Vice President for Enrollment Management-Ithaca College
NES (formerly Napier Executive Search)
Application
Details
Posted: 12-Sep-23
Location: Ithaca, New York
Type: Full Time
Categories:
Postsecondary College/University
Ithaca College, a private institution in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York state, renowned for its undergraduate liberal arts curriculum and pre-professional and graduate programs, seeks an accomplished and visionary strategist and leader to serve in the critically important role of Vice President for Enrollment Management. Reporting directly to college president Dr. La Jerne Terry Cornish, the new vice president will provide leadership and foster strategic collaborations that drive organizational effectiveness, innovation, and long-range planning in support of the college’s vision, mission, and values.
TO APPLY Ithaca College is partnering with NES to identify the best professional to fill the position of Vice President for Enrollment Management. To arrange for a confidential conversation or to nominate someone for this position, please contact Mary Napier or Laura Robinson or Suzi Nam. To apply, send 1) a resume, 2) a detailed letter of interest regarding your interest in Ithaca College, and 3) contact information for three professional references by email to: ithaca@nessearches.com. For best assurance of full consideration, interested individuals should submit application materials no later than October 12, 2023. Resumes will be reviewed until the position is filled. All applications and nominations will be considered confidential, and notice will be given before references are contacted. Anticipated start date is early 2024; the selected candidate will be based at the Ithaca campus.
When reviewing candidates, we are looking for indicators of several core competencies. Prospective candidates must be adaptable, collaborative, inclusive, respectful, responsive, results driven, and committed to sustainability. They must communicate effectively, demonstrate leadership, exhibit professional integrity and ethics, take initiative, value personal and professional development, and show that they will engage wholeheartedly with the college.
Qualifications and Characteristics Ithaca College seeks a highly skilled, innovative vice president to serve as a strategic partner committed to the college’s success. The vice president must be a results-oriented, relationship-driven, and high-performance leader who thrives in a dynamic, complex academic environment. The role requires a focused leader and manager who values high engagement with faculty, staff and students, is committed to embracing a student-centered shared governance model, is skilled in contemporary enrollment strategies, and seeks to maximize efficiency and effectiveness to deliver transformational results.
Candidates are required to have a bachelor’s degree; candidates with an earned advanced or terminal degree will have an advantage. In addition, the ideal candidate will possess some or all the following professional qualifications and personal characteristics:
Institutional Leadership
Ability to align one's leadership and goals with an ambitious and inclusive strategic plan;
Collaborative leadership style with a deep appreciation for the value of shared governance;
Skilled in student-centered problem solving; willing to take risks and adept at working seamlessly across the institution, connecting with all key stakeholders;
Ability to think strategically and contribute to the senior leadership team in areas directly related to enrollment and student success and beyond, as an expert on trends, challenges and opportunities facing higher education writ large;
Unquestionable integrity and moral character; must be capable of winning the complete and unreserved trust of the institution and community;
Ability to translate and/or contribute to institutional strategic planning initiatives that have implications for enrollment strategy;
Share IC’s deep commitment to being a student-centered organization.
Inspire cross collaborative partnerships within and beyond the division, throughout the organization itself and within the greater Ithaca area;
Effective communication skills and strong interpersonal skills that engender trust, transparency and collaboration; and
Confidence as a leader who values relationships with faculty, students, staff, peers and senior leadership equally.
Strategic Enrollment
Capacity to develop a clear enrollment vision and strategy consistent with the college’s mission and best practices;
Requisite leadership skills and talent to advance the division;
Ability to lead the shaping of Ithaca's future student body with vision and creativity;
A record of delivering on enrollment goals and a demonstrated ability to develop and implement successful undergraduate and graduate admission, financial aid, and student success strategies; and
Significant professional experience managing the complex interplay of recruiting and student success strategies, enrollment goals, revenue targets, yield, and financial aid, with experience and understanding of how each of these areas differs across student markets and populations.
Financial Acumen
Experience developing financial aid policies and procedures to ensure broad understanding and commitment to issues of net price, merit, and need-based aid;
Execution of financial aid strategies intended to achieve enrollment goals while maximizing the College’s net revenues;
Capability to manage the department’s budget effectively and to report regularly on the budgets for all recruitment and retention initiatives and detailed ROI on all enrollment campaigns; and
Experience leveraging financial aid to optimize enrollment goals.
Student Success and Retention
In deep collaboration with key campus partners, provide leadership of the Center for Career Exploration and Development Office in creating, implementing, and assessing the strategic vision for a comprehensive career education and development program;
Oversight of initiatives to increase student retention, satisfaction, and completion and that serve student needs and promote academic integrity;
Execution of a comprehensive strategic enrollment management plan that includes innovative initiatives that optimize recruitment and retention efforts across a wide variety of student populations and programs;
Demonstrated commitment not only to delivering results in new student recruitment and yield, but to supporting student success, retention, graduation and lifelong engagement; and
Willingness to establish partnerships with faculty and staff across the university in order to foster relationships of trust and empowerment within the community, and to build a culture of sustained commitment to the retention of students.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Demonstrated commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging to align with the college's values and the president’s vision for Ithaca College;
Understanding of difference, and the ability to think intentionally with an awareness of the various ways in which the campus is experienced by students of all backgrounds;
Knowledge of the changing landscape and demographic shifts regionally, nationally, and globally; vision for how an institution can evolve to meet the needs of future student populations; and
A proven history of identifying, recruiting and enrolling students from diverse backgrounds and increasing diversity – including cultural, socioeconomic, racial, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression.
Technological and Analytical Sophistication
Ability to engage in constant strategic analysis of opportunities and challenges and to produce forward-looking, transparent strategic plans and budgets that link expenditures to outcomes;
Experience and understanding of how institutional technology platforms can be utilized to optimize enrollment results and efficient use of staff resources, and ability to master multiple systems. Specifically, the college will be implementing a new Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) System, which will assist its improvement in enrollment, retention and student learning efforts through alumni engagement. Additionally, the college will be implementing the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System, which will enable it to better manage its human resource and finance functions as well as related information technology;
Analytical capacity to assess the effectiveness of how recruitment and financial aid funds are employed to achieve enrollment goals; and
Ability to produce regular and systematic comparative reports that detail month-to-month as well as annual progress toward enrollment goals.
Creativity and Innovation
Deep understanding of current and future demographic and higher education trends to build an innovative enrollment strategy;
Experience and knowledge considering a mix of educational modes and delivery models, including online, hybrid, and nontraditional programs;
Demonstrated record in managing change for a diverse and complex organization;
Genuine enjoyment in leading, managing, and implementing large-scale innovation;
Record of success with innovative recruitment strategies along with a willingness to take creative risks for success; and
Experience in implementing strategies of major importance to the division and to the institution.
Staff Supervision
Exceptional skills as a leader and manager with the ability to inspire and support the professional development of team members;
Secure and self-directed leadership with an ability to work effectively in a consensus-driven environment where direct feedback and constructive criticism is expected and admired;
Experience in building, managing, and supporting a strong staff that is dedicated to the goals of the division and institution; and
Executive skills capable of leading and developing a diverse, high-performing team that delivers results and demonstrates a high level of excellence.
NES (formerly Napier Executive Search) specializes in senior level enrollment management searches for post-secondary institutions. Established in 2014, the firm's search consultants bring extensive experience in enrollment management positions along with knowledge of today's employment landscape. Calling on our past experience in higher education enrollment roles and extensive sales and consultative experience with deans, directors and vice presidents across multiple states and regions, we nurture connections with enrollment professionals.
