2021 District 4 Communicator
Kimberly G. Lessner
Vice President and Chief Operations Officer
Tyler Junior College
Tyler, TX
When Kim Lessner was asked to provide leadership over the marketing and communications departments at Tyler Junior College (TJC), she proactively identified untapped opportunities and changed the paradigm to a collaborative, data-driven approach. Under her leadership, the college made access and success paramount, resulting in record enrollment—even in the midst of the COVID crisis—thanks to her work a range of areas:
- Lessner led meetings with students and community stakeholders to better define market segments, laser-focus messaging on the value of higher ed and match community needs with opportunities at the college.
- Lessner led TJC’s rebranding process, resulting in a contemporary logo that the community has embraced, and implemented branding standards to assure college messaging is consistent and attractive.
- Lessner helped develop better communications for prospects and students at all stages of the enrollment funnel. Communications ranged from explaining the benefits of attending TJC to explaining the benefits of continuing education to adults. She assured the audience received the messaging in their preferred formats, including texts, emails, postcards, brochures or phone calls.
- With a wealth of corporate marketing experience, Lessner understands how to apply those best practices to community colleges.
“The respect and admiration she has gained from faculty and staff is evident in campus-wide surveys, which show an overwhelming majority are pleased with the innovative marketing ideas she has initiated,” writes Dr. Juan E. Mejia, TJC’s president/CEO, in Lessner’s nomination.
During the pandemic, Lessner led the college’s COVID-19 Task Force. While many other colleges closed for more than a year, Lessner developed policies and procedures that kept the college operating at the safest level possible. TJC moved spring classes online during COVID’s onset in March 2020, and she led the college in its return to face-to-face classes in summer 2020. She oversaw the effort to assign classrooms with appropriate social distancing and assured students and employees had the necessary protective equipment.