Donna McLaren

As Associate Vice President for Institutional Communications, Donna McLaren leads with vision and strategy across the university’s public relations, advancement marketing, campaign communications, brand identity, creative services, and overall brand management.

She partners closely with Advancement to develop and execute strategic and tactical communications for capital campaigns, mini-campaigns, and university-wide philanthropic initiatives that foster meaningful engagement and inspire giving. Donna also works in collaboration with Enrollment, supporting marketing strategies that build awareness, spark interest, and drive enrollment outcomes.

Under Donna’s leadership, the institution successfully transitioned from a college to a university and earned multiple Rochester PRism Awards for excellence in higher education public relations.

Prior to joining Roberts in 2012, Donna served as Director of Branding and Advertising for Kodak’s commercial printing business, where she led a global team in developing and executing B2B marketing strategies. She brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing, product launches, and corporate communications.

Since 2006, she has also served as an adjunct professor at Roberts, teaching in both the Master of Strategic Marketing (MSMK) and Master of Strategic Leadership (MSL) programs.

A native of Syracuse, Donna earned her M.S. from Roberts Wesleyan in 1999 while working at Xerox. She also holds a B.S. in Health Science from SUNY Cortland.

She lives in North Chili with her husband, Rich, and is the proud mom of one daughter, Haley.