President

Park University; Parkville (MO); On-site; USD 310,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision insurance

Retirement

Life insurance

Tuition remission

Job summary

Park University seeks an innovative and growth-oriented leader to serve as its next President. This private, nonprofit liberal arts university has a mission to expand access and elevate academic excellence across campuses and online programs.

The President reports to the Board of Trustees, drives enrollment growth, strengthens financial health, and advances strategic priorities while upholding shared governance and philanthropy.

Qualifications

• Extensive leadership experience in complex organizations.
• Proven ability to advance academic excellence and innovation.
• Strong track record in financial stewardship and strategic planning.

Responsibilities

• Provide visionary leadership and drive the university's strategic priorities.
• Grow enrollment, strengthen financial health, and diversify revenue streams.
• Advance academic excellence, shared governance, and external engagement.
• Oversee philanthropy, fundraising strategy, and stakeholder relations.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Financial acumen

Fundraising

Higher education knowledge

Education

Doctorate or equivalent terminal degree

Job description

Park Universityseeksan innovative and growth-oriented leader to serve as its next President.

Park,a four-year, private, nonprofit, liberal artsinstitution,has helped students break barriers to education since 1875.

The University’s motto, fides et labor (Latin for “faith and work”), is as relevant today as it was in the 19th century.A Park University education provides an opportunity forstudentsto find faith in themselves by discoveringtheir potential and working to realize it.

Park currently serves over 7,421 students nationally each year through its flagship campus in Parkville, Missouri,itsresidential campus in Gilbert, Arizona, campus centers serving civilian and military students across the country,anda robust online program and blended learning modalities, including 8-week and 16-week formats. Honoring its founding mission to provide academic access to all qualified learners, the University continues to serve a highly diverse student population: 61% come from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and 499 international students from 64 countries.

The flagship campus in Parkville, Missouri, sits atop rolling hills overlooking the Missouri River and boasts an impressive community with its beautiful, historic buildings. The campus also includes a unique underground academic space excavated from native limestone. The underground campus houses classrooms, faculty and staff offices, a boardroom,and student services. The University also manages and oversees the successful Parkville Commercial Underground, an innovative commercial space that provides302,000 square feetof economical and secure space for small businesses and wholesalers in the Kansas City area.

Park enters this presidential transition from a position of growing stability and renewed possibility. Recent years have seen significant institutional assessment, organizational restructuring, strategic planning, and actions to strengthen the University’s financial position and accreditation standing. As a result, the next President will inherit an institution that has undertaken important foundational work and is now positioned to build upon that progress. The successful candidate will honor the gains already achieved while leading Park confidently into its next phase of growth, innovation, and institutional distinction.

Reporting to an engaged Board of Trustees, the President will be expected togrow the University into the future.The President provides leadership in developing, articulating,and executing the University’s vision and, in collaboration with the Board, establishes Park’s goals,objectives,and strategic priorities. The President is the steward of all University assets and resources and ensures the establishment and execution of the governing policies and procedures across Park’s campuses. The President willpossessthe temperament, comportment,and acumen toestablishand maintain constructive relationships withUniversityconstituents. The President will foster a culture of high performance and accountability within the leadership team and deliver results consistent with established targets. The next President will lead by personal example, molding the staff and faculty into an effective team that harnesses Park’s diverse components, synchronizes its dynamic features and functions, and successfully leads Park into the future.The next Park University President will be expected to focus their efforts onelevatingthe vision, identity, and strategic planning of the University;grow enrollment andstudent success; diversify revenue streams and strengthen academic programs; support academic excellence and shared governance;liftupinstitutionalculture andcollegiality; and enhance philanthropy and external engagement. The President has oversight of the $62 million operatingbudgetand a $67 million endowmentandis supported by a talented team of leaders.

The next President will have extensive leadership experience and skills,demonstratingthe ability to successfully lead complex and diverse organizations in settings that value individual and collective achievement, innovation, and accountability.They will be known fordemonstratedcollegiality, creativity, financial acumen, and a proventrack recordin academic innovation and success. The successful candidate will have an earned doctorate, an equivalent terminal degree, or proven leadership and sufficient understanding of higher education to earn the respect of the Park faculty.

Park University reasonably expects to pay within the range of $310,000 - $350,000, plus the opportunity to earn an additional annual performance-based bonus.

• medical
• dental
• vision insurance
• retirement
• life insurance
• tuition remission

The university provides a newly renovated presidential residence.

The University will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, and veteran status.

The University will follow procedures to prohibit discrimination in accordance with applicable legal principles, including, but not limited to, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.