Marketing, Brand Strategy & Communication Director

the CIA•Napa, CA

About The Position

The Director of Marketing, Brand Strategy and Communication is the senior commercial marketing leader for the Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) California businesses, with primary accountability for CIA at Copia and supporting scope for CIA at Greystone. The Director is responsible to elevate marketing from a campaign-execution function to a revenue-driving discipline. The Director owns the marketing profit & loss (P&L) mindset by setting strategy, allocating paid media investment, and being held accountable for the demand and revenue outcomes those investments produce across Special Events (weddings/meetings), Retail, Public Events, Food Enthusiast programming, Copia's Grove restaurant, Greystone’s Gatehouse restaurant, Greystone’s Café, and additional lines of business. The Director also leads brand partnership and sponsorship strategy (e.g., lifestyle and consumer brand collaborations) and represents Copia's brand voice and visitor experience strategy across the Napa Valley and broader Northern California market. The Director is responsible for setting the marketing agenda for CIA's most visible West Coast commercial asset, coordinating with the broader Marketing & Communications organization, and is a key advisor to Copia and Consumer Businesses leadership on positioning Copia as a premier culinary destination brand in a competitive Napa Valley hospitality and wine-country market.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
Minimum of seven (7) years of progressive marketing experience, including brand marketing, public relations, digital/social, and paid media, with demonstrated revenue or commercial accountability.
Experience building and managing brand partnerships, sponsorships, or co-branded marketing programs.
Track record of managing paid media budgets and reporting on return on investment/commercial performance to senior leadership.
Demonstrated ability to build and execute marketing strategy with direct, measurable financial impact — comfortable owning revenue and return on investment targets, not just activity metrics.
Strong brand strategy and positioning expertise; ability to set and protect brand standards across a matrixed, multi-stakeholder organization.
Skilled negotiator and relationship-builder for brand partnerships, sponsorships, and community/tourism-board relationships.
Deep knowledge of the digital media landscape, paid media platforms, and performance optimization.
Ability to operate at a strategic level while remaining hands-on when needed.
Excellent executive communication and presentation skills; able to report results to senior.
Strong organizational and project management skills across multiple concurrent priorities and locations.
High level of discretion with confidential and competitively sensitive information.

Nice To Haves

MBA or other master’s degree preferred.
Previous experience managing and developing a marketing team.
Experience in multiple areas of hospitality, food/beverage, lifestyle, tourism, destination, experiential, entertainment and hotel marketing strongly preferred.
Agency-side experience in addition to client-side preferred.
Experience with omni-channel brand marketing and business to business (corporate/group/meetings) marketing.
Familiarity with the Napa Valley market and its visitor economy stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Own the marketing and brand strategy for Copia (and supporting strategy for Greystone), translating Consumer Businesses' commercial priorities into an annual marketing plan with clear demand-generation and revenue targets.
Set and manage the paid media investment plan (search engine marketing, paid social, online travel agency / partner platforms such as TheKnot / WeddingWire and OpenTable).
Accountable for return on investment, cost-per-acquisition, and conversion across ticketed events, Food Enthusiast classes, Special Events bookings, and restaurant covers.
Build and present a marketing dashboard tying campaign activity to revenue and attendance outcomes for Copia leadership, Consumer Businesses, and Extended Leadership Team as needed.
Identify and prioritize the highest-margin businesses (per Consumer Businesses' margin targets) for marketing investment, ensuring spend follows commercial priority.
Lead brand partnership and sponsorship strategy for Copia, identifying, pitching, and managing relationships with lifestyle, wine, and consumer brands (building on the model established with partners like Williams Sonoma).
Define Copia's brand positioning in the Napa Valley culinary and wine-country landscape, ensuring consistency across guest-facing touchpoints (Restaurant, Food Enthusiast, Special Events, retail, wayfinding).
Cultivate and manage Public Relations agency relationships and press/media relationships (local, regional, national) to build Copia's reputation as a destination brand.
Build and maintain relationships with Napa Valley visitor bureaus, the City of Napa, Oxbow Market, Chambers of Commerce, and hospitality/concierge networks to extend Copia's reach and community standing.
Coordinate with Content Studio (the CIA’s integrated in-house content and production studio) on video and photography.
Develop end-to-end guest communications strategy (wayfinding, onsite upsell/cross-sell, audience-specific messaging) spanning visitors, conference attendees, restaurant patrons, and Food Enthusiast program attendees.
Track Napa Valley wine-country and culinary tourism trends and competitive activity, advising Copia and Consumer Businesses leadership on positioning opportunities and threats.
Represent Copia's brand and marketing strategy in cross-campus and institutional planning conversations as needed.
Lead and mentor the marketing team (Marketing Coordinator), setting goals, providing coaching, and building a scalable team structure as Copia's commercial footprint grows.
Partner with the Senior Director of Food & Beverage Event Sales & Experience and Copia department leads (Special Events sales, Food Enthusiast team, restaurants, retail) to build and manage a unified marketing calendar across all Copia businesses.
Direct the Newsletter, Creative Services, and Web teams via clear creative briefs, ensuring on-brand, on-strategy execution of collateral (print, digital, social, web, signage).
Own organic social media strategy in partnership with the Social Media Community and Content Manager, setting growth and engagement goals tied to commercial outcomes.
Support marketing needs for Greystone's Special Events and Restaurants/Bakery/Marketplace, prioritizing per Consumer Businesses' California F&B strategy.
Establish local resources for design and graphic, printing, signage, etc. to support the needs of Copia and Greystone.
Any and all other duties as assigned.