Cleary University in Howell has announced Alan Drimmer as president effective July 1. He has more than two decades of experience in higher education.
“After an extensive search, I couldn’t be happier with the university’s choice in selecting Dr. Alan Drimmer to partner with our team to expand The Cleary Mind Initiative,” says Glynis McBain, chair of Cleary’s board. “His experience, leadership, and passion for education will help us move Cleary University forward in our journey toward excellence in business innovation.”
In previous roles, Drimmer served as provost at National Defense University, chief academic officer and senior vice president at the University of Maryland Global Campus and the University of Phoenix, and president at Western International University and American InterContinental University.
Drimmer is a senior advisor in the Boston Consulting Group’s education practice, and early in his career, he served as a management consultant at McKinsey and Co. He has experience in corporate training and workforce development, having led the learning and development roundtable at the Corporate Executive Board, a consortium of chief learning officers at Fortune 500 companies.
With bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago, Drimmer also earned a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a national security fellow at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs and won a Derek Bok Undergraduate Teaching Award at Harvard College.
“I am deeply honored to work with interim president Emily Barnes and her dedicated and entrepreneurial faculty and staff, as well as with the broader community in Livingston County and the region to help students transform their lives through education,” Drimmer says. “I’m most excited to help the University advance the Cleary MindÔ initiative, which threads critical workplace competencies in the classroom and across the entire student experience.”
Cleary enrollment in 2019 rose 20 percent over the previous year and 24 percent compared to two years prior. Applications for fall 2020 doubled before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of incoming admissions tripled.
The university says it sought a president who will expand enrollment and build brand awareness. Cleary was founded in 1883.
