in Hampton Roads in Hampton Roads - Eastern Virginia Medical ...

She rose to marketing director for the StageCompany within her first year, and two years later,she became the U.S. marketing director for theSpoleto Festival, a 17-day celebration of the artsheld in Charleston, S.C. She later ran the New YorkInternational Festival of the Arts.After a one-year stint with the ManhattanTheater Club, she was recruited to head marketingat the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. Ms.Hough spearheaded the launch of a series there thatmade tickets for select shows affordable for almostanyone. It was an overwhelming success, allowingthousands of people to experience opera whootherwise might never have been able to afford it.She became involved in the opera’s fund-raisingefforts and led the creation of a new strategic planbefore leaving after nine years to take on one of themost sought-after marketing jobs in the Big Apple.The New York Botanical Gardens, one of thelargest and most prestigious botanical gardens inthe world, brought in Ms. Hough as vice presidentof marketing and business development. That’swhere she was when the opportunity arose to makea difference in her hometown by helping its middleagedmedical school grow and prosper.playwith fresh eyes at how it’s operating has unearthednew ideas.“I think her depth of experience and the factthat, in many respects, she’s new to our organizationbrings a level of enlightenment that sometimes isn’tother pieces in place so that we can move the schoolfurther forward. She’s really become an advocatefor the school.”Community leaders involved in the medicalschool also have noticed Ms. Hough’s eagerness to“The school has had some ups and downs overthe years,” Ms. Hough says. “But with Dr. Pepeand President Lester at the helm, the school is ina place where it had not been before. What I feltI could offer was to help bring the marketing,communications and fund-raising up to the levelto complement where the school is heading.”So how does a career steeped in the arts translateto an academic medical center? They share acommon core principle, says Ms. Hough.“It’s about building relationships,” she says. “It’scustomer service and stewardship.”The biggest early hurdle was mastering the lingo.Academia and medicine use a lexicon all their own,and for the uninitiated, it takes time to adjust. Beinga relative newcomer to the academic-medical realm,though, isn’t a weakness, says Bob Aston, presidentand chair of the EVMS Foundation. He’s beeninvolved with the school throughout most of its36-year history, and he says having someone lookMs. Hough and Dana Dickens, president and CEO of Hampton Roads Partnership, talk during the annual Britt Dinner scholarshipfund-raiser.there when people have been around it forever,” Mr.Aston says. “You see things differently and in a waythat isn’t influenced by how things have been donein the past.”It helps that she has embraced the medical schooland its uniqueness. Ms. Hough talks often aboutEVMS’ collegial atmosphere and how inspiring itis to work with people who are changing the face ofhealth care. She can be spotted at scientific lecturesand academic meetings, gathering nuggets she canuse to help tell EVMS’ story.“She’s dug in deep to figure out what the schoolneeds,” says Dean and Provost Gerald J. Pepe, PhD.“The faculty see her wanting to get the finances andunderstand the school, its missions and what sets itapart from others.“She’s taken the time to really learn about eachdepartment and get involved in the school, and bydoing that, it’s obvious that she’s come to have verydeep feelings about EVMS,” says Robin Ray, a longtimevolunteer fund-raiser for the school, currentmember of the Board of Visitors and Annual Fundco-chair. “She’s effective, efficient and responsive.On top of that, she’s a joy to work with.”Mrs. Ray’s fellow Annual Fund Co-Chair WayneWilbanks, a former rector and current member ofthe EVMS Foundation Board of Trustees, praisedMs. Hough’s energy and leadership that haveFast forward www.eVMS.EDU fall 200931