Joel M. Malina, who has led Cornell’s communications and government relations efforts through leadership transitions, a global pandemic, a far-reaching reimagining of universitywide communications functions and historic financial agreements with the city and town, will depart Jan 5.

After retiring from Cornell, Malina will join the global strategic advisory firm Brunswick Group on Feb. 3 as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office.

In his 11 years as vice president for university relations – the longest tenure among current Cornell vice presidents – Malina has served as the university’s spokesperson. He has coordinated Cornell’s internal and external communications, as well as its relationships with federal, state and local (across Tompkins County and New York City) policymakers and stakeholders. He oversees the offices of Federal, State and Community relations; Brand Communications, Media Relations, News, Strategic Communications and, in partnership with Alumni Affairs and Development, Cornellians; as well as the offices of the Assemblies and Visitor Relations.

“Joel Malina has served as a trusted adviser across Cornell administrations for the past 11 years. During that period he has worked tirelessly to advance the university’s mission,” said Interim President Michael I. Kotlikoff. “Joel has built an extremely strong communications and government affairs team, and deserves extraordinary gratitude for all that he has done for Cornell.”

“Having worked with Joel for over a decade, I have seen firsthand how he forged strong relationships with our government partners at every level: federal, state and community,” said Kraig H. Kayser, MBA ’84, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees. “His leadership of University Relations strengthened Cornell’s voice, ensuring that our mission and values resonated far and wide during what has been a great decade of progress. He has been a valued adviser to the Board of Trustees.”

Malina said he cherished his part in advancing Cornell’s critical mission.

“I came here knowing the enormous opportunity that this job represented in terms of telling the remarkable story of Cornell and its positive impacts across the region, state, nation and the world,” he said. “I’m immensely proud of all that my team and I, and all of Cornell’s leaders, have accomplished during my time here.”

Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

Among Malina’s achievements is the successful navigation of a period of unexpected leadership transitions, following the 2015 retirement of President Emeritus David Skorton, who hired him, and the death of President Elizabeth Garrett in 2016. In his first three years at Cornell, Malina served five different university leaders, including acting and interim presidents. In addition to keeping the community focused on long-term goals through the upheaval, Malina co-chaired inaugurations for Garrett and President Emerita Martha E. Pollack.

“Joel was a trusted and vital strategic partner who provided me invaluable input on a range of critical communications issues throughout my presidency, including during several crises,” Pollack said. “His deep knowledge of the government, and the ways in which universities interact with the government at the local, state and federal level, had an enormous impact. He was a core part of my leadership team and a pleasure to work with, and I’m sure he’ll be incredibly successful in his new role.”

Malina was hired into a new position that combined communications and government relations “because he was clearly more than qualified to do both,” said Robert S. Harrison ’76, chair emeritus of the Cornell Board of Trustees.

“I developed tremendous respect for him in what was a very big job,” Harrison said. “In addition to his great relationships with our legislative and executive partners, Joel was a fantastic spokesperson for the university – he was always not just protecting but enhancing the Cornell brand everywhere he went. He was an extraordinary part of the Cornell community as well as a terrific human being, and he is going to be sorely missed.”

Malina helped the university effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic – a formidable challenge that also became a model for productive town-gown relations. Cornell’s science-based response to the crisis, which included bringing students back to campus in the fall 2020 semester, was bolstered by strong partnerships with the community and the state and federal government. Improved coordination among the numerous communication offices across campuses transformed the way Cornell operates today.

“All those elements came together under Martha and Mike’s strong leadership,” Malina said. “And from a communications perspective, COVID forced us to become far more integrated, which has continued to serve the university well in the years since.”

With Rachel Dunifon, the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology, Malina co-led the university’s functional review of communications, which formalized the integration of hundreds of communications professionals across Cornell’s colleges and units into a “One Cornell” team that has become a model for other functions at Cornell and other institutions.

In 2023 and 2024, Malina led negotiations on the university’s behalf to reach historic partnership agreements with the City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca and Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit. Over the last year of campus unrest and global debate around the Israel-Hamas War, he facilitated difficult but important conversations with diverse university stakeholders.

“It was extremely important to me that the university navigate the raw emotions with a heavy focus on empathy and listening, while helping those not on campus to understand the campus climate and the reasons behind leadership decisions,” he said. “The work has been difficult, but critically important. I am proud to have been able to help the world understand how Cornell is approaching these challenges.”

Within University Relations, Malina conceived and spearheaded the New York State Impact Initiative, to highlight ways in which Cornell’s teaching, research and public engagement mission improves lives and livelihoods around the state. He also co-led the development of Cornellians, the now three-year-old digital alumni publication.

Credit: Lindsay France/Cornell University

He stewarded communications around the launch of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, among numerous other new academic programs, as well as the 2017 opening of the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island.

“Among the Ithaca campus legacies I’m most proud of is my advocacy for a permanent memorial to the eight students and the professor who died in the 1967 Cornell Heights Residential Club fire,” Malina said. That memorial, on the grounds between Day Hall and Sage Chapel, was dedicated in 2019.

Malina serves on the boards of Cayuga Health System and Ithaca Area Economic Development, and on the advisory board of The Cherry Arts. He is a prior board president of The Kitchen Theatre Company and currently serves on the board of the Cornell Club of New York City.

He and his wife, Nancy, plan to relocate to Washington in summer 2025 for his new role.

“I am extremely excited about joining the Brunswick team, where I look forward to helping education, foundation and global health clients, among other sectors, navigate challenges and realize their institutional goals,” he said. “This is an incredible opportunity to continue to make a difference in the world, but I’ll miss so much about Cornell: the people, the collegiality of our exceptional leadership team, the talented professionals in University Relations, the beauty of our campuses, and this amazing community that has been our home for 11 years.

“I came here as a Yale grad and leave a lifelong Cornellian,” he said. “That’s very special.”

Kotlikoff has appointed Monica Yant Kinney, associate vice president for communications, to serve as interim vice president for university relations, effective Jan. 6, while a national search is conducted for Malina’s successor.