GREENWOOD — Lander University has announced the appointment of two new vice presidents to manage student enrollment and finance.
Gregory Lovins, vice chancellor for Business Affairs at Appalachian State University (ASU) in Boone, N.C., was named Lander’s vice president for Business and Administration-Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Gary McCombs, who has held the position since 2013 and will retire in February.
Lovins received a master’s degree in business with a finance emphasis from ASU and an undergraduate degree in business with an accounting emphasis from the University of North Carolina. He is a certified public accountant and has five years’ experience as an assistant state auditor in North Carolina.
He is also on the Board of Directors and treasurer of the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers.
At ASU, some of his duties included budgeting, purchasing, co-chairing the Campus Master Plan 2020 Committee; supervising several capital projects and identifying more efficient and effective campus operating practices. Last year, U.S. News and World Report ranked ASU among the five most efficient Southern regional universities.
“Lander has a rich tradition and I’m honored to be joining a great university and working for a dynamic leader in President Richard Cosentino,” Lovins said.
He added that he enjoyed visiting the Lander campus, especially interacting with staff and faculty, and said he is looking forward to getting to know the students.
“The people I’ve met in the Greenwood community have displayed true Southern hospitality and I can’t wait to get there and get started,” he said.
Andy Benoit Jr. will become vice president for Enrollment and Access Management, a newly-established position at Lander. Since 2012, Benoit has served as director of undergraduate admissions and recruitment, and assistant vice president of enrollment management at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
He was responsible for strategies focused on recruitment and admission of freshmen, transfer students and individuals wanting to return to college.
Benoit has 21 years’ experience as an assistant or director of student recruitment, admissions and enrollment at LSU at Baton Rouge, the University of New Orleans and McNeese State University, in Lake Charles, La.
He has a bachelor’s degree in speech communication and a master’s in instructional technology from McNeese State and has postgraduate work in a human resource education/adult learning doctoral program at LSU.
Benoit is on the strategic planning committee for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a member and past president of the Louisiana Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
He said he is excited to join Cosentino’s leadership team and he welcomes the opportunity to supervise the university’s enrollment efforts. He added,
“Lander is positioning itself for a period of strategic growth and progress, educating current and future students to become tomorrow’s leaders,” he said.
Cosentino said Benoit and Lovins were chosen from a rich pool of applicants in a national search, and have outstanding qualifications and experience to help Lander meet a new set of challenges complicating higher education. “Protecting our resources and getting the optimal return from them is more important than ever, and Greg Lovins has the skills and reputation to accomplish that important task.”
Cosentino said Lander is largely dependent on tuition so it is essential for the university to recruit the best and brightest students. “Andy Benoit has the ideas, enthusiasm, and leadership ability necessary to accomplish that goal.”
Board of Trustees Chair Jack Lawrence said Lovins and Benoit are tops in their fields.
“Both will provide us with the expertise Lander needs as we navigate the increasingly complex waters of higher education in South Carolina.”