Kim Commerato Lance

Kim Commerato Lance is passionate about teaching and developing future strategic communication leaders. She has over 30 years of professional industry experience working from New York to Dallas and contributes this learning to the classroom. Known for bringing crayons, paper, and Play-Doh to class brainstorming sessions, Kim believes in the power of experiential and creative learning. Importantly, she teaches her students to understand the numbers behind the business, or finance 101, and to ensure communication strategy is aligned with business goals.

Lance began her corporate career in the technology sector with Computer Associates, where she was promoted to a public relations manager role responsible for product marketing, media and analyst relations. A “media maven” role, as she likes to describe it. She moved on to build a career as a business-to-business communications and marketing leader, working across the cybersecurity, professional services, and technology sectors with companies including CA Technologies, Lotus Development Corp., Deloitte Consulting, Aon and Cohn & Wolfe Public Relations.

Lance has extensive experience across all facets of corporate communication and continues to practice today. As a professional writer, she is regularly retained to research and ghostwrite deep thought leadership reports, book chapters and articles for C-suite leaders. In her consulting work, she focuses on storytelling and message development, crisis response, and strategic communication planning. She believes in serving her community and leads pro bono workshops for entrepreneurs, works with the Chippewa Valley Economic Development Corporation, and is long-time volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association.

Outside of the classroom, Lance is a PRSA member and is the CCPA faculty ambassador for SMU’s new Pathways to Business and Industry program, led by the Office of Engaged Learning. She holds her B.S. in management science with a concentration in marketing from the State University of New York, College at Geneseo, and her M.A. in Media Ecology from New York University.