Randa S. Safady serves as The University of Texas System’s vice chancellor for external relations, communications, and advancement services. She is a member of the chancellor’s senior executive management team.
As the UT System’s chief advancement and communications officer, Safady works with the chancellor, UT’s academic and health institution leaders, and the Board of Regents on philanthropy administration and strategy, capital campaigns, naming policies, and endowment compliance. She leads communications for the UT System Administration and provides counsel to UT institutions on communications issues and crisis management, media relations, and marketing/branding.
Safady is second vice president and incoming president of the Philosophical Society of Texas and former chairman of the Austin Community Foundation. She is also past president of the Headliners Club of Austin and presently serves as a board member on the Central Texas Public Safety Commission, Music Treatment Foundation, UT Foundation, and the LBJ School’s RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at UT Austin.
She has been the recipient of Texas State University’s College of Liberal Arts’ Distinguished Alumna Award, the Austin Business Journal’s Women of Distinction Award, the UT Austin Moody College of Communication’s Robert Jeffrey Award for Distinguished Service, and St. Edward’s University’s Presidential Medallion. Safady created and served as executive producer of State of Tomorrow—a statewide PBS series that featured the impact of universities’ research on society. The series garnered five EMMY awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Lone Star division and the top national media award from the American Academy of Nursing.
Safady received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas State University and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from The University of Texas at Austin. She has served in the higher education/health care advancement and communications profession for almost 44 years.
