Lisa M. Rudgers is co-founder and partner of Peterson Rudgers Group, and has more than 30 years’ experience in higher education, strategy, marketing, public affairs, issues management and leadership coaching. She has served as in-house counsel to seven university presidents and has led in-house communications and marketing teams of up to 130 staff. As a consultant, she has deep experience advising on leadership transition, presidential voice, leadership vision and strategy, marketing and brand strategy, strategic planning, organizational assessments, Advancement communications, team building, and retreat planning and facilitation. In her consulting roles, Lisa has coached and advised many presidents and chancellors as well as chiefs of staff, provosts, vice presidents, and deans.
Previously, Rudgers was the University of Michigan’s vice president for global communications and strategic initiatives. She served a total of 12 years in that role. She was responsible for developing communication strategies to enhance U-M’s visibility locally, nationally, and internationally. As an executive officer, she was a member of the cabinet-level leadership team and served as senior counselor to the president and other executive officers. She directed and managed the global communications division, including all central marketing, public affairs, internal communications, news, social media, photography, and presidential communications as well as the university’s top-ranked public radio station, Michigan Radio.
Rudgers played a crucial role in leading the public outreach messaging and related strategies surrounding the university’s historic defense of its admissions lawsuits up to the U.S. Supreme Court. She directed communication supporting many presidential and university initiatives, including the president’s international delegations to China, Brazil, and India. She was one of the creators of the University Research Corridor, aligning the three largest research-intensive universities in the state to spark greater collaboration and economic prosperity. Her communications strategies supported U-M initiatives in diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, library digitization, sustainability, and the arts.
She led two university-wide branding initiatives, The Michigan Difference and Victors, that were used comprehensively across campus including as fundraising campaign themes, academic medical center marketing, and admissions campaigns. She and her team spearheaded a refreshed visual identity program recognized as best in class by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
U-M efforts under her leadership also included revamping the university’s web presence called the Gateway, now with more than 20 million visits each year. She established the university’s first global communications initiative including the Global Michigan web portal in five languages and U-M’s Weibo presence, and she launched the university’s first social media office. In the role, she also planned and managed presidential transitions including the introduction of U-M’s Mary Sue Coleman.
Earlier in her career, Rudgers served as assistant vice president and director of public relations at Michigan State University; director of news and communications at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and account supervisor at Media Logic Inc., a marketing and public relations firm in Albany, NY. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Bonaventure University. Rudgers is a frequent presenter on strategy and leadership development topics and curates a popular Weekly Scan of higher education trends and news.
Contact: lisa@petersonrudgersgroup.com