Harper chief of staff named national marketing council president

Jeff Julian, chief of staff at Harper College in Palatine, was installed as president of the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR) at the organization’s national conference, which ran March 30 to April 1 in Orlando.

Julian has been with Harper since 2018, previously serving as its executive director of communications. In his current role, he is a key advisor to Harper’s president, Dr. Avis Proctor. He supports and implements her agenda and college priorities, stewarding the college’s leadership teams and undertaking key initiatives like Harper’s Lyft rideshare program, which provides discounted rides to students. He also leads the college’s state and federal legislative affairs program.

As a member of NCMPR since 2010, taking a brief hiatus when he worked for the American Library Association, Julian has been active within the organization, writing blog posts and Counsel magazine articles on subjects including leadership and podcasting. He hosted NCMPR’s podcast, then called Peer and Simple, for 2-½ years, and co-hosted it for another year and a half before moving into his NCMPR presidency. He covered topics ranging from crisis communications at the start of COVID to how Minneapolis College handled messaging and campus support in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

His priorities as president are to ensure NCMPR provides relevant, engaging programming for its members and support the organization’s continued diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“I hope to help NCMPR continue to evolve into an organization that truly fosters a sense of belonging for our members,” Julian says. “Professional organizations give us all the opportunity to make positive change, and I hope to encourage and help our members take those steps to underline and prioritize equity and inclusion.”

Julian is also one of 35 leaders across the United States selected for the 2023-24 class of the Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship. This program, delivered in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative, prepares the next generation of community college presidents to transform institutions to achieve higher and more equitable levels of student success.

He has a master’s degree in English studies from Elmhurst University, then Elmhurst College, in Illinois and a bachelor’s in journalism/communications from the University of St. Francis in Illinois. He also has certifications from Harvard Kennedy School in crisis leadership and the FEMA Emergency Management Institute.