Syracuse University names Royer chief communications officer

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University (SU) Chancellor Kent Syverud announced the appointment of Dara J. Royer as senior VP and chief communications officer.

Royer will launch and oversee the university’s newly integrated Division of Communications and Marketing, according to a news release from SU. She begins her new post on Sept. 7.

Royer currently serves as chief development and marketing officer at Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian organization with an annual operating budget of $460 million and 5,000 employees working in 42 countries around the world. Royer is that organization’s first-ever chief marketing officer. Under her leadership, Mercy Corps generated two “record-breaking years” of fundraising growth, delivering a 25 percent increase in year-end fundraising and boosting unrestricted giving by $1.5 million over its goal, per the SU release

In her new role, Royer will report directly to Syverud and work with the university’s executive team and the chancellor’s council to “shape, define, and execute a strategic, holistic, and data-driven marketing communications plan.”

Prior to joining Mercy Corps, Royer spent five years serving as VP for brand marketing at ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Before that, she was senior VP for corporate and community affairs at Cook Children’s Healthcare System in Fort Worth, Texas.

Royer, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Indiana University, began her career in television news as a producer.

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