Kathleen Harrington Clark began teaching Brand Strategy at the business school in the spring of 2017. The course, consists of theory, frameworks and case analysis of major global brands in a variety of business stages. The purpose of the class is to engage students in understanding the link between business and brand strategy showcasing brand decisions at play in every aspect of business from raising capital to product line extensions to entering new markets.
An award-winning marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience building and managing brands, Kathleen joined the Jones Graduate School of Business as executive director of marketing in June of 2015. Her career spans a broad range of brands and industries, from professional sports (Houston Astros) and top tier hospitals (Texas Children’s Hospital) to Fortune 500 technology (Compaq), media (CSN Houston), energy (Reliant/NRG, Shell), and higher education (Baylor College of Medicine, Rice Business).
In her short time at the business school, she has rolled out a new nickname, Rice Business, and launched a new school website and Rice Business Wisdom, the school’s online ideas magazine.
At the Astros, Kathleen oversaw the club's marketing and strategy initiatives including analytics, media relations, the broadcast teams and new regional sports network, brand and marketing services, in-game entertainment, digital and social media, fan engagement, and the Astros in Action Foundation, its community services outreach organization.
During her eight years at Compaq, Kathleen's responsibilities included global management of the first handheld and pen-based product development. She also served as the company’s North American advertising director, managing brand and product advertising for their consumer and business-to-business product lines. Utilizing a New York-based advertising agency, she created national advertising campaigns in broadcast, print, radio and online media with budgets in excess of $100 million.
Originally from Boston, Kathleen holds a B.A. in English from Holy Cross College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She and her husband, Andrew, have two daughters, Caroline and Paige.
