Maril Gagen MacDonald

Maril MacDonald is a nationally recognized leader in communications and strategy execution. She has pioneered a discipline that collaborates with corporate leaders to optimize business performance by engaging and mobilizing stakeholders behind a company’s strategic goals, its culture and its brand. Her clients include some of the most recognized brands in the world.

Maril previously served as vice president, corporate communications, and was a member of the Executive Management Committee for International Truck and Engine Corporation (formerly Navistar). She joined Navistar in 1993 and in 1998 co-founded Gagen MacDonald (formerly Matha MacDonald). She continued serving as International’s VP until successfully transitioning that position in 2000.

In addition to leading communications, organizational development and brand strategy for International, Maril worked closely with International’s CEO, John Horne, to direct the company’s highly successful cultural turnaround. This was a key factor in International’s resurgence from the brink of bankruptcy to being named in the Wall Street Journal’s “top 10 Performers” list and Business Week’s “Top 50 Companies.”

Prior to joining International, Maril was vice president of communications for Pitman-Moore Inc., the then leading international animal health company. There she led a global initiative across 120 countries to leverage the strengths of several key acquisitions under one brand, corporate identity and ethical packaging system. Previously, she held leadership positions spanning operations, communications, and human resources with Bayer USA Inc., The Standard Oil Company / British Petroleum and a Cleveland-based public relations firm. Her broad range of corporate experience has allowed her to claim “the white space between the silos” as her ultimate functional expertise.

Maril has been named by PR week as one of “The 50 Most Powerful Women in PR,” and was also recognized as a “PR All-Star” by Inside PR. She is frequently invited to speak at major conferences and universities. Gagen MacDonald itself has been named by the Holmes Group as “Communications Firm of the Year” and “Strategic Agency of the Year.”

Maril was recently elected to be the president of the Arthur W. Page Society and serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Public Relations.

Education:
Purdue University, B.S., Communications