UI to pay consultant $20,000 a month for communications
The University of Iowa will pay up to $145,000 to hire an outside consultant to manage its strategic communications for the next six months.
UI confirmed Tuesday that the university is contracting with Terri Goren of Atlanta-based Goren & Associates to oversee the UI communication and marketing divisions. Joe Brennan, who has served for the past two years as UI’s vice president of strategic communications, announced last month that he was leaving for a similar post at the University at Albany-State University of New York.
Goren, who lives in the Atlanta area, will be paid $20,000 per month with a $25,000 cap on flight, meals and reimbursement, according to contract information provided Wednesday by UI. She will provide three days of work per week — up to 12 per month — of which two days each week will be on site at UI.
Goren will not be an official UI employee, but rather an independent contractor. Additional time will be billed at her rate of $250 an hour, according to the contract.
Brennan’s last day is scheduled for Aug. 3, but Goren’s contract began July 1, and UI spokeswoman Jeneane Beck said Goren already has been in communication with administrators and staff. Her contract expires Dec. 31.
The decision to hire Goren was made by UI Vice President for Medical Affairs Jean Robillard, who is scheduled to serve as interim president after UI President Sally Mason retires at the end of the month.
“Searching for a new president is a critical time for a university and requires strong internal and external communication,” Beck said in an emailed statement. “The senior leaders in the department are relatively new so Dr. Robillard thought it made sense to bring in someone to help guide the office during this important transition. Terri Goren was a logical choice because she has a deep experience with both the university and the Office of Strategic Communication and can hit the ground running.”
Goren has provided frequent consulting work for UI and UI Health Care since 2007.
The current arrangement is similar to the role Goren played in 2009, when she headed a team that provided communications consulting to UI and helped the university draft new strategic communications and media response policies. She was paid about $250,000, according to invoices provided by UI at the time.
In addition to providing “day-to-day leadership” for communications and marketing, the contract calls for Goren to develop a communications transition plan for Robillard as interim president and a comprehensive communications plan for the new university president.
Brennan’s position is one of three vice president openings that UI administrators expect to keep vacant until after the Iowa Board of Regents appoints a new president as Mason’s replacement. The other open positions include the vice president for human resources and the vice president for finance and operations.
Brennan’s salary is listed as $226,000. He succeeded Tysen Kendig, who left UI in December 2012 to take a post at the University of Connecticut.
Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at 319-887-5435 or jcharisc@press-citizen.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jeffcharis.