Deneen J. Gillespie

Assistant Vice President for Strategic Communications and Marketing

University of Illinois System

Deneen J. Gillespie is the Assistant Vice President for Strategic Communications and Marketing at the University of Illinois System, a three-university enterprise — UIUC, UIC, and UIS — serving more than 100,000 students. She leads brand strategy, marketing, media relations, and executive communications for the System and co-leads the System’s community engagement strategy. Her work has been recognized with CASE awards for best e-newsletter, magazine, and website, as well as a Webby Award for best web page.

Deneen is driven by her passion for people and a belief that institutions of higher education carry both the resources and the responsibility to create pathways for everyone to thrive, not only those who walk through their doors. She brings that same conviction to the craft of communications, pairing artful storytelling with the discipline of message, medium, and moment. She understands branding as an act, not an artifact — the authentic, lived expression of what an institution actually values. She has a reputation for stepping into complex, high-stakes moments and bringing order, clarity, and a better result.

Prior to joining the University of Illinois System, she held senior communications roles at Loyola University Chicago, the University of Chicago, and Collaborative Communications. Her experience spans alumni relations, fundraising and donor relations, events, and program and project management, a breadth that informs how she connects communications to the wider life of an institution.

Deneen holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and business from Roosevelt University. She also holds several certificates from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, including its selective Emerging Leaders Program.

A deep believer in mentorship, Deneen gives her time to young people coming up in the field and volunteers at her church’s food pantry. A devoted wife and mother of two, she spends her spare time cooking, reading, podcasting, and doing deep dives into music. She is a proud South Side Chicagoan.