Staff
Joseph S. Hice, Jr.
Associate Vice President, Marketing & Public Relations
Joe Hice, APR, is Associate Vice President for Marketing and Public Relations at the University of Florida. He is responsible for marketing, advertising and branding activities, public relations, and employee and internal communications for the university at the local, state and national levels. He is also director of the university's news bureau.
Mr. Hice joined the University of Florida in June 2005 after a long career with some of the nation's most respected and well-known recreational product brands, including Harley-Davidson, Segway, Sea-Doo Watercraft and others. Prior to joining UF, Hice was Chief Marketing Officer of Segway LLC in Bedford, N.H. Segway manufactures the Segway Human Transporter, a self-balancing, two-wheeled transportation device.
He also served as Director of Corporate Communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company in Milwaukee, Wisc., and as Director of Marketing Communications for Bombardier Inc.'s Marine Products Division. At Harley-Davidson, Mr. Hice was responsible for all corporate communications activities and employee communications. He helped form the company's Financial Disclosure Committee and was involved in the planning of Harley-Davidson's Strategic Plan for Sustainable Growth and Harley's worldwide 100th anniversary celebration in 2003.
At Bombardier Recreational Products, Mr. Hice managed the development of the Sea-Doo Watercraft and Sea-Doo Sport Boat brands and implemented marketing communications programs that helped the company grow from the smallest company in the industry to the industry leader in just five years. Bombardier is an international corporation with annual revenue in excess of $7 billion.
He also served as Director of Marketing for Wellcraft Marine and Donzi Marine in Sarasota.
Prior to entering the corporate world, Mr. Hice was co-owner of his own public relations and marketing firm in Tampa (Roberts and Hice, Inc., now Roberts Communications). He also was a vice president of the international public relations firm, Hill and Knowlton, Inc., and was business editor of the Tampa Times. Hice worked as a staff writer with Florida Trend magazine and the Tampa Bay Business Journal. He is accredited in public relations by the Public Relations Society of America.
Mr. Hice has a bachelor's degree in journalism and communications and a master's degree in journalism and communications, both from the University of Florida, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Mr. Hice and his wife, Sandra, live in Gainesville with their two dogs and four cats. They have two daughters.