Birmingham-Southern College named finance professional Daniel Coleman its 16th president, replacing Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith, who retired earlier this fall. Coleman sits on the school’s board of trustees and teaches finance there. The 54-year-old was CEO of KCG Holdings, a global financial services firm until it was sold in 2017. Birmingham-Southern is a private liberal arts school with an enrollment of about 1,300 students. Coleman says boosting enrollment has been a challenge.
“Enrollment trends are roughly flat. I think the challenge that Birmingham-Southern had a few years ago with finances and having frequent leadership changes probably hasn’t helped enrollment,” Coleman says. “But I think there’s a challenge of the smaller liberal arts college in America.”
Coleman says his biggest priority is ensuring Birmingham-Southern is “financially sound.” This fall, the school cut tuition in half to attract and retain students. He says he wasn’t involved in launching the tuition reset, but Coleman says it’s working reasonably well. However, it’s uncertain how long it will continue.
“I think we need to look into it and make sure we understand all the aspects of it and we need to talk to applicants and make sure they appreciated it. But I think the idea behind it will be continued,” Coleman says. Birmingham-Southern’s board of trustees has already set the price for next year, and the tuition reset will remain in effect for the 2019-2020 school year.
Read more about Coleman here.