Bryn Mawr College, the preeminent college for women located in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, invites nominations and seeks applications for the Vice President for Enrollment Management (VPEM) position. Serving as a key member of the President’s Senior Staff, the VPEM will join a leadership team led by President Wendy Cadge, who was appointed as Bryn Mawr’s 10th President in 2024 and has set an ambitious agenda to advance the College’s mission and broaden its reach. The new vice president will provide leadership to undergraduate and graduate admissions, as well as financial aid, and will be tasked with developing and executing an enrollment strategy that leverages Bryn Mawr’s unique position in the marketplace, increases its visibility, and aligns with broader institutional goals. The College seeks a student centered, visionary leader who is committed to Bryn Mawr’s mission and will work collaboratively to educate the community about the changing landscape of enrollment, while creating a College-wide culture of enrollment management.
The Opportunity
The Vice President for Enrollment Management will bring a forward-looking, data-driven, and mission-centered approach to all aspects of enrollment management at Bryn Mawr. The College seeks a leader who will contribute their expertise in the following areas:
Strategic Enrollment Management
- Provide comprehensive leadership across the entire enrollment continuum—from marketing and recruitment of undergraduate and graduate students through retention and graduation—grounded in a nuanced understanding of enrollment, financial aid, student success trends, and institutional goals.
- Build and execute a multi-year enrollment strategy that aligns with Bryn Mawr’s mission of women’s education and empowerment, academic strengths, and competitive position in a rapidly changing higher education landscape.
Financial Aid Strategy
- Work with institutional leadership to develop and execute financial aid policies and procedures, and to ensure broad understanding of issues of net tuition revenue, discount rate, and head count.
- Oversee and evaluate the strategic allocation of financial aid and leveraging policies to shape the class, achieve net revenue goals at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and support the university’s enrollment goals.
Advanced Analytical Leadership
- Demonstrate a high level of analytic and technological sophistication, using data modeling, scenario planning, and predictive analysis to guide strategy and remain several steps ahead in a fast-paced and competitive market.
- Pivot quickly when conditions change, embracing experimentation and evidence-based decision making.
Undergraduate and Graduate Enrollment Expertise
- Develop the vision and strategic direction for undergraduate student recruitment efforts and assume responsibility for articulating and implementing a strategic, entrepreneurial, and data-driven enrollment approach that meets institutional goals.
- Bring experience with graduate enrollment—or the ability to quickly gain fluency in the enrollment dynamics of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research (GSSWSR), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), and the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program; develop strong partnerships with graduate deans and work closely with the Vice President for Finance and Administration to model the financial implications of graduate enrollment, optimize net revenue, and support program sustainability.
Demonstrated Success Meeting Enrollment and Revenue Targets
- Bring a proven track record of meeting headcount, net tuition revenue, and class profile goals.
- Understand how to translate strategy into results through disciplined planning, accountability, and continuous evaluation.
Mission-Driven, Collaborative Leadership
- Model a deep commitment to Bryn Mawr’s mission, values, and identity as an academically rigorous liberal arts college for women with global reach.
- Inspire and effectively manage a high-performing team while also serving as a trusted, collaborative member of the senior leadership team.
Retention Partnership and Data-Informed Decision Making
- Partner closely with the Dean of the Undergraduate College on retaining students and supporting their academic and co-curricular experience.
- Use data on retention, persistence, and 4-, 5-, and 6-year graduation trends to inform admissions decisions, shaping classes that are positioned for long-term success.
Elevated Communications and Marketing Strategist
- Strengthen all aspects of enrollment communications in partnership with the Vice President for Communications and Marketing—ensuring that messaging is compelling, student-centered, timely, and aligned with Bryn Mawr’s distinctive brand.
Systems Thinker and Team Player
- Act as an institutional systems thinker who understands how decisions reverberate across campus.
- Bring a creative, entrepreneurial, outcomes-focused mindset and the ability to work seamlessly across divisions to advance institutional priorities.
Mentorship and Management
- Effectively mentor and manage a talented enrollment team, ensuring a cohesive and knowledgeable division that is able to advise and guide students, families, and the Bryn Mawr community.
- Create a supportive environment that provides compassionate leadership, fosters professional development, and advocates for the ideas and opinions of the enrollment team while providing clear direction and holding the team accountable to enrollment and institutional goals.
Qualifications and Desired Skills
The new Vice President should be an innovative and inclusive leader with a record of achievement. The successful candidate must have a bachelor’s degree (a master’s degree is preferred) and significant experience in enrollment management. They will bring to the position most, if not all, of the following desired qualifications:
- Current knowledge of best practices in recruitment, as well as enrollment marketing and communication strategies and a firm understanding of demographic trends affecting undergraduate and graduate enrollment at selective institutions;
- A record of success of building sustainable enrollment pipelines, expanding the pool of highly qualified applicants, increasing institutional visibility and developing new recruitment markets;
- Keen understanding of the role that financial aid plays in an enrollment management model and experience leveraging financial aid to meet enrollment goals while optimizing resources;
- Ability to clearly articulate the evolving higher education enrollment landscape to the broader campus community, setting ambitious but realistic goals, building relationships through transparency, and communicating expectations regarding growth and excellence;
- Sophisticated understanding of data, research and information systems;
- Exemplary relationship-building skills with both internal and external constituents;
- Recognition of and value for the contributions that marketing, relationship-building, and data each bring to a successful enrollment program;
- A proven capacity for decisive, highly skilled, creative, and innovative leadership and strategic thinking;
- Experience with successful strategic enrollment management assessment and planning;
- Success in working with domestic and international student recruitment markets;
- Demonstrated experience developing and implementing initiatives that strengthen transfer student pathways and improve access and outcomes for transfer students;
- Ability to assess the use of technology and guide teams in leveraging, implementing and maximizing technology; direct experience with SLATE is preferred;
- Intercultural sensitivity and a commitment to access, diversity, social justice;
- Demonstrated leadership skills including strategic planning, systems thinking, and budget management;
- Experience establishing partnerships with retention and student success programs to effectively support students;
- History of success managing, leading, inspiring and motivating a high performing staff with an inclusive leadership approach, while fostering an environment where team members feel valued, supported and empowered;
- A deep understanding of and appreciation for the educational, social, and leadership benefits of women’s colleges; and
- Significant strength in oral communication and an ability to be a compelling advocate and spokesperson to a broad range of internal and external audiences including administration, faculty, staff, alumni, the Board, students, and families.
Bryn Mawr College
Since its founding in 1885, Bryn Mawr College has been the preeminent college for women interested in the pursuit of wisdom necessary to challenge the world's expectations. The Bryn Mawr community has repeatedly broken barriers to achieve greater equity through exceptional academics and a deep dedication to learning. More than 35 undergraduate majors span the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts. Two co-educational graduate schools offer selective master’s and Ph.D. programs across the Arts, Sciences, and Social Work, and the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program is one of the most successful in the nation for placing students into medical school. Bryn Mawr is dedicated to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, which serve as the engine for excellence and innovation, helping us pave the way for gender equity and inspiring brilliant minds who find life-long community there.
Designated by the Carnegie Classifications as a Research College for its contributions to academic scholarship, Bryn Mawr was the first women’s college to offer graduate degrees, evidence of its lasting commitment to the power of rigorous academic training. Today, Bryn Mawr remains devoted to multidisciplinary education and unique undergraduate research opportunities. Its more than 200 majority-female faculty engage its more than 1,700 total student scholars with a strong liberal arts academic approach, giving them the freedom to follow their curiosity while maintaining high standards of excellence. Faculty are prolific in their scholarly endeavors, ranked #1 in research expenditure and #3 in research out of nearly 200 liberal arts institutions by Washington Monthly magazine. As a top Fulbright-producing institution, Bryn Mawr is committed to supporting its students holistically and to women’s education and empowerment.
The campus, with its pioneering American Collegiate Gothic architecture and picturesque landscape, is recognized as one of the most beautiful in the country and provides a secure space for community building through athletics, 130+ student clubs, the arts, cultural performances, and visiting speakers and scholars. The campus culture is motivated by individual self-discovery and collective uplifting. Students learn to raise their expectations, embrace their confidence, and build self-reliance while living with integrity. Ninety-nine percent of seniors go on to achieve positive career outcomes within one year of graduation.
Bryn Mawr students graduate as self-reliant leaders filled with purpose. Its 25,000+ strong alumnae/i network includes Nobel laureates; university presidents; leaders in government, social justice, and industry; groundbreaking scientists; and renowned scholars across various fields, including STEM and the humanities. Motivated to lead by example, Bryn Mawr graduates never settle for what’s now but push for what’s next—always taking joy in the personal fulfillment and success that lifelong learning brings.
The College was founded with a strong commitment to shared governance between the faculty, the board, students, and senior administration. The College’s Board of Trustees has 30 members and 2 special representatives to the Board. There is a faculty Senate, a Staff Association and a Student Government Association. A budget committee composed of administrators, faculty, staff, and students give guidance to Senior Staff during the annual budget process, and institutional decision-making remains highly collaborative.
Leadership
Wendy Cadge is the 10th president of Bryn Mawr College and a nationally renowned expert in contemporary American spirituality and religion. Cadge previously served as the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis University and served on the faculty at Bowdoin College from 2003-2006. She received her bachelor’s degree with high honors and majors in Sociology and Anthropology, and Religion from Swarthmore College, and her master’s and Ph.D. from Princeton University. At Brandeis, her achievements included centering the graduate student experience by rebuilding and expanding student professional development, collaborating to extend degree programs into new modalities, advancing the graduate school’s anti-racism plan, and reconnecting current students and alumni to celebrate the school’s 70th anniversary. She received the Thomas A. King Faculty Award from the Gender & Sexuality Center, the Dean of Art and Sciences Mentoring Award for Outstanding Teaching of Students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Michael Walzer '56 Award for Excellence in Teaching. She also served as the Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, led the Division of Social Sciences, and chaired the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Program.
Strategic Visioning and Comprehensive Physical Plan
President Cadge is building on two years of strategic planning work completed before she arrived, as well as all that she learned in her first year in the role. This academic year, she is leading a collective effort to develop innovative approaches to the College’s next chapter through a strategic vision, a comprehensive physical plan for the campus, and pilot grants open to all members of the on-campus community.
Enrollment Management at Bryn Mawr
Bryn Mawr’s admitted students bring rich diversity to the campus across many dimensions, as well as academic excellence. With an admit rate of 29 percent, in Fall 2024, Bryn Mawr welcomed 380 new undergraduate women to campus. They hailed from 37 states and 23 foreign countries. Bryn Mawr’s overall full-time undergraduate enrollment in 2024-2025 was 1,354.
Bryn Mawr is committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of all undergraduate students, which is calculated using both the FAFSA and CSS Profile applications. Over the last ten years, the College has increased its financial aid budget by more than 50 percent. In the 2024-25 academic year, the College provided $46.3 million in total institutional financial aid to undergraduate students. Currently, 78 percent of Bryn Mawr students receive financial aid, with an average award of $67,305 for need-eligible students. By design, the number of Pell eligible students is 17 percent and growing.
Bryn Mawr students have access to many different types of financial aid from the College directly, from the federal government, as well as private funding opportunities. With the new Beacon Initiative, Bryn Mawr will be tuition-free for U.S. undergraduate families with annual incomes up to $175,000 and typical assets beginning in fall 2026.
Equity, Inclusion, & Anti-Racism
Bryn Mawr's Mission Statement asserts that "equity and inclusion serve as the engine for excellence and innovation," and that “a commitment to racial justice and to equity across all aspects of diversity propels our students, faculty, and staff to reflect upon and work to build fair, open and welcoming institutional structures, values, and culture.”
The College recognizes that racial justice and equity are foundational values, and that work to achieve them is urgent as well as an ongoing priority. The College’s early history in particular was marked by racist, white supremacist, and anti-Semitic thought, statements, and actions, most prominently — but certainly not exclusively — in the public statements, private letters, and discriminatory admissions and hiring actions of Dr. M. Carey Thomas during her tenures as Academic Dean and President from the College’s founding until 1922.
Over the past decade, often inspired by the activism of BIPOC students and other members of the community, Bryn Mawr has worked to come to grips with the history, legacy, and ongoing effects of institutional racism and bias. Even as efforts to build new practices and policies have been substantive, more needs to be done.
For more information about Bryn Mawr College, please visit www.brynmawr.edu.
Location
Located just west of Philadelphia, the town of Bryn Mawr offers a unique blend of well established suburban charm and urban accessibility. With a population of approximately 5,000 residents, the town combines residential neighborhoods with distinctive architecture, scenic parks, and a walkable town center featuring art galleries, world class shopping, cafes and restaurants. The town appeals to a wide range of professionals, drawn to Bryn Mawr for its highly regarded public and private schools, its safety and its proximity to Philadelphia and other urban hubs throughout the Northeast.
While there is lots to admire about Bryn Mawr, its academic legacy is arguably its biggest draw. The college helps support the local cultural scene through venues like Bryn Mawr Film Institute, an independent movie theater that hosts everything from film screenings to educational courses. The summer months offer a live concert series at Bryn Mawr Gazebo, and a weekly open-air farmers market, one of the biggest in the area, runs throughout the year.
Philadelphia is a short drive or train ride along the historic Main Line. Known for its rich history, Philadelphia also boasts a vibrant arts scene, world class museums, award winning restaurants, and a passionate professional sports fanbase. The city offers a high quality of life and a unique combination of history, culture and livability.
Visit Bryn Mawr to learn more about the area surrounding the College.
Compensation and Benefits
Bryn Mawr offers a competitive compensation package, including excellent benefits, relocation assistance, and a salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Please speak with NES to learn more about the compensation range identified for this role. In this important leadership position, the successful candidate will have an active on-campus presence in or near Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
To Apply
NES, a higher education search firm specializing in enrollment management searches, is assisting Bryn Mawr College with this search. For more information or to nominate someone for the position, contact Laura Robinson at laura.robinson@nessearches.com or Drew Nichols at drew.nichols@nessearches.com for a confidential conversation. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. For best consideration, application materials should be submitted electronically to brynmawr@nessearches.com by February 26, 2026. The search will continue until the position is filled. Applications should include: (1) an in-depth cover letter that addresses the candidate’s qualifications and accomplishments in the areas identified in the position announcement, (2) a detailed résumé, and (3) a list of five professional references with titles, contact information and a sentence describing the nature of each professional relationship. References will not be contacted without the candidate’s knowledge and permission.
Bryn Mawr College is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or expression, pregnancy and related conditions, disability, veteran status, and/or other characteristics protected by applicable law.