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Jennifer B. Litchman was named senior vice president for external relations on Jan. 5, 2018, expanding her previous duties at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). In this role, Litchman fulfills a wide breadth of responsibilities, overseeing communications and public affairs, government relations, and community engagement in addition to her duties as chief of staff and special assistant to UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS.

Litchman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in public communication from American University. After six years on Capitol Hill working for the National Republican Congressional Committee and then in the House of Representatives, Litchman left government service for the Business Roundtable, a nonprofit public policy organization of CEOs of the Fortune 200, where she was public information manager. A highlight of her time at the Business Roundtable was planning and implementing a national media launch for a public service advertising campaign featuring Major League Baseball stars at Camden Yards with former Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. and then- President Bill Clinton.

Litchman came to UMB in 1999 as director of public affairs at the School of Medicine, to establish the Office of Public Affairs. In 2002, she was promoted to assistant dean with responsibility for strategic planning, crisis communications, public relations, media relations, community relations, government relations, marketing, advertising, publications, photographic arts, special projects and events, and web content and social media for the School of Medicine.

Litchman was named special assistant to the president of UMB in January 2011, and was named interim chief communications officer (CCO) and vice president (VP) in August of the same year. She assumed the role of CCO and VP in August 2012. In this role, Litchman is responsible for internal and external communications, crisis communications, branding and marketing, media relations, social media, publications and editorial, special events, and web development functions for the University. The Office of Government Affairs began reporting to her in June 2015 and the Office of Community Engagement followed suit in November 2015. She was named senior vice president for external relations in January 2018. As special assistant to the president, Litchman functions as the president’s chief of staff and principal executive on various president’s initiatives and advises the president on reputation management and enhancement, outreach, and communications strategies.

Litchman lives in Annapolis with her husband, Jonathan, and their two children, Jack and Jiselle “MeMe,” a pug named Cocoa and a pandemic kitten named Daisy SweetPea.

Originally from Ames, Iowa, she and her 10 best childhood friends are the subjects of the nonfiction book The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow, which spent more than six months on The New York Times best-seller list, reaching a high of No. 3. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Port Discovery Children’s Museum and Everyman Theatre, and a member of the Women’s Leadership Advisory Board of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Baltimore. Litchman was named one of Maryland’s “Top 100 Women” by The Daily Record in 2016 and is a member of the Leadership Maryland Class of 2017.