2026 District 5 Communicator
Mary Pat Moore
Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing
Hawkeye Community College
Iowa
Share an accomplishment you’re especially proud of from the last year.
Last year, we launched a complete redesign of Hawkeye Community College’s website. While it wasn’t my first website redesign at the college, it is certainly one of my recent accomplishments I am very proud of.
A website redesign project is a massive undertaking. We overhauled everything, including migrating to a new CMS, moving our server to the cloud, refreshing design and style templates, rewriting copy for SEO, streamlining navigation, and capturing hundreds of new photos and videos. With the help of exceptional partners—Hannon Hill, Stamats and Eway—and an incredible internal team, we accomplished all of this in just 15 months.
What made this project truly special was the level of collaboration across campus. We secured strong buy-in from the president and cabinet, deans, directors, faculty, staff and students by actively seeking their input and listening to their needs. We hosted information and training sessions to help stakeholders understand where we were going and why these changes mattered.
The result was a new website that our college community is excited for and proud of. Seeing all that hard work, strategy and long hours of planning pay off was immensely rewarding, especially when the project earned an NCMPR District 5 gold Medallion and a national silver Paragon Award.
Marketing and communications professionals have to wear a lot of hats. Tell us about an area in which you particularly excel.
Wearing many hats is an everyday experience for marcom and PR professionals, and I think most of us actually thrive on the fast-paced challenge. If there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that success in this role requires true collaboration. To move the needle, you have to cultivate relationships and develop partnerships, bringing together subject-matter experts, creative talent and key stakeholders so they are empowered to excel in their respective strengths.
A marcom and PR professional is only as good as their team, and I was taught early on to surround myself with talented people. When you build trust and work together, you can accomplish almost anything. Anything that I have accomplished in my career is because of the team of folks working with me. I am blessed to have one of the best teams.
Who is a leader you admire and try to emulate?
A leader I have always admired and who made a lasting impact on my career is Kathy Flynn Ferguson. Over our 17 years working together in higher education, she was a vice president, supervisor, colleague and friend, giving me a true view of exceptional leadership.
Kathy embodied servant leadership and earned the respect of everyone around her. She modeled core traits that I try to emulate every day: patience, active listening, strategic planning and unwavering support.
Inspired by her example, I strive to listen deeply so I can understand the “why” behind every story. I offer honest, constructive feedback and the guidance needed to move forward, while encouraging my team to take smart risks and learn from the process. I lead by example, never asking someone to do something I wouldn’t do myself; and I make it a priority to share credit and lift others up along the way.
Above all, Kathy taught me to always put the student first—not just because it is our core purpose in higher education, but because when you keep students at the center of your work, the right direction always becomes clear.