Prior to establishing Andrea Kavanagh & Associates, she served as director of strategic marketing for eight years at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business. In this role, Kavanagh was responsible for building the Cox brand through media relations, rankings and various marketing communications initiatives. She managed relationships with international, national and local reporters in an effort to identify and secure positive media coverage to highlight examples of the SMU Cox brand value, including the school’s programs, trends, students, alumni and faculty expert sources. In addition, Kavanagh served as contributing editor and writer for CoxToday, the Cox School’s alumni magazine.
Since Kavanagh joined the Cox School in September 2003, the school improved its standing in nearly all peer-based rankings, helping achieve for the first time in Cox history, top 15 rankings among all three MBA programs. In addition, SMU Cox’s presence in the media increased exponentially. Kavanagh has attended media conferences, met directly with reporters and generated coverage in Mumbai, Hong Kong, London, New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
Prior to SMU Cox, Kavanagh worked at The Richards Group (Richards Partners), where she developed and managed numerous strategic outreach plans for organizations in higher education, health care, business-to-business, banking, technology, online, beverage, fashion and hospitality industries.
Prior to Richards, she worked for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Alexander Ogilvy), where she was responsible for launching technology and dot-com start-ups.
Kavanagh serves on the board of directors for Texas Ballet. She is a member and past board member of the Public Relations Society of America, Dallas Chapter, the Junior League of Dallas, the Dallas Museum of Arts’ Junior Associates, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Élan Circle, Kidney Texas, the SMU Alumni Association and Highland Park United Methodist Church.
Kavanagh holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Southern Methodist University, where she was a University Scholar, and she holds a certificate in graduate marketing through Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.
A seventh-generation Texan, Kavanagh recently relocated from Dallas to Miami with her husband, Ken a Miami native, and their Labradoodle Marilyn Monroe (aka Marilyn). They enjoy cooking, wine tasting, exercise, decorating, spending time with family and friends in Texas and Florida, and traveling throughout the U.S. and abroad.