Birmingham-Southern College names vice president for enrollment management

For Immediate Release
Apr. 8, 2019

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Trent Gilbert, vice president for enrollment management and communications at Monmouth College in Illinois, has been named Birmingham-Southern’s vice president for enrollment management, the college announced Monday, April 8. Gilbert will assume the role June 1.

Gilbert has spent 18 years working in the higher education enrollment field, including at Elon University in North Carolina and Richmont Graduate University in Atlanta. He served as chief experience officer at TargetX, a higher education consulting firm specializing in technology and the campus visit experience. He provided consulting services to more than 200 clients. Gilbert is principal and cofounder of Render Experiences, a higher education consulting firm that offers campus visit consulting services to higher education clients across the country.

He spent 3 years as vice president of enrollment management administration at Richmont before taking on his most recent position in 2015. In his current role at Monmouth College, he is responsible for enrollment, financial aid, and communications and marketing operations. At Monmouth, Gilbert created a strategic plan to increase out-of-state growth, which helped boost out-of-state enrollment to 7 percent in 2015 and to 27 percent in the fall of 2018.

“Trent has run admissions and enrollment at a small liberal arts college, and as a consultant, has advised numerous schools in enrollment management,” said BSC President Daniel B. Coleman. “Complementing those experiences, his energy and focus will help our college build on the recent momentum we’ve experienced with this year’s applicant pool. We’re delighted to have Trent, his wife, and their two sons join the Birmingham-Southern community.”

A native of Florida and a 2002 graduate of Elon University, Gilbert earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in business administration and public administration. He began his career as associate director of admissions at Elon. He also spent several years in management consulting with RealFoundations Inc., providing consulting services to global corporations within the real estate industry. In 2017, he earned his master’s in higher education administration from Georgia Southern University.

As an industry expert, Gilbert has been quoted across mainstream media, and has been featured in both U.S. News and World Report and University Business Magazine.

“I’m looking forward to collaborating with the team of experienced colleagues in admission and financial aid at BSC as we attract an outstanding group of students each year from home and abroad,” said Gilbert. “Birmingham-Southern has many great things to offer students who are looking for a liberal arts experience in a major metropolitan city.”

He and his family will be relocating to the Birmingham area this spring. He currently resides in Galesburg, Ill.