Katharine Laidlaw, a strategist and Emmy-winning producer, started Monday as Pomona College’s chief communications officer.

“I am honored to join Pomona College, an institution with a rich tradition of academic excellence and creative inquiry,” Laidlaw wrote in a news release. “I look forward to partnering with colleagues across campus to amplify Pomona’s remarkable stories and advance the College’s mission. Together, we will demonstrate the power of the liberal arts to develop critical thinking, unlock creative capacity and inspire meaningful change.”

Laidlaw will lead the college’s office of communications. Her priorities include “aligning the College’s institutional voice and messaging, communications strategic planning, internal communications as well as crisis and issues management,” according to the announcement.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Katharine to our Pomona community,” wrote acting Pomona College President Robert Gaines in a statement. “She has the experience, creativity and vision to champion Pomona’s institutional voice, one of higher education’s most compelling, and help shape its future.”

Previously, Laidlaw was the chief marketing and communications officer for Spoleto Festival USA, a performing arts festival held in Charleston, South Carolina; was vice president for strategic communications and engagement at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan; and chief marketing officer at University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Davidson College and a Master of Business Administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

More info is at pomona.edu/news.