Vice President for Communications and Marketing to Leave GW on Oct. 2

Ellen Moran, vice president for communications and marketing at the George Washington University, will leave the university on Oct. 2 after four years at the helm of the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM).

GW will conduct a national search for her successor. Associate Vice President for Communications Michelle Stone and Associate Vice President for Marketing Julie Zito will serve as co-interim leaders of OCM.

Since joining GW in August 2022, Moran has guided the university's communications and marketing efforts through a period of significant change in higher education and at GW. Her tenure has included major initiatives to strengthen the university's identity and reputation, expand its reach to prospective and graduate students and emphasize storytelling efforts of GW's research and academic enterprise.

"I appreciate all that Ellen has done to guide the university's communications and marketing teams through a period of rapid change and intense scrutiny," said President Ellen M. Granberg. "Her tireless effort as well as decades of experience have allowed the university not just to protect its brand but to advance it in the District's challenging media landscape and in the face of increasing national competition among our peer institutions. In addition to leading key communications and marketing initiatives, Ellen has fostered an enduring culture of collaboration and storytelling across the university, which will be essential as we implement our Strategic Framework and continue to move forward in our third century."

Moran helped lead GW's transition to the Revolutionaries moniker as OCM worked with students, faculty, staff and alumni through a yearlong community engagement process to identify a new identity for the university's athletics teams and broader community.

The process generated approximately 8,000 moniker suggestions and 47,000 points of community feedback. After the Board of Trustees approved Revolutionaries as GW's new moniker, OCM helped develop and implement the visual identity and guidelines for the Revolutionaries and GW Revs.

Moran also oversaw marketing efforts designed to strengthen GW's enrollment position, including the Rev Up! graduate enrollment campaign that highlighted the breadth of GW's graduate and certificate offerings and emphasized the opportunities available to students in the nation's capital.

Following the launch of GW's strategic framework in October 2025, OCM developed and implemented a new brand direction for the university during Moran's tenure. Following months of research and engagement with members of the GW community, the initiative introduced a refreshed approach centered on GW's strengths of "Proximity and Progress," along with updated creative concepts, visual elements and guidelines designed to create a more cohesive expression of the university.

Under Moran's leadership, OCM also continued to expand and adapt the ways GW communicates its research, academic expertise and impact to audiences inside and outside the university, an effort of particular importance given the institution's admission to the prestigious Association of American Universities in 2023.

"It has been a privilege to lead such a talented team in sharing GW's story with the world," Moran said, "I am proud to have worked with colleagues across the university to advance GW's reputation in today's complex and challenging communications environment, and I look forward to seeing all that my colleagues in OCM will continue to accomplish under Michelle's and Julie's leadership."

Moran also played critical communications roles earlier this year in announcing the sale of the Virginia Science and Technology and Sciences Campus and the agreement among GW, the Medical Faculty Associates, Inc. and United Health Service, Inc.

Prior to joining GW, she served as vice chancellor for communications and marketing at the University of Pittsburgh, where she initiated and led the university's first branding effort.