Interim Vice President for Strategic Communications and Marketing

Kent Fuchs, President

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Orlando as Interim Vice President for Strategic Communications and Marketing, effective Monday, March 28.

Orlando is a 25-year veteran at UF, serving most recently as associate vice president for strategic communications and marketing. Prior to that, he was assistant vice president, national media strategist and served in other positions within UF’s central communications office. Before joining UF in 1996, he spent nine years as a reporter at The Tampa Tribune. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science with a special concentration in Soviet and Eastern European Studies in 1986 and his masters in mass communication in 2007, both from UF.

Orlando will serve in the interim capacity until the next university president is appointed and a search for the permanent position is launched.  He will replace Nancy Paton, who is leaving UF to become vice president and chief communications and marketing officer at Indiana University. Her last day in the office is today.

Paton came to UF in 2018 from the University at Buffalo in New York, where she was vice president for communications, becoming the first person to serve in the newly created position of vice president for strategic communications and marketing at UF. I thank her for her leadership and impact in raising UF communications and marketing to even greater heights, from building an exceptional team of communicators to strengthening UF’s national brand to increasing coordination across the university’s communications community.

Please join me in congratulating Steve Orlando and wishing him the best in his new leadership role.