Project Description
CarterBaldwin Executive Search is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Matthew vandenBerg as the 19th president of Presbyterian College.
vandenBerg currently serves as Vice President for Advancement and External Relations at Alma College (Alma, MI), where he directs a team responsible for the school’s constituent engagement and fundraising programs. Since his arrival in 2015, vandenBerg has led the five most productive fundraising years in the college’s history, averaging $17M a year. He has also played a leadership role in developing curricular and co-curricular offerings and has been an ardent champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Prior to his time in higher education, vandenBerg served as Assistant Vice President, Campaign Executive Director at CCS Fund Raising, a leading fundraising management firm. He also served as a foreign policy and national defense adviser and a spokesperson for the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence at the U.S. House of Representatives.
vandenBerg was selected by the Board of Trustees for his inspiring leadership style and experience in leading a college that supports excellence in academics, transparency in governance, and innovation in strategic planning. At Presbyterian, vandenBerg will develop and nurture effective relationships with all its constituencies and spearhead strategies to address challenges and opportunities in the areas of student enrollment, fundraising, shared governance within the institution, and diversity and inclusion. He will succeed outgoing President, Bob Staton, who is retiring.
vandenBerg holds an Ed.D. in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania and an MPA in Policy Analysis, Nonprofit Management from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He received a B.A. in Political Science from Alma College, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Read the full release of Dr. vandenBerg’s appointment here.
About Presbyterian College
Located in Clinton, South Carolina, Presbyterian College is a private liberal arts college with an undergraduate enrollment of more than 1,000 students. It offers 30 undergraduate degrees and nine pre-professional programs including Pre-Law, Pre-Med, Pre-Theology, and Pre-Pharmacy, as well as a dual degree program in Engineering. Money magazine lists Presbyterian as the highest-ranked private institution in South Carolina in its “Best Colleges in America, Ranked by Value” and the U.S. News and World Report ranks it as one of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges for advancing social mobility. Presbyterian is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and is a member of the Big South Conference of NCAA Division I, fielding seventeen varsity teams in 11 sports.
