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Kary McIlwain

Kary McIlwain (MSA86) was inducted into the Medill Hall of Achievement in 2020.

As chief marketing and communications officer for Lurie Children's Hospital, McIlwain leads marketing for the hospital and Lurie Children's Foundation as well as all media relations and strategic communications. Her team is responsible for all owned, earned and paid media, CRM and direct marketing efforts, annual giving physician marketing and driving awareness, preference, volume, donations, reputation and reach for the top-ranked children's hospital.

Lurie Children's represents a capstone on a 25 plus year career in advertising. As President and CEO of Y&R Chicago, McIlwain was responsible for the strategy and operations of a full-service digital and traditional agency. Under McIlwain’ s leadership, Y&R grew exponentially, reinvented its digital offering, created a digital content studio, revamped its creative product and was named top 10 "Creative Heavyweights" by Creativity magazine.