tom witkowski

Objective

To partner with an innovative and mission-driven organization in telling its stories in compelling ways to internal or external audiences to build brand awareness, strengthen staff and customer engagement, and increase market share and revenue.

Summary

I use storytelling and content marketing to increase digital and in-person engagement with targeted audiences, support fundraising and branding efforts, and highlight institutional messaging and priorities. I develop digital strategies for creating and sharing content in alignment with organizational goals, and I find the stories that resonate with the brand, messaging, and intended audience segments, producing them in written, audio, and video forms to create consistent lifetime strategies. As a result, I have helped higher education institutions shift to more digital communications strategies, improve their messaging, strengthen connections with their alumni and other audiences, and increase their dollars raised. With a background as a newspaper and magazine reporter, writer, and editor, and communications and marketing executive, my primary organizational experience has included leadership and practitioner roles at MIT and Harvard University, spanning almost 17 years.

Skills

Creating written, video, and audio content • Creating and producing print and digital materials • Translating complex subject matter for non-expert audiences • Managing writers, designers, photographers, and videographers • Creating and building brands • Building teams • Developing strategy • Managing budgets

Content Creation and Development
•    Co-created and co-produced a collection of video and written stories about MIT students and
     their inventiveness, ideas, and aspirations, resulting in the successful launch of a $500
     million capital campaign.

•    Researched and wrote, in consultation with principal investigators, white papers on
     scientific topics that helped MIT scientists articulate their work to prospective donors,
     resulting in additional funds raised to support Institute initiatives.

•    Wrote feature articles and donor profile for quarterly magazine for MIT alumni audiences, as
     well as photo books, brochures, and letters, resulting in successful stewardship of donors.

•    Drafted white paper and produced video to explain the research, integration of engineering
     and science, and planned development of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
     at MIT for prospective donors, resulting in additional funds raised for the completion of the
     lab building.

•    Collaborated with faculty and researchers to write collateral materials that explained the
     basic science underlying stem cell and regenerative biology research, graduate student
     research in nanoparticles to make cancer therapeutics more effective, and efforts to attract
     top faculty, resulting in increased funding and improved stewardship of donors.

Project Implementation

•    Managed vendors and the collaboration of disparate but related teams in redesigning 

     and deploying a website for Harvard Business School alumni, resulting in a site richer in
     content and built to engage alumni and inform them about the school’s impact and
     fundraising priorities.

•    Collaborated with writers, photographers, and designers to produce a quarterly magazine
     for MIT Sloan alumni, resulting in a deeper connection with graduates of the school through
     class notes and articles about individual alumni and business trends.

•    Worked with photographers, designers, web developers, and printers to produce print and
     digital marketing materials to share MIT student and faculty stories initially with donors and 

     then repurpose them for broader audiences, including all alumni and prospective students, 

     resulting in a cohesive suite of materials and a uniform message.

Leadership

•    Spearheaded branding of Harvard Business School’s lifelong learning strategy to strengthen
     the connection between alumni and the school and increase alumni philanthropy, resulting in
     greater awareness of HBS’s value to alumni throughout their lives. 

•    Led the creation of an authentic an updated collection of written, audio, and video stories to
     spotlight HBS alumni, resulting in a more accurate reflection of the breadth and depth of
     alumni’s global impact.

•    Drove a content-rich multi-channel alumni engagement strategy to support a capital
     campaign that raised $1.3 billion for HBS priorities and resulted in a significant increase of
     in-person, online, social media connection with alumni.

Professional Experience
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA                                                                       2012-Present

Senior Director, Alumni Marketing and Communications, Harvard Business School

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA                                         2005-2012

Director, Creative Strategy, MIT Sloan School of Management, 2010-2012

Director, Alumni Communications and Online Services, MIT Sloan School of
Management, 2008-2010

Senior Communications Officer, Resource Development, 2005-2008

The Boston Business Journal, Boston, MA                                                             2000-2005
Reporter

   

Time, Boston, MA

Boston-based freelance reporter

TAB Community Newspapers, Needham, MA

Columnist, Reporter, and Editorial Page Editor

Awards and Fellowships

•    Oversee a team that has won a Webby, Hatch, Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts W3,
     and multiple CASE District 1 Awards

•    Completed The Boston Consortium for Higher Education’s Susan Vogt Leadership
     Fellows Program

•    Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) international Circle
     of Excellence Silver Award in Fundraising Publications Packages Category

•    MIT Resource Development Pyramid of Performance Capstone Award for Achievement

•    CASE District 1 Gold Award for Digital Media

•    CASE District 1 Silver Award for Websites-Specialty Sites

•    CASE District 1 Silver Award for Campaign

•    AIGA Boston’s Best of New England Design Best of Show award

•    New England Press Association, Environmental reporting

•    New England Press Association, Transportation reporting

•    New England Press Association, Headline writing, three-time winner

•    New England Press Association, Editorial page

Other Experience

•    2017 CASE District 1 Conference, Breakfast Roundtables Co-Chair

•    20+ years property investment and management experience, including budget management
     and real estate development, growing investment to five units

•    Former member, Leadership Council, Boston, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

•    Former member, Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project, communications committee in
     support of board of directors

•    Former director, Greater Boston Lesbian and Gay Alliance Anti-Violence Project

Education

•    Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, Bachelor of Science, Advertising

•    School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, coursework

•    Harvard Extension School, Cambridge, MA, coursework

•    Provincetown Fine Arts Center, Provincetown, MA, workshop