Cheryl E. Howard, Vice President of Marketing & Admission, Simmons College, leads university-wide marketing efforts to raise brand awareness, competitively position the College, and recruit and deliver new students for all undergraduate and graduate programs. Howard, a Simmons College undergraduate alumna, joined Simmons in September 2007 with 19 years in marketing and brand management experience at The Gillette Company and four years of marketing and customer relationship experience at Digital Equipment Company.

At Gillette, Howard directed the development of new products launched in international and national markets. Her last assignment involved the management of the North American Personal Care group, a $450 million business.

Howard operated in both marketing organizations at Gillette—Global Business Management and Commercial Operations—where she demonstrated skill in strategy development, long range planning, P&L responsibility, customer interfacing, and business building. At one time, she was responsible for Gillette's entire marketing effort to the African American and Latino markets in the United States.

At Digital Equipment Company, Howard managed the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Industry Marketing group that designed and implemented public relations, marketing, advertising, and educational programs aimed at CPG customers.

Howard is on the board of directors of The Efficacy Institute, a consulting group providing services to urban public school systems and community/human services agencies.

She also has experience as a professor, having taught courses in marketing, consumer behavior, and new product development at the graduate and undergraduate level at Northeastern University, Simmons College, and Boston University.

Howard received a BA from Simmons College and an MBA and DBA from Harvard University. Her awards include Visionary Women of 21st Century—National AKA, the American Marketing Association Edison Gold Award, Dollars & Sense magazine's Top 100 Professional Women Award, a Marketing Achievement Award from Digital Equipment Company, and a Boston Partners in Education Honors Award. She is a member of the Middlesex County Chapter of The Links, Inc.

Howard has two grown children, Mora, a clinical teacher educator in the Boston public schools and Henry, a local real estate developer. She is married to Dr. Jeffrey P. Howard. They live in Reading, Massachusetts.