Penn State Health appoints executive leader to advance growth

Penn State Health has appointed a senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer to advance system-wide growth, alignment, and brand strategy.

Dara Royer will serve as a member of the organization’s executive leadership team and report directly to Chief Executive Officer Dr. Michael Kupferman. Royer will join the executive leadership team and will lead marketing and communications strategy across the integrated academic health system, including its community hospitals, medical group practices, and ambulatory locations.

According to a release, Royer will focus on strengthening alignment across the system, supporting access and growth, and advancing Penn State Health‘s position as an academic health system.

“Penn State Health has a powerful story to tell, grounded in its mission, its people and the care it provides across the communities it serves,” Royer said in a statement. “I’m excited to join the organization at this important moment and to help connect and elevate that story in a way that supports access, growth and a more unified system.”

Royer has more than 15 years of executive leadership experience across healthcare, higher education, and global nonprofit organizations. She served as chief marketing officer at Syracuse University, where she modernized the university’s approach to brand, digital marketing and storytelling, contributing to sustained growth in visibility, engagement, and student demand. In recognition of her work and for co-founding the university’s Women in Leadership program, she was recently awarded the Chancellor’s Medal, the institution’s highest honor.

“Dara brings a unique combination of strategic leadership, brand expertise and experience guiding complex organizations through growth and transformation,” said Kupferman. “As we continue to build a more connected and competitive health system in close partnership with our College of Medicine, her leadership will play an important role in how we align our efforts, elevate our profile and communicate the value of what we deliver to the communities we serve.”

Royer’s role will support the continued evolution of Penn State Health as an integrated academic health system, bringing together a leading academic medical center with four additional community-based hospitals, and a network of outpatient and ambulatory locations, per the release.

Royer will join Penn State Health on June 29.