brand.

Around six months into my new position, a comprehensive list of priorities for my inaugural year began to take shape: the formulation of an integrated communications and marketing strategy; create a quarterly impact report to capture engagement metrics; the implementation of a project management system to manage the team’s projects and workflow; and facilitation of the introduction of the college’s new president. At the same time, I dedicated significant effort towards acquainting myself with my team and colleagues, allowing them the opportunity to become familiar with me and my leadership style.

Reflecting on my inaugural year, I acknowledge that dedicating more initial one-on-one time with my senior staff colleagues could have been advantageous for better understanding their perspectives and priorities – an aspect I am currently allocating time to.

2. Tell us what it’s been like to influence across a new organization as the senior-most communications and marketing leader.

Navigating the role of the most senior communicator as a Black woman in a predominantly white organization has brought a unique set of experiences and insights. The result has been both challenging and rewarding. My position not only involves leading communications and marketing but also serving as a representative and advocate for diversity and inclusion within the organization. As a Black woman, I bring a distinct perspective and a deep understanding of the importance of diverse voices and perspectives in shaping narratives and strategies.

Conversely, I’ve felt the weight of being one of the few individuals of color among the senior leadership involved in decision-making discussions.

My role as the senior communications and marketing leader at Bates has been a journey of embracing challenges and learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s a path I’ve been on in previous roles and one that I’ve learned to turn into a way to contribute to a more diverse and equitable organizational culture.

3. In just your first year, you’ve supported a milestone for Bates by welcoming a new president. What has this experience been like, especially being one of the newest leaders on the senior team?

I have actively facilitated the transitions for three college presidents during my nearly 15 years in higher education, spanning Bates, Georgia Tech, and Johns Hopkins University. These experiences, occurring when I was either a fresh presence or still relatively new, endowed me with invaluable insights into orchestrating seamless introductions of new presidents. This background convinced me of my ability to adeptly lead the unveiling of such announcements with a blend of insight and enthusiasm. So, I knew that I could lead the rollout of an announcement and do it with a blend of insight and enthusiasm.

In my view, this pivotal moment necessitated a dual focus: a commemoration of the contributions made by our outgoing president, Clayton Spencer, and a triumphant introduction of our new president, Garry W. Jenkins. With my team and senior staff colleagues, I chartered a strategy for communicating the identity of the college’s new president through a multi-channel approach. Naturally, I experienced a measure of apprehension, but I was reassured by both my previous experiences and the support and collaboration of my senior staff colleagues and team.

I’m pleased to say that the outcome of our carefully executed announcement package not only stirred emotions but also ignited enthusiasm across the college’s various stakeholders, including our students. Most significantly, Garry was pleased with the rollout.

4. You made the transition from a significant, comprehensive R1 institution (Georgia Tech) to a small private prestigious liberal arts (Bates College). What challenges have you faced in this change of organization and environment? Where have you seen parallels and thus opportunities?

It fundamentally boils down to scalability. From the outset, I recognized that the transition from Georgia Tech to Bates would entail a distinct process. Concurrently, I recognized that the principles and techniques underlying communications and marketing remain consistent across diverse environments. Universally, communicators possess narratives to share, which we share with our constituencies. We strategically employ marketing methodologies to engage target audiences, convey our value proposition, and strive for objectives that give us a competitive advantage. These days, I influence in different ways.

Although my focus at Bates might not revolve as heavily around promoting peer-reviewed research as I did at Tech, I am orchestrating the promotion of faculty scholarship and student excellence in ways that resonate just as deeply and have a comparable influence on our stakeholders and the broader public.

Additionally, the transition has afforded me the opportunity to explore innovative strategies that might not have been feasible in my previous job. This smaller setting has allowed me to be more agile in my decision-making and enabled me to implement initiatives more quickly and measure their impact more directly. Simply put, the transition has presented me with challenges related to scale, culture, and community.

Coming from a large research-intensive institution, I pondered whether my engagement at Bates would yield a less hectic schedule and provide the same level of professional inspiration as my prior roles did. What I found was that my current position has not only challenged me extensively but also provided gratifying and demanding experiences. This revelation has been particularly welcome, as I thrive when presented with the opportunity to drive substantial progress for the organizations I serve.

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Interested in learning more about our unique approach to identifying, attracting, and retaining higher education leaders? Whether you are looking to hire an executive like Tracey, or be an organization’s next leader, contact us to set up an introductory call.