Lenoir-Rhyne names Chad Spencer vice president for enrollment management

Lenoir-Rhyne has named Chad Spencer, B.A. ’97, MBA ’03, as its new vice president of enrollment management. He will shape the university’s enrollment and retention strategies and support long-term institutional sustainability.

A two-time LR alumnus, Spencer brings more than 25 years of experience in higher education enrollment strategy, admission and financial aid leadership. He most recently served as vice president for enrollment management at Centre College in Kentucky, where he led strategic initiatives that increased application volume, enrollment and net tuition revenue while strengthening retention and student success outcomes. During his time at Centre College, Spencer recruited one of the largest first-year classes in the institution’s history.

At Lenoir-Rhyne, Spencer will oversee a newly aligned enrollment management division that brings together undergraduate and graduate enrollment and the offices of the registrar and financial aid. The reorganization is designed to strengthen collaboration across the student lifecycle from recruitment and enrollment through persistence and graduation while ensuring a coordinated, data-informed approach to enrollment planning.

“Enrollment growth is central to the long-term strength of any university, especially in today’s highly competitive higher education environment,” said Summer McGee, Ph.D., president of LR. “Chad brings a powerful combination of deep enrollment expertise, a sophisticated understanding of data and financial aid strategy and a personal commitment to ensure Lenoir-Rhyne’s success. His leadership will help position the university for long-term prominence as a premier professional university in the Southeast.”

Spencer has built a career focused on using analytics, financial aid optimization and strategic recruitment planning to meet enrollment and revenue goals while expanding access for students. During his tenure at Centre College, he led the development of a comprehensive enrollment plan that resulted in record application growth and one of the largest entering classes in the college’s history.

Prior to Centre, Spencer held senior admission and financial aid leadership roles at Davidson College, where he helped manage a financial aid budget exceeding $60 million and developed strategies to increase enrollment yield and access for high-achieving students from a wide range of backgrounds.

For Spencer, the new role represents a meaningful homecoming. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Lenoir-Rhyne in 1997 and an MBA in 2003, and early in his career served in the university’s admission and financial aid office. Today, his connection to LR continues through family — his wife, Melanie Spencer, is a 1998 alumna; his younger son, Cade, is a current student and member of the Bears baseball team; and his older son, Cy, is a 2023 graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South who lives in Sherrills Ford with his wife.

“Lenoir-Rhyne has great momentum, and I look forward to joining President McGee and the enrollment team in attracting talented, high-achieving students who will thrive in the LR community,” said Spencer. “Returning to my alma mater is a tremendous privilege and dream come true. I will work every day to apply a strategic and compassionate approach to enrollment as we build on the university’s efforts to expand access to our distinctive, high-touch, premier educational experience and launch our graduates into lives of leadership and service to the world.”