Senior Vice President, External Relations and Strategic Communications

Mary Koppel is senior vice president for external relations and strategic communications at City of Hope, providing overall strategic direction for City of Hope’s marketing and communications programs. 

In this role, she oversees marketing and communications support for the medical center , Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences and philanthropic and government relations initiatives. She administers the organization’s media relations, branding, marketing, events, visitor services, speakers bureau, Web marketing, crisis and emergency communications, government and community relations and internal communications programs. 

Prior to joining City of Hope in 2011, Koppel worked for the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis as director of communications for the medical school and assistant vice president for public affairs for the Academic Health Center. She also served as director of communications and physician communications for Allina Health System in Minneapolis. Previously, she founded communications consulting practices in Minnesota as well as in Pennsylvania.

Koppel began her professional career as a news producer for WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. She has received numerous Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Institutional Advancement awards and has won two regional Emmy awards as a news producer from The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She has also served on the board of directors of the Minneapolis Jewish Day School and served as an interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

Koppel received her master’s degree in journalism and public affairs from American University in Washington, D.C., and her bachelor’s degree in politics from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.