Roberta MacDonald ’72, senior vice president of marketing for Cabot Creamery Cooperative, will serve as the 2017-18 Executive-in-Residence. MacDonald will speak in the HCC Digital Auditorium on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. All sessions are free and open to all.
Roberta has nearly 40 years of consumer product marketing experience, the last 28 of which she has spent as senior vice president of marketing for Cabot Creamery Cooperative. She has helped turn the small, farm family-owned dairy cooperative into a national player through creative, award-winning and occasionally over-the-top campaigns.
Roberta previously served as Vermont’s first marketing director, a position created for her by former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin in 1984. She has been recognized with many awards for design, promotions and high-impact public relations programs, including the highest individual award by B Corps. Prior to moving to Vermont, Roberta provided marketing consulting and/or staff services for the San Francisco Opera, National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation, American Express, Information Industry Association, NYU, CBS and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Roberta is a long-time champion of the co-op movement and speaks frequently about how Cabot rewards volunteers for an indelible brand connection with its farmers’ values. In her free time, she volunteers for hospice services in Burlington, Vermont.
The Executive-in-Residence program is coordinated through the UMW College of Business. Since its establishment in 1989, the primary purpose of the University of Mary Washington Executive-in-Residence program has been to provide UMW students with the opportunity to interact with well-known and established leaders in the corporate world and to enhance students’ knowledge of the free enterprise system. In addition, the program encourages the involvement of local business leaders in the life of the University.
Heck of a memory twister to be returning to Mary Wash. My goal while on campus is to provoke your challenges to what you think you’ve learned with examples of how to reflect the best of you in your work. What this bio doesn’t tell you is that I was a Drama Major who wrote plays and worked behind the scenes. Who knew that taking the only 6 hour summer class to bring up my academic average in order to serve as class president would net up to my vivid work opportunities , work ethic, creative liberation and energy amplification? I hope you’ll bring your thinking hearts