Vice President for Enrollment Services - IWU-Marion

Indiana Wesleyan University•Marion, IA

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Vice President for Enrollment Services provides strategic, innovative, results-oriented leadership for student recruitment and enrollment growth at Indiana Wesleyan University’s Marion campus. Reporting to the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, this executive develops and executes comprehensive enrollment strategies to achieve institutional growth objectives, strengthen net tuition revenue, expand market reach, and advance the University’s Christ-centered mission. The role leads a high-performing enrollment organization focused on demand generation, prospective student and family engagement, recruitment operations, conversion, and yield. It uses testing, data analytics, CRM technology, responsible artificial intelligence, strategic partnerships, and personalized experiences to establish a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and measurable accountability. The Vice President collaborates across the University and with external partners to communicate IWU’s academic excellence, career preparation, and Christ-centered formation and to achieve or exceed annual new-student enrollment goals. The position provides leadership to undergraduate admissions leadership, graduate admissions leadership, and academic youth programs as assigned. It oversees Wesleyan Student Initiatives and recruitment activities for the John Wesley Honors College and Luther Lee Scholars Program, as assigned. Performance is assessed against an annually approved executive scorecard covering enrollment, conversion and yield, market growth, student experience, forecasting accuracy, recruitment efficiency, team effectiveness, and shared financial outcomes. Annual numerical targets are established separately from this position description. Employees are required to possess a strong Christian commitment and adhere to the standards in the IWU Community Lifestyle Statement and institutional employment policies. Indiana Wesleyan University, as a religious educational institution, reserves the right to prefer employees on the basis of religion. The description is not exhaustive, and employees may be assigned other job-related duties.

Requirements

Strong Christian commitment and adherence to the IWU Community Lifestyle Statement and institutional employment policies.
Preferred master’s degree and progressively responsible leadership experience in higher education enrollment, recruitment, or a closely related growth function; typically ten or more years of relevant experience.
Documented achievement of measurable enrollment, conversion, revenue, or comparable growth objectives and experience leading teams through change.
Expertise in enrollment funnel management, forecasting, CRM systems, analytics, and effective use of recruitment resources.
Commitment to serving students and families from varied backgrounds with integrity, hospitality, and respect.
Strong executive communication, financial judgment, collaborative leadership, and ability to influence stakeholders across organizational boundaries.
Knowledge of applicable student privacy, admissions, financial aid, and enrollment compliance obligations, including FERPA.
Strategic and entrepreneurial thinking, disciplined execution, analytical decision-making, collaborative influence, student- and family-centered service, change leadership, team development, financial stewardship, spiritual maturity, and mission alignment.

Nice To Haves

Executive-level experience in Christian higher education or a similarly mission-driven organization.
Experience with enrollment, predictive analytics, responsible AI, strategic partnerships, and net tuition revenue optimization.
Experience leading both undergraduate and graduate recruitment teams.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute a multiyear enrollment strategy, annual recruitment plan, and measurable objectives for Marion Campus undergraduate and graduate programs.
Build and manage segmented recruitment funnels and forecasts by geography, program, student population, and source; identify risks and implement corrective actions.
Expand recruitment in priority markets, including Indianapolis, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky, based on evidence of demand and return on investment.
Identify enrollment pipelines through Christian schools, churches, homeschool networks, youth ministries, alumni, community organizations, and strategic partners.
Lead inquiry-to-enrollment recruitment operations, including counselor outreach, application progression, admissions follow-up, deposit conversion, and yield.
Design personalized prospective student and parent journeys with service standards, timely communications, and high-quality on-campus and off-campus engagement.
Improve campus visits, major-specific experiences, recruitment events, and faculty interactions, and assess their impact on student decisions.
Ensure recruitment communications convey IWU’s mission, academic offerings, career preparation, community, and student formation.
Own enrollment dashboards and regular operating reviews of lead quality, funnel conversion, enrollment forecasts, and recruitment productivity.
Lead adoption and optimization of CRM systems, segmentation, nurturing sequences, automated communications, and appropriate predictive analytics.
Evaluate responsible AI applications for service, personalization, forecasting, and staff productivity while maintaining human judgment, privacy, and institutional safeguards.
Use market research, competitive intelligence, experiments and testing, and return-on-investment analysis to improve recruitment investment decisions.
Collaborate with the Vice President of Brand and Marketing on demand-generation priorities, digital recruitment performance, campaigns, and student acquisition; align enrollment requirements with marketing execution.
Partner with academic, student development, athletics, honors, music, and advancement leaders and teams to establish measurable recruitment participation and referral practices.
Work with the CFO and financial aid and finance leaders on scholarship strategy, affordability messaging, enrollment yield, discount-rate implications, and net tuition revenue, consistent with delegated authorities.
Coordinate with IWU National & Global enrollment leadership on shared pipelines, student pathways, and One University opportunities.
Recruit, coach, develop, and evaluate a high-performing admissions leadership team; set clear goals and hold teams accountable for results.
Steward personnel, operating budgets, vendor relationships, and recruitment investments responsibly.
Provide timely executive dashboards and reporting, enrollment projections, and recommendations to the supervising EVP and institutional leadership.
Represent the University and its mission with schools, churches, ministry networks, external partners, and prospective families.
Oversee Wesleyan Student Initiatives and recruitment activities for the John Wesley Honors College and Luther Lee Scholars Program, as assigned.