As the firm’s COO, Donna Van De Water’s primary responsibility is ensuring that work for our clients succeeds in every way – from development of the work plan all the way through to the last deliverable. With nearly 25 years of marketing expertise developing and exercising market research to drive brand strategy and creative implementation as well as marketing implementation, she knows what it takes to succeed in crowded and complex marketplaces. She’s worked with hundreds of organizations, including colleges and universities, arts and cultural institutions, advocacy organizations, and professional associations.
Donna joined Lipman Hearne to build the firm’s market research practice in 1996 and has since led dozens of client engagements and managed complex teams. Her skills as a researcher inform her role as a manager – she’s a keen listener and observer – making her a critical advocate for our clients, their constituents, and their work. She has conducted hundreds of quantitative and qualitative research studies with domestic and international audiences ranging from alumni, donors, college administrators, university faculty and staff, prospective students, current students, community leaders, and association members. This research experience assures clients that Donna will never lose sight of what matters – sharing clients’ stories in ways that engage constituents.
A sampling of the clients Donna has been privileged to serve include Achieving the Dream; Advocate Health Care; Annapolis Group; the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia; Bryn Mawr College; Buena Vista University; Case Western Reserve University; Chicago History Museum; Community Renewal Society; Fielding Graduate University; Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University; Grand Valley State University; Haverford College; Indiana Wesleyan University; the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh; the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education; the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies; Lewis and Clark College; the National Council on Aging; Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism; Northwestern University School of Law; Oregon State University; Purdue University College of Engineering; the Radiological Society of North America; Shippensburg University; Stanford Law School; Suffolk University; the Texas Tech University System; The George Washington University; Transylvania University; the University of California at San Francisco; the University of Louisiana at Lafayette; the University of Minnesota, Morris; the University of Notre Dame; the University of Scranton; the University of Sydney; the University of Virginia; Wheaton College; and William Paterson University.
Donna has a Ph.D. in psychology from Loyola University of Chicago, where she also taught for 10 years. She holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where she served as a faculty member teaching research methods in marketing. She’s presented at dozens of conferences, including the American Marketing Association, CASE, the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, and the American Psychological Association, and has contributed a chapter to CASE’s Advancement Handbook.