AMA Higher Ed Marketer of the Year

Grant Heston | November 12, 2024

I was surprised and honored today when the American Marketing Association and the AMA Foundation named me as their 2024 recipient of the AMA Foundation Higher Education Marketer of the Year Award.

The awards recognize exceptional creativity and ingenuity within the higher education marketing landscape and celebrate individuals, teams and organizations across the country that have demonstrated outstanding innovation in traditional and digital marketing. 

The awards were announced at the 2024 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education last week in Las Vegas.

When I walked on stage to accept the award, I was thinking of the proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

This award is a tribute to so many at Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health, starting with leadership – President Michael Rao, our boards and my supportive university and health system cabinet colleagues.

My most sincere thanks and appreciation goes to everyone in our Enterprise Marketing and Communications division -- your unparalleled creativity, dedication and swagger power all we’ve achieved. As I said at AMA, I was delighted to accept this award on your behalf.

President Rao was gracious to offer a nice quote about the award, and I share some perspective about what it means for the team and VCU and VCU Health. You can read more about it here.