North Central College

Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing

Position Announcement

North Central College, a comprehensive liberal arts institution located in the vibrant city of Naperville, Illinois, 30 miles west of Chicago, invites applications and nominations for the Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing (VPEMM) position. This newly imagined position oversees and coordinates all aspects of North Central’s undergraduate enrollment and marketing efforts.

North Central College is one of higher education’s great success stories. Since 2013, the College has experienced continuous enrollment strength, balanced budgets, state of the art additions to its physical plant, and exciting new undergraduate and graduate academic program development. This is particularly impressive given broader trends in higher education over the past several years. North Central College aspires to build upon its success to date, and the new Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing will play a key role in achieving the College’s ambitious strategic goals.

The Position

The VPEMM reports to the President and serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet. The VPEMM oversees the admission, financial aid, and marketing functions, and is responsible for planning, implementing and executing effective data-driven strategies to attract and enroll undergraduate first-year and transfer students. The vice president leads the admission, financial aid and marketing teams in the continued cultivation of current markets to maintain existing enrollment strength, and in the development of new markets to drive undergraduate enrollment growth. The VPEMM will be committed to the College’s efforts toward creating a more inclusive campus community and will lead the enrollment, financial aid, and marketing efforts with an innovative and equity-focused vision for the College’s future.

Keenly aware of the College’s distinctions and the rapidly changing market, the vice president is responsible for developing, articulating and implementing a strategic marketing, financial aid, and enrollment plan that optimizes growth opportunities in alignment with the College’s vision and mission. This includes ownership of the College’s brand strategy and supporting environmental and digital marketing investments to drive awareness and build the recruitment funnel. The VPEMM develops and manages forecasts, predictive models, reports, and budgets for the entire first-year and transfer enrollment funnels, and will deploy expertise in leveraging existing and emerging technologies while continuously improving business processes. The VPEMM partners with others across campus to intentionally and progressively attract a diverse and inclusive student community while strategically aligning the range of supports needed to remove systemic barriers to success for students and increase retention of students of color.

The role of athletics remains critical to the College’s student recruitment process; the VPEMM must partner effectively with coaches and the entire athletics department to establish and expand the effective recruitment of student athletes. In collaboration with other members of the President’s Cabinet, the VPEMM contributes to the development of strategies regarding tuition, room and board and fees. The vice president tracks and measures progress and outcomes, ensuring all enrollment management and marketing initiatives are assessed and adapted for efficiency and effectiveness, and understands the College’s broader competitive market position. Direct reports to the Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing include the Dean of Admission, Director of Financial Aid, and Senior Director of Marketing.

Qualifications

A Master’s degree and at least seven years of leadership experience in enrollment management, recruitment, sales, advertising, and/or marketing is required. Excellence in analyzing and organizing information and deriving actionable insight from data to produce results is also required. The new VPEMM will be a collaborative professional who can articulate a complex vision with the clarity of a thought leader and will be eager to engage the North Central College community, prospective students, and others in creative marketing, recruitment, and enrollment experiences. The successful candidate will demonstrate the desire to further develop, mentor, and motivate a dedicated, talented staff. Candidates must demonstrate strategic leadership skills with boldness and humility. The ideal candidate will have experience with delivering the new first-year and transfer classes, experience in change management to improve all marketing and enrollment processes, excellent written and verbal communications skills combined with strong data analysis and technology skills, and the ability to foster collaboration with faculty and other key constituents. The successful candidate will demonstrate a commitment to a culture of equity and respect, the ability to build positive, inclusive-focused communication and relationships, and will have exhibited their commitment to equity and inclusion through procedures, programs and/or specific outcomes that they directly supported or initiated. The ideal candidate will have the acumen needed to propel North Central College forward during this critical time in the College’s and nation’s history. An entrepreneurial mind-set and a commitment to the mission of North Central College and its aspirational Strategic Plan will be essential.

Application and Nomination

North Central College is a diverse, inclusive, and global community committed to social justice and creating an equitable campus environment for all.  In keeping with this commitment, candidates from diverse backgrounds and candidates who support equity and inclusion are strongly encouraged to apply for this senior leadership role. Candidates with higher education experience and/or experience in the broader marketing, advertising, and sales industries are encouraged to apply. Review of applications begins March 29, 2021 and continues until the position is filled. The anticipated start date for the new Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing is June 2021. Interested candidates should apply for this position online via the Williams & Company website at: www.williamscompany.net. Confidential inquiries and/or nominations may be directed to Martha Smiles at: Martha@williamscompany.net or (860) 333-4710.

AA/EOE