Julie Hail Flory was appointed vice chancellor for marketing and communications in April 2021. As a member of the chancellor’s executive cabinet, she provides strategic counsel to university leadership and serves as the primary issues management and executive communications strategist. She leads the work of University Marketing & Communications, which defines, elevates and protects WashU’s brand and reputation as a world-renowned academic and research institution. The team is responsible for university-level communications in marketing and brand strategy, creative services, digital, media relations, multimedia, social media, strategic initiatives, university news and the publication of WashU Magazine.
Flory joined WashU in 2014 as assistant vice chancellor for campus communications, and then served as associate vice chancellor for university communications before being promoted to vice chancellor. She came to WashU from the University of Notre Dame, where she had worked for 13 years, ultimately as director of public relations. Before beginning her career in public relations, she worked as a television news reporter in Colorado, Idaho and Indiana. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from San José State University and her master’s degree in American Culture Studies from WashU. She also earned a certificate in Strategic Marketing from Cornell University and completed the Strategic Leaders Executive Education Program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
She lives in St. Louis with her husband, Ryan, and three children, two of whom are WashU undergraduates.