Dr. Gregory D. Hess, currently President of Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN, has been named the next President and CEO of IES Abroad, a Chicago-based, not-for-profit, academic consortium of the world’s finest colleges and universities that provides international education and study abroad programs to college students worldwide.
Dr. Hess will join IES Abroad in August, after a five-month international search, having enjoyed a highly successful and historic term as President of Wabash College.
In announcing the appointment, Ezio Vergani, Chairman of the Board of IES Abroad, said that, “The IES Abroad search committee was tremendously impressed by Dr. Hess’ unique combination of senior academic leadership, business and financial acumen, publishing success, innovation and international education passion and experience.” Vergani noted that, “The experience Dr. Hess brings in the fields of higher education, business, finance, and economics will all play pivotal roles in the future success of IES Abroad.”
In accepting the position, Dr. Hess noted the importance of international education in today’s world and the important role IES Abroad plays in educating the next generation of international leaders. “There has never been a more important time than now to educate students globally,” Dr. Hess said. “I look forward to leading IES Abroad in the next chapter of its long and storied history.”
“On behalf of the Board of Directors of IES Abroad, its employees, partners, and more than 120,000 students who studied under Mary’s leadership, we thank Mary for her dedication, commitment, and concern for the education of so very many students during her remarkable tenure with IES Abroad,” Vergani said. “Through Dr. Dwyer’s dynamic leadership and careful stewardship, IES Abroad has grown from a small organization sending 1,200 US students abroad a year to a global organization educating more than 10,000 students a year from around the world.”
As President of Wabash College, Dr. Hess led national efforts articulating and promoting the value of a liberal arts education, while directing the planning and development efforts that provided a roadmap leading to the College’s 200th anniversary in 2032.
His many achievements at Wabash College also included hosting a conference entitled, “Celebrating the Value of the Liberal Arts,” with scholars, college presidents, foundation leaders, and representatives of the business, medicine, and law fields attending. He also directed the development of co-curricular “WabashX" initiatives in Democracy and Public Discourse, Digital Arts and Human Values, Global Health, and the Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship.
In addition, Dr. Hess initiated a rebranding of Wabash College and provided critical leadership during a master planning process that included enhancements in campus life, academics, and infrastructure. As part of Wabash College’s “Giant Steps: A Campaign for Wabash College” initiative, Dr. Hess secured a $40 million gift—the largest single gift in the College’s history.
Dr. Hess has also served as a consultant for Honda Motors of North America and as a member of the Ohio Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. He has served as a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Kansas City, the Bank of Japan, Korea University, the IMF Institute, and the Hoover Institution. He has been a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee since 2002.
Prior to Wabash, he served as Dean of the Faculty and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Claremont McKenna College in California. While at Claremont McKenna, he served as the James G. Boswell Professor of Economics and a George R. Roberts Fellow, a role which gave him responsibility for the college’s academic affairs, including the Center for Global Education, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurism, athletics, institutional research, student learning outcome assessments, and information technology.
Dr. Hess has also held teaching positions at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Kansas, St. John’s College (Cambridge), the University of Cambridge, London Business School, and Oberlin College.
Dr. Hess is a widely published author with more than 60 articles, book chapters, and books to his credit, has served as an editor for Economics and Politics and Macroeconomic Dynamics, and presented at more than 90 scholarly international seminars and events.
Dr. Hess earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis, and master's and doctoral degrees at Johns Hopkins University. He studied abroad at the London School of Economics as part of the school’s General Course Degree program.
He and his wife, Lora, are the parents of two adult children.
Dr. Hess succeeds Dr. Mary M. Dwyer, who served with IES Abroad for nearly 25 years. During that time, IES Abroad enrollments grew from 1,200 US students abroad a year to more than 10,000 students a year from around the world. Programming locations went from 22 to more than 90 locations around the world, while annual revenue grew from $10 million to more than $150 million. Dr. Dwyer led the development of the IES MAP series, which established the standards of study abroad excellence; the first dean of student’s office; policies and protocols for student health, safety and crisis management; a comprehensive curriculum audit; and a diversity program that led to a 75 percent increase in the number of underrepresented students participating in IES Abroad programs.
In addition, she led two acquisitions and the expansion of the mission of IES Abroad. She also was a founder, vice-chair and chair of the Board of The Forum on Education Abroad and was awarded numerous career awards including: Crain’s Notable Women Executives, The Women in International Education Lifetime Advocate For Inclusivity Award, the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Woman of the Year Award, Loyola University’s Alumna Award, 2018 PIEoneer Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry, and an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law by the University of the South, amongst others.
Dr. Dwyer is retiring on July 31.
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