Carole Custer of Jefferson, who has served Iowa State University for nearly 40 years as a pioneering leader in marketing and communications, is retiring.
Custer’s final day at Iowa State is May 15.
Custer, director of marketing in University Marketing and Communications, was hired in 1987 by Iowa State President Gordon Eaton for a newly created position as assistant for marketing. At the time, Eaton’s decision placed Iowa State among the few public research universities to embrace the discipline of strategic marketing and branding, which played a major role in the university’s success in student enrollment goals, increased private philanthropy, recruitment of highly sought-after faculty and staff, and improved national rankings.
In 1990, Custer was named the university’s first marketing director, creating the Office of University Marketing that was responsible for building the university’s brand and offering marketing services to campus units. Since then, projects from her office have received national and regional best-of-show awards and she has been honored by Iowa State students, colleges and programs for her support.
Her efforts at Iowa State have been cited in higher-education textbooks and publications and she has been invited to present on marketing topics at numerous regional and national higher-education meetings.
When she retired, she will have worked in the President’s Division for six presidents and four interim presidents. But her years at Iowa State were only one part of a career that included several other pioneering efforts.
In the early 1970s, Custer was Iowa’s first TV anchorwoman at a Mason City station. She was one of the first women to serve at the vice president level for marketing at Iowa’s community banks. In the 1980s, she was the first communications director for the Iowa Lottery and, later, the lottery’s second marketing director.
Custer’s community service also includes “firsts.” She was the first woman to chair the Bell Tower Festival in Jefferson; the first woman president of the Greene County Bankers Association; and the first woman president of the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce’s ambassador program. She has been president of the Jefferson Community Betterment Committee and just completed a 16-year appointment to the Bell Tower Community Foundation board of directors, including 14 years as board president.
Custer is an Iowa State alumna, earning a journalism degree in 1971. She served a term as president of the Iowa State University Alumni Association board of directors. Later, she and her husband, Roger, chaired The Circle, a society of former alumni association leaders continuing to support the university.
She was honored by the alumni association with its highest award for volunteer service and its Young Alumna Achievement Award. In 2020, the alumni association magazine listed Custer as one of 80 visionary women connected to Iowa State University.
Women We Admire, an international organization of accomplished women executives and leaders, has recognized Custer as one of Iowa’s women leaders.
Custer is a native of Perry, Iowa. She and her husband Roger have been Jefferson residents for 49 years.
