Leadership
Janet M. Botz
Vice President for Public Affairs and Communication
Janet M. Botz was elected vice president for public affairs and communication at Notre Dame in 2008 after spending more than 25 years in executive positions with Dow Corning.
Ms. Botz is responsible for advancing Notre Dame's interests and contributions in the public arena and directing the University's communications with its multiple internal and external audiences. Established in 2001, the public affairs and communication division is composed of some 50 staff members in news and information, community relations, the Robinson Community Learning Center, Notre Dame Magazine, ND Works and the marketing units of Agency ND.
Ms. Botz had worked since 1980 for Dow Corning, a high-technology, specialty chemical company based in Midland, Mich., with service and sales of approximately $5 billion and 10,000 employees.
From 2001 to 2008, she was responsible for the global direction and implementation of the company's internal and external communications strategies. Her primary role was management of Dow Corning's reputation by integrating communications to customers, employees, managers and external publics – including government and community relations. She served as the chief communications counsel and strategist for executive management and was responsible for corporate branding, employee and management communications, corporate contributions, and risk, issue and crisis communications.
From 1996 to 2001, Ms. Botz managed various communications divisions for Dow Corning for the Americas, Europe and globally. She began her career at Dow Corning in sales, then spent five years in marketing before becoming cash manager and then finance manager in the treasury department. She joined the communications team in 1992.
Ms. Botz has been honored by the International Association of Business Communicators with two Gold Quill and two Silver Quill Awards of Excellence in employee communications and crisis communications. She is an invited member of the Arthur Page Society, chair of the Conference Board's Council of Corporate Communications Strategy, chair of the American Chemistry Council's communications committee, and a member of the Vice Presidents' Forum.
After graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in sociology and English from Saginaw Valley State University, Ms. Botz worked for five years as a reporter and editor at The Saginaw News in Saginaw, Mich. She earned her master of business administration degree from Central Michigan University in 1981.
Her civic activities have included service on the Saginaw Valley State University Board of Fellows, the governing body of Mid-Michigan ATHENAPowerLink, the organizing committee of the American Heart Association's annual "Go Red for Women" fund-raising event, and the executive council as chair of the communications committee for the Michigan Health Information Alliance.
Ms. Botz is married to attorney A.T. Lippert Jr.
