AnnaMaria DeSalva '90
AnnaMaria DeSalva earned her B.A. with honors in English from William & Mary.
Ms. DeSalva has served as global chairman and chief executive at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, one of the world's leading strategic communications firms, since 2019. In this role she also serves on the executive committee of parent company WPP, the world's largest marketing services company.
Early in her career she began focusing on public relations and communications, initially at Ogilvy & Mather and then at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she led international public affairs in oncology and later became director of the BMS Foundation. She subsequently joined Hill+Knowlton to lead its global healthcare practice and after several years was hired by Pfizer as vice president of corporate affairs. At Hill+Knowlton, she was appointed by the Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a special advisor to the agency on risk communication. At Pfizer, she led the corporate affairs effort spanning communications, policy, and government affairs for the innovative core of the company, during a period of significant transformation.
Immediately prior to returning to Hill+Knowlton in 2019, Ms. DeSalva served as chief communications officer at DuPont and then senior advisor to the CEO of DowDuPont, helping the company navigate a series of special situations, including the $130 billion merger with Dow, and the subsequent break up into three new industry leading companies.
Ms. DeSalva has served on several boards. Most recently she completed terms of service as vice chairman of the board of directors at XPO Logistics [NYSE: XPO] and as a member of the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. She currently serves on the board of RXO [NYSE: RXO] and as a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board.
She is an engaged alumna at William & Mary, serving in a number of roles since graduation including as a member of the Alumni Association's Board of Directors, volunteer executive-in-residence at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business and as a member of the Business School Foundation Board.
At William & Mary, she also has been engaged often as a mentor, speaker and panelist for student and alumni programs. As a globally recognized marketing and brand expert, Ms. DeSalva has consulted on W&M marketing efforts in recent years. She was involved with the university's For the Bold campaign and established the Mary E. DeSalva Scholarship Endowment to enable foreign students to pursue their education at William & Mary.
Email: [[bov]]
2024-2025 Committee Assignments
Committee on Academic Affairs, Vice Chair
Committee on Institutional Advancement, Vice Chair
Appointed
July 1, 2023 by Governor Glenn Youngkin
December 9, 2022 by Governor Glenn Youngkin*
*Appointed to fill a vacant seat
