Meet Our New Marketing Manager

We're pleased to welcome Gwen Jones as Madison College's new Marketing and Promotion manager. She comes to us from TDS, where she was the regional consumer marketing manager. We sat down with Gwen to learn a little more about her and her goals for the marketing department and the College. 

What is your background in marketing?

I love marketing and have been involved in it my entire career. At 23, I landed a marketing job at a local radio station. Later, I worked at Armstrong Creative, now known as Good for Business, an ad agency specializing in marketing for socially responsible businesses all over the world. I then took a position with American Family Insurance marketing specifically to the ethnic market. I worked there for 10 years before going to TDS.

Why Madison College? How does the college environment relate to what you’ve done before?

I wasn’t really looking for a new job when the Madison College position grabbed my attention. I’ve found that I become more engaged when there’s a cause, when what I’m doing is tied to serving the community. My work at American Family was good for me because people need insurance and the community I was targeting was very underserved.

What attracted me most was that Madison College stands out as an employer because of the college’s commitment and its goal of giving back to the community. With my skills and interests, I believe this is a good fit. I’m excited about the education marketing especially in these times of need. Adults are looking to go back and retrain for new careers, and it’s a great, affordable option for young people beginning to work on their four-year degrees. 

What are your immediate plans for the department?

I’m not looking to fix what’s not broken, and if there are challenges, we’ll fix them together. My immediate goal is to improve the internal operations of the department and to build satisfaction with customers throughout the college. To me, customer service is critical. 

Do you have a long-term vision for the marketing department?

I want us to be an extremely high-performing, high-functioning marketing department. It will take commitment from all of us, but I’m looking forward to working with my staff to achieve our goals. 

You’re very active in the community. Tell us a little about that and your life outside of work.

I am an active member of Links, Inc., an African American social service organization, and I’m on the board of directors for the African American Ethnic Academy. The Academy is a Saturday enrichment program for children from pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade…so I keep pretty busy around town. Community involvement is very important to me. 

My family keeps me busy as well. My husband, Greg, works for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, and we have two children. My son is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin–LaCrosse, and my daughter attends Verona High School.

Questions for Gwen Jones?
You can reach GLJones[at] matcmadison [dot] edu (Gwen) at (608) 246-6321.