Maril MacDonald is a nationally recognized leader in communications and strategy execution. She has pioneered a discipline that collaborates with corporate leaders to optimize business performance by engaging and mobilizing stakeholders behind a company’s strategic goals, its culture and its brand. Her clients include some of the most recognized brands in the world.  In addition, Maril is the immediate past president of the Arthur W. Page Society, a membership organization for chief communications officers (CCOs) of major corporations, dedicated to advancing the management policy role of the CCO. She continues to serve on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.

Maril previously served as vice president, corporate communications,

and was a member of the Executive Management Committee for International Truck and Engine Corporation (formerly Navistar). In addition to leading communications, organizational development and brand strategy for International, Maril worked closely with International’s CEO, John Horne, to direct the company’s highly successful cultural turnaround. This was a key factor in International’s resurgence from the brink of bankruptcy to being named in theWall Street Journal’s“top 10 Performers” list andBusiness Week’s“Top 50 Companies.”

Prior to joining International, Maril was vice president of communications for Pitman-Moore Inc., the then leading international animal health company. There she led a global initiative across 120 countries to leverage the strengths of several key acquisitions under one brand, corporate identity and ethical packaging system. Previously, she held leadership positions spanning operations, communications, and human resources with Bayer USA Inc., The Standard Oil Company/British Petroleum and a Cleveland-based public relations firm. Her broad range of corporate experience has allowed her to claim “the white space between the silos” as her ultimate functional expertise.

Maril was recently recognized byPR Weekas one of the top 25 leaders in the industry, and has been named by themas one of “The 50 Most Powerful Women in PR.” She was also recognized as a “PR All-Star” byInside PR.She is frequently invited to speak at major conferences and universities. Gagen MacDonald itself has been named by theHolmes Groupas “Employee Communications Firm of the Year” and “Strategic Agency of the Year.”

Maril serves as a Trustee for the Institute of Public Relations, a non-profit organization that conducts PR research and sponsors public relations education. She is also a member on the Georgetown University Master Of Professional Studies Strategic PR Communications Advisory Council.

  In 2011, Maril founded and launched, Let Go & Lead ( www.letgoandlead.com), an online communitydedicated to leadership in the 21stcentury.As a forum for exploring the ideas of leadership and transformation, Let Go & Lead offers executives and other leaders a resource for insight and inspiration. The project engages thought leaders from different walks of life for conversations on what it means to “let go” and lead people to create meaningful, sustainablechange.

She holds a bachelor of science degree in communications from Purdue University.

Business, Business Leadership