Michael Sandler

Vice Chancellor for Communications & Marketing

Michael Sandler was appointed Vice Chancellor for Communications and Marketing by Chancellor Jay Perman in June 2024. Sandler is responsible for developing and implementing communications and branding strategies that support, advance and protect the system’s reputation, position the USM’s visibility in the marketplace, and define and refine the USM’s voice.

He serves as a strategic advisor to the chancellor, the leadership team and the Board of Regents, and acts as a spokesperson for the system. Additionally, he leads the USM Communications Council and serves as conveyor and partner to campus communications colleagues.

Sandler is a veteran communications executive and media strategist with nearly three decades of experience in higher education, media and business. He founded EM3 Communications, a strategic communications and reputation management consultancy based in Aurora, Colorado. Prior to that, he served as Vice President for Communications at George Mason University and the University of Colorado System. In those roles, he supported five university presidents and two complex governing boards, one made up of elected officials and the other representatives appointed by the governor. 

Prior to his work in higher education, Michael spent two decades working as a reporter and editor at The Associated Press, The Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Tampa Bay Times, The Hill and Congressional Quarterly.  He covered the U.S. Senate, interviewed two U.S. Presidents and led the AP's coverage of the recovery from the Great Recession.

He has also served on the executive committee for the Council of Strategic Communications at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), is a graduate of Cornell University and the Columbia School of Journalism and spent two years serving in the U.S. Peace Corps as a small business development volunteer in Bolivia.