Kionna Coleman named OCM Executive Director

After an extensive search, Kionna Coleman, assistant chief communications officer at North Carolina State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), has been named executive director for the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM), with an official start date of Nov. 1.

A seasoned marketing and strategic communications professional, Coleman brings more than 20 years of experience to the OCM team, with an extensive background in higher education and publishing, as well as agency and client-side creative services management. As executive director, Coleman will lead OCM’s efforts to standardize communications operations and processes and provide day-to-day operational oversight to all media relations, content marketing and creative services teams and initiatives.

In her role at N.C. State, Coleman helped CALS Communications develop a high-performance internal creative services agency to support the diverse communications and marketing needs of the college, its departments, centers and programs.

“Kionna’s experience will help our team continue to evolve into the strategic communications and marketing organization Auburn needs and deserves,” said Auburn Chief Communications Officer Richard Campbell. “We are excited to welcome Kionna to the Plains and to work with such an exceptional leader.”

Coleman earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to her work in higher education, Coleman helped build and manage digital customer communities at Lenovo and manage client relationships at French West Vaughn, an integrated marketing and communications agency in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“I am extremely excited to join the talented group in the Office of Communications and Marketing,” Coleman said. “I look forward to jumping in and collaborating with the team on how to creatively and strategically move the Auburn brand forward.”