Board Member
Experienced Healthcare Marketing & Communications Professional
As a Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Deborah Fullerton has led brand development and marketing programs at six healthcare organizations across the United States. She has positioned brands for increased top-of-mind awareness, created memorable taglines and built reputation monitoring programs. Deborah has orchestrated quantitative and qualitative research to guide developing sophisticated, metrics-driven strategies to increase volumes, revenue and engagement. Her early foundation in journalism/public relations prepared her to develop strategic communications programs and managed media relations/crisis communications.
Deborah is a though leader in the healthcare vertical, promoting consumerism/consumer experience and digital access, particularly to drive innovation and patient self-service tools and to empower consumers regarding their health. Deborah contributes regularly to national forums such as the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Marketing Development, the Scottsdale Institute and Healthcare Internet Conference.”
After many years in Chicago, Deborah is currently the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Novant Health, a nearly $9B healthcare system operating 19 hospitals and more than 850 locations (clinics, imaging, urgent care, surgery centers and pharmacies) with more than 7,000 healthcare providers and a 40,000-person workforce in North Carolina and South Carolina. She is responsible for consumer insights and market research, branding, marketing, public relations, social media, internal communications, corporate communications and creative services. Her team focuses on the consumer journey and ways to enhance that journey through digital services and artificial intelligence innovation.
Deborah was previously Senior Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Consumerism at Prisma Health in South Carolina. Prior to that, she oversaw the marketing, communications and community relations team at AMITA Health in Chicago as the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer. Before that return to Chicago, she developed the marketing communications program at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where she held the roles of Chief Marketing Communications Officer and Associate Vice President of Health Sciences for USC and Senior Associate Dean of the Keck School of Medicine. Her Chicago career started with her recruitment to Loyola University Health System to build its marketing/communications program, after a successful launch of the first marketing program at Duke University Health System in Durham, NC. She started her healthcare career at Duke in public relations after serving as the features editor at The Courier-Tribune newspaper in Asheboro, NC.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism & Media, Deborah also earned her MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business.
“She has served on the Advisory Board of the UNC-Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism & Media since 2007, participates in the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and serves on the Board of Directors for the Upcountry History Museum in Greenville, SC. Deborah also served on the Board of Bottomless Closet in Chicago, a nonprofit that was devoted to assisting women to re-enter the workforce. She also previously volunteered with the Chicago Symphony and with the Taproot Foundation in Chicago.
Deborah’s passions for health and children and empowering people through education merge thoughtfully for her Board role with Pilot Light.