Bluffton University President James M. Harder has named Ron Headings of Cincinnati, Ohio, as the university's vice president for enrollment management. Headings will move to Bluffton and assume his new responsibilities in mid-summer.
"Ron's extensive experience in strategic marketing and demonstrated commitment to Mennonite higher education prepare him well for this new role," Harder said. "Bluffton will benefit from the focus and expertise that Ron will bring to his new position."
"As a parent of high school-aged youth, Ron will also bring an important consumer perspective to our enrollment management strategies," the president added.
The vice president for enrollment management is a member of the President's Cabinet. In his new role, Headings' responsibilities will include oversight of the undergraduate admissions and financial aid offices as well as significant involvement in Bluffton's overall institutional marketing efforts. He will also oversee institutional research.
Headings is a senior manager in the Consumer and Market Knowledge department at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, where he has worked since 1984. He manages global e-commerce research for P&G, and has spent time in Europe, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Chile and Panama. He will retire from his position before joining Bluffton's administrative team in the summer.
A 1982 graduate of Bethel College (Kansas) in mathematics and business, Headings earned a master of business administration degree in marketing from Indiana University in 1984.
He served on the board of the Mennonite Education Agency from 2007-11 and as chair of the board for Ten Thousand Villages of Cincinnati from 2005-11. He has extensive consulting experience with Mennonite schools at all levels in the areas of marketing, visioning, strategic planning and service.
Headings delivered the Presidential Leadership Forum address at Bluffton in 2009-"Learning, Luck and Love-Lessons of Leadership from 25 Years at Procter & Gamble and Ten Thousand Villages." He and his wife Linda have two sons and attend the Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship.
This appointment is part of a restructuring of the Bluffton President's Cabinet that separates vice presidential responsibilities of enrollment management and student life into two separate roles.
Dr. Eric Fulcomer has held the dual role since 2005 and will continue through this academic year. Bluffton's Cabinet also includes vice presidents for academic affairs, advancement and fiscal affairs.
