Athens, Ga. – Karri Hobson-Pape, co-founder and partner at Inflexion Point Marketing Group in Atlanta, has been named vice president for marketing and communications at the University of Georgia. The appointment was announced today by UGA President Jere W. Morehead.
“Karri brings the ideal combination of professional experience and strategic vision required to advance the institution’s critical marketing and communications functions,” Morehead said. “I look forward to working with her as a member of the university’s senior leadership team.”
Hobson-Pape’s appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2016. She succeeds Tom Jackson, who became heritage communications executive with the University System of Georgia earlier this year.
As vice president for marketing and communications, Hobson-Pape will report directly to Morehead and will oversee the Division of Marketing and Communications, currently known as the Public Affairs Division. The office comprises four departments: news service, publications, broadcast/video/photography and the Visitors Center, as well as WUGA-FM. Under Hobson-Pape’s direction, the division will serve as the central communications and marketing unit at UGA.
“The University of Georgia has a wonderful story to share,” Hobson-Pape said. “I will bring a collaborative approach to advancing the reputation of this great institution and look forward to working in partnership with UGA’s scholars, students and alumni around the globe to highlight their influential work. I am honored, too, to become a part of the UGA community and to join its exceptional leadership team and talented staff.”
Hobson-Pape was selected following a national search by a 15-member search committee chaired by Jennifer Frum, vice president for public service and outreach.
In a career that spans more than 20 years, Hobson-Pape has spearheaded multimillion dollar marketing and communications campaigns for IBM Corporate Marketing, where she was a senior marketing strategist, and Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, where she was executive director of external affairs. She also has managed marketing efforts for GE Capital as well as Meridian Management SA, which was a marketing partner of the International Olympic Committee.
Through her marketing strategy firm, Inflexion Point Marketing Group, she has led the development of transformational strategies for Fortune 500 businesses, nonprofit organizations and public and private institutions of higher education in Georgia.
In addition to her professional roles, Hobson-Pape has served for the past five years as executive director of the Sheth Foundation, a nonprofit that develops marketing scholars and scholarship globally and furthers the development of marketing thought. She also co-founded the publishing firm Marketing Classics Press, which serves the marketing field through the preservation of formative knowledge.
She is the author of the Georgia history book “Images of America: Virginia-Highland” and is a member of the historic preservation committee of the Virginia-Highland Civic Association.
Hobson-Pape holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Emory University. She received the Recent Alumni of the Year award in 2005 and was named Distinguished Alumni of the Year for Goizueta Marketing Strategy Consultancy in 2011 by Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.