As the Senior Director of Marketing at West Virginia University, Tony Dobies has positioned the University as a leader in creative marketing and social media. He is a vocal advocate for new and innovative approaches to marketing in higher education and has spoken at numerous national conferences on the importance of social media in marketing and communications. At WVU, he leads a team of talented social media managers, market researchers, advertisers, marketing strategists, brand and trademark licensing experts. Together with his team, he designs and manages marketing projects and initiatives to help reach the University's highest goals, especially in regard to recruitment. In 2015, he was named a "30 under 30 Rising PR Star" by PR News. He graduated from WVU in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and again in 2017 with a master's degree in integrated marketing communications.