Director of Communications and Marketing / Age 37
St. Norbert College
Nina Rouse has a lot to be proud of: One is earning her master of arts in liberal studies from St. Norbert College. Her family, which came at the same time, is another. “I started the program months before becoming pregnant with our first child and walked across the stage a week before giving birth to our third child.”
Yet another is the way she managed an unprecedented situation: She accepted her current role in February 2020, weeks before a national emergency was declared for the COVID-19 pandemic. Rouse went on to become a key part of St. Norbert’s crisis response team and led its communications strategy and execution, helping to keep thousands of unsettled students and parents informed and safe.
“In those situations, it’s easy to want to run and hide,” said nominator and colleague Mike Counter, but Rouse faced the crisis with grace and transparency. “It was beautifully done.”
Rouse also led the college’s website redesign and implementation of the college’s first-ever intranet. St. Norbert has been present in Rouse’s professional life from the beginning: It’s where she also earned her bachelor’s, as well as where she was offered a pivotal graphic design internship. “I often reflect on how powerful that experience was in solidifying my professional path and nurturing my development as a young marketing and communications professional,” she says.
